Brooke fancied she meant that it was under somewhat different circumstances, and sat looking at her with a little smile. She was also, he decided, even better worth inspection than she had been in the bush, for the rich attire became her, and the garish electric radiance emphasized the gleam of the white shoulder the dainty laces clung about and of the ivory neck the moonlight had shone upon when first they met.
"No," he said. "The fact is, I have seen you already on several occasions in this city."
Barbara glanced at him covertly. "Then why did you not claim recognition?"
"Isn't the reason obvious?"
"No," said Barbara, reflectively, "I scarcely think it is—unless, of course, you had no desire to renew the acquaintance."
"Does one usually renew a chance acquaintance made with a packer in the bush?"
"It would depend a good deal on the packer," said Barbara, quietly. "Now this country is——"
There was a trace of dryness in Brooke's smile. "You were going to say a democratic one. That, of course, might to some extent explain the anomaly."
"No," said Barbara, sharply, with a very faint flush of color in her face, "I was not. You ought to know that, too. Explanations are occasionally odious, and almost always difficult, but both Major Hume and his daughter invited you to their house if you were ever in England."
"The Major may have felt himself tolerably safe in making that offer," said Brooke, reflectively. "You see, I am naturally acquainted with my fellow Briton's idiosyncrasies."