"Will you let me renew our acquaintance at Belle Plain?
I shall be in West Tennessee before the summer is over; probably I shall leave here within a week," he said, bending toward her.

His glance dwelt on her face and the pliant lines of her figure, and his sense swam.
Since their first meeting the girl's beauty had haunted and allured him; with his passionate sense of life he was disposed to these violent fancies, and he had a masterful way with women just as he had a masterful way with men.

Now, however, he was aware that he was viewed with entire indifference.

His vanity, which was his whole inner self, was hurt, and from the black depths of his nature his towering egotism flashed out lawless and perverted impulses.

"I must tell you that I am not of your sort, Miss Malroy--" he continued hurriedly.