"No doubt you'd like to see her. I can get her address for you."
"There is nothing I want less than to see her. Nor any one else from Austria—at present."
"I think this could not have been your friend. She emphatically said—I am afraid of being horribly rude——"
"Ah!" For the first time since he had known her the color flooded her face; then it receded, leaving her more pale than white. "I understand."
"Of course, it may be another Countess Loyos. Like the Zattianys, it may be a large family."
"As it happens there is no other."
Silence. He swore to himself. He had no desire to skate within a mile of her confounded mysteries and now like a fool he had precipitated himself into their midst again. But if she wouldn't talk.…
"Suppose we talk of something else," he said hurriedly. "I assure you that I have deliberately suppressed all curiosity. I am only too thankful to know you on any terms."
"But you think I am in danger again?"
"Yes, I do. That is, if you wish to keep your identity a secret—for your own good reasons. Of course, no harm can come to you. I assume that you are not a political refugee—in danger of assassination!"