"Don't tell me the other times," she interposed.

"No," said I, "I won't."

She fell to plucking the roses again.

"This Captain Smith," she said presently; "was he in Valeria six years ago?"

"That would be in 189—?" I reflected a moment. "Yes he was here that year."

She thought a bit. "Was he given to reminiscing?"

"No one in America but myself knew he had been to Valeria."

She smiled.

I saw the blunder. "It happened he knew of my Dalberg descent," I hastened to add.

"Has he ever mentioned an adventure in the forest near the Summer Palace?"