What did she expect, he asked himself irritably?
She knew him.

She knew his reputation.

Did she imagine herself the sort of woman to hold a man of his stamp for more than the passing moment?
Save for his title and estates, was he worth the holding?
A group of laughing Italian girls with kerchiefs on their heads surrounded him suddenly and he became the centre of a shower--a storm--of _confetti_.

His mood changed in a second.

He would show her what to expect! Without an instant's pause he turned upon his assailants, caught the one nearest to him, snatching her off her feet; and, gripping her without mercy, he kissed her fierily and shamelessly till she gasped with delicious fright; then dropped her and seized another.
The girls of Valrosa spoke of the ugly Englishman with bated breath and shining eyes long after Saltash had gone his unheeding way, for the blood was hot in his veins before the game was over.