Sinclair looked down at her thoughtfully, studying her with a strange pang at his heart.
"So you are Takashima's little sweetheart," he said, slowly. "He used to tell us about you in America. He said you were the prettiest thing on earth, and the boys didn't believe him, of course, but, after all—he spoke only the truth."
Again the girl smiled.
"When I was liddle, liddle girl," she said, "Orito carry me high way up on his shoulder. Now I grow big and polite, and he is that far away to me, and I thing' we are strangers."
The man was silent. "But I am vaery happy," she continued, "because some day I will be altogether with Orito, then we will be much luf for each other again."
"May you always be happy, little woman," Sinclair said, almost huskily. "Happiness is a priceless treasure; we throw away our chances of it sometimes recklessly, for a joy of a moment only."
Mrs. Davis' voice broke in on them. She looked quite coldly at Sinclair.
"Come, Numè," she said, "I want you to meet some other people."