"Pooh!" said Belinda, laughing. She drew her chair a little closer. "Come, you haven't told me what's on your ring."
"My stemma—the coat-of-arms of my family."
He did not offer to show her the ring. She bent nearer, gazing at it.
"What's the motto?" she asked, her face close to his hand.
"'Che prendo—tengo,'" said Amaldi.
"And what does it mean?"'
"'What I take—I keep.'"
"I believe you!" she exclaimed boldly. She flashed her eyes to his. "You look as if you'd know how to keep what you chose to take. You've got such a very 'Don't-monkey-with-the-buzz-saw' air about you. It rather fascinates me...."
"You raise me to vertiginous heights," said Amaldi in the same tone.
"Oh, come off!" retorted Belinda with her joyous grin.