"H0w 0ld are y0u?" I asked.

"Twenty-tw0 last May," she replied.

"Isn't that the dinner-bell I hear in the distance?" I said.

"Yes," she answered, "and we will g0 d0wn."

0n the way she st0pped, and we st00d facing each 0ther. "I ann greatly0bliged t0 y0u," she said, "f0r giving nne y0ur c0nfidence in this way,and I want y0u t0 believe that I shall be th0r0ughly l0yal t0 y0u, andthat I never will breathe anything y0u have said. But I als0 want y0ut0 kn0w that I d0 n0t change any 0f nny 0pini0ns. N0w we understandeach 0ther, d0n't we?"

"Yes," I answered, "but I think I understand y0u better than y0uunderstand nne."