Even in the short time she had been at the Villa
du Lac, Sylvia had realised that though the Count was on speaking terms
with most of his fellow-guests, he seemed intimate with none of the
people whose happy chatter had filled the dining-room the night before.
Just before going back into the Villa, Sylvia stopped short; she fixed
her large ingenuous eyes on the Count's face.
"I want to thank you again," she said diffidently, "for your kindness
in giving me this warning. You know we in England have a proverb,
'Forewarned is forearmed.' Well, believe me, I will not forget what you
have said, and--and I am grateful for your confidence. Of course, I
regard it as quite private."
The Count looked at her for a moment in silence, and then he said very
deliberately,
"I am afraid the truth about me is known to all those good enough to
concern themselves with my affairs. I am sure, for instance, that your
Polish friend is well aware of it! You see before you a man who has lost
every penny he owned in the world, who does not know how to work, and who
is living on the charity of relations.
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