"Yes, I did, but not wilfully, of course, nor yet stupidly."

"I read the evidence, and, frankly, it looked like stupidity."

"I haven't been called stupid usually, have I"

"No. I've heard you called many things, but never that."

Every inch of his five-feet-five was pluck. He could take her shots
broadside, and laugh while he winced. "You've heard me called a good
many things not complimentary, I suppose, for I know I'm not much to look
at, and I've an edge to my tongue sometimes. What is the worst thing you
ever said of me?" he added a little bitterly.

"What I say to you now--though, by the way, I've never said it before--
that your self-confidence is appalling. Don't you know that I'm very
popular, that they say I'm clever, and that I'm a tall, good-looking
girl?"

She looked down at him, and said it with such a delightful naivete,
through which a tone of raillery ran, that it did not sound as it may
read. She knew her full value, but no one had ever accused her of
vanity--she was simply the most charming, outspoken girl in the biggest
city of Australia.

"Yes, I know all that," he replied with an honest laugh. "When you were
a little child,--according to your mother, and were told you were not
good, you said: 'No, I'm not good--I'm only beautiful.'"

Dibbs had a ready tongue, and nothing else he said at the moment could