Will you forgive me ?" She hesitated, and, with the wisdom bought of experience, searched him for the ulterior motive.

Then, her face softened, and she took his hand.

A warm mist dimmed her eyes.
"Thank you," she said.
But the waiting men had grown impatient, and she was whirled away in the arms of a handsome young fellow, conspicuous in a cap of yellow Siberian wolf-skin.

Corliss came back to his companion, feeling unaccountably good and marvelling at what he had done.
"It's a damned shame." The colonel's eye still followed Lucile, and Vance understood.

"Corliss, I've lived my threescore, and lived them well, and do you know, woman is a greater mystery than ever.