As she watched him go, she could not restrain a feeling of admiration. In days past she had jibbed at his thoroughness. She saw its value now. The practical man might not cut a romantic figure; but for coping with romantic situations, he could give a stone to any Lohengrin or Lancelot. His cautious, deliberate nature, how it used to irritate her! How irresolute she had often thought him! But now she sighed for a little less resolution in his handling of Dick. Only the deliberate humour she had once despised could avert tragedy. But how formidable the forces against its return!"
CHAPTER V
Two or three big drops of rain fell. Norah made her way slowly back to camp. Near the ruins she was stopped by Dick, already tired of watching the woodcutters. She noticed that access to his shaving tackle had restored his freshness.
'Norah,' he said, with his hint of a brogue, 'why have you been keeping away from me all day, the day I needed you most?'
Norah, never less inclined for sentiment, found two answers ready to her lips; the first, that any attention to him might set Archie at his throat, too melodramatic; the second, that in his present mood he was best left alone, too brutal. So she remained silent.
'What was Sinclair saying to you on the beach?' he asked.
'Nothing much. Being decent.'
Dick's face darkened.
'You mean I'm not?'