"Confound it!" he said. "I can't stand it much longer. Friendship is all very well, and the big brother act may do for a while—but I can't keep it up forever, and what's more, I won't!"
And then he heard her calling, in the clear, high voice he had grown to love.
"All right!" he shouted. "Come along!"
Presently she appeared between the trees, and he watched her with beating heart—so straight, so supple, so perfect in every line.
"Did the magic work?" she inquired, gayly.
"Partly; but it takes more than water to remove a two-days' growth of beard," and Stewart ran a rueful finger over his stubbly chin. "But can it be only two days since you burst into my room at the Kölner Hof, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me!"
"Please do not speak of it!" she pleaded, with crimson cheeks. "It was not an easy thing for a girl to do; but that spy was watching—so I nerved myself, and——"
"You did it very well, indeed," he said, reminiscently. "And to think that not once since then——"
"Once was quite enough."
"Oh, I don't blame you; I know I'm not an attractive object. People will be taking us for beauty and the beast."