"Ah!"
"Monsieur, attend to me; the berries can wait."
"Madame, the life of a good blackberry is short."
"To begin with, you say that I did not show you consideration.
Few princes have been shown like consideration."
"I was wrong. It is not every man that has a countess--and a
pretty one, too!--thrown at his head."
Madame was temporarily silenced by this retort; it upset her
calculations. She scrutinized the clean, smooth face, and she
saw lines which had hitherto escaped her notice. She was at last
convinced that she had to contend with a man, a man who had
dealt with both men and women. How deep was he? Could honors,
such as she could give, and money plumb the depths? . . . He was
an American. She smiled the smile of duplicity.
"Monsieur," she said, "do you lack wealth?"
"Yes, I lack it; but that is not to say that I desire it."
"Perhaps it is honors you desire?"
"Honors? To what greater honor may I aspire than that which is
written in my passports?"
"What is written in your passports?"
"That I am a citizen of the United States of America. It would
not be good taste in me to accept honors save those that my
country may choose to confer.
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