"Now don't be offended," he begged of her. "I'm a good deal like a chameleon; I unconsciously change my color to suit my surroundings. When we first met I saw that you took me for one thing, and since then I've tried not to show you your mistake."
"Why did you let me send you those silly books? Now that you have begun to tell the truth, keep it up. How many of them had you read?"
"We-ll, I hadn't read any of them--lately."
"How disagreeable of you to put it that way!" The car leaped forward as if spurred by Alaire's mortification. "I wondered how you knew about the French Revolution. 'That Bastilly was some calaboose, wasn't it'?" She quoted his own words scornfully. "I dare say you've had a fine laugh at my expense?"
They had come to an arroyo containing a considerable stream of muddy water, and Law was forced to get out to plug the carburetor and stop the oil-intakes to the crankcase. This done, Alaire ran the machine through on the self-starter. When José's "Carambas!" and Dolores's shrieks had subsided, and they were again under way, Mrs. Austin, it seemed, had regained her good humor.
"You will receive no more of my favorite authors," she told Dave, spitefully. "I'll keep them to read myself."
"You like knights and--chivalry and such things, don't you?"
"Chivalry, yes. In the days when I believed in it I used to cry over those romances."
Alaire turned her eyes upon the questioner, and there were no girlish illusions in them. "Do you?" she queried, with a faint curl of her lip.
She shook her head. "Men have changed. Nowadays they are all selfish and sordid. But--I shouldn't generalize, for I'm a notorious man-hater, you know."
"It seems to me that women are just as selfish as men--perhaps more so--in all but little things."
"Our definitions of 'little things' may differ. What do you call a big thing?"
"Love! That's the biggest thing in the world," Law responded, promptly.
"It seems to be so considered. So you think women are selfish in love?" He nodded, whereupon she eyed him speculatively. "Let us see. You are a man--how far would you go for the woman you loved?"
Mrs. Austin frowned at this light-seeming answer. "I suppose you mean that you would make any sacrifice?"
"Would you give up the woman herself, if you considered it your duty?"