"A sort of concrete vision?" she suggested.
"It sounds absurd, of course, but it wasn't an ordinary sleep. In fact, barring today, I don't know when I slept last. That makes a man queer——"
"Obviously." Her enigmatic kindly smile was like sunshine on her demure gravity. "For instance, you said 'I know' when I introduced myself." The blood welled up under the man's brown skin, and she went on lightly. "I saw you half an hour ago. The shade tempted me—I was hot and tired. Fortunately I came quietly. You had just come out of the water and stood there like a young Beethoven—'this kiss to the whole world——'"
"I felt like that," he stammered. "It just expresses it—only——"
"Of course I went away at once," she said. "I felt you would be disconcerted if you knew—possibly very shocked. You may be now for all I know."
He looked down at his right hand, and then, as though it annoyed him, thrust it into his pocket.
"No," he said, "I'm not."
"I didn't think you would be." She led her horse down to the water, and, with accustomed fingers, unfastened the bit. "Please sit down again, Major Tristram."
He obeyed her instantly, and with his big hands clasped about his knees watched her as she came towards him. The blood was still dark in his face.
"I'm wondering how you knew me," he said abruptly.