He looked at her almost sadly.

Once he was much younger.
But alas, he had never attracted the flaming interest of any such woman.

As he studied her now he wished that he might have enjoyed such good fortune.
In contrast with Aileen's orchid glow and tinted richness Mrs.
Rambaud's simple gray silk, the collar of which came almost to her ears, was disturbing--almost reproving--but Mrs.Rambaud's ladylike courtesy and generosity made everything all right.

She came out of intellectual New England--the Emerson-Thoreau-Channing Phillips school of philosophy--and was broadly tolerant.

As a matter of fact, she liked Aileen and all the Orient richness she represented.