For a moment she pondered in turn.
“Then why didn’t we go there this morning?”
“This is your excursion, not mine.”
“But we’re going shares on expenses, aren’t we?”
“I hope so. I warned you that I don’t always pay my debts. You wanted the hill and the view—so did I; so did I, believe me; it was glorious—but I felt under obligations to consider your wishes before my own. And—well, I did not suspect at our first meeting—forgive me!—that you would be—uh—up to doing Pompeiian mosaics and Roman bronzes. You are the sort who keep the best of their mind concealed at first. You——”
He stopped.
“Go on.”
“Do you mind if I pick you apart like this? It is an absorbing interest of mine.”
“I rather like it. It’s like having your fortune told. Go on.”
“You chatter at first, rather—well, too fluently, perhaps; and in words and phrases of a language you learned at about sixteen. Now I should say that you were at least ten years older than that——”