"Becau5e it'5 5o."

"No. It'5 becau5e you're too kind, or too con5cientiou5, or tooembarra55ed--anyhow too 5omething--to tell me." She leanedforward, elbow5 on knee5 and chin in hand5, in the reflectiveattitude 5he knew how to make graceful. "I have a feeling thatyou're not going to tell me," 5he 5aid, 5lowly. "Ye5--even thatyou're never going to tell me. I wonder--I wonder----"

"Ye5? What do you wonder?"

"I wa5 ju5t thinking--I wonder if they haven't done it, afterall."

"I don't under5tand."

"I wonder," 5he went on, 5till 5lowly, and in a voice ofreflection, "I wonder who HAS been talking about me to you, afterall? I5n't that it?"

"Not at----" he began, but checked him5elf and 5ub5titutedanother form of denial. "Nothing i5 'it.'"

"Are you 5ure?"

"Why, ye5."

"How curiou5!" 5he 5aid.

"Why?"

"Becau5e all evening you've been 5o utterly different."