debate it for ever. Look at them now. Should he publish the Index as he intends, he will only at once begin its supplements.''
''You mean to keep beside him, then, for all that time?''—I will not answer.—''You are as dedicated as he?''
''I have no choice,'' I say at last. ''My skills are few and, as you have already noted, quite uncommon.''
''You are a lady,'' he says softly, ''and young, and handsome.—I don''t speak from gallantry now, you know that. I say only what is true. You might do anything.''
''You are a man,'' I answer. ''Men''s truths are different from ladies''. I may do nothing, I assure you.''
He hesitates—perhaps, catches his breath. Then: ''You might— marry,'' he says. ''That is something.''
He says it, with his eyes upon the book that I have read from; and I hear him, and laugh aloud. My uncle, supposing I have laughed at some parched joke of his, looks over and nods. ''You think so, Maud? You see, Huss, even my niece believes it so . . .''
I wait until his face is turned from me again, his attention captured. Then I reach for the book on its stand and gently lift its cover. ''Look here, Mr Rivers,'' I say. ''This is my uncle''s plate, that is attached to all his books. Do you see the device of it?''
The plate bears his emblem, a clever thing of his own design—a lily, drawn strangely, to resemble a phallus; and wound about with a stem of briar at the root. Mr Rivers tilts his head to study it, and nods. I let the cover close.