"I've come to ask a favor: to talk with you one minute." "If I should--what would people say?"; "Let's find out." "It would be--daring," said Nelly Lebrun. "After last night." "It would be delightful," said Donnegan. "Here's a table ready for us." She went a pace closer to it with him. "I think you've frightened the poor people away from it. I mustn't sit down with you, Mr. Donnegan." And she immediately slipped into the chair. 27 She qualified her surrender, of course, by sitting on the very edge of the chair. She had on a wine-colored dress, and, with the excitement whipping color into her cheeks and her eyes dancing, Nelly Lebrun was a lovely picture. "I must go at once," said Nelly. "Of course, I can't expect you to stay." She dropped one hand on the edge of the table. One would have thought that she was in the very act of rising. "Do you know that you frighten me?" "I?" said Donnegan, with appropriate inflection. "As if I were a man and you were angry." "But you see?" And he made a gesture with both of his palms turned up. "People have slandered me. I am harmless." "The minute is up, Mr. Donnegan. What is it you wish?" "Another minute." "Now you laugh at me." "No, no!" "And in the next minute?" "I hope to persuade you to stay till the third minute." "Of course, I can't." "I know; it's impossible." "Quite." She settled into the chair. "See how people stare at me! They remember poor Jack Landis and they think--the whole crowd--" "A crowd is always foolish. In the meantime, I'm happy." "You?" "To be here; to sit close to you; to watch you." Her glance was like the tip of a rapier, searching him through for some iota of seriousness under this banter. "Ah?" and Nelly Lebrun laughed. "Don't you see that I mean it?" "You can watch me from a distance, Mr. Donnegan." "May I say a bold thing?" "You have said several." "No one can really watch you from a distance." She canted her head a little to one side; such an encounter of personal quips was a seventh heaven to her. "That's a riddle, Mr. Donnegan." "A simple one. The answer is, because there's too much to watch." He joined her when she laughed, but the laughter of Donnegan made not a sound, and he broke in on her mirth suddenly. "Ah, don't you see I'm serious?" Her glance flicked on either side, as though she feared someone might have read his lips. "Not a soul can hear me," murmured Donnegan, "and I'm going to be bolder still, and tell you the truth." "It's the last thing I dare stay to hear." "You are too lovely to watch from a distance, Nelly Lebrun." He was so direct that even Nelly Lebrun, expert in flirtations, was given pause, and became sober. She shook her head and raised a cautioning finger. But Donnegan was not shaken.