All my life I had lived with men only, and rather a rough crowd at that.

When I made my pile and came home I looked to see a little society, but I had first the business of the Black Stone on my hands, and then the war, so my education languished.

I had never been in a motor-car with a lady before, and I felt like a fish on a dry sandbank.

The soft cushions and the subtle scents filled me with acute uneasiness.

I wasn't thinking now about Sandy's grave words, or about Blenkiron's warning, or about my job and the part this woman must play in it.