"There is so much to tell" I said "that I hardly know where to begin. Perhaps I had better tell you all here, where we are alone and not likely to be disturbed. We have come so fast that we have lots of time and we need not hurry. When you have had your lunch I shall tell you all." "Oh please don't wait till then," she said, "I am all impatience. Let me know right away." "Young woman" I said sternly "you are at present insincere. You _know_ you are ravenously hungry, as you should be after a twenty mile ride; and you are speaking according to your idea of convention and not out of your heart. This is not convention; there is nothing conventional in the whole outfit. Eat the food prepared for you by the thoughtfulness of a very beautiful and charming girl!" She held up a warning finger and said: "Remember '_Bon Camarade_--without prejudice.'" "All right" I answered "so it shall be. But if the lady wants to hold me up for criminal libel I shall undertake to repeat the expression when, and where, and how she will. I shall repeat the assertion and abide by the consequences." She went on eating her sandwiches, not, I thought, displeased. When we had both finished she turned to me and said: "Now!" I took from my pocket the rescript of Don Bernardino de Escoban's narrative and handed it to her. She looked at it, turned over the pages, and glanced at them as she went. Then she returned to the beginning, and after reading the first few lines, said to me with an eager look in her eyes: "Is this really the translation of the secret writing? Oh, I am so glad you have succeeded. You are cute!" She took out her watch, and having looked at it, went on: "We have loads of time. Won't you read it for me? It will be so much nicer! And let me ask you questions." "Delighted!" I answered, "But would it not be better if I read it right through first, and then let you ask questions! Or better still you read it yourself right through, and then ask." I had a purpose in this. If I had to read it, my eyes must be wholly engrossed in my work; but if she read, I need never take them off her face. I longed to see the varying expression with which she would follow every phase of the strange story. She thought for a few seconds before answering, and as she thought looked me straight in the eyes. I think she read my secret, or at any rate enough of it to fathom my wish; nothing else could account for the gentle blush that spread over her face. Then she said in quite a meek tone: "I shall read it myself if you think it best!"