Girls were to him merely a source of disquiet.

"If she be not fair for me--" was his ordinary thought; and he had never yet succeeded in persuading himself that any girl, fair or not, was at all likely to conceive the idea of devoting herself to his happiness.

In this matter, an excessive modesty subdued him.

It had something to do with his holding so much apart from general society.
On the evening of the next day, there was a thunderous knock at Warburton's flat, and in rushed Franks.
"You were at Ashtead yesterday," he cried.
"I was.

What of that ?" "And you didn't come to tell me about the Elvans!" "About Miss Elvan, I suppose you mean ?" said Will.
"Well, yes, I do.