"Is that really all you want in this
world?"
"No," he answered, looking at her.
She gave a little laugh and moved rather hurriedly.
"I was going to suggest that you could have both at certain fixed
periods--whenever--I am out."
"I am glad you did not suggest it."
"Why?" she asked sharply.
"Because I should have had to go into explanations. I did not say all."
Mrs. Bamborough was looking into the fire, only half listening to him.
There was something in the nature of a duel between these two. Each
thought more of the next stroke than of the present party.
"Do you ever say all, M. de Chauxville?" she asked.
The baron laughed. Perhaps he was vain of the reputation that was his,
for this man was held to be a finished diplomatist. A finished
diplomatist, be it known, is one who is a dangerous foe and an
unreliable friend.
"Perhaps--now that I reflect upon it," continued the clever woman,
disliking the clever man's silence, "the person who said all would be
intolerable."
"There are some things which go without it," said De Chauxville.
"Ah?" looking lazily back at him over her shoulder.
"Yes."
He was cautious, for he was fighting on a field which women may rightly
claim for their own. He really loved Etta. He was trying to gauge the
meaning of a little change in her tone toward him--a change so subtle
that few men could have detected it.
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