And a leaflet green, with its silvery sheen,
Was seen by the idler, too.
As he thus reclined, a cold north wind
Of a sudden blew around,
And a maiden fair, who was walking there,
Next morning an opal found!"
I ventured to pat her shoulder approvingly. I glanced furtively round; the Tolstoff had gone out of the room, and somehow my arm slipped round Valerie, who looked up at me, smiling archly, yet she said, firmly,
"Pray don't."
"How much longer am I to keep this silence?" I asked.
"How--what silence?"
"To be thus in suspense, Valerie," I added, lowering my voice and bending my face towards her ear.
Her smile passed away, her white lids drooped, and perplexity and trouble stole over her eyes, as she drew her head back.
"I do not know what you mean, or whither your conversation tends," she said.