permanent head since."

He was sorry he had said this, but it did not seem to shock her, and no
doubt she had not taken it in fully. She abruptly left the subject. "Do
you know what time we really get in to-morrow?"

"About one, I believe--there's a consensus of stewards to that effect,
anyway." After a pause he asked, "Are you likely to be in Carlsbad?"

"We are going to Dresden, first, I believe. Then we may go on down to
Vienna. But nothing is settled, yet."

"Are you going direct to Dresden?"

"I don't know. We may stay in Hamburg a day or two."

"I've got to go straight to Carlsbad. There's a sleeping-car that will
get me there by morning: Mr. Stoller likes zeal. But I hope you'll let me
be of use to you any way I can, before we part tomorrow."

"You're very kind. You've been very good already--to papa." He protested
that he had not been at all good. "But he's used to taking care of
himself on the other side. Oh, it's this side, now!"

"So it is! How strange that seems! It's actually Europe. But as long as
we're at sea, we can't realize it. Don't you hate to have experiences
slip through your fingers?"

"I don't know. A girl doesn't have many experiences of her own; they're
always other people's."

This affected Burnamy as so profound that he did not question its truth.
He only suggested, "Well; sometimes they make other people have the
experiences."

Whether Miss Triscoe decided that this was too intimate or not she left
the question. "Do you understand German?"

"A little. I studied it at college, and I've cultivated a sort of
beer-garden German in Chicago. I can ask for things."

"I can't, except in French, and that's worse than English, in Germany, I
hear."

"Then you must let me be your interpreter up to the last moment. Will
you?"

She did not answer. "It must be rather late, isn't it?" she asked. He let
her see his watch, and she said, "Yes, it's very late," and led the way
within. "I must look after my packing; papa's always so prompt, and I
must justify myself for making him let me give up my maid when we left
home; we expect to get one in Dresden. Good-night!"

Burnamy looked after her drifting down their corridor, and wondered
whether it would have been a fit return for her expression of a sense of
novelty in him as a literary man if he had told her that she was the
first young lady he had known who had a maid. The fact awed him; Miss
Triscoe herself did not awe him so much.