Mrs. Armine governed herself, drew breath, and once more turned towards
Baroudi. On his strong, bold face there was the delighted expression of
a boy. She looked, looked at him, and all her half-tender amusement died
away, and again, as in the Villa Androud, she was encompassed by fear.
The immense contrasts in this man, combined with his superb physique,
made him to her irresistibly fascinating. In him there was a complete
novelty to appeal to her jaded appetites, rendered capricious and uneasy
by years of so-called pleasure. A few minutes ago, when he had spoken of
death, he had been a mysterious and cruel fatalist. Now he was a
deliciously absurd child, but a child with the frame of a splendid man.