? He
_looked_ like an American."

"He didn't behave like one. One of 'our own poor boys,' as you call
them, would have been as far as possible from thrusting himself upon
you. He would have had too much reverence for you, too much
self-respect, too much pride."

"What has pride to do with such things, my dear? I think he acted very
naturally. He acted upon impulse. I'm sure you're always crying out
against the restraints and conventionalities between young people, over
here; and now, when a European _does_ do a simple, unaffected thing--"

Elmore made a gesture of impatience. "This fellow has presumed upon your
being Americans--on your ignorance of the customs here--to take a
liberty that he would not have dreamed of taking with Italian or German
ladies. He has shown himself no gentleman."

"Now there you are very much mistaken, Owen. That's what I thought when
Lily first told me about his speaking to her in the cars, and I was very
much prejudiced against him; but when I saw him to-day, I must say that
I felt that I had been wrong. He is a gentleman; but--he is desperate."

"Oh, indeed!"

"Yes," said Mrs. Elmore, shrinking a little under her husband's
sarcastic tone. "Why, Owen," she pleaded, "can't you see anything
romantic in it?"

"I see nothing but a vulgar impertinence in it. I see it from his
standpoint as an adventure, to be bragged of and laughed over at the
mess-table and the caffe. I'm going to put a stop to it."

Mrs. Elmore looked daunted and a little bewildered. "Well, Owen," she
said, "I put the affair entirely in your hands."

Elmore never could decide upon just what theory his wife had acted; he
had to rest upon the fact, already known to him, of her perfect truth
and conscientiousness, and his perception that even in a good woman the
passion for manoeuvring and intrigue may approach the point at which
men commit forgery. He now saw her quelled and submissive; but he was by
no means sure that she looked at the affair as he did, or that she
voluntarily acquiesced.

"All that I ask is that you won't do anything that you'll regret
afterward. And as for putting a stop to it, I fancy it's put a stop to
already. He's going back to Peschiera this afternoon, and that'll
probably be the last of him."

"Very well," said Elmore, "if that is the last of him, I ask nothing
better. I certainly have no wish to take any steps in the matter."

But he went out of the house very unhappy and greatly perplexe