Down by the water among the trees there was a marble bench, and with
one accord we turned our steps that way. I emphasized my game leg
shamelessly; I positively flourished my crutches. My battle scars, I
guessed from the girl's kind eyes, appealed to her compassion, and as
soon as I suspected this I thanked my stars for that German shell.
"Isn't there anything," she said as we sat down, "that you want to ask
me? I think I should be curious if I were you. After all we have done
together there isn't much beyond my name that you know of me, and you
knew that in Jersey City the night the _Re d'Italia_ sailed."
I shook my head.
"There is just one thing I wanted to know," I answered cryptically, "and
I learned that when your brother-in-law presented me to his wife. Still,
there is nothing on earth you can tell me that I shan't be glad to
listen to. Say the multiplication table if you like, or recite cook-book
recipes. Anything--if you'll only stay!"
Little golden flickers of sunshine came stealing through the branches,
dancing, as the girl talked, on her gown and in her hair.
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