This evidently amused Roderick, who replied:
"Yes, he is a stout, tough fellow."
"And so brave," pursued Pauline with growing warmth while her eyes were fixed on the plain beyond.
"Every soldier ought to be brave, Pauline. But I must allow that this man is particularly brave. He has proved it before our eyes."
Pauline answered not, but her attention remained fixed on the distant sight before her. Roderick burst out into a hearty laugh and said:
"Surely this is not all you have got to say about him. He is strong, he is brave, and—isn't he something else, eh, Pauline?"
She turned suddenly and answered Hardinge's laugh with a smile, but there was the tell-tale blood in her cheek.
"Come now, dear, isn't he handsome?" continued Roderick, proud of his triumph and full of mischief.
"Well, yes, he is handsome," answered Pauline with a delicious pout and mock-show of aggressiveness.
"And what else?"