Her flushed features quivered, then suddenly her eyes were full of little devils all mocking me.
"I do repeat it," she said. "You dare not!"
At the same instant my hook caught in a branch; I gave it a furious jerk; crack!—my rod broke at the second joint. And the clear laughter of Thusis rang out uncontrolled.
"Alas," said she, "this nice young man is violently offended at something or other."
An unfeigned damn escaped me.
"Mea culpa!" she exclaimed, breathless with laughter. "Mea maxima culpa! This exceedingly nice young man is dreadfully offended."
Mad all through, I picked up the wreck of my rod and stood silent, mechanically fitting together the splintered ends of the second joint. Presently I was aware that she had come up behind me.
"I'm a beast," she said in a small, weak voice.
I said nothing.
"Are you very angry, Don Michael?"—sorrowful but subtly persuasive.