"Then what is it? You must tell me."
Norman sat on the table and put his hands on the girl's shoulders.
"Well, then, who do you suppose I am?" he asked, with a half-smile.
"Why, an Englishman, of course."
"An Englishman. But what Englishman? And why should I come to Alsander and live in Alsander?"
"But why not? Other Englishmen have come to Alsander."
"Yes, but to buy and sell."
This crude artifice was quite enough to trouble the wits of Peronella.
"It is very strange," she said, musing, "and Cesano said it was strange, but who are you, then, by all the Saints?"
"That I cannot tell you, Peronella."