"
He lifted his eyebrows for a second, and she fancied--could it have been
mere fancy?--that the grey eyes shone with a certain steely
determination that was assuredly foreign to his whole nature as he made
deliberate reply:
"That is quite understood, Mrs. Denvers. It was awfully kind of you to
be so explicit. As you know, I am not good at taking hints."
And with that he was gone, unruffled to the last, perfectly courteous,
almost dignified, while she stood and watched his exit with a vague and
disquieting suspicion that he had somehow managed to get the best of it
after all.
II
When Beryl Denvers first came to Kundaghat to be near her friend Mrs.
Ellis, the Commissioner's wife, society in general openly opined that
she had come to the populous Hill station to seek a husband. She was
young, she was handsome, and she was free. It seemed the only reasonable
conclusion to draw. But since that date society had had ample occasion
to change its mind. Beryl Denvers plainly valued her freedom above every
other consideration, and those who wooed her wooed in vain. She
discouraged the attentions of all mankind with a rigour that never
varied, till society began to think that her brief matrimonial
experience had turned her into a man-hater. And yet this was hard to
believe, for, though quick-tempered, she was not bitter. She was quite
willing to be friendly with all men, up to a certain point.
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