Then she realized that he had forgotten everything; forgotten her, forgotten what had happened, even forgotten what he was like when he was young.
"Stop being polite," she said coldly. "You were not polite when I saw you last."
"I am very sorry," he exclaimed, suddenly alarmed.
"Turn round. Look at the mountains."
"Yes, yes." His fishy eyes blinked nervously. He fiddled with his watch chain which lay in a furrow of his waistcoat. He ran away to warn some poorly dressed children off the view-terrace. When he returned she still insisted.
"I must tell you," she said, in calm, business-like tones. "Look at that great mountain, round which the road goes south. Look half-way up, on its eastern side—where the flowers are. It was there that you once gave yourself away."
He gaped at her in horror. He remembered. He was inexpressibly shocked.
It was at that moment that Colonel Leyland returned.
She walked up to him, saying, "This is the man I spoke of yesterday."
"Good afternoon; what man?" said Colonel Leyland fussily. He saw that she was flushed, and concluded that some one had been rude to her. Since their relations were somewhat anomalous, he was all the more particular that she should be treated with respect.