And a few there are who tell us that they live there always, listening to the voice of God; but these are old and worn with journeying--men and women who have outlived passions and ambitions and the fire heats of love, and who now, girt about with memories, stand face to face with the sphinx Eternity.
But John Niel was no chicken, nor very likely to fall in love with the first pretty face he met.

He had once, years ago, gone through that melancholy stage, and there, he thought, was an end of it.

Moreover, if Bessie attracted him, so did Jess in a different way.

Before he had been a week in the house he came to the conclusion that Jess was the strangest woman he had ever met, and in her own fashion one of the most attractive.

Her very impassiveness added to her charm; for who is there in this world who is not eager to learn a secret?
To him Jess was a riddle of which he did not know the key.