THE DRAGON VOLANT.
163
"Every one who knows me, knows who my best beloved friend is. You don't know me?"
"That is cruel. I can scarcely believe I am mistaken."
"With whom were you walking, just now?" she asked.
"A gentleman, a friend," I answered.
"I saw him, of course, a friend; but I think I know him, and should like to be certain. Is he not a certain marquis?"
Here was another question that was extremely awkward.
"There are so many people here, and one may walk, at one time, with one, and at another with a different one, that—"
"That an unscrupulous person has no difficulty in evading a simple question like mine. Know then, once for all, that nothing disgusts a person of spirit so much as suspicion. You, Monsieur, are a gentleman of
