“The influence on Me?” she asked.
“No. The influence which You might exercise on another person.”
She knew perfectly well that he was speaking of himself. But she was determined to feel the pleasure of making him own it.
“If I have any such influence as you describe,” she began, “I hope it is for good?”
“Certainly for good.”
“You speak positively, Mr. Romayne. Almost as positively—only that can hardly be—as if you were speaking from experience.”
He might still have evaded a direct reply, if she had been content with merely saying this. But she looked at him while she spoke. He answered the look.
“Shall I own that you are right?” he said. “I was thinking of my own experience yesterday.”
She returned to the photographs. “It sounds impossible,” she rejoined, softly. There was a pause. “Was it anything I said?” she asked.
“No. It was only when you looked at me. But for that look, I don’t think I should have been here to-day.”