"I have not given you permission to call me thou!"
"It is my gratitude that—that permits me."
"Ah, that is nice." She smiled with pleasure. "That was very prettily said."
"Nicole?"
"Yes."
"Place your ear to my lips; I cannot talk so far."
The girl, with a smile, divining the ruse, leaned over him. But Barabant making no sound, she withdrew, scrutinizing anxiously the hot face.
"Nicole."
"I am here."