He was slight and young, and not very clever; but a certain inexpugnable dignity surrounded him, which, real as it was, sometimes irritated Marcella.

It sat oddly on his round face--boyish still, in spite of its pinched and anxious look--but there it was, not to be ignored.

Marcella thought him a Conservative, and very backward and ignorant in his political and social opinions.

But she was perfectly conscious that she must also think him a saint; and that the deepest things in him were probably not for her.
Mr.Harden said a few words to her now as to her straw-plaiting scheme, which had his warmest sympathy--Marcella contrasted his tone gratefully with that of Wharton, and once more fell happily in love with her own ideas--then he went off, leaving the two girls together.
"Have you seen Mrs.Hurd this morning ?" said Mary.
"Yes, Willie seems very bad." Mary assented.
"The doctor says he will hardly get through the winter, especially if this weather goes on.

But the greatest excitement of the village just now--do you know ?--is the quarrel between Hurd and Westall.