The eyes of the Lady Ysolinde were aflame with pleasure, but, on the other hand, the Little Playmate was crimson with shame.

Tears stood in her beautiful eyes.
She marched straight up to meet me, and, clinching her hands, she said; "Oh, I hate you !" And so went within to her chamber, and I saw her no more that night.

Now I take all to witness what strange things are the mind and temper of even the best of women.

And why Helene thus spoke to me I know not--nay, even to this day I can hazard no right guess.

But as I have often said, God never made anything straight that He made beautiful, except only the line where the sea meets the sky.
And of all the pretty, crooked, tangled things that He has made, women are the prettiest, the crookedest--and the most distractingly tangled.
Which is perhaps why they are so everlastingly interesting, and why we blundering, ram-stam, homely favored men love them so.
But the best entertainment must at long and last come to an end.