Startled, he turned first red, then white, under the shock of that unexpected encounter. He had a feeling, under those inscrutable eyes, of being detected, stripped of his fine trappings and audacious carriage, and discovered for an upstart impostor, the son of nobody, impudently ruffling it among the great.
Thus an instant. Then, recovering his poise, he went forward with leisurely dignity to make his bow, in which there was nothing rustic.
She coloured slightly. Her eyes kindled, and she drew back as if to depart. A single interjectory word escaped her: 'Audacious!'
'Lady, I thank you for the word. It shall supply the motto I still lack: "Audax," remembering that "Audaces fortuna juvat."'
She had not been a woman had she not answered him.
'Fortune has favoured you already. You prosper, sir.'
'By God's grace, madonna.'
'God has less to do with it, I think, than your own arts.'
'My arts?' He questioned not the word, but the meaning she applied to it.
'Such arts as Judas used. You should study the end he made.'