"I am grieved to say that I don't know. But can I do
anything? What would you wish me to do? Pray command me."
Again, the greatest astonishment became visible in her face; for she now
perceived how different he was from the other men in the room. He was as
different from them as she was different from the other members of the
ladies' orchestra.
"Command you?" she breathed, after a time, in a bewildered tone. "Who
are you?" she asked a little louder.
"I am staying in this hotel for a few days. I just dropped in casually
here. This outrage--"
"Don't you try to interfere," she said so earnestly that Heyst asked, in
his faintly playful tone:
"Is it your wish that I should leave you?"
"I haven't said that," the girl answered. "She pinched me because I
didn't get down here quick enough--"
"I can't tell you how indignant I am--" said Heyst. "But since you are
down here now," he went on, with the ease of a man of the world speaking
to a young lady in a drawing-room, "hadn't we better sit down?"
She obeyed his inviting gesture, and they sat down on the nearest
chairs. They looked at each other across a little round table with a
surprised, open gaze, self-consciousness growing on them so slowly that
it was a long time before they averted their eyes; and very soon they
met again, temporarily, only to rebound, as it were.
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