"Now, you will drink this Monsieur Pierre, and you will rest quite still till it is time to go back to the yacht; and to-morrow you will not feel any pain, I am sure. And I do think it will not be an ugly scar for long."
"If it is," answered Pierre, "I shall say I received it in a duel! Then I shall be great—glorious! and all the pretty ladies will love me!"
She laughed,—but looked grave a moment afterwards.
"You must never say what is not true," she said. "It is wrong to deceive any one,—even in a small matter."
Duprèz gazed up at her wonderingly, feeling very much like a chidden child.
"Never say what is not true!" he thought. "Mon Dieu! what would become of my life?"
It was a new suggestion, and he reflected upon it with astonishment. It opened such a wide vista of impossibilities to his mind.
Meanwhile old Güldmar was engaged in pouring out wine for the other young men, talking all the time.
"I tell thee, Thelma mine," he said seriously, "something must be very wrong with our Sigurd. The poor lad has always been gentle and tractable, but to-day he was like some wild animal for mischief and hardihood. I grieve to see it! I fear the time may come when he may no longer be a safe servant for thee, child!"
"Oh, father!"—and the girl's voice was full of tender anxiety—"surely not! He is too fond of us to do us any harm—he is so docile and affectionate!"