anything more intricate than the platitudinous dance or dinner partner
in black and white, or any frock-coated entity in the afternoon, or any
flannelled individual at the nets or on the links or cantering about the
veranda of club, casino, or cottage, in evident anxiety to be
considerate and agreeable.

This one, however, appeared to have individual peculiarities; he
differed from his brother Caucasians, who should all resemble one
another to any normal girl. For one thing he was subject to illogical
moods--apparently not caring whether she noticed them or not. For
another, he permitted himself the liberty of long and unreasonable
silences whenever he pleased. This she had accepted unquestioningly in
the early days when she was a little in awe of him, when the discrepancy
of their ages and experiences had not been dissipated by her first
presumptuous laughter at his expense.

Now it puzzled her, appearing as a specific trait differentiating him
from Man in the abstract.

He had another trick, too, of retiring within himself, even when smiling
at her sallies or banteringly evading her challenge to a duel of wits.
At such times he no longer looked very young; she had noticed that more
than once. He looked old, and ill-tempered.

Perhaps some sorrow--the actuality being vague in her mind; perhaps
some hidden suffering--but she learned that he had never been wounded in
battle and had never even had measles.

The sudden sullen pallor, the capricious fits of silent reserve, the
smiling aloofness, she never attributed to the real source. How could