And at supper the stranger had not only sat on the other side of her, but had talked all the time, and on books, a subject entirely uninteresting to Zeb.

Worst of all, Ruby had listened.

No; the worst of all was a remark of Modesty Prowse's that he chanced to overhear afterwards.
So when the fiddles struck up the air of "Randy my dandy," Zeb, knowing that the company would call upon him, at first felt his heart turn sick with loathing.

He glanced across the room at Ruby, who, with heightened colour, was listening to the stranger, and looking up at his handsome face.

Already one or two voices were calling "Zeb!" "Young Zeb for a hornpipe!" "Now then, Young Zeb!" He had a mind to refuse.