If she felt the least tremor of fear she did not show it; she laughed and talked quite gayly to him, with the simple innocence of a child, not shrinking even in the least, while his eyes looked deep down into hers, as though he would read every thought of her soul. If she had shrunk from him--if she had shown the least fear--if she had avoided his glance, refused to dance with him, he would have had more reason to suspect her; as it was, he was fairly bewildered, and more than once he called himself a simpleton for his suspicions. The bright, fearless glance, the child-like smile, the frank gayety, would have puzzled a wiser man than Lord Vivianne. "I will try her," he thought. "If she be the girl who went to Italy with me, I shall find it out." He offered her his arm, so that he could feel her hand tremble, if tremble it did. He began by admiring her bouquet. "You have some very rare flowers there, Lady Studleigh," he said--"white blossoms with golden bells; it is an exotic. Is it Indian or Italian?" She looked at him with a frank smile. "I am very ignorant," she said. "I love flowers very dearly, but I never made them a study. Long Latin names frighten me." "Yet it is a beautiful study," he said. She laughed again. "I believe, honestly," she said, "that if I knew, for instance, the Latin and Greek name of this lovely flower, with its whole history, I should not enjoy it half as much as I do now. That is a mystery to me." "Do you like mysteries?" he asked, quickly. "I can hardly tell; I think I should if I had one." He looked into the very depths of her eyes--they were as clear and open as the day. "You are too frank to care for mystery," he said. "Yes, frankness is what Lord Linleigh calls one of my failings." "Why is it a failing?" he asked. "Because I carry it to excess. I have an unfortunate habit of saying whom I like, whom I dislike, what I care for, and what I do not care for." That frank _abandon_ was not much like the Doris he had known. "That is very nice," he said; "I wish I dare ask if you are likely to like me?" "I will tell you when I know more of you," was the reply. "I have a fashion of showing my liking, which I am quite sure is a little _outre_." "Have you ever been in Italy?" he asked, watching her intently as he spoke. If there had been the least change of color, if her eyes had drooped in the least from his, he would have said: "Doris, I have found you!" As it was, the only expression on her face was one of innocent surprise. "In Italy?" she repeated. "Oh, yes, I finished my education there!" He made no reply, but began to think to himself that he must indeed have been mistaken. Then he talked to her about many things. Her answers gave him the impression that she was very quick, very clever, but innocent, almost with a child-like simplicity.