He mused a little, from time to time, on Constance, whose behaviour slightly piqued his curiosity.

That she was much occupied with the thought of him, he never doubted, but he could not feel quite sure of the colour of her reflections--a vexatious incertitude.

He lazily resolved to bring her to clearer avowal before quitting Rivenoak.
At evening, the coachman drove him to Hollingford, where he alighted at Mr.Breakspeare's newspaper office.

The editor received him in a large, ill-kept, barely furnished room, the floor littered with journals.
"How will that do, Mr.Lashmar ?" was his greeting, as he held out a printed slip.
Dyce perused a leading article, which, without naming him, contained a very flattering sketch of his intellectual personality.

So, at least, he understood the article, ostensibly a summing of the qualifications which should be possessed by an ideal Liberal candidate.