Our hero smiled and said:
"Shall I select the place where we shall go?"
"If you please."
"You do not seek privacy?"
"Only so far as I can relate my story and be heard by you alone, and let me tell you I may do you a great service while you are serving me."
"That will be splendid," said Oscar.
He walked with the veiled woman to a well-known restaurant. He led her to a table in a remote corner, and the moment they were seated she removed her veil and disclosed a very beautiful face. She was evidently an American woman, and our hero had detected a Yankee pronunciation, but he was thoughtful enough to know that the down east idiom might be assumed. We will here say that his suspicions of the woman had not relaxed, but when he beheld her fair, beautiful face his suspicion was just a little staggered.
As indicated, Oscar had not dismissed his suspicions entirely, and he waited wonderingly for the woman to open up her business.
"You have never beheld my face before?" she said.
"Never."