It fell full upon the face of the man before her, and she was conscious of a powerful sense of repugnance.

Low-browed, wide-nosed, and prominent of jaw, with close-set eyes of monkeyish craft, such was the countenance of Piet Vreiboom.

He sat and stared at her, his hat on his head, his pipe in his mouth.
"How do you do, Mrs.Ranger ?" he said.
Sylvia checked her advance, but in a moment Burke Ranger's hand closed, upon her elbow, quietly impelling her forward.
"Mr.Vreiboom saw you with me at Ritzen yesterday," he said, and she suddenly remembered the knot of Boer farmers at the hotel-door and the staring eyes that had abashed her.
She glanced up at Burke, but his face was quite emotionless.

Only something about him--an indefinable something--held her back from correcting the mistake that Vreiboom had made.

She looked at the seated Boer with a dignity wholly unconscious.