"But could no one else ask her? Who are her friends?"

"She has a great many; and some, of course, are mine. But in a case
like this they would be all hers; they wouldn't hesitate a moment
between us."

"Why should it be necessary to hesitate between you? Suppose Madame
de Treymes sees the reasonableness of what you ask; suppose, at any
rate, she sees the hopelessness of opposing you? Why should she make
a mystery of your opinion?"

"It's not that; it is that, if I went to her friends, I should never
get her real opinion from them. At least I should never know if it
is _was_ her real opinion; and therefore I should be no farther
advanced. Don't you see?"

Durham struggled between the sentimental impulse to soothe her, and
the practical instinct that it was a moment for unmitigated
frankness.

"I'm not sure that I do; but if you can't find out what Madame de
Treymes thinks, I'll see what I can do myself."

"Oh--_you_!" broke from her in mingled terror and admiration; and
pausing on her doorstep to lay her hand in his before she touched
the bell, she added with a half-whimsical flash of regret: "Why
didn't this happen to Fanny Frisbee?"