"You are very kind to say so," said Beatrice quietly.
Unorna was perfectly well aware that it must seem strange, to say the
least of it, that she should tell Beatrice the wild story of her life,
when they had as yet exchanged barely a hundred words. But she cared
little what Beatrice thought, provided that she could interest her. She
had a distinct intention in making the time slip by unnoticed, until it
should be late.
She related her history, so far as it was known to herself, simply and
graphically, substantially as it has been already set forth, but with an
abundance of anecdote and comment which enhanced the interest and at the
same time extended its limits, interspersing her monologues with remarks
which called for an answer and which served as tests of her companion's
attention. She hinted but lightly at her possession of unusual power
over animals, and spoke not at all of the influence she could exert upon
people. Beatrice listened eagerly. She could have told, on her part,
that for years her own life had been dull and empty, and that it was
long since she had talked with any one who had so roused her interest.
At last Unorna was silent. She had reached the period of her life which
had begun a month before that time, and at that point her story ended.
"Then you are not married?" Beatrice's tone expressed an interrogation
and a certain surprise.
"No," said Unorna, "I am not married.
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