"You have faced death before?" he asked abruptly.
I told him that such was the case; that over ladies fair I had been obliged to fight a duel or two in different parts of Europe.
This answer seemed to enrage him, for at once exclaimed in a passionate voice—
"Toujours les dames. Is it true you are so fortunate?"
"Report credits me with more than my due. Like other men roving about Europe, I have had my adventures."
His next question startled me, and I began to suspect that there was something wrong.
"What do you think of my wife?" was what he asked.
"That you are a man to be envied."
"But that it not the answer. Do you think her pretty?"
"There can be no doubt of that."