He knew that nothing short of some great trouble would have induced Harry to leave the Cottage so abruptly, and that that trouble must have been of such a nature as to make his remaining with the Woodwards an aggravation of it.

No such trouble could have come on him but the one.
As Charley seldom made his appearance at the breakfast table on Sunday mornings, Alaric foresaw that he must undergo a _tete-a-tete_ which would not be agreeable to himself, and which must be much more disagreeable to his companion; but for this there was no help.

Harry had, however, prepared himself for what he had to go through, and immediately that the two were alone, he told his tale in a very few words.
'Alaric,' said he, 'I proposed to Gertrude last night, and she refused me.' Alaric Tudor was deeply grieved for his friend.

There was something in the rejected suitor's countenance--something in the tone of voice, which would have touched any heart softer than stone; and Alaric's heart had not as yet been so hardened by the world as to render him callous to the sight of such grief as this.
'Take my word for it, Harry, she'll think better of it in a month or two,' he said.
'Never-never; I am sure of it.

Not only from her own manner, but from her mother's,' said Harry.