She laughed,-a little murmuring laugh.
"I'll never tell if you won't," she said.
"But I don't see how that helps me with you?"
"It certainly does not! That is a much more serious
matter, Mr. Glenarm."
"And the worst of it is that I haven't a single thing
to say for myself. It wasn't the not knowing that was
so utterly stupid-"
"Certainly not! It was talking that ridiculous twaddle.
It was trying to flirt with a silly school-girl. What
will do for fifteen is somewhat vacuous for-"
She paused abruptly, colored and laughed.
"I am twenty-seven!"
"And I am just the usual age," she said.
"Ages don't count, but time is important. There are
many things I wish you'd tell me,-you who hold the
key of the gate of mystery."
"Then you'll have to pick the lock!"
She laughed lightly. The somber Sisters patrolling
the platform with their charges heeded us little.
"I had no idea you knew Arthur Pickering-when
you were just Olivia in the tam-o'-shanter."
"Maybe you think he wouldn't have cared for my
acquaintance-as Olivia in the tam-o'-shanter. Men
are very queer!"
"But Arthur Pickering is an old friend of mine."
"So he told me."
"We were neighbors in our youth."
"I believe I have heard him mention it."
"And we did our prep school together, and then
parted!"
"You tell exactly the same story, so it must be true.
He went to college and you went to Tech."
"And you knew him-?" I began, my curiosity thoroughly
aroused.
"Not at college, any more than I knew you at Tech."
"The train's coming," I said earnestly, "and I wish
you would tell me-when I shall see you again!"
"Before we part for ever?" There was a mischievous
hint of the Olivia in short skirts in her tone.
"Please don't suggest it! Our times have been
strange and few. There was that first night, when you
called to me from the lake."
"How impertinent! How dare you-remember that?"
"And there was that other encounter at the chapel
porch. Neither you nor I had the slightest business
there. I admit my own culpability."
She colored again.
"But you spoke as though you understood what you
must have heard there. It is important for me to know.
I have a right to know just what you meant by that
warning."
Real distress showed in her face for an instant. The
agent and his helpers rushed the last baggage down the
platform, and the rails hummed their warning of the
approaching train.
"I was eavesdropping on my own account," she said
hurriedly and with a note of finality. "I was there by
intention, and"-there was another hint of the tam-o'-shanter
in the mirth that seemed to bubble for a moment
in her throat-"it's too bad you didn't see me, for
I had on my prettiest gown, and the fog wasn't good for
it. But you know as much of what was said there as I
do. You are a man, and I have heard that you have had
some experience in taking care of yourself, Mr. Glenarm."