As his fancy wrought, he walked faster and faster, and he reached the vicarage in a physical glow which corresponded to his scintillating state of mind.
Of Constance Bride he thought hardly at all.

She did not interest him; her proximity left him cold.

She might be a useful instrument; apart from his "method," that was the light in which he regarded all the women he knew.

Experience had taught him that he possessed a certain power over women of a certain kind; it seemed probable that Constance belonged to the class; but this was a fact which had no emotional bearing.

With a moment's idle wonder he remembered the circumstances of their former parting.