Polston called his eyes hungry: it was a savage hunger that sprang into them now; a gray shadow creeping over his set face, as he looked at her, in that flashing moment.

The phaeton was gone in an instant, leaving her alone in the road.

One of the men looked back, and then whispered something to the lady with a laugh.

She turned to Holmes, when he had finished, fixing her light, confusing eyes on his face, and softening her voice.
"Fred swears that woman we passed was your first love.

Were you, then, so chivalric?
Was it to have been a second romaunt of 'King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid ?'" He met her look, and saw the fierce demand through the softness and persiflage.