Now there is but one word
I can say; that you have courage and decision, I know."
He had risen, and unconsciously the young woman also had
risen,--balancing, measuring, watching, warding, in this contest,
all too unequal. Suddenly, with a swift and most charming smile
she approached him a half step and held out her hand.
"You are a great man, Sir. Your country has found you great. I
have always found the greatest men the simplest and most frank.
Therefore I know you will tell me--you will satisfy any doubt I may
feel--If I should ask a question, you would not condemn me as
presuming?"
"Certainly not. Upon the contrary, my dear Countess, I should feel
flattered."
She looked at him for an instant, then came up to the side of the
table beyond which he had taken his seat. Leaning her chin upon
her hand, her elbow upon the table, in a sudden posture of
encounter, she asked him a question whose answer took him swiftly
far back into his own past, into another and forgotten day.
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