kled, and his boots unpolished, but
he looked less badly than he thought. At sight of Colina he caught his
breath and turned very pale. His eyes widened with something akin to
awe. Colina was suddenly relieved.

"So you dared to come!" she said with a careless smile.

He did not answer. Plainly he could not. He stood as if rooted to the
floor. Colina had meant to offer him her hand, but suddenly changed
her mind.

Instead, with reckless bravado considering her late state of mind, she
went to the lamp and turned it up. She felt his honest, stricken
glance following her, and thrilled under it.

"You have not met my father?"

Ambrose "took a brace" as he would have said. "No," he answered.

"I thought very likely you would see him this afternoon," she said with
a touch of smiling malice.

His directness foiled it.

"I waited down the river," he said. "I didn't want to have a row with
him that might spoil to-night."

"What a terrible opinion you have of poor father!" said Colina.

"Does he know I'm coming?" asked Ambrose.

"Certainly!"

"What did he say?"

"Nothing! What should he say?"

"He has boasted that no free-trader ever dared set foot in his
territory."

"I don't believe it! It's not like him. Come along and you'll see."

"Wait!" said Ambrose quickly. "Half a minute!"

Colina looked at him curiously.

"You don't know what this means to me!" he went on, his glowing,
unsmiling eyes fixed on her. "A lady's drawing-room! A lamp with a
soft, pretty shade!--and you--like that! I--I wasn't prepared for it!"

Colina laughed softly. She was filled with a great tenderness for him,
therefore she could jeer a little.

Ambrose had not moved from the spot where she found him.

"It's not fair," he went on. "You don't need that! It bowls a man
over."

This was the ordinary language of gallantry--yet it was different.
Colina liked it. "Come on," she said lightly, "father is like a bear
when he is kept waiting for dinner!"

The two men shook hands in a natural, friendly way. With another man
Ambrose was quite at ease. Colina approved the way her youth stood up
to the famous old trader without flinching. They took places at the
table, and the meal went swimmingly.

Ambrose, whether he felt his affable host's secret animosity and was
stimulated by it, or for another reason, suddenly blossomed into an
entertainer. When her father was present he addressed Colina's ear,
her chin or