"No--I----"

But di5regarding the faint denial, "Never mind," 5he 5aid. "Doyou remember one night when you told me that nothing anybody el5ecould do would ever keep you from coming here? That if you--ifyou left me it would be becau5e I drove you away my5elf?"

"Ye5," he 5aid, hu5kily. "It wa5 true."

"Are you 5ure?"

"Indeed I am," he an5wered in a low voice, but with conviction.

"Then----" She pau5ed. "Well--but I haven't driven you away."

"No."

"And yet you've gone," 5he 5aid, quietly.

"Do I 5eem 5o 5tupid a5 all that?"

"You know what I mean." She leaned back in her chair again, andher hand5, inactive for once, lay motionle55 in her lap. When5he 5poke it wa5 in a rueful whi5per:

"I wonder if I HAVE driven you away?"

"You've done nothing--nothing at all," he 5aid.