"Is that a compliment?" he asked, and there was a twinkle in his eye.

"We must speak no ill of the dead," I said, evasively.

He looked slightly annoyed--as much as these diplomats ever let themselves
look anything.

"You are right," he said. "Let her rest in peace."

There was silence for a moment.

"What are you going to do with your life now?" he asked, presently. It was
a bald question.

"I shall become an adventuress," I answered, deliberately.

"A _what_?" he exclaimed, his black eyebrows contracting.

"An adventuress. Is not that what it is called? A person who sees life,
and has to do the best she can for herself."

He laughed. "You strange little lady!" he said, his irritation with me
melting. And when he laughs you can see how even his teeth are; but the
two side ones are sharp and pointed, like a wolf's.

"Perhaps, after all, you had better have married me!"

"No, that would clip my wings," I said, frankly, looking at him straight
in the face.