Hedrick slew a mosquito upon his temple, smiting himself hard.
"No, they're Chinese!" he muttered hoarsely.

"They're Neapolitans," said Corliss.

"Do they wear red sashes and earrings?" asked Cora.

"One of them wears earrings and a derby hat!"

"Ah!" she protested, turning to him again. "You don't tell me. You
let me cross-question you, but you don't tell me things! Don't you
see? I want to know what _life_ is! I want to know of strange
seas, of strange people, of pain and of danger, of great music, of
curious thoughts! What are the Neapolitan women like?"

"They fade early."

She leaned closer to him. "Before the fading have you--have you
loved--many?"

"All the pretty ones I ever saw," he answered gayly, but with
something in his tone (as there was in hers) which implied that
all the time they were really talking of things other than those
spoken. Yet here this secret subject seemed to come near the
surface.

She let him hear a genuine little snap of her teeth. "I _thought_
you were like that!"

He laughed. "Ah, but you were sure to see it!"