There was no more grandiloquence than might be expected of a soldier who saw things in the bright flashes of the battle-field--sharp pinges of colour, the dyes well soaked in.

He had the gift of telling a story: some peculiar timbre in the voice, some direct dramatic touch.

She listened quietly, impressed and curious.

The impossibilities seemed for a moment to vanish in the big dream, and she herself was a dreamer, a born adventurer among the wonders of life.

Were she a man, she would have been an explorer or a soldier.
But good judgment returned, and she gathered herself together for the unpleasant task that lay before her.
She looked him steadily in the eyes.