But, for all that, she electrified Curtis with a timidly grateful glance, for she appreciated his thoughtfulness in giving her an opportunity to collect her scattered wits.

There was need of some such respite; she had much to relate, she thought, before he could possibly understand the motives which led to her flight.
Barely half an hour ago Mr.Steingall had put in an appearance at her apartment.

He had told her, with convincing brevity, exactly why Curtis refrained from adding to her perplexities by announcing the comparative well-being of Jean de Courtois.
"He was very kind," said Hermione, sweetly penitent, "but he made me feel rather like a worm when he said that if I were his own daughter he would thank God that I had fallen into the hands of a man like you.

He said, too, that if I owed you something, he owed you more, because you had saved his life last night, so, being an impulsive creature, I hurried here to ask your forgiveness for that horrid note." "There is no lie so difficult to combat as a half truth," said John.
"That fellow, Schmidt, impressed you because he probably believed what he was saying.

As for Steingall, he makes rather too much of what I did for him, but, if there was any debt on his side, he has repaid me with ample interest." The waiter had left the room, and Hermione was free to blush without restraint, a privilege she availed herself of fully now.
"But, dear, you and I can hardly feel that we are really married," she said.