m had kept her remarkable eyes on Dr. Blake. And Annette, as
though the conversation failed to interest her, had fallen into a
position of extreme lassitude, her elbow on the table, her cheek
resting on her hand.

At her aunt's question, she seemed to rouse herself a little. "What is
it that's quite true, Auntie?" she asked.

Mrs. Markham transferred her light-gray gaze to her niece's face. "I
was saying," she repeated, speaking distinctly as one does for a child,
"that you are very little interested in men."

"It is perfectly true," Annette answered.

Mrs. Markham laughed a purring laugh, strangely at variance with her
size and type. "You'll find this an Adam-less Eden, Dr. Blake. I'll
have to confess that I too am not especially interested in men."

This thrust did not catch Dr. Blake unawares. He laughed a laugh which
rang as true as Mrs. Markham's. He even ventured on a humorous
monologue in which he accused his sex of every possible failing, ending
with a triumphant eulogy of the other half of creation. But Mrs.
Markham, though she listened with outward civility, appeared to take
all his jibes seriously--miscomprehended him purposely, he thought.

Whereupon, he turned to the lady's own affairs.

"Miss Markham told me something about your stay in India. I've never
been there yet. But of course no seasoned orientalist has any idea of
dying without seeing India. I gathered from Miss Markham that you had
some unusual experiences."

"It's the dear child's enthusiasm," Mrs. Markham said. And it came to
Blake at once that she was a little irritated. "I assure you we did not
stir out of the conventional tourist route." Then came a few minutes
about the beauties of the Taj by moonlight.

Blake listened politely. "Your loot is all so interesting," he said,
when she had finished. "Do tell me how you got it? Have you ever
noticed what bully travelers' tales you get out of adventures in
bargaining? Or better--looting? Those Johnnies who came out of Pekin--I
mean the allied armies--tell some stories that are wonders."

"That is true generally," Mrs. Markham agreed. "But I must confess that
I did nothing more wonderful than to walk up to one of the bazaars and
buy everything that I wanted."

"That," Dr. Blake said mentally, "is a lie."

Almost as if Annette had heard his thought--were answering it--she
spoke for the first time with something of the old resiliency in her
tone. "Auntie, do tell Dr. Blake about some of