"At least, never with one as pretty as Lady Helen," he amended.
I was getting surprises with a vengeance.
"Is it possible you have just discovered she is pretty?" I exclaimed.
He smiled frankly. "No—but it may be I've just discovered how pretty."
"And she's more than pretty," said I, "she's thoroughbred."
He studied me for a moment. "I have often wondered—and now I wonder more than ever—why you—why you never——— You understand."
I nodded. "Yes," said I, "I understand and I rather reckon I would, if it had not been that, a year before I ever saw the Lady Helen, I had ridden with the Princess Dehra, alone, in the Palace forest, for an hour."
At last, I saw Courtney's cold face show genuine surprise.
"And you made no effort then to prove your cousinship?" he exclaimed.
"No," said I.