One takes on the color of one's environment, and
the girl from Drogheda knew in her heart that Meteetse and Colmac were
no longer the real barriers that stood between her and the Alaskan.
She had been disillusioned, saw him more clearly; and though she still
recognized the quality of bigness that set him apart, her spirit did not
now do such complete homage to it. More and more her thoughts contrasted
him with another man.
Macdonald did not need to be told that he had lost ground, but with
the dogged determination that had carried him to success he refused to
accept the verdict. She was a woman, therefore to be won. The habit of
victory was so strong in him that he could see no alternative.
He embarrassed her with his downright attentions, hemmed her in with
courtesies she could not evade. If she appealed to her cousin, Diane
only laughed.
"My dear, you might as well make up your mind to him. He is going to
marry you, willy-nilly."
Sheba herself began to be afraid he would. There was something dominant
and masterful about the man that swept opposition aside. He had a way of
getting what he wanted.
The motor-car picnic to the Willow Creek Camp was a case in point.
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