And this shrinking was what men called pride,--was the pride of which his old friend wrote! "Have I ever been haughty, unless in my own defence ?" he asked himself, remembering certain passages of humility in his life,--and certain passages of haughtiness also.
And the Duke told him also that he was diffident.

Of course he was diffident.

Was it not one and the same thing?
The very pride of which he was accused was no more than that shrinking which comes from the want of trust in oneself.

He was a shy man.

All his friends and all his enemies knew that;--it was thus that he still discoursed with himself;--a shy, self-conscious, timid, shrinking, thin-skinned man! Of course he was diffident.