She alarmed him. He had jested about her to his fellows—but——
He shivered uncomfortably.
Yes. This woman alarmed him. He felt that his throat might be slit as he slept.... He rather liked a wordy brawl with women—he had his moments in drawing-room cynicism. He could brow-beat them with the best. He had pen-courage too. With a pen and ink-pot he was absolutely without fear. But——
With this silent woman he never could shake off the feeling of discomfort. She baffled him. He feared her.
By God! he had it. He would write a book upon all his gadding loves with women—she should figure there as one of many. She would free him in the divorce courts.
And the scandal would float him into public notice again.
CHAPTER LII
Wherein Yankee Doodle is bugled—with a Strong Foreign Accent