Her first act was to pay what is the first debt of a fine spirit--the
debt of courtesy and gratitude.
"It is a wonderful story, Frederick," she said in a manner which
showed him that she referred to the beginning of his story and not to
the end.
"As usual you have gone your own way about it, opening your own path
into the unknown, seeing what no one else has seen, and bringing back
what no one else ever brought. It is a great revelation of things that
I never dreamed of and could never have imagined. I appreciate your
having done this for me; it has taken time and work, but it is too
much for me to-night. It is too new and too vast. I must hereafter try
to understand it. And there will be leisure enough. Nor can it lose by
waiting. But now there is something that cannot wait, and I wish to
speak to you about that; Frederick, I am going to ask you some
questions about the last part of the story. I have been wanting to ask
you a long time: the story gives me the chance and--the right."
He advanced a step toward her, disengaging himself from the evergreen.
"I will answer them," he said. "If they can be answered."
And thus she sat and thus he stood as the questions and answers passed
to and fro.
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