CHAPTER IV
BROTHER DICK
She covered her emotion with the most herculean efforts at gaiety. She
laughed very shakily at the solicitude expressed by Columbus, and told
him tremulously how absurd and ridiculous he was to make such a fuss
about nothing.
After this, feeling a little better, she ventured a glance at her
companion. He was on his feet and wiping his forehead--a man of medium
height and no great breadth of shoulder, but evidently well knit and
athletic. Becoming by some means aware of her attention, he put away his
handkerchief and turned towards her. She saw his eyes gleam under black,
mobile brows that seemed to denote a considerable sense of humour. The
whole of his face held an astonishing amount of vitality, but the lips
were straight and rather hard, so clean-cut as to be almost ascetic. He
looked to her like a man who would suffer to the utmost, but never lose
his self-control. And she thought she read a pride more than ordinary in
the cast of his features--a man capable of practically anything save the
asking or receiving of favours.
Then he spoke, and curiously all criticism vanished. "I had better
introduce myself," he said.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51