"I assure you that I haven't the flag." "You took it down, Mademoiselle." "Oh, did I ?" "With bewitching grace you did, Mademoiselle.

I saw and admired.

Will you fetch it, please ?" "Indeed I won't." The finality in her voice belied her face, which beamed without a ray of stubbornness or perversity.

He did not know how to interpret her; but he felt that he had begun wrong.

He half regretted that he had begun at all.
"More depends upon returning that flag than you are probably aware of," he presently said in a more serious tone.