abortive. Not by so much as the quiver of a muscle or the minutest
shifting of an eye had he given sign. Still convinced that he was the
mysterious knight of the desert, she was moved to admiration for his
self-command and to a sub-thrill of pleasurable fear as before an
unknown and formidable species. The man who had transformed
self-controlled and invincible Io Welland into the creature of moods and
nerves and revulsions which she had been for the fortnight preceding her
marriage, must be something out of the ordinary. Instinct of womankind
told Miss Forbes that this and no other was the type of man to work such
a miracle.

"But you did know Io?" she persisted, feeling, as she afterward
confessed, that she was putting her head into the mouth of a lion
concerning whose habits her knowledge was regrettably insufficient.

The lion did not bite her head off. He did not even roar. He merely
said, "Yes."

"In a railroad wreck or something of that sort?"

"Something of that sort."

"Are you awfully bored and wishing I'd go away and let you alone?" she
said, on a note that pleaded for forbearance. "Because if you are, don't
make such heroic efforts to conceal it."

At this an almost imperceptible twist at the corners of his lips
manifested itself to the watchful eye and cheered the enterprising soul
of Miss Forbes. "No," he said equably, "I'm interested to discover how
far you'll go."