im out of eyes so dark
that only the starry light in them betrayed that they were blue and
not velvet black.

"That same thing has happened before," he said, looking at her, deeply
perplexed. "Several times since I have known you the same expression
has come into your face--as though you were looking at something
which--"

"Please don't, Clive!--"

"--Which," he insisted, "I did not see.... _Could_ not see!"

"Clive!"

He stared at her rather blankly: "Why don't you tell me?"

"I--can't!"

"_Is_ there anything--"

"Don't! Don't!" she begged; but he went on, still staring at her:

"Is there any reason for you to--not to be frank with me? _Is_ there,
Athalie?"

"No; no reason.... I'll tell you ... if you will understand. _Must_ I
tell you?"

"Yes."

Her head fell; she stood plucking nervously at his fur coat for a
while in silence. Then:

"Clive, I--I _see clearly_."

"What?"

"I mean that I see a--a little more clearly than--some do. Do you
understand?"

"No."

She sighed, stood twisting her white-gloved fingers, looking away from
him.

"I am clairvoyant," she breathed.

"Athalie! _You?_"

She nodded.

For a second or two he stood silent in his astonishment; then, taking
her hand, he drew her around facing the light, and she looked up at
him in her lovely abashed way, yet so honestly, that anybody who could
recognise truth and candour, could never have mistaken such eyes as
hers.

"Who told you that you are clairvoyant?" he asked.

"My mother."

"Then--"

"It was not necessary for anybody to tell me that I saw--more
clearly--than other people.... Mother knew it.... She merely explained
and gave a name to this--this--whatever it is--this quality--this
ability to see clearly.... That is all, Clive."

He was evidently trying to comprehend and digest what she had said.
She watched him, saw surprise and incredulity in conflict with
uneasiness and with the belief he could not avoid from lips that were
not fashioned for lies, and from eyes never made to even look
untruths.

"I had never supposed there was such a thing as real clairvoyance," he
said at last.

She remained silent, her candid gaze on him.

"I believe that _you_ believe it, of course."

She smiled, then sighed:

"There is no pleasure in it to me. I wish it were not so."

"But, if it is so, you ought to find it--interesting--"

"No."

"Why not? I should think you would!--if you can see--things--that
other people