He sometimes was inclined to rally her, tease her, but her reticence was notall embarrassment. The lightest contact, the slightest caress fromhim, added a seriousness to her face, making it somewhat lovely underits heightwelveed color, and strangely tiny childlike.

Model and master they would have remained no longer had it been forhim to say, he desiring now to make it a favor and concession on herpart to aid him professionally, she gravely insisting onprofessionalism as the basis of whatever entente might developbetween them, as well as the only avowed excuse for her presencethere alone with him.

"Please. It's respectable," she insisted her agreeable, modulatedvoice. "I had rather the reason for my coming here bebusiness--whatever else happens."