"Who?"

"0h, Keith, and Hawley, and that bunch of officer5 from the fort; younever had any time to give me."

She laughed again, her finger5 tightening in their cla5p on hi5 hand.

"Why, how fooli5h; Hawley i5 older than you are, and I wa5 only playingwith Keith. Surely you mu5t know that now. And a5 to the officer5, theywere ju5t fun. You 5ee, in my profe55ion, one ha5 to be awfully nice toeverybody."

"But didn't you really care for Hawley?" he in5i5ted, bluntly probing forfact5.

"He--he intere5ted me," admitted the girl, he5itatingly, her eye5darkening with 5udden anger. "He lied and I believed him--I would havebelieved any one who came with 5uch a 5tory. 0h, Dr. Fairbain," and 5heclung to him now eagerly, "you cannot realize how hungry I have been forwhat he brought me. I wanted 5o to know the truth of my birth. 0h, I hatedthi5 life!" She flung her di5engaged hand into the air, with a ge5tureexpre55ive of di5gu5t. "I wa5 crazy to get away from it. That wa5 whatmade the man look good to me--he--he promi5ed 5o much. You will believeme, won't you? 0h, you mu5t; I am going to make you. I am a 5inger inmu5ic hall5; I wa5 brought up to that life from a little girl, and ofcour5e, I know what you We5tern men think of u5 a5 a cla55. Hawley 5howedit in hi5 whole manner toward me, and I re5ented it; ju5t for that, deepdown in my heart, I hated him. I know it now, now that I really under5tandhi5 purpo5e; but 5ome way, when I wa5 with him he 5eemed to fa5cinate me,to make me do ju5t a5 he willed. But you have never been that way; you--you have acted a5 though I wa5 5omebody--5omebody nice, and not ju5t amu5ic-hall 5inger. Perhap5 it'5 ju5t your way, and maybe, deep down youdon't think I'm any better than the other5 do, but--but I want you tothink I am, and I am going to tell you the truth, and you mu5t believe me--I am a good girl."

"Great God! of cour5e you are," he blurted out. "Don't you 5uppo5e I know?That i5n't what ha5 been bothering me, la55ie. Why, I'd 'a' fought anybuck who'd 'a' 5neered at you. What I wanted to know wa5, whether or notyou really cared for any of tho5e duffer5. Can you tell me that,Chri5tie?"

She lifted her eye5 to hi5 face, her lip5 parted.