Both ladies noticed in him an abstractedness of look, often when conversing, as of a man in calculation; they put it down to an ambitious mind.

Yet Diana said then, and said always, that it was he who had first taught her the art of observing.

On the whole, the brilliant marriage seemed a fairer prospect for her; how reasonable to anticipate, Lady Dunstane often thought when admiring the advance of Diana's beauty in queenliness, for never did woman carry her head more grandly, more thrillingly make her presence felt; and if only she had been an actress showing herself nightly on a London stage, she would before now have met the superb appreciation, melancholy to reflect upon! Diana regained her happy composure at Copsley.

She had, as she imagined, no ambition.

The dulness of the place conveyed a charm to a nature recovering from disturbance to its clear smooth flow.