"There is something you can do," she blurted out through the gloom. "You can just go away, if you don't mind, and leave me alone."
I'd only just breath left to say flatly:
"Oh, righto," and to get up and set off back to the hut.
Elizabeth wanted me to leave her alone! What on earth was the meaning of that?
"To be left alone"—with most girls that means that they have fallen in love and want to pick themselves up before they can assess the damage.
But with Elizabeth? With that genuine Loather of Men?
Never—!
With most girls, to say "I dislike men" means one of perhaps six things.
1. They don't know any men.
2. No men have been known to pay any attention to them.