His answer came, almost in a whisper:

"`Even as you and I.'"

"`Even as you and I,'" she echoed, even more faintly.

"Yes."

Cora breathed rapidly in the silence that followed; she had every
appearance of a woman deeply and mysteriously stirred. Her
companion watched her keenly in the dusk, and whatever the
reciprocal symptoms of emotion he may have exhibited, they were
far from tumultuous, bearing more likeness to the quiet
satisfaction of a good card-player taking what may prove to be a
decisive trick.

After a time she leaned back in her chair again, and began to fan
herself slowly.

"You have lived in the Orient, haven't you, Mr. Corliss?" she said
in an ordinary tone.

"Not lived. I've been East once or twice. I spend a greater part
of the year at Posilipo."

"Where is that?"

"On the fringe of Naples."