She thought of him incessantly, reviewing all his talk, turning over this and that ambiguous phrase, asking herself whether he meant much or little.

It was natural that she should compare and contrast his behaviour with that of Felix Dymes.

If his motive were not the same, why did he seek her society?
And if it were?
If at length he spoke out, summing his hints in the plain offer of all those opportunities she lacked?
A brilliant temptation.

To leave the world as Alma Frothingham, and to return to it as Mrs.Cyrus Redgrave! But, in that event, what of her musical ambitions?
He spoke of her art as the supreme concern, to which all else must be subordinate.

And surely that was his meaning when he threw scorn upon 'bores and philistines'.