"'I guess a white man couldn't do less,' she replied, smiling, and we strolled on together.
"Do not think me boastful or vainglorious if I tell you that, as your phrase is, I 'made the running quickly.' A revolutionist must needs do so. He is a busy man, with little leisure on his hands; he never knows what an hour may bring forth for him; gallantry is seldom possible for him, save on the condition that he makes haste with it and does not dally over the preliminaries. Besides, he enjoys advantages denied to most of you; he dazzles by virtue of the mystery which surrounds him; like the soldier, he carries his life in his hands. Such things appeal to women. It did not surprise me, therefore, that my beautiful American grew confidential.
"'I'm Daisy van Bean,' she said, 'the daughter of the railroad king, and I'm stopping with poppa at Territet. But say, now. You've walked all this way with me and you haven't yet told me what your name is.'
"It was my chance for the great coup which was to fascinate her imagination, if not to win her heart. I answered—
"'Beautiful Daisy, I will surprise you. I am Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski—the revolutionist—the fugitive—the inventor.'
"'The inventor? Say, now, what have you invented?'
"'I have just invented a new bomb.'
"She clapped her hands.
"'That's just too lovely for anything,' she said. 'Tell me all about it.'
"I hesitated; you would have done the same. Such secrets are not lightly to be babbled of. But was there ever an inventor who did not delight to talk of his invention—even before it was provisionally protected? So I told.