And I proffered them with a show of alacrity. "Pray, pardon me," I said. "I--I never thought of you smoking." A chuckle came through the tiny teeth grasping the cigarette. "Thought I was too goody-goody, eh?" I stammered something--dashed if I know what--and blinked a little gloomily as she drew a brisk fire from the flame I tendered. Odd thing, by Jove; here I had been going to dinners, world without end, where fellows' wives and girls and sisters smoked cigarettes, and I never had thought a thing about it. But now, somehow, I didn't like it for _her_. Sort of thing well enough for other chaps' girls and sisters, you know, but--well, this was _different_, by Jove! Devilish queer thing, that, what a lot of things seem the caper for them that we don't like for "our own," eh? And yet--oh, I say, she certainly did look fetching about it--downright bewitching, you know! I think maybe it was because she didn't fumble the thing as if she was afraid of it--as if it was just a red hot coal and going to burn her. Most of them do, you know. No, this girl really seemed to enjoy it. Inhaled the whole thing at three draws and reached for another. "Do--er--you smoke much?" I ventured anxiously. "Cigarettes, you know?" She pulled a sparkling half-inch as she shook her little head. I felt awfully relieved. "Not for me," she remarked carelessly. "I prefer a pipe." "_Pipe!_" I repeated feebly. The golden head inclined. "Bet you! Good old, well-seasoned brier for mine--well-caked and a little strong." Puff-puff. "Oh, damn your patent sanitary pipes, I say!" And as backward I collapsed upon the cushions, she threw her leg over the arm of her chair and shot two long cones of smoke from her dainty nostrils. CHAPTER VI ARCADIAN SIMPLICITY A moment later I had another shock. "I don't blame you for looking at me so hard," she said, rubbing her chin and looking, I thought, a little confused. "For did you ever see a face like mine?" "I--I never did!" I said stammeringly, for, by Jove, the question was so unexpected; but I knew I said it earnestly and with conviction in every word. She nodded. "Never got a chance to shave, you know--caught the train by such a margin--and my kit's in that other bag. Guess I'll have to impose on you in the morning for one of your razors." I stared at her in horror. "Shave? You don't shave?" I protested blankly. "Myself, you mean? Have to; I haven't got a man to do it for me." She seemed to sigh. "Not old enough yet to have a man, Jack says." And just here her attention seemed to center on my cellarette over in the corner. "Gee, but it's warm to-night, isn't it?" she remarked absently. And there was nothing to do but take the hint or leave it; and after all, she was a guest, you know! "Perhaps you will permit me to offer you some refreshment," I suggested, rising. I knew it sounded devilish stiff; and I knew, moreover, that I looked like a jolly muff, in fact.