If?
Then was she built up in his imagination, or did he really see her with his eyes?
He could not tell, and after all it mattered little so long as he did see her.
He grew cunning--in such circumstances a common symptom--affecting a "bonhomie," a joviality of demeanour, indeed, which was rather overdone.
He suggested that Mary should ask some people to tea, and twice he went out shooting, a sport which he had almost abandoned.

Only when she wanted to invite certain guests to stay, he demurred a little, on account of the baby, but so cleverly that she never suspected him of being insincere.

In short, as he could attain his unholy end in no other way, Morris entered on a career of mild deception, designed to prevent his wife from suspecting him of she knew not what.

His conduct was that of a man engaged in an intrigue.

In his case, however, the possible end of his ill-doing was not the divorce-court, but an asylum, or so some observers would have anticipated.