"N-o—not wholly."
"What, then?"
She hesitated.
"I can't tell you that just yet," she said at last.
"Oh-h!" Laurie pursed his lips in a noiseless whistle. The girl's voice was musically English, and though her accent was that of London, up till now she had spoken as colloquially as any American. Indeed, her speech was much like his sister's. He was puzzled.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"That I am not wholly American?" She was smiling at him ironically, but he remained serious.
"Yes. And—oh, a lot of things! Of course you know I am all at sea about you."
The familiar shadow fell over her face.
"When one is within an hour or two of the next world," she asked indifferently, "why should one tell anybody anything?"