Blynn explained, quoting the verses of the game, and joked about the tell-tale tie.
“Ah!” Leopold adjusted the cravat thoughtfully. “She did not give a name to it.”
That night Blynn and Leopold walked home together. They talked of Gorgas as if the theme had been set in advance. She came abruptly into their conversation, but so intent was each upon his own thought that neither considered the need of apology or explanation. Without introduction, Leopold began:
“She is beautifully unschooled. It is a rare thing nowadays to meet a natural woman—and with the beginnings of a mind.”
“Sometimes,” Blynn pondered as he talked, “I have taken pride in having shaped that mind of hers. But—she is herself, and would have been herself without any help or hindrance from me.”
“You have done much for her,” Leopold protested.
“Nonsense!”
“Much! I recognize it. Some of your Puritan conscience is in her.”
“How do you make that out?”