Then a sudden hope dawned upon him; he wondered if her affirmation were true.

He asked himself whether it were not the act of a woman whose natural purity and innocence had blinded her to the contingencies of such an announcement.

His wide experience of the sex had taught him that, in many cases, women who ventured on hazardous matters did so because they lacked an imagination sensuous enough to feel their full force.

In this light Grace's bold avowal might merely have denoted the desperation of one who was a child to the realities of obliquity.
Fitzpiers's mental sufferings and suspense led him at last to take a melancholy journey to the neighborhood of Little Hintock; and here he hovered for hours around the scene of the purest emotional experiences that he had ever known in his life.

He walked about the woods that surrounded Melbury's house, keeping out of sight like a criminal.