He had been the spoilt darling of his mother; and now, both his parents being dead, he was alone in the world, heir to his father's revenues, and entire master of his own actions.

And as part of the penalty he had to pay for being rich and good-looking to boot, he was so much run after by women that he found it hard to understand the haughty indifference with which he had just been treated by one of the most fair, if not the fairest of her sex.

He was piqued, and his _amour propre_ was wounded.
"I'm sure my question was harmless enough," he mused, half crossly, "She might have answered it." He glanced out impatiently over the Fjord.

There was no sign of his returning yacht as yet.
"What a time those fellows are!" he said to himself.

"If the pilot were not on board, I should begin to think they had run the _Eulalie_ aground." He finished his cigar and threw the end of it into the water; then he stood moodily watching the ripples as they rolled softly up and caressed the shining brown shore at his feet, thinking all the while of that strange girl, so wonderfully lovely in face and form, so graceful and proud of bearing, with her great blue eyes and masses of dusky gold hair.
His meeting with her was a sort of adventure in its way--the first of the kind he had had for some time.