Instinct and so much life with Winton made the girl regard it as beneath
her to be shocked. She did not seek knowledge of life, but refused to
shy away from it or be discomfited; and the baroness, to whom innocence
was piquant, went on:

"Des femmes--toujours des femmes! C'est grand dommage. It will spoil his
spirit. His sole chance is to find one woman, but I pity her; sapristi,
quelle vie pour elle!"

Gyp said calmly:

"Would a man like that ever love?"

The baroness goggled her eyes.

"I have known such a man become a slave. I have known him running after
a woman like a lamb while she was deceiving him here and there. On ne
peut jamais dire. Ma belle, il y a des choses que vous ne savez pas
encore." She took Gyp's hand. "And yet, one thing is certain. With those
eyes and those lips and that figure, YOU have a time before you!"

Gyp withdrew her hand, smiled, and shook her head; she did not believe
in love.

"Ah, but you will turn some heads! No fear! as you English say. There is
fatality in those pretty brown eyes!"

A girl may be pardoned who takes as a compliment the saying that her
eyes are fatal. The words warmed Gyp, uncontrollably light-hearted in