“Now—the instincts of class are so strong in you—I think to avoid the risk of self-betrayal, you had better let me appear your cousin in fact.”
“You mean, you are not to defer to me, not to show any knowledge of—of my rank? But, when we are alone——”
“It is the question of the habit. Once acquired, accident might surprise one into a blunder before witnesses.”
“Why should there be any?”
“There shall not be, if I can help it. But it is best to guard against contingencies.”
She yielded the point reluctantly, and with evident disappointment.
“Very well,” she said. “Call me Cousin, if you must.”
“The truth remains to our hearts,” I said. “Subconsciously, you shall still be Countess, and I your faithful commoner. It is really a compromise, if you would know. My step-sister’s directions to me were to call you Fifine.”
She bit at her little round lower lip, as if in a sudden flush of resentment.
“I will not be Fifine to you,” she said. “That is positive.”