FLAMING
YOUTH
335
There was a quickening in her shadowed eyes, in her soft breathing. “You know I would,” she whispered. “How. could I help myself?” “Then you couldn’t very well marry anyone else, could your” “Pve tried. It was a fliv, as you know. What’s the answer?” “Isn’t it plain enough? Why not try me—on your own terms?” “Where do you get that ‘own term’ stuff, Cary?” she demanded suspiciously. “Do you know about Dee and Jimmie; their arrangement?” “No.7?
“It’s a secret.
But you belong to us,” she added
sweetly ;“to the Fentrisses.
So I’ll tell you.
They were
to stay married for a month and after that if either of _ them wanted to quit, they were just to live like unmarried people without any fuss. Only Jimmie wouldn’t keep to it. That’s what made the row.” “Would you like to try that plan?” he asked in an inscrutable tone. “Would you do it?” She looked at him doubtfully. “Would you really let me go after a month if I wanted to?” “After aday. Do you think I'd try to hold you against your wish?” “Then I don’t think you can love me much,” she objected with perverse jealousy. “Tt strikes me as a perfectly fair bargain to both. I certainly ought to be willing to take the chance,” he said reasonably, “if you are.” “Tf Jam! Cary! You mean that you—might—-want —to leave me?” A startled incredulity made the words
jerky. “One can never be quite certain how these things are
