"Perfectly true!" and he looked me full in the eyes, with a smile.

"White as the virgin snow on the summit of Mont Blanc--purer than the flawless diamond--and unapproachable as the furthest star! Is it not so ?" I assented with a certain gravity; something in his manner puzzled me.
Our conversation soon turned on different topics, and I thought no more of the matter.

But a time came--and that speedily--when I had stern reason to remember every word he had uttered..