 remind you of that.«
    »Oh, I am perfectly aware of it,« said Eugenia. »That's a great item in his
favor. I am terribly candid.« And she left her place and came nearer her
brother, looking at him hard. He was turning over several things; she was
wondering in what manner he really understood her.
    There were several ways of understanding her: there was what she said, and
there was what she meant, and there was something, between the two, that was
neither. It is probable that, in the last analysis, what she meant was that
Felix should spare her the necessity of stating the case more exactly and should
hold himself commissioned to assist her by all honorable means to marry the best
fellow in the world. But in all this it was never discovered what Felix
understood.
    »Once you have your liberty, what are your objections?« he asked.
    »Well, I don't particularly like him.«
    »Oh, try a little.«
    »I am trying now,« said Eugenia. »I should succeed better if he didn't live
here. I could never live here.«
    »Make him go to Europe,« Felix suggested.
    »Ah, there you speak of happiness based upon violent effort,« the Baroness
rejoined. »That is not what I am looking for. He would never live in Europe.«
    »He would live anywhere, with you!« said Felix, gallantly.
    His sister looked at him still, with a ray of penetration in her charming
eyes; then she turned away again. »You see, at all events,« she presently went
on, »that if it had been said of me that I had come over here to seek my fortune
it would have to be added that I have found it!«
    »Don't leave it lying!« urged Felix, with smiling solemnity.
    »I am much obliged to you for your interest,« his sister declared, after a
moment. »But promise me one thing: pas de zèle! If Mr. Acton should ask you to
plead his cause, excuse yourself.«
    »I shall certainly have the excuse,« said Felix, »that I have a cause of my
own to plead.«
    »If he should talk of me - favorably,« Eugenia continued, »warn him against
dangerous illusions. I detest importunities; I want to decide at my leisure,
with my eyes open.«
    »I shall be discreet,« said Felix, »
