From the talk, Jack gathered that Lord Farquhar and Miss Dwight had bet
their catch would outweigh that of the other three, Farquhar and she to
fish opposite the Lodge and the others half a mile below. The minority
party had won easily, thanks to the big trout and Verinder's obstinacy
in sticking to the flies he had used in England with success. There is a
type of Englishman that goes through life using the flies he was brought
up on and trying to make them fit all places and times. Any divergence
is a form of treason. Neither Farquhar nor Kilmeny happened to be of
that kind. They besieged the American with questions and soon had a
pretty fair idea of fishing on the Gunnison.
"I should think you would ask me. I thought I was the one that catches
the big fish," suggested Miss Dwight, who had just returned from having
changed into more conventional attire.
"Make a habit of it, my dear, and we will," Lord Farquhar assured her.
"Once is enough, Moya. I can't afford a pair of gloves every evening,"
India Kilmeny protested.
"By Jove, leave some of the big ones for us, Miss Dwight," implored the
captain. He was a spare wiry man, with the long clean build one expects
to see in soldiers. Long residence in India had darkened his skin to an
almost coffee brown, except for a wintry apple red where the high cheek
bones seemed about to push through.
Supper, to which Lady Farquhar had insisted that the American stay, was
being served informally in the living-room. Verinder helped himself to a
sandwich, ogling Moya the while with his eyeglass.
"I say, you know, I believe in you, Miss Dwight," he asserted.
That young woman did not know why she resented more than usual his
wheedling attentions. Lady Jim had invited the millionaire to join their
party, as the girl very well knew, in order to give her charges a chance
at him. Not that Lady Farquhar liked the man. She knew him quite well
for an ill-bred little snob at heart. But he would pass muster in a
crowd, and none of the young women of the party could afford to sniff at
two millions sterling. It was entirely probable that Joyce, with her
beauty and her clear vision of the need of money in the scheme of
things, would marry as well as if she had a mother to look out for her.
But Lady Jim felt it her duty to plan for India and Moya. She was more
anxious about Miss Dwight than the other Irish girl, for Moya was likely
to bolt the traces. Her friendships with men were usually among
ineligibles. Verinder had shown a decided drift in her direction, but
the girl had not encouraged him in the least. If she had been possessed
of an independent fortune she could not have been more airily
indifferent to his advances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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