Nor was I wrong. It contained one of those drugs which I have
mentioned; so rarely used in this house that I had never before seen
or tasted any of them, but given, as matter of course, on any occasion
that is supposed to involve unusual agitation or make an exceptional
call on nerves or spirits. But for the influence of this cup I should
still have withheld the remark which, nevertheless, I had resolved to
make as soon as I could hope to do so without annoying or alarming
Eveena.
"Are you afraid of me?" I asked somewhat abruptly. The question may
have startled her, but I was more startled by the answer.
"Of course," she said in a tone which would have been absolutely
matter of fact, except that the doubt evidently surprised her. "Ought
I not to be so? But what made you ask? And what had I done to
displease you, just before they sent us the 'courage cup'?"
"I did not mean to show anything like displeasure," I replied. "But I
was thinking then, and I may tell you now, that you remind me not of
the women of my own Earth, but of petted children suddenly transferred
to a harsh school.
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