He liked Muriel Gardiner and she frankly enjoyed his society.

It did not matter that she sometimes seemed to find him amusing when he was serious.

A fire burned in the grate, for the summer evening was cold, his low chair was comfortable, and Muriel, holding a fan to shield her face, sat opposite in the soft light of a shaded lamp that left much of the room in shadow.

The circle of subdued illumination gave one a pleasant feeling of seclusion and made for mutual confidence, but Festing was silent for a time, thinking rather hard.
He was getting used to English comforts, which did not seem so enervating as he had imagined, but he could give them up, and would, indeed, be forced to do so when he occupied his prairie homestead.

A man could go without much that people in England required, and be the better for the self-denial, but it might be different for a girl.