It seemed to him on the whole that there was no relaxation of Gordon's epistolary tone.

If he wrote less often than he used to do, that was a thing that very commonly happened as men grew older.

The closest intimacies, moreover, had phases and seasons, intermissions and revivals, and even if his friend had, in fact, averted his countenance from him, this was simply the accomplishment of a periodical revolution which would bring them in due order face to face again.

Bernard made a point, himself, of writing tolerably often and writing always in the friendliest tone.

He made it a matter of conscience--he liked to feel that he was treating Gordon generously, and not demanding an eye for an eye.