'Why should we two wait to be introduced?' said he. 'We know one
another. I am Alvan. You are she of whom I heard from Kollin: who else?
Lucretia the gold-haired; the gold-crested serpent, wise as her sire;
Aurora breaking the clouds; in short, Clotilde!'

Her heart exulted to hear him speak her name. She laughed with a radiant
face. His being Alvan, and his knowing her and speaking her name, all
was like the happy reading of a riddle. He came round to her, bowing,
and his hand out. She gave hers: she could have said, if asked, 'For
good!' And it looked as though she had given it for good.




CHAPTER IV

'Hamlet in due season,' said he, as they sat together. 'I shall convince
you.'

She shook her head.

'Yes, yes, an opinion formed by a woman is inflexible; I know that: the
fact is not half so stubborn. But at present there are two more
important actors: we are not at Elsinore. You are aware that I hoped to
meet you?'

'Is there a periodical advertisement of your hopes?--or do they come to
us by intuition?'

'Kollin was right!--the ways of the serpent will be serpentine. I knew