She stared up at him incredulously. 'But - but don't you think I'm beautiful?' 'Very!' 'Well, I know I am,' she said candidly. 'Ancilla thinks I shouldn't say so - and I meant not to, on account of losing some of my beauty when I do. At least, that's what Ancilla said, but I don't see how it could be so, do you?' 'No, indeed; quite absurd! You do very right to mention the matter.' She thought this over, darkly suspicious, and finally demanded: 'Why?' 'People are so unobservant!' he answered in dulcet accents. She broke into a trill of delicious laughter. 'Oh, abominable! You are the horridest creature! I'll have no more to do with you!