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ls had dilated with anger until her eyes looked black; her head was very erect on her slim shoulders. He thought to himself that here were traces of the nymph after all---at least, here was a girl who might conceivably look like one by artificial light and in the right gown. And beyond that, he was vaguely conscious of something in her that was pliant yet unbreakable--or almost unbreakable--and which defied him and all the world. "What will your other cavalier say to that?" he said. "I expect he will want to see you take the shine out of all the other girls once more." "Excuse me. There is some one waiting to come through," said Caroline with immense aloofness. But inwardly she was furious with herself for feeling a just perceptible response to his virile personality and his absolute sureness. Anything he _wanted_---- Then she bent her mind resolutely upon a respected inhabitant of Thorhaven. "Yes, lovely day, isn't it?" she said. "I suppose you're full up with visitors?" The woman replied that she was full up, and furthermore that she would remain in the same happy condition until October, then said casually as she moved off: "I didn't know you were living servant with Miss Wilson. I suppose you'll stop there altogether when this job on the promenade is done?" "I aren't--I'm not living servant with her," said Caroline sharply. "Who's been telling you that? I simply went to light the fire for them in the morning and do a few odd jobs until they could get somebody permanent." "But I always understood from Mrs. Creddle you were going to be servant there," persisted the woman. "She once told me your aunt Ellen promised years ago." "Very likely she did," said Caroline. "I can't help that. Everybody must do the best they can for themselves." "Well, you're right there," answered the woman, and saying Amen thus to the creed of her day, she took up her basket and went through the turnstile. _Chapter VII_ _Sea-Roke_ One afternoon at the turn of the tide, a sort of transformation scene took place along the sands and on the promenade; a bank of cold vapour advanced from the sea, through which the sun glimmered faintly yellow, then disappeared. The girls' thin blouses began to flap limply against their chilled arms; matrons turned a little red or blue about the nose; children's hair either curled more tightly or hung limp, while their cheeks took on a lovely colour in the cool dampnes
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