But he came again and danced much oftener with Pearl.

There was no quick, hot alarm in the breast of Wilbur Cowan.

Lyman Teaford was an old man, chiefly notable, in Wilbur's opinion, for the remarkable fluency of his Adam's apple while--with chin aloft--he played high notes on his silver flute.
Yet dimly at last he felt discomfort at Lyman's crude persistence with Pearl.

He danced with others now only when Pearl was firm in refusals.
Wilbur to her jested with venomous sarcasm at the expense of Lyman.
Women were difficult to understand, he thought.

What could her motive be?
The drama, Greek in its severity, culminated with a hideous, a sickening velocity.