however, he broke through them.
"You are very cruel to me," he remarked, after many minutes of desultory conversation, and seizing the opportunity when the pair turned down into a quiet side street, "very cruel indeed."
The handsome girl was silent for a moment or so. "It's no use my pretending to misunderstand you, Mr. Hench," she said at length. "What's the time?"
Rather surprised by the irrelevance of the question, Hench looked at his very cheap watch. "Eight o'clock."
"Well, I'm not on until a quarter to nine, and although I do take a long time to dress, I can give you ten minutes."
"Oh, thank you, Zara. You are----"
"Don't make any mistake, Mr. Hench. I won't have those ten minutes spent in love-making, which would bore me and waste your time."
"No time spent upon you is wasted, Zara."
"There you are wrong. It is time we had an explanation. So long as mother objected to you as she does to Ned----"
"To Ned?"
"I mean to Mr. Bracken," said Zara, colouring and wincing. "Well then, so long as she was in that frame of mind, I let things slide. But now mother seems inclined to consider you as a possible son-in--law, and I must appeal to you."
"Command me in any way."
"Then don't worry me with attentions. Oh, I don't mind your behaving like a gentleman, as you have been doing, to pass the time while mother is away. I am very grateful to you for the amusement you have given me. But"--added the girl, leaning against the railings of a convenient dwelling-house--"I am not in love with you, no more than you are with me."
"I do love you," said Hench, frowning; "what's the use of saying otherwise?"
"You don't love me, I tell you," insisted Zara petulantly. "Trust a woman to understand the exact state of a man's heart. You like me, you admire me, you think me a good sort, but love"--she shook her head--"you don't understand love as Ned--I mean, Mr.
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