"Yes," he answered with such inoffensive and guileless conviction that she was silent.
He went on presently: "Monstrous as my stupidity is, monumental ass as I must appear to you, I am, as a matter of fact, rather a decent fellow—the sort of man a girl need not flay alive to punish."
"I do not desire to punish you. I do not expect to know you——"
"Do you mean 'expect,' or 'desire'?"
"I mean both, if you insist." There was a sudden glimmer in her clear eyes that warned him; but he went on:
"I beg you to give me a chance to prove myself not such a clown as you think me."
"But I don't think about you at all!" she explained.
"Won't you give me a chance?"
"How?"