She could have smiled outright at this evidence of the ingenuousness of man, but her breast was raging with a fury of disappointment and consternation. She kept her eyes down lest they should betray her. But suddenly she had an inspiration. She controlled herself with a masterly effort, flooded her eyes with tenderness, raised them, and said, softly: "I do love London, love it with what I called a passion before I--before we met. And I cannot believe that this extraordinary resolution of yours has had time to mature. Promise me at least that you will not apply for letters of citizenship for at least a year after your arrival--" "I shall apply the day after I arrive in Rosewater." He steeled himself, for he had had his experience of woman's wiles; and his faith in masculine supremacy as a habit did not waver. "I only regret that the time of probation must be so long. I am on fire to throw myself into the arena--however, there will be opportunities to make myself known and felt. I have decided to study law meanwhile--and the law, it seems, is a career in itself in America." And then he watched her eyes, fascinated. They slowly hardened, until, with the sun slanting into them, they looked like bronze. She was too intent upon studying his own to hide them, and upon arriving at a final conclusion. She reached it in a moment, for to her habit of rapid thought and her understanding of the workings of the masculine mind she owed no little of her supremacy among the clever women of London. "I see that your decision is irrevocable," she said. "You are yourself; no one could make or unmake you, and God forbid that I should try. But--and I forbear to lead up to it artistically--I dissever myself from your chariot wheels. I am not afraid of being crushed, for no doubt you would always remember to be polite, if not considerate. I am not sure that you would even permit me to become unrecognizable with dust. But I am no longer plastic. I am thirty-two, and I am as much I as you are you. I shall watch you from afar with great interest, and I sincerely hope, for both your sakes, that Miss Otis will succeed in marrying you. I cannot fancy anything more suitable."