The ideal was harder of discovery than he had thought; perhaps it was not to be found in the world at all.

But what less perfect could henceforth touch his heart?
Yet throughout his convalescence he thought often of Adela, perhaps because she was so near, and because she doubtless often thought of him.
His unexpected meeting with her on Stanbury Hill affected him strangely: the world was new to his eyes, and the girl's face seemed to share in the renewal; it was not quite the same face that he had held in memory, but had a fresh significance.

He read in her looks more than formerly he had been able to see.

This impression was strengthened by his interview with her on the following day.

Had she too grown much older in a few months?
After spending a fortnight with his mother at Agworth, he went to London, and for a time thought as little of Adela as of any other woman.
New interests claimed him, interests purely intellectual, the stronger that his mind seemed just aroused from a long sleep.