"Then you are offering to weave a little romance for me ?" she said, with a faint involuntary sigh.
He made her a brief bow.

"If you will permit me to do so." "To relieve your boredom ?" she suggested with a smile.
"And yours," he smiled back, taking up the cards.
She did not contradict him.

She only lowered her eyes to the deft hands that were disposing the cards in mystic array upon the table.
There followed a few moments of silence; then in his careless, unmusical drawl the man spoke.
"Do you mind telling me your first name?
It is essential to the game, of course, or I shouldn't presume to ask." "My name is Anne," she said.
The noise below had lessened considerably, and this fact seemed to cause her some relief.

The tension had gone out of her bearing.

She sat with her chin upon her hand.
Not a beautiful woman by any means, she yet possessed that indescribable charm which attracts almost in spite of itself.