so pleased at being called young that I let the poor pass."

"Fancy!" she exclaimed, looking at me with eyes like stars. And
then, recovering herself, she added in another tone: "Now don't
you think it was very forward to rendezvous at a private castle?"

"Oh, I thought I could make myself solid before she arrived," I
said.

"Fyles," she said, "I am beginning to have a different opinion of
you. You are not as straightforward as a ffrench ought to be--and,
though I'm ashamed to say it of you--but you are positively
conceited."

"Unsay, take back, those angry words," I said; and even as I did
so the anchor went splash and I could hear the telegraph jingle in
the engine-room.

"And so you're rich," said Verna, "awfully, immensely,
disgustingly rich, and you've been masquerading all this afternoon
as a charming pauper!"

"I don't think I said charming," I remarked.

"But I say it," said Verna, "because, really you know, you're
awfully nice, and I like you, and I'm glad from the bottom of my
heart that you are rich!"

"Thank you," I said, "I'm glad, too."