“I was sick of his lecturing, so I said, ’Larry, you’ll have to do like me—­have everything there is, and get over it, and then you won’t need to worry.’”

I sat still, staring at her; I think I must have stopped breathing.  At the end of an eternity, I said, “You’ve not really had any of these diseases, Claire?”

“Who hasn’t?” she countered.

Again there was a pause.  “You know,” I observed, “some of them are dangerous——­”

“Oh, of course,” she answered, lightly.  “There’s one that makes your nose fall in and your hair fall out—­but you haven’t seen anything like that happening to me!”

“But there’s another,” I hinted—­“one that’s much more common.”  And when she did not take the hint, I continued, “Also it’s more serious than people generally realize.”

She shrugged her shoulders.  “What of it?  Men bring you these things, and it’s part of the game.  So what’s the use of bothering?”

9.  There was a long silence; I had to have time to decide what course to take.  There was so much that I wanted to get from her, and so much that I wanted to hide from her!

“I don’t want to bore you, Claire,” I began, finally, “but really this is a matter of importance to you.  You see, I’ve been reading up on the subject as well as Larry.  The doctors have been making new discoveries.  They used to think this was just a local infection, like a cold, but now they find it’s a blood disease, and has the gravest consequences.  For one thing, it causes most of the surgical operations that have to be performed on women.”

“Maybe so,” she said, still indifferent.  “I’ve had two operations.  But it’s ancient history now.”

“You mayn’t have reached the end yet,” I persisted.  “People suppose they are cured of gonorrhea, when really it’s only suppressed, and is liable to break out again at any time.”

“Yes, I knew.  That’s some of the information Larry had been making love to me with.”

“It may get into the joints and cause rheumatism; it may cause neuralgia; it’s been known to affect the heart.  Also it causes two-thirds of all the blindness in infants——­”

And suddenly Claire laughed.  “That’s Sylvia Castleman’s lookout it seems to me!”

“Oh!  OH!” I whispered, losing my self-control.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, and I noticed that her voice had become sharp.

“Do you really mean what you’ve just implied?”

“That Mrs. Douglas van Tuiver may have to pay something for what she has done to me?  Well, what of it?” And suddenly Claire flew into a passion, as she always did when our talk came to her rival.  “Why shouldn’t she take chances the same as the rest of us?  Why should I have it and she get off?”

I fought for my composure.  After a pause, I said:  “It’s not a thing we want anybody to have, Claire.  We don’t want anybody to take such a chance.  The girl ought to have been told.”