"In your uniform?" she asked, opening her eyes a little. "No, no, Mr Belke!"

"Well then, get me a suit of mufti!"

She looked at me hard.

"You will really run that risk?"

"It is now worth it," I said with meaning.

She looked away, and for a moment I thought she was pained—not displeased, I am sure, but as if something had given her a pang of sorrow. Then the look passed, and she cried—

"Well, if Tiel agrees!"

"Tiel be hanged! I don't care what he says!"

She began to smile.

"Do you propose to wear my clothes?" she inquired.