"An easy guess," she retorted. "I write him every day."
The fencing master gave a sigh as he exclaimed:
"Ah, such devotion is truly beautiful! Why have I never known such love as that?"
"Perhaps you never deserved it!" she retorted.
Mr. Parker chuckled.
"That's what we in the American vernacular call 'a knock-out.'"
Helen laughed lightly. There was a swish of silken petticoats, and she disappeared in an alcove, where she sat down at a desk. Keralio looked after her with undisguised admiration and puffed his cigar in silence for a few moments. Then he said:
"It's a big job which you and Traynor are doing out there in South Africa. I see by the papers that you've already made some valuable finds."
He appeared unconcerned, and looked narrowly at his vis à vis to see what effect his words had on him, possibly to draw him out. But Mr. Parker was too old a bird to be caught napping, even by a clever adventurer. Instantly on his guard, he said carelessly:
"The outlook is very bright, very promising indeed. Our stockholders are quite satisfied, and it is likely that we shall make good money. But of course everything is in the experimental stage as yet."