He gathered, indeed, from her fear of vexing her uncle that that bad hat was in the habit of slapping her if she angered him, and, for a breath, he was filled with a fierce indignation which surprised him; she looked so frail.

But he did not ask her if it were so, for his delicacy forewarned him that the question would provoke a struggle between her loyalty and her truthfulness.

He entertained her, therefore, with his reminiscences, and enjoyed to the full the admiration and wonder which filled her face as he talked.

Absorbed in one another, they paid no heed to the passing of the hours; and the sudden fall of twilight surprised them.
They began to speculate whether Uncle Richard had had enough of his gambling, and would come and fetch her.

But, even now, Elsie was not impatient, so inured had she been to neglect.