Wir waren Herzensbruder, Waffenfreunde,
Fur eine Sache hoben wir den Arm!"

But Maurice did not take the book she handed him across the table.

"Won't you give me a more definite promise than that?"

Madeleine sat back in her chair, and, folding her arms, looked
thoughtfully at him.

Only a momentary silence followed his words, but, in this fraction of
time, a series of impressions swept through her brain with the
continuity of a bird's flight. It was clear to her at once, that what
prompted his insistence was not an ordinary curiosity, or a passing
whim; in a flash, she understood that here, below the surface,
something was at work in him, the existence of which she had not even
suspected. She was more than annoyed with herself at her own
foolish obtuseness; she had had these experiences before, and then, as
now, the object of her interest had invariably been turned aside by
the first pretty, silly face that came his way. The main difference
was that she had been more than ordinarily drawn to Maurice Guest;
and, believing it impossible, in this case, for anyone else to be
sharing the field with her, she had over-indulged the hope that he
sought her out for herself alone.

She endeavoured to learn more. But this time Maurice was on his guard,
and the questions she put, straight though they were, only elicited
the response that he had seen Miss Dufrayer shortly after arriving,
and had been much struck by her.