"Ah, it is only with you that I can do it." She seemed to be more confused at the incident than he. "I know so much more than I ever dare speak of," she added.
This did not weaken her spell.
She continued: "Do you remember what you said, when you read my palm, about my being willing to make an exaggerated confession of motives, rather than seem to be hypocritical, or unable to see my own faults?"
He did not remember, but he dared not say so. He waited a fraction of a second too long before he said:
"Certainly I remember."
She looked hard at him and mentally he cowered under her clear gaze. Then her brows drew slightly together with a puzzled expression, as if she wondered why he should take the trouble to lie about so small a matter. But this passed, and she did not arraign his sincerity.
"Well, what I want you to know now is that I don't consider myself any better—than she is. Do you know what I mean? I don't condemn her. Oh, dear, I'm so inarticulate! I hope you understand!"
"I think I do," he answered, but he could not help speculating as to the definiteness of her perception. She answered his question unasked.
"I get things only vaguely—that's one reason why I could not judge a person upon the evidence of my intuition—I couldn't tell you, for instance, exactly what happened between you two just now. I know only that I was disturbed, and that you, somehow, reassured me."
"But you were more precise about what happened up-stairs." He was still at a loss to fix her limitations.