XIII

THERE was a little silence. Prue's gaze wavered and fell. Finally, "I never heard—" she began falteringly, and stopped.

"Of all the absurd—" she began again.

"Absurd, if you like," he said calmly. "Do I get it?"

She raised her eyes and studied his face a moment, their glances meeting and challenging in the dim light. Then a little smile crept around her lips.

"That, I suppose," she said lightly, "is what you'd call a sporting proposition, Mr. Forbes?"

"You said I liked risks. I'm taking one."

Then you propose," she asked with a return of the old mockery, "to make a