He looked, as he felt, wholly nonplussed. There was to come a day when he better understood her then incomprehensible indignation, when he not only understood but sympathised with it; but at the time he was entirely baffled. He could only feel astonishment at her outbreak. "I fear you do misunderstand me," he said. "There was nothing unworthy in the speech. I merely conceded to a brave man a brave man's due. I have heard many tales of his courage. Men call him Grit who remember him by no other name. If there is truth in hearsay, he has earned the nickname." His manner was sufficiently earnest to convince her of his sincerity. The swift anger died out of her eyes, leaving them softly pensive, and wistful, like the eyes of a woman who meets Hope on the road of Disillusion, and being unprepared for the meeting, is inclined to doubt that it is Hope that she encounters. "Grit!" she repeated softly. And added: "I have not been out here long, and I have heard nothing of Mr Lawless for years... I have not heard the nickname before, but--I like it... Why do men call him Grit?" "Because," he answered quietly, "they credit him with being without fear. They tell tales of his courage--or, rather, less of his courage than of his absolute fearlessness. He is a man to whom fear is unknown... That is the popular belief." "And you do not share it?" He was not altogether prepared for the question. She sprang it upon him suddenly, as if something in his manner challenged her to the inquiry. "I have his word for it that he has known terror," he answered quietly, after a brief hesitation. "That does not disprove his courage," she said quickly. "No," he allowed. "Courage is fear overcome." There was another and longer pause. He ended it with the reluctant admission: "I am inclined to believe myself that Grit Lawless has earned his nickname." "You give your meed of praise grudgingly," she said. But she smiled while she spoke, and the Colonel was dazzled, as many men had been dazzled before him, by the extraordinary seductiveness of her smile.