"There is no one for you up here."

"I'm not bothering my head about that," said Colina. She went on with
a kind of splendid insolence: "Every man wants me. I'll choose one
when I'm ready. I can't see anything in men except as comrades. The
decent ones are timid with women, and the bold ones are--well--rather
beastly. I'm looking for a man who's brave and decent, too. If
there's no such thing--"

She rose from the table. Colina's was a body designed to fill a
riding-habit, and she wore one from morning till night. She was as
tall as a man of middle height, and her tawny hair piled on top of her
head made her seem taller.

"Well?" said Gaviller.

"Oh, I'll choose the handsomest beast I can find," she said, laughing
over her shoulder and escaping from the room before he could answer.

John Gaviller finished his egg with a frown. Colina had this trick of
breaking things off in the middle, and it irritated him. He had an
orderly mind.




CHAPTER IV.

THE MEETING.