for the Evil One, were perfectly well known to her; and she wondered a
little sharply how far he was still unspoilt. The majority of big,
strong, full-blooded young men in his place would assuredly have sipped
the cup of pleasure pretty deeply by now, even at his years, but with
that fine, strong face, and the clear, frank eyes was he of these? She
believed not, and was glad.

He did not treat her question as if it implied any special favours, and
merely replied jocularly:

"Well, I suppose, since her blood is very blue and mine merely tinged,
she was rather gracious, but of course the really 'blue' people
generally are."

"Tell me who you happen to be?" Lorraine leant back against her
cushions, with her slow, easy grace, asking the question with a
lightness that robbed it of all pointedness or snobbery.

He seemed amused, for he smiled as he answered frankly:

"I happen to be Alymer Hadstock Hermon, one fo _the_ Hermons all right,
but not the drawing-room end, so to speak; at the same time tinged with
her family shadiness - 'blue' of course I mean - though no doubt it
applies in other ways as well. Does that satisfy your curiosity, or do
you want to know more?"

She loved looking at him, particularly with that humorous little smile
on his lips, so she said:

"Not half. I want to know all the rest."