Alec and Oliver Murchison were already in the full tide of them.
From this point of view they did not know what to make of Lorne.

It was not as if their brother were in any way ill calculated to attract that interest which gave to youthful existence in Elgin almost the only flavour that it had.

Looks are looks, and Lorne had plenty of them; taller by an inch than Alec, broader by two than Oliver, with a fine square head and blue eyes in it, and features which conveyed purpose and humour, lighted by a certain simplicity of soul that pleased even when it was not understood.

"Open," people said he was, and "frank"-- so he was, frank and open, with horizons and intentions; you could see them in his face.

Perhaps it was more conscious of them than he was.