He turned his back to the fire, placed his hands behind him, extended his legs and looked away through the window with an expression of face which seemed to denote the perception of rose-color even in the tints of a wet Sunday.
His sister, from her chair, looked up at him, watching him; and what she saw in his face was not grateful to her present mood.

She was puzzled by many things, but her brother's disposition was a frequent source of wonder to her.

I say frequent and not constant, for there were long periods during which she gave her attention to other problems.

Sometimes she had said to herself that his happy temper, his eternal gayety, was an affectation, a pose; but she was vaguely conscious that during the present summer he had been a highly successful comedian.

They had never yet had an explanation; she had not known the need of one.