Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/69



" spirit in women and horses," was a favorite aphorism with the Hon. "Hank" T. Spiser; but what he really meant was that he relished breaking it in either.

He had interpreted aright Nan's mannerism of suddenly elevating her chin, the quick sparkle of her eye, and his study of her piqued his interest mightily.

He saw the high spirit concealed beneath her self-effacing dignity, but that which a man like Spiser could not see, or, seeing, understand, was her nearly childlike innocence, her absolute purity of mind.

An habitué of dance-halls, a life-long associate of reckless women, they had come to form the standard by which he judged every woman who was not unequivocally accounted for by a husband.

Even then he considered few, if any, proof against his blandishments if he chose to persist, his unshakable theory being that married 61