He
wasn't a bad chap. Now that I can't be of any use to him, I would just
as soon forget all that and make a fresh start. But these aren't things
that I could talk to you about. What could I ever talk to you about?"
"Don't let it trouble you," Heyst said. "Your voice is enough. I am in
love with it, whatever it says."
She remained silent for a while, as if rendered breathless by this quiet
statement.
"Oh! I wanted to ask you--"
He remembered that she probably did not know his name, and expected the
question to be put to him now; but after a moment of hesitation she went
on:
"Why was it that you told me to smile this evening in the concert-room
there--you remember?"
"I thought we were being observed. A smile is the best of masks.
Schomberg was at a table next but one to us, drinking with some Dutch
clerks from the town. No doubt he was watching us--watching you, at
least. That's why I asked you to smile."
"Ah, that's why. It never came into my head!"
"And you did it very well, too--very readily, as if you had understood
my intention."
"Readily!" she repeated. "Oh, I was ready enough to smile then. That's
the truth. It was the first time for years I may say that I felt
disposed to smile. I've not had many chances to smile in my life, I can
tell you; especially of late."
"But you do it most charmingly--in a perfectly fascinating way.
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