He was not a man who boasted of his conquests.

He was not a ravening wolf going about seeking whom he might devour, and determined to devour whatever might come in his way; but he liked that which was pleasant; and of all pleasant things the company of a pretty clever woman was to him the pleasantest.

At this exact period of his life no woman was so pleasantly pretty to him, and so agreeably clever, as Mrs.Trevelyan.
When Louis Trevelyan heard on the stairs the step of the dangerous man, he got up from his chair as though he too would have gone into the drawing-room, and it would perhaps have been well had he done so.
Could he have done this, and kept his temper with the man, he would have paved the way for an easy reconciliation with his wife.

But when he reached the door of his room, and had placed his hand upon the lock, he withdrew again.

He told himself he withdrew because he would not allow himself to be jealous; but in truth he did so because he knew he could not have brought himself to be civil to the man he hated.