[Pg 12] “Perhaps the divergence is mainly in environment. And I have always inclined to the more serious side of life. Even when we were together in Brussels——” “You? Serious? At Madam Bérard’s? I like that. Who was it that kicked the plaster off the dormitory wall higher than her head? Who put pepper in Signor Antonio’s snuff box?” Spencer saw the outer waves of a flush on Helen’s cheeks. “This is exceedingly interesting,” he thought; “but I cannot even persuade myself that I ought to listen any longer. Yet, if I rise now and walk away they will know I heard every word.” Nevertheless, he meant to go, at the risk of their embarrassment; but he waited for Helen’s reply. She laughed, and the ripple of her mirth was as musical as her voice, whereas many women dowered with pleasantly modulated notes for ordinary conversation should be careful never to indulge in laughter, which is less controllable and therefore natural. “That is the worst of having a past,” she said. “Let me put it, then, that entomology as a pursuit sternly represses frivolousness.” “Does entomology mean beetles?” “My dear, if you asked Herr von Eulenberg that question he would sate your curiosity with page extracts from one of his books. He has written a whole [Pg 13]volume to prove that the only true entoma, or insects, are Condylopoda and Hexapoda, which means——” [Pg 13] “Cockroaches! Good gracious! To think of Helen Wynton, who once hit a Belgian boy very hard on the nose for being rude, wasting her life on such rubbish! And you actually seem to thrive on it. I do believe you are far happier than I.” “At present I am envying you that trip to Champèry. Why cannot some fairy godmother call in at No. 5, Warburton Gardens, to-night and wave over my awed head a wand that shall scatter sleeping car tickets and banknotes galore, or at any rate sufficient thereof to take me to the Engadine and back?” “Ah, the Engadine. I am not going there this year, I think.” “Haven’t you planned your tour yet?” “No—that is, not exactly.” “Do you know, that is one of my greatest pleasures. With a last year’s Continental Bradshaw and a few tattered Baedekers I journey far afield.
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