She did not answer for quite a time and sat tearing to pieces nervously a leaf she had plucked from a plant near.
“I did not say anything of the kind.”
“You see it’s this way,” I said, not heeding her words. “I came to Belgrade to humiliate you, to insult you, to trample——”
“Don’t, Mr. Bergwyn,” she cried, quickly.
I threw up my hands as one who is aggrieved. “You won’t let me tell you the truth, you see. I think it’s a little hard on me, anyway. A man doesn’t get many chances of complete self-revelation; and I was just enjoying——”
She was looking straight out in front of her and turned her head with one swift glance that stopped my banter. I broke off and said very earnestly:
“If I did not come for that purpose then I came to serve you.”
“You should not have come at all. You cannot serve me.”
“On the contrary I have already done so. I know what you do not—the reason behind your—behind the supposed brigand business.”
“What do you mean?”