“Did what? Not come down from the rock?”
“Be calm. I shouldn’t want to face you any more than you want to face me, if I decided to do it.”
“Go on,” he encouraged. “It sounds most promising.”
“More than that. It’s fairly thrilling. It’s the awful secret of my life that I’m considering laying bare to you, just like a dime novel. Are you discreet?”
“As the eternal rocks. Prescribe any form of oath and I’ll take it.”
“I’m feeling just irresponsible enough to venture. Now, if I knew you, of course I couldn’t. But as I shall never set eyes on you again—I never shall, shall I?”
“Not unless you creep up on me unawares.”
“Then I’ll unburden my overweighted heart, and you can be my augur and advise me with supernatural wisdom. Are you up to that?”
“Try me.”
“I will. But, remember: this means truly that we are never to meet. And if you ever do meet me and recognize my voice, you must go away at once.”