"You don't need that! It bowls a man over." This was the ordinary language of gallantry--yet it was different.
Colina liked it.

"Come on," she said lightly, "father is like a bear when he is kept waiting for dinner!" The two men shook hands in a natural, friendly way.

With another man Ambrose was quite at ease.

Colina approved the way her youth stood up to the famous old trader without flinching.

They took places at the table, and the meal went swimmingly.
Ambrose, whether he felt his affable host's secret animosity and was stimulated by it, or for another reason, suddenly blossomed into an entertainer.