. At their feet,
beyond the veranda, was a garden joyously brilliant, and bright-plumaged
birds flitted here and there.

The two looked out for a long time, then, as if by a mutual impulse,
suddenly turned their eyes on each other. They smiled, and, somehow,
that smile was not delightful to see. The girl said presently: "It is
all on the surface."

Jack Sherman gave a little click of the tongue peculiar to him, and
said: "You mean that the beautiful birds have dreadful voices; that the
flowers are scentless; that the leaves of the trees are all on edge and
give no shade; that where that beautiful carpet of blossoms is there was
a blazing quartz plain six months ago, and there's likely to be the
same again; that, in brief, it's pretty, but hollow." He made a slight
fantastic gesture, as though mocking himself for so long a speech, and
added: "Really, I didn't prepare this little oration."

She nodded, and then said: "Oh, it's not so hollow,--you would not call
it that exactly, but it's unsatisfactory."

"You have lost your illusions."

"And before that occurred you had lost yours."

"Do I betray it, then?" He laughed, not at all bitterly, yet not with
cheerfulness.

"And do you think that you have such acuteness, then, and I--" Nellie
Hayden paused, raised her eyebrows a little coldly, and let the cockatoo
bite her finger.

"I did not mean to be egotistical. The fact is I live my life alone, and
I was interested for the moment to know how I appeared to others. You
and I have been tolerably candid with each other since we met, for the
first time, three days ago; I knew you would not hesitate to say what
was in your mind, and I asked out of honest curiosity. One fancies one
hides one's self, and yet--you see!"

"Do you find it pleasant, then, to be candid and free with some one?...
Why with me?" She looked him frankly in the eyes.

"Well, to be more candid. You and I know the world very well, I fancy.
You were educated in Europe, travelled, enjoyed--and suffered." The girl
did not even blink, but went on looking at him steadily. "We have both
had our hour with the world; have learned many sides of the game. We
haven't come out of it without scars of one kind or another. Knowledge
of the kind is expensive."

"You wanted to say all that to me the first evening we met, didn't you?"
There was a smile of gentle amusement on her face.

"I did. From the moment I saw you I knew that we could say many things
to each