Explore "The Greater Power" by Harold Bindloss on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
It was with somewhat natural misgivings, the next afternoon, that Nasmyth strolled forward along the _Tillicum's_ deck toward the place where Mrs. Acton was sitting. Immaculately dressed, as usual, she reclined in a canvas chair with a book, which she had been reading, upon her knee. As Nasmyth approached her he became conscious that she was watching him with a curious expression in her keen, dark eyes. The steamer had dropped anchor in a little land-locked bay, and Nasmyth had just come back in the dinghy, after rowing one or two of the party ashore. Mrs. Acton indicated with a movement of her hand that he might sit upon the steamer's rail, and then, turning towards him, looked at him steadily. She was a woman of commanding personality, and imperiously managed her husband's social affairs. If he had permitted it, she probably would have undertaken, also, to look after his commercial interests.
"I wonder why you decided not to visit the Indian settlement with the others? " she inquired.