When once John Derringham had definitely made up his mind to any course in life, he continued in it with decision and skill, and carried off the situation with a high-handed assurance.

Thus he felt no qualms of awkwardness in meeting Mrs.Cricklander and treating her with an enchanting ease and friendliness which was completely disconcerting.

She had no _casus belli_; she could not find fault with his manner or his words, and yet she was left with the blank conviction that her hopes in regard to him were over.

She despised men in her heart because, as a rule, she was able to calculate with certainty every move in her games with them.

Feeling no slightest passion, her very mediocre intellect proved often more than a match for the cleverest.