"I wish I did. My mother had one idea in regard to my youth: I should speak four languages and eventually become a great diplomat. As it stands, I speak indifferent French and German, and am not in the diplomatic service. My mother had one of the loveliest voices. It was a joy to hear her speak, now Italian, now German, now French. She understood that in these days one does not travel far with Greek and Latin, though they come in handy when you strike old inscriptions. We were great comrades. It was rare fun to go with her on an antique-hunting expedition. They never fooled her nor got the better of her in a bargain." She liked the way he spoke of his mother. "But you," he said; "you are not Italian." She smiled. "You are neither French, German nor English." She still smiled, but to the smile she added a gentle shrug. "You are American--like myself!" he hazarded. Her fingers stirred over the keys again, and Grieg's _Papillon_ fluttered softly from flower to flower. CHAPTER VI INTO THE FOG AGAIN He sat there, waiting and listening. From the light and airy butterfly, the music changed to Farwell's _Norwegian Song_. Hillard saw the lonely sea, the lonely twilight, the lonely gull wheeling seaward, the lonely little cottage on the cliffs, and the white moon in the far east. And presently she spoke, still playing softly. "My father was an American, my mother Italian. But I have lived in Europe nearly all my life. There! You have more of my history than I intended telling you." The music went dreamily. "I knew it. Who but an American woman would have the courage to do what you are doing to-night? Who but one of mine own countrywomen would trust me so wholly and accept me so frankly for what I am, an American gentleman?" "Softly!" she warned. "You will dig a pit for your vanity." "No. I am an American gentleman, and I am proud of it; though this statement in your ears may have a school-boy ring." "A nobility in this country? Impossible!" "Not the kind you find in the _Almanach de Gotha_. I speak of the nobility of the heart and the mind." He was very much in earnest now. "Indeed!" The music stopped, and she turned. She regarded his earnestness with favor. "I have traveled much; I have found noblemen everywhere, in all climes, and also I have found beasts. Oh, I confess that my country is not wholly free from the beast. But the beast here is a beast; shunned, discredited, outcast. On the other side, if he be mentioned in the _Almanach_, they give him sashes and decorations. And they credit us with being money-mad! It is not true. It is proved every day in the foreign cables that our love for money is not one-tenth so strong as that which our continental cousins evince." "But if you are not money-mad, why these great fortunes?" dubiously.