“Seemed? Oh, there we get into uncertainties again. If I like to know whether persons are Americans or not, it naturally follows that I am anxious to know whether they were Western or Eastern Americans. Aren’t you sure she was a Westerner?” “The story, unfortunately, leaves that a little vague, so if it displeases you I shall be glad to stop the telling of it.” “Oh no, don’t do that. I am quite satisfied to take her as an American citizen; whether she is East or West, or North or South, does not make the slightest difference to me. Please go on with the story.” “Well, the other characters, I am happy to be able to say, are not at all indefinite in the matter of nationality. One is an Englishman; he is even more than that, he is an English nobleman. The other is an American. Then there is the English nobleman’s mother, who, of course, is an English woman; and the American’s sister, married to an Englishman, and she, of course, is English-American. Does that satisfy you?” “Perfectly. Go on.” “It seems that the besieger, the heroine of the story if you may call her so, had a past.” “Has not everybody had a past?” “Oh no. This past is known to the American and is unknown to the English nobleman.” “Ah, I see; and the American is in love with her in spite of her past?” “Not in Mr. James’s story.” “Oh, I beg pardon. Well, go on; I shall not interrupt again.” “It is the English nobleman who is in love with her in spite of his absence of knowledge about her past. The English nobleman’s mother is very much against the match. She tries to get the American to tell what the past of this woman is. The American refuses to do so. In fact, in Paris he has half promised the besieger not to say anything about her past. She is besieging London, and she wishes the American to remain neutral. But the nobleman’s mother at last gets the American to promise that he will tell her son what he knows of this woman’s past. The American informs the woman what he has promised the nobleman’s mother to do, and at this moment the nobleman enters the room. The besieger of London, feeling that her game is up, leaves them together. The American says to the nobleman, who stands rather stiffly before him, ‘If you wish to ask me any questions regarding the lady who has gone out I shall be happy to tell you.’ Those are not the words of the book, but they are in substance what he said. The nobleman looked at him for a moment with that hauteur which, we presume, belongs to noblemen, and said quietly, ‘I wish to know nothing.’ Now, that strikes me as a very dramatic point in the story.” “But _didn’t_ he wish to know anything of the woman whom he was going to marry?” “I presume that, naturally, he did.” “And yet he did not take the opportunity of finding out when he had the chance?” “No, he did not.” “Well, what do you think of that?” “What do I think of it? I think it’s a very dramatic point in the story.”