"You knew where I stood," said I. "Why practice deception?"
"Yes," said she, "you are practically Yankee."
"So is that Viking, Smith."
"I know. And the Yankees are at war."
"They are, God bless them."
"God bless them," she said; and her face grew very still and serious.
After a silence: "There is a common ground," she said, "on which we both may stand. And that is no-man's land. To redeem it I am long since enlisted in the crusade.... Your heart, Monsieur, is enlisted too.... I knew that.... Else I had never trusted you."
"How did you know?"
She shrugged: "Long ago we had all necessary information concerning you and your Viking friend. Yet for all that it was not prudent for me to so carelessly reveal myself to you.... But when I saw you—" she laughed mischievously—"as I have admitted, already, you inspired me to indiscreet behavior. And I didn't resist—knowing you to be safe."
"Safe?"