In Styria we
have an adage, 'If you would gallop on a long journey, walk
your horse.'"

"In Styria!" exclaimed Yolanda, laughing. "You told me you were from
Italy."

"So I am," I replied.

"Now you say _we_ have an adage in Styria," she returned, amused at my
discomfiture. "I hope you have not been wandering from the path of truth
in your long journey, Sir Karl."

"No farther than yourself, Fraeulein," I answered.

A frown came instantly to her face and, after a moment's hesitation, she
retorted:--

"Ah, but I am a woman; I am privileged to wander a little way from the
narrow road. A man may protect himself with his sword and battle-axe,
and need never stray. A woman's defence lies in her wit and her tongue."
The frown deepened, and she turned sharply upon me: "But in what
respect, pray, have I wandered? I have not spoken a word to you which
has not been the exact truth. If I have left anything untold, it is
because I do not wish to tell it, in which case, of course, you would
not wish to pry."

Her audacity amused me, and though I knew I ought to hold my tongue, I
could not resist saying:--

"I have asked no questions, Fraeulein."

Yolanda cast a surprised glance toward me and then broke into a merry
laugh.

"That is to say _I_ have asked too many questions. Good for you, Sir
Karl! I have had the worst of this encounter. I will ask no more
questions nor give you further cause to wander from the truth. Your
memory, Sir Karl, is poor. 'To be a good liar, one must have a good
memory,' as King Louis of France has said."

"Ask all the questions you wish, Fraeulein," I responded penitently, "I
will answer with the truth."

"There is no need to ask questions," she said, giving me a side glance
full of sauciness. "I already know all that I wish to know."

I could not resist saying:--

"Perhaps, Fraeulein, I know quite as much about you as you know about
us."

"There is little to know about me that is really worth while, but what
little there is I sincerely hope you do not know," she replied half
angrily. "If you do know anything which I have left untold, or if, in
your vanity, you think you have discovered some great mystery concerning
me, I advise you to keep your supposed knowledge to yourself. The day
that I am made sure you know too much, our friendship ceases, and that,
Sir Karl, would give me pain. I hope it would pain you."

I at once began an orderly though hasty retreat.

"I do not know to wh