"Don't be an ass! You know very well what I mean."
"I've no argument to offer, nor any picture to prove my case. You've had an adventure; give it up, every bit of it."
"One of the finest horsewomen I ever saw. Took a wall three feet high the other morning, just to see if I dared follow. Lucky Dandy is a hunter, or I'd have broken my neck."
"Very interesting." Then of a sudden a thought flashed through my head and out again. "Anybody with her?"
"Only myself these three mornings."
"H'm! Did you get as far as names?"
"Yes; I told her mine. Who is Hildegarde von Heideloff?"
"Heideloff?" I was puzzled. My suspicions evaporated. "I can't say that I know any one by that name. Sure it was Heideloff?"
"Do you mean to tell me," with blank astonishment, "that there is a petticoat on horseback in this duchy that you do not know?"
"I don't know any woman by the name of Hildegarde von Heideloff; on my word of honor, Max, I don't."