"No, general, you are wrong."
"Ah, I am wrong, am I? Not an hour ago she told me so of her own accord."
"General, it was a jest."
"A jest! You call it a jest to surprise a girl in the dark"—
"To what?" gasped Tancred. "To what?"
"There, you know well enough what I mean. I refer to the other evening."
"Merciful heaven!" groaned Tancred, "it was she then that I kissed."
"It is a jest to do a thing like that, to write impassioned letters, and to win a heart. Is it a jest you call it, sir, or did I misunderstand your words?"
"No general, not that. What I meant was that it was impossible for Miss Van Lier to have confessed to any love for me—"
The lattice at the window was thrust aside. For a second the girl's sidereal eyes blazed into the room.