She smiled. “I am past being vexed or worried at anything!” she said. “Life is just a mere ‘going on’ for me now, with thankfulness to find even a moment of interest in it as I go!”
Dimitrius rose from his chair and walked up and down, his hands clasped behind his back. She watched him in fascinated attention, with something of suspense and fear lest after all he should decide against her. She noted the supple poise of his athletic figure, clad in a well-cut, easy summer suit of white flannels,—his dark, compact head, carried with a certain expression of haughtiness, and last, but not least, his hands, which in their present careless attitude nevertheless expressed both power and refinement.
Suddenly he wheeled sharply round and stood, facing her.
“I think you will do,” he said,—and her heart gave a quick throb of relief which, unconsciously to herself, suffused her pale face with a flush of happiness—“I think I shall find in you obedience, care, and loyalty. But there is yet an important point to consider,—do you, in your turn, think you can put up with me? I am very masterful, not to say obstinate; I will have no ‘scamp’ work,—I am often very impatient, and I can be extremely disagreeable. You must take all this well into your consideration, for I am perfectly honest with you when I say I am not easy to serve. And remember!”—here he drew a few steps closer to her and looked her full in the eyes—“the experiments on which I am engaged are highly dangerous,—and, as I stated in my advertisement, you must not be ‘afraid to take risks,’—for if you agree to assist me in the testing of certain problems in chemistry, it may cost you your very life!”
She smiled.
“It’s very kind of you to prepare me for all the difficulties and dangers of my way,” she said. “And I thank you! But I have no fear. There is really nothing to be afraid of,—one can but die once. If you will take me, I’ll do my faithful best to obey your instructions in every particular, and so far as is humanly possible, you shall have nothing to complain of.”
He still bent his eyes searchingly upon her.
“You have a good nerve?”
“I think so.”
“You must be sure of that! My laboratory is not a place for hesitation, qualms, or terrors,” he said. “The most amazing manifestations occur there sometimes——”