"Some one you like?"

"Yes!"

"A relation?"

"That I can't say."

"Then I can't help you. I am naturally inquisitive; curiosity is, as you know, a woman's privilege. You must tell me all."

"It's for a friend, then!"

"A man?"

"No," Shiel replied, "for a girl!"

There was an emphatic silence, and then Lilian Rosenberg spoke.

"Have I ever heard you mention her?"