"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"You're an autocrat. You're a lady-Nero! Tell me, Miss Erith, were you ever afraid of anything on earth?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Lightning and caterpillars."
"Those are probably the only really dangerous things I never feared," he said. "You seem to be young and human and feminine. Are you?"
"Oh, very."
"Then why aren't you afraid of being shot for a burglar, and why do you go so gaily about grand larceny?"
The girl's light laughter was friendly and fearless.
"Do you live alone?" he inquired after a moment's silence.