parted often as though she were waiting for someone with eager
expectation, revealed an even row of pearly teeth, and the pink flush
of health and beauty was in her cheeks. She was tall: with her hair
done up, would have passed for a woman already, Desmond thought; with
it down, and her frock to her boot-tops, she was still a girl, a
beautiful girl, a very pleasant picture to contemplate.

"Being a man is not always such a grand thing as you suppose," Ellerey
said after a pause.

"He has a freedom which a woman never has," the girl answered quickly.
"Oh, yes, women try, especially in this country, I know, but it is
never the same. She cannot be a statesman, she cannot be a soldier.
She cannot take her life by the throat, as it were, and win place and
power by the sheer force of a good right arm as a man can."

"But she often succeeds in ruling the man after he has won place
and power," Ellerey answered.

"That sort of conquest does not appeal to me."

"Ah, but it will some day," he returned quickly, and then he half
regretted his words, remembering she was but a girl.

She looked at him curiously for a moment, a smile upon her lips, yet
a little anger lurking in her eyes.

"You think I am very young," she said.

"Are you not?"