when she has to give in, but is never satisfied. She nourishes the perennial hope that some time she’ll catch me napping, and for fear she’ll miss that time she never lets any time go by.”

“And some time she may catch you,” Paula said.

“That’s why I’m giving her up. It isn’t exactly a strain on me, but soon or late she’s bound to get me if there’s anything in the law of probability. It may be a million-to-one shot, but heaven alone knows where in the series of the million that fatal one is going to pop up.”

“You’re a wonder, Red Cloud,” Paula smiled.

“Why?”

“You think in statistics and percentages, averages and exceptions. I wonder, when we first met, what particular formula you measured me up by.”