She had only tolerated contempt for idlers, and these young men had belonged to that category.

Bruce caught her interest in the very fact that he had but little to say and said that crisply and well.

There was something authoritative in the shape of his mouth and the steadiness of his eye, though before her he never exercised this power.

A dozen times she had been on the point of taking him into her confidence, but the irony of fate had always firmly closed her lips.
And now, waiting for the ship to warp into its pier, she realized what a fatal mistake her reticence had been.

A friend of her father! Bruce had left the Lloyder before dinner (at Singapore), and as Kathlyn's British-India coaster did not leave till morning she had elected to remain over night on the German boat.
As Bruce disappeared among the disembarking passengers and climbed into a rickshaw she turned to the captain, who stood beside her.
"Do you know Mr.Bruce ?" "Very well," said the German.