That would be impossible." "Perhaps it would be," replied Yolanda, with perfect gravity.

Max was five years her senior, but he was a boy, while she had the self-command of a quick-witted woman, though she still retained the saucy impertinence of childhood.

Slow-going, guileless Max began to suspect a lurking intention on Yolanda's part to quiz him.
"Did not Sir Karl say something about your having been born in Styria ?" asked the girl, glancing slyly at the ring.
"No, he did not," answered Max, emphatically.

"I suppose I was born in Rome--no, I mean Lombardy--but it cannot matter much to you, Fraeulein, where I was born if I do not wish to tell." The direct course was as natural to Max as breathing.

The girl was startled by his abruptness.