"And he's here?"
"Yes, I'm sure of that."
"I haven't met anyone of that name."
"You couldn't mistake. In my opinion, Miss Mallory, he's easily the best-looking man on the Island."
"I'm sure I haven't met him."… She hesitated, smiling-queerly. "But if I should, is there any way I can help you?"
"Not by speaking to him about me. That would yoke you with my fortunes."
"How, then?"
Her eagerness appealed to him. "If you could tell me at any time just where I might find this Framtree—yes, that would help," he said, with a laugh.
"I'd be proud to help you in any way…. It's the most fascinating place I've ever been in," she added with an effort. "I haven't heard a thing about war, but the whole establishment is buzzing with conspiracies and mystery. There isn't any rest. Everyone is afraid of his neighbor; no one trusts himself to fall asleep in peace, for fear someone will pry his secret away—a terrible atmosphere—but what an adventure if it breaks into war before my eyes…. And I've met the Glow-worm——"
Her whole manner changed for an instant. Miss Mallory was now an emancipated creature, living to the very rim of her being. She belonged to the tropics, and was playing a game all spiced with enchantments…. Bedient remembered what Captain Carreras had said about the Glow-worm, on the day of his first coming to Equatoria. The story attached was that Celestino Rey had found this woman among the red lights of Buenos Aires, and had forced her to come with him. Bedient was not particularly interested, but Miss Mallory's study of the hidden-flamed creature, Señora Rey, and what she told him, adjusted easily to what he had already heard of the woman from South America.