Page:Man's Country (1923).pdf/146

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where in the west on one of his earliest motor-selling trips; or that he had spent three painful months under instruction, to acquire that seat on an English saddle—all in the hope that he might encounter her like this and that she might make just the remark she had made about horse and rider.

Neither did he know now that she had made it; but was thrilled enough with getting a glimpse of her as he passed—in her riding suit of linen with black boots and a black derby hat from under which her eyes looked bluer, her cheeks rosier, than they had ever looked to him before.

"Why, I do believe that is the young man who was driving father at the time of the accident and who brought him home. I heard that he had made a lot of money. He was such a distressed spectacle that day in the hall."

Fay made this remark to Dean Galt, her riding companion, who loved her with a slow, cold fire and bored her by a humble persistence that was the more irritating to her because she feared she must some day succumb to it.

"Purse-proud and thoroughly disagreeable—always showing off—that up-start type!" criticised Dean, who had been incensed by what he regarded as alienated admiration, and who, incidentally, had inherited his millions. "I can't stand 'em," he concluded virtuously.