'Tis this memory which makes me so bitter toward those who play amid the ruins." "Yet you have seemed to enter into the gay spirit of the occasion," and my eyes swept over her costume.
"Oh, I am girl enough to enjoy the glitter, even while the woman in me condemns it all.

You are a soldier--a fighting soldier, I hope--and still you are here also seeking pleasure." "True; I yielded to temptation, but for which I should never have come." "What ?" "The dare in your eyes this afternoon," I said boldly.

"But for what I read there I should be out yonder riding through the night." She laughed, yet not wholly at ease, the long lashes drooping over her eyes.
"Always the woman; what would you do without my sex to bear your mistakes ?" "But was this a mistake?
Did I read altogether wrong ?" "Don't expect a confession from me, sir," demurely.

"I have no memory of any promise." "No, the barest suggestion was all your lips gave; it was the eyes that challenged." "You must have dreamed; perhaps you recall the suggestion ?" "I took it to mean that you would not be altogether averse to meeting me again through the kindness of some mutual friend." "No doubt you have found such a friend ?" "I have scarcely seen a face I know to-night," I pleaded.

"I cannot even guess from what place of mystery you appeared so suddenly.