“No—rhymes—although they come to me very fast. At school I wrote lots of them.”

“You will show them to me, Sweetheart? I will tell you then whether you are a true poet or simply a rhymester.”

“I will show them to you on one condition, Mr. de Vere.”

“Well?”

“That you answer the question I asked you just now.”

“What was it?”

“Which do you prefer—beauty or intellect?”

“But I answered it.”

“No; you expressed a preference for a combination. I desire that you express a choice.”

Norman laughed at her anxiety, with a little inward wonder over it.