"I have never before had occasion to speak like this to any man," she went on. "If I had had, I should not have done so. I should have carried it off with a high hand, ignored it, assumed that I was above criticism. I only speak to you so frankly because you are an Englishman. People of the same blood are clannish when away from their own land. I say this without coquetry: I care more for your good opinion than for that of any of the others--I am so tired of them!" "Thank you--even if you did rather spoil it. You have it, if it really matters to you. Surely, you don't think I misunderstand. I insist upon assuming all the blame--and--upon apologising." "Well, I am glad you apologised. Although you were not the most to blame, just for the moment it made me feel that you were. I have already forgiven you." She dropped her eyes for a moment, then looked at him again with her square, almost defiant regard. "There is something I have been trying to lead up to. It is this--it is not very easy to say--I want you to make a promise. There is a skeleton in this house. Some people know. I don't want you to ask them about it. My father will ask you here constantly. I shall want you to come, too. I ask you to promise to keep your eyes shut. Will you?" "I shall see nothing. Thanks, thanks." He got up and moved nervously about. "We will be friends, the best of friends, promise me that. No flirtation. No nonsense. There may be something I can do to help you while I am here. I hope there will be." "There will not, but I like you better for saying that--I know you are not demonstrative." She threw herself back in her chair and smiled charmingly. "As to the other part--yes, we shall be the best of friends. It was hard to speak, but I am glad that I did. I knew it was either that or a nodding acquaintance, and I had made up my mind that it should be something quite different. When we are alone and serious, we will not flirt; but I have moods, irrepressible ones. If, when we meet in society, I happen to be in a highly flirtatious humour, you are to flirt with me. Do you understand?" "Certainly, certainly, I agree--to keep you from flirting with other men." "Now fetch that portfolio over there,--it has Bruges in it,--and tell me something about every stone." They talked for two hours, and of much beside Bruges. Haphazardly as she had been educated in this new land, her natural intelligence had found nutrition in her father's mind and library. Thorpe noted that when talking on subjects which appealed to the intellect alone, her face changed strikingly: the heavy lids lifted, the eyes sparkled coldly, the mouth lost its full curves. Even her voice, so warm and soft, became, more than once, harsh and sharp. "There are several women in her," he thought. "She certainly is very interesting. I should like to meet her again ten years hence." He did.