"Do you mean--divorce ?" "It's an ugly word, dear Madame Brandt," said I, as gently as I could, "but you and I are strong people and needn't fear uttering it.

Don't you think such a scandal would ruin Dale at the very beginning of his career ?" There was a short silence.

I was glad to see she was feminine enough to twist and tear her handkerchief.
"What am I to do ?" she asked at last.

"I can't live this awful lonely life much longer.

Sometimes I get the creeps." I might have given her the sound advice to find healthy occupation in training crocodiles to sit up and beg; but an idea which advanced thinkers might classify as more suburban was beginning to take shape in my mind.
"Has it occurred to you," I said, "that now you have assumed the qualifications imposed by Captain Vauvenarde for bearing his name ?" "I don't understand." "You no longer perform in public.