Billie had defied me, threatened, and refused to accept parole; nothing remained but to hold her prisoner.

Besides her words had stung and angered me.

Even while I doubted their entire truth they still hurt, serving to increase my bitterness toward Le Gaire.
I was in this mood as I paused a moment to glance out at the gray dawn.
The smooth pike was at least a hundred yards away, barely visible here and there through the intervening trees.

Everything about was quiet and deserted--war seemed a long way off.

Standing there alone, hearing the birds singing in the branches, and gazing out across the green, closely trimmed grass, I could scarcely realize our perilous position, or the exciting events of the past night.