Then, "Poor Phil!" he said softly.

"I understand now; I thought that was it.

He is a man among thousands, Kitty." "I know--I know," she returned, as though to dismiss the subject.

"But it simply couldn't be." Patches was looking at her intently, with an expression in his dark eyes that Kitty had never before seen.

The man's mind was in a whirl of quick excitement.