For an instant she saw him as if he had been a young Greek god, strangely met in the fields of Arcady; then the glamour passed and he was only an awkward soldier in a shabby uniform. She cut Queen with her riding-whip and went furiously ahead, but a boyish, troubled face was close beside her.
"Have I offended you?"
Beatrice smiled with calm superiority. "You shouldn't say such things," she replied; "you're far too young."
"Huh!" he retorted, with spirit, "I'm twenty-five!"
"Twenty-five?" she repeated incredulously; "I don't believe it. Why, I'm twenty myself, and I never thought you were more than eighteen."
She laughed wickedly as she saw him squirm. Through long experience she had found that shaft one of the most effective in her repertory, which was not by any means limited. More than once it had quenched an incipient declaration as effectually as if it had been a shower of cold water.
They rode in silence till they reached the Fort. "Shall I take you across?" he asked.
"No, thank you; I can go by myself, if there is no military order against it; but you may take Queen to the stables, if you like."