planets shone, and below them the river glassed and gleamed in its crooked
bed. "I ask you seriously," she said. "What was the trouble between you?"
Doubtless she had a reason for asking, but it was not the one that she
proceeded to give. "Had you--have you, perhaps--any claims in a business
way against him? Because, if you had, it would be most unfair to his
father"--The words gave her difficulty; but her meaning, as forced meanings
are apt to be, was more than plain.

Thane was not deceived: a woman who yields to curiosity, under however
pious an excuse, is, to say the least, normal. Her thoughts are neither in
the heavens above nor in the grave beneath. His black eyes flashed with the
provocation of the moment. It was instinct that bade him not to spare her.

"We quarreled," he said, "in the orthodox way,--about a woman."

"Indeed!" said Daphne. "Then you must pardon me."

"And her name," he continued calmly.

"I did not ask you her name."

"Still, since we have gone so far"--

"There is no need of our going any farther."

"We may as well,--a little farther. We quarreled, strangely enough, about
you,--the first time he ever spoke of you. He would not have spoken then, I
think, but he was a little excited, as well he might have been. Excuse me?"
He waited.