Try and keep
the elfish boy you were when you arrived. It will be less trouble,
Fatalite, _ma chere_. With the other thing there are always
complications. No, I'm not accusing you of falling in love with Vardri.
I only say, be careful. Even an elf-child can develop suddenly into a
woman once she arrives at a knowledge of the fact that there is a man
ready to make love to her. Perhaps you do not know it yourself, but you
have changed lately. You are losing your fearlessness, your
indifference. I have watched you sometimes when you have not known, and
have seen your eyes soften, your face change. You started when I spoke
just now."
"How did you learn things about women? From books?"
"Books? _Ma foi_, no! I liked them well enough at one time, when I
hadn't studied _la vie_. Now they're _fade_."
Arithelli was silent for a little while. She knew only too well that
Emile had spoken the truth, had put into blunt words what to herself was
only a vague, half-formed idea. Her illness had been Vardri's golden
harvest time, for it had given him the chance of being often alone with
her.
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