Olive did not reply, neither did she meet the eyes of Ricordo, which were lifted to her face. She wondered whether they had told this man anything of the past.
"And you like Vale Linden?" she asked presently, in order to break the silence.
"It is the Garden of Eden," replied Ricordo; "yes, the Garden of Eden before the serpent brought trouble."
She wanted to speak in reply; but nothing came to her to say. She felt that Herbert Briarfield was right. The man suggested mystery; she was not sure that he had favourably impressed her, and yet there was a kind of fascination in his presence.
"You know England?" she said presently; "you speak our language so well, you must have spent a good deal of time in the country."
"Can any man know a country?" asked Ricordo. "The geography, that is not difficult. An hour with a map, and even London can be known. But the fields, the hills, the roads, the towns, they do not make a country. The people of England, then? Ah, I am profoundly ignorant of the people."
"And yet we are not a difficult people to understand," remarked Olive.
"No, you think not? I do not know, I have never tried to know."
"No?"
"I am content to look on the surface."