"I wish I could find you a wife; you would make a good husband."
"Thank you. I am even willing, with your assistance, to prove it. Who was she, and how came she in your house?"
"She wished that favor, and that her presence in New York should not be known. Now, describe to me exactly what happened. I am worrying about the plate and the silver."
He laughed. "And you will meet me half-way?"
"I promise to tell you all I ... dare."
"There is a mystery?"
"Yes. So begin with your side of it."
He was a capital story-teller. He recounted the adventure in all its color; the voice under his window, the personals in the paper, the interchange of letters, the extraordinary dinner, the mask in the envelope. She followed him with breathless interest.
"Charming, charming!" She clapped her hands. "And how well you tell it! You have told it just as it happened."
"Just as it happened!" confounded for a moment.