"And," she went on enthusiastically, "I shall stretch out my hands to you, and you will raise me tenderly from the floor, and I shall then explain——"
"That appearances were against you, but that Eugene is really your brother by a first marriage——"
"And I shall then call for the smelling salts and swoon like this"—she collapsed in an inanimate heap on the sofa—"and you will rise to your full height——"
"Yes," I said, "I shall forgive you freely."
"No," she said, "you will blame yourself for not having appreciated my angelic nature, for having treated me as a mere toy, for having——"
"Yes," I said," for having married you at all. But I shall forgive you all the same, and I shall present you with the locket containing my grandmother's miniature. Come on; let us start at once. I forgive you from the bottom of my heart."
"All right," she said, "I accept your forgiveness. And now that we've cleared the ground, you'll perhaps allow me——"
"Aha," I said, "then there is something after all?"
"There always is something," she said, "so perhaps you'll allow me to ask you a question?"
"A question?" I said. "Ask me fifty. I don't promise to answer them. I'm only human, you know, but——"