He rose from his chair, thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets, went over to the window and stood looking out.
"They would be thinking of the frost," he said.
"Perhaps it is too cold to think about it!"
"Well said and true. Did you read in the _Times_ that there is ice in the English Channel for the first time for twenty years?"
"Then don't begin if you would remain a woman."
"Not at all--it is unworthy of her. It tells the truth!"
"Oh, I grant that that is embarrassing sometimes. We were speaking of the frost."
"And the fables. The fable, written by a great German, is about to freeze the English Channel and the North Sea! Ice from the Humber to Kiel! Portsmouth frozen up. An ice carnival at the Thames' mouth. Do you believe in fables?"
"What would happen if this one were true?"
"Oh," he said, "you had better ask the I.A.L."
She was silent a little while, then she said:
"Your bogies are wonderful. Are there many in your life?"
"Yes, for one of them sends you to my rooms to-day."
He had never spoken to her in this way before, and the tone of it found her amazed. Hitherto the man of affairs and the woman of the useful vanities had been speaking; but John Faber had changed all that in an instant. She felt his wide eyes focused upon her with a sudden glance which burned. He had taken a step toward her, and for a moment she feared that some mad impulse would drive him to forget the true circumstance of their meeting, and to suppose another. She felt her heart beat rapidly--a true instinct warned her to act upon the defensive.
"I think we were talking of another kind of bogy," she said quickly--"women deserve a new chapter."
He laughed a little hardly, and turned upon his heel.
"The goose awoke and the Capitol is saved. Well, about this frost?"
"That's what your I.A.L. is doing all the time. Tell them that John Faber wishes them well, and will sell them a hundred thousand rifles any time they are reconsidering the position. Perhaps I shall meet you when I return from Paris. We can put the contract through then."
She shook her head, trying to hide the annoyance of the rebuff.
"I don't suppose I shall ever see you again," she said.
"I'll bet you a thousand dollars you do, either in Paris or Berlin."