that the long misunderstanding that has caused us both so much pain, had had a meaning as sweet and acceptable to you as it would be to me."
The Colonel pulled out his pocket-handkerchief and wiped his forehead, surreptitiously including his eyes in the process.
"I've been a brute," he muttered, in rather a husky voice, scowling savagely into the crown of his hat, which he had lifted from his knees. As if displeased with its appearance, he put it on his head, where he planted it firmly.
She knew that she had all but won the day, and she ventured what she had not ventured before. For it had never been her way to prate of an impossible friendship; if she used the word she meant to honor it. And to-day something told her that at last she held control of the situation.
There was nothing in her voice to betray the intense exertion of will that she was conscious of making; on the con-
