"Did you mean to give offence?" she asked.

"No, certainly, I did not."

"Then why should you think you had offended me?"

"Well, I don't know, I--" he stammered.

Miss Earle looked at him with such clear, innocent, and unwavering eyes
that the young man felt that he could neither apologise nor make an
explanation.

"I'm afraid," he said, "that I am encroaching on your time."

"Yes, I think you are: that is, if you intend to live up to your
contract, and let me live up to mine. you have no idea how much more
interesting this book is than you are."

"Why, you are not a bit flattering, Miss Earle, are you?"

"No, I don't think I am. Do you try to be?"

"I'm afraid that in my lifetime I have tried to be, but I assure you,
Miss Earle, that I don't try to be flattering, or try to be anything but
what I really am when I am in your company. To tell the truth, I am too
much afraid of you."

Miss Earle smiled and went on with her reading, while Morris went once
more back into the smoking-room.