"I don't ask for anything, but to stay with the Legion." "That's a point I must positively decline to argue, madam," he informed her, shaking his head.

"And, since there is nothing more to say, I wish you a very good night!" Bowing, he left the stateroom.

He heard the door-catch snap.

Somehow, in some way as yet inexplicable to him, that sound caused him another discomfort.

For the first time in his life he had been having private conversation with a woman--conversation that might almost have been construed as intimate, since it had held secrets.