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 "I hate to ask you to do it. I'm afraid it would be—well, at the best, embarrassing for you, and at the worst"

"Don't mind what it might be at the worst. Either at its best or its worst, if you ask me to do it, I'll do it."

"Oh, dear!" she said; and so unexpected was the effect upon her of this impulsive statement of his that a quick high colour rushed in her cheeks;—for a moment her eyes were startled and almost tearful. "Did you really mean that?" She recovered herself, and laughed. "For two such unkind-mannered people, we do seem to be paying each other strange compliments! But I'll take you at your word and ask you to do it."

"What is it?"

Olivia glanced over her shoulder at the closed door of rose-coloured glass behind her, and she shivered. "Mother's waiting for me, and I've got to go and tell her what he meant by 'Koos Koos'; and you told me Madame Momoro was dining with those two old French ladies who were on the boat with her, and that's what I'll tell Mother you said. In the meantime, Papa's likely to walk in before very long with an account of his doings that will merely ruin him. Of