“Then I will not mock,” she said.
“Yes, Hadria,” he went on meditatively, “you have grown up, if an old friend may make such remarks, very much as I expected, from the promise of your childhood. You used to puzzle me even then.”
“Do I puzzle you now?” she asked.
“Inexpressibly!”
“How amusing! But how?”
“One can generally see at a glance, or pretty soon, the general trend of a character. But not with you. Nothing that I might hear of you in the future, would very much surprise me. I should say to myself, ‘Yes, the germ was there.’”
Hadria paled a little. “Either good or bad you mean?”
“Well——”
“Yes, I understand.” She drew herself together, crossing her arms, and looking over the hills, with eyes that burned with a sort of fear and defiance mingled. It was a singular expression, which the Professor noted with a sense of discomfort.
Hadria slowly withdrew her eyes from the horizon, and bent them on the ground.