you'll say I'm old enough to
know better."

Axel laughed. Anna's dimples appeared for an instant, but vanished
again.

"Now," she said, "I am not going to talk about poor little Else any
more. Let her distant relations dance till they are tired--it concerns
nobody here at all."

"Little Else?"

"The baroness. Of course we shall call each other by our Christian
names. We are sisters."

"I see."

"You don't see at all," she said, with a swift sideward glance at him.

"My dear Miss Estcourt----"

"If my plan succeeds it will certainly not be because I have been
encouraged."

"I think," he said with sudden warmth, "that the plan is beautiful, and
could only have been made by a beautiful nature."

"Oh?" ejaculated Anna, surprised. A flush of gratification came into her
face. The heartiness of the tone surprised her even more than the words.
She stood still to look at him. "It is a pity," she said softly, "that
nearly always when we are together we get angry, for you can be so kind
when you choose. Say nice things to me. Let us be happy. I love being
happy."

She held out her hand, smiling. He took it and gave it a hearty, matter
of fact shake, and dropped it. It was very awkward, but he was
struggling with an overpowering desire to take her in his arms and kiss
her, and not let her go again till she had said she would marry him. It
was exceedingly awkward, for he knew quite well that if he did so it
would be the end of all things.

He turned rather white, and thrust his hands deep into his pockets.
"Yes, the plan is beautiful," he said cheerfully, "but very unpractical.
And the nature that made it is, I am sure, beautiful, but of course
quite as unpractical as the plan." And he smiled down at her, a broad,
genial smile.

"I know I don't set about things the right way," she said. "If only you
wouldn't worry about the pasts of my poor friends and what their
relations may have done in pre-historic times, you could help me so
much."

To his relief she began to walk on again. "Princess Ludwig is a sensible
and experienced woman," he said, "and can help you in many ways that I
cannot."

"But she only looks at the _praktische_ side of a question, and that is
really only one side. I am too unpractical, I know, but she isn't
unpractical enough. But I don't want to talk about her. What I wanted to
say was, that once these poor ladies have been chosen and are here, the
time for making inquiries is over, isn't it?