yes again, and he observed that the eyes were
very large and full of light--"eyes like the fishpools of
Heshbon"--dove's eyes.

"I am very sorry," she said meekly. "It was my fault."

He observed other things now, having regained the use of his senses.
Thus he saw that she wore her hair, which was of a wonderful chestnut
brown color, parted at the side like a boy's, and that she had not
committed the horrible enormity of cutting it short. He observed, too,
that while her lips were quivering and her cheek was blushing, her
look was steadfast. Are dove's eyes, he asked himself, always
steadfast?

"I ought to have told you long ago, when you began to write
about--about yourself and other things, when I understood that you
thought I was a man--oh, long ago I ought to have told you the truth!"

"It is wonderful!" said the young man, "it is truly wonderful!" He
was thinking of the letters--long letters, full of sympathy, and a
curious unworldly wisdom, which she had sent him in reply to his own,
and he was comparing them with her youthful face, as one involuntarily
compares a poet's appearance with his poetry--generally a
disappointing thing to do, and always a foolish thing.

"I am very sorry," she repeated.

"Have you many pupils, like myself?"

"I have several pupils in mathematics. It does not matter to them
whether they are taught by a man or a woman. In heraldry I had only
one--you."

He looked round the room. One end was occupied by shelves, filled with
books; in one of the windows was a table, covered with papers and
adorned with a type-writer, by means of which Iris carried on her
correspondence. For a moment the unworthy thought crossed his mind
that he had been, perhaps, artfully lured on by a siren for his
destruction. Only for a moment, however, because she raised her face
and met his gaze again, with eyes so frank and innocent, that he could
not doubt them. Besides, there was the clear outline of her face, so
truthful and so honest. The young man was an artist, and therefore
believed in outline. Could any sane and intelligent creature doubt
those curves of cheek and chin?

"I have put together," she said, "all your letters for you. Here they
are. Will you, please, take them back? I must not keep them any
longer." He took them, and bowed. "I made this appointment, as you
desired, to tell you the truth, because I have deceived you too long:
and to beg you to forgive me; and to say that, of course, ther