Miss Spencer sighed somewhat regretfully, and her eyes fell. "I fear
it must have been Naida, from your description. But she is scarcely
more than a child. Surely, Lieutenant, it cannot be possible that you
have become interested in her?"
He smiled pleasantly. "At least eighteen, is she not? I was somewhat
impressed with her evident originality, and hoped to renew our slight
acquaintanceship here in more formal manner. She is your 'star' pupil,
then?"
"Why, she is not really in my school at all, but I outline the studies
she pursues at home, and lend her such books as I consider best adapted
for her reading. She is such a strange girl!"
"Indeed? She appeared to me to be extremely unconventional, with a
decided tendency for mischief. Is that your meaning?"
"Partially. She manages to do everything in a different way from other
people. Her mind seems peculiarly independent, and she is so
unreservedly Western in her ways and language. But I was referring
rather to her taste in books--she devours everything."
"You mean as a student?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so; at least she appears to possess the faculty
of absorbing every bit of information, like a sponge. Sometimes she
actually startles me with her odd questions; they are so unexpected and
abstruse, falling from the lips of so young a girl. Then her ideas are
so crude and uncommon, and she is so frankly outspoken, that I become
actually nervous when I am with her. I really believe Mr. Wynkoop
seeks to avoid meeting her, she has shocked him so frequently in
religious matters."
"Does she make light of his faith?"
"Oh, no, not that exactly, at least it is not her intention. But she
wants to know everything--why we believe this and why we believe that,
doctrines which no one else ever dreams of questioning, and he cannot
seem to make them clear to her mind. Some of her questions are so
irreverent as to be positively shocking to a spiritually minded person."
They lapsed into silence, swinging easily to the guidance of the music.
His face was grave and thoughtful. This picture just drawn of the
perverse Naida had not greatly lowered her in his estimation, although
he felt instinctively that Miss Spencer was not altogether pleased with
his evident interest in another. It was hardly in her nature patiently
to brook a rival, but she dissembled with all the art of a clever
woman, smiling happily up into his face as their eyes again met.