"Why, what a speech!" she cried, and, laughing, gave him a quick
glance in which there glimmered some real surprise. He was
looking at her quizzically, but with the liveliest appreciation.
Her surprise increased; and she was glad that he had joined her.

To be seen walking with such a companion added to her pleasure.
She would have described him as "altogether quite stunning-looking";
and she liked his tall, dark thinness, his gray clothes, his soft
hat, and his clean brown shoes; she liked his easy swing of the
stick he carried.

"Shouldn't I have said it?" he asked. "Would you rather not be
taken for a Spanish countess?"

"That isn't it," she explained. "You said----"

"I said I'd take you for whatever you wanted me to. Isn't that
all right?"

"It would all depend, wouldn't it?"

"Of course it would depend on what you wanted."

"Oh, no!" she laughed. "It might depend on a lot of things."

"Such as?"

"Well----" She hesitated, having the mischievous impulse to say,
"Such as Mildred!" But she decided to omit this reference,
and became serious, remembering Russell's service to her at