When Mrs.Stanbury came to understand that the gentleman who had been closeted with her would, probably, in a few months be a lord himself, that he was a very rich man, a member of Parliament, and one of those who are decidedly born with gold spoons in their mouths, and understood also that Nora Rowley had refused him, she was lost in amazement.

Mr.
Glascock was about forty years of age, and appeared to Nora Rowley, who was nearly twenty years his junior, to be almost an old man.
But to Mrs.Stanbury, who was over sixty, Mr.Glascock seemed to be quite in the flower of his age.

The bald place at the top of his head simply showed that he had passed his boyhood, and the grey hairs at the back of his whiskers were no more than outward signs of manly discretion.

She could not understand why any girl should refuse such an offer, unless the man were himself bad in morals, or in temper.
But Mrs.Trevelyan had told her while Nora and Mr.Glascock were closeted together, that he was believed by them all to be good and gentle.

Nevertheless she felt a considerable increase of respect for a young lady who had refused the eldest son of a lord.