"Then a silk scarf?"
"No, I was only joking. I'll tell you for nothing. Why, who but the echo speaks all the languages of this world?"
"Dear me, how stupid not to have thought of it. Tell me, do you think me very stupid?"
Milena smiled. She did think him rather dull, but not in the way he meant.
"You see how good I am. I tell you for nothing. Now, if you had put me a riddle, and I could not have answered, you surely would have asked"—here there was a catch in her voice—"a kiss from me."
Uros blushed as red as a damask-rose; he tried to speak, but did not know what to say.
"Oh! don't say no; you men are all alike."
The young man looked up at her with an entreating look, then down again; still he did not speak. Milena remained silent, as if waiting for an answer; she fidgeted and twisted the fringe of her apron round her fingers, then she heaved a deep sigh. After a few minutes' pause:
"Do you know any riddles?" she asked.
"Oh, yes! I know several."