The answer seemed somehow to reassure her. She leaned a little towards
him. Under cover of the music her voice was inaudible to any one else.

"Mr. Wrayson," she said, "please don't think me unkind. I know that I
have a great deal to thank you for, and that there are certain
explanations which you have almost a right to demand from me. And yet I
ask you to go away, to ask me nothing at all, to believe me when I assure
you that there is nothing in the world so undesirable as any acquaintance
between you and me."

Wrayson was staggered, the words were so earnestly spoken, and the look
which accompanied them was so eloquent. He was never sure, when he
thought it over afterwards, what manner of reply he might not have made
to an appeal, the genuineness of which was absolutely convincing. But
before he could frame an answer, the Baroness intervened.

"Louise," she said softly, "do you not think that this place is a
little public for intimate conversation, and will you not introduce to
me your friend?"

Wrayson, who had been afraid of dismissal, turned at once, almost
eagerly, towards the Baroness. She smiled at him graciously. Louise
hesitated for a moment. There was no smile upon her lips. She bowed,
however, to the inevitable.

"This is Mr. Wrayson," she said quietly; "the Baroness de Sturm."

The Baroness raised her eyebrows, and she bestowed upon Wrayson a
comprehending look. The graciousness of her manner, however, underwent no