But the situation had proved to be actually far more poignant and personal than he had expected.

This proud, crude, handsome girl--to her certainly it was largely due that the days had flown as they had.

He was perfectly, one might almost say gleefully, aware that at the present moment it was he and not Aldous Raeburn who was intellectually her master.

His mind flew back at first with amusement, then with a thrill of something else, over their talks and quarrels.

He smiled gaily as he recalled her fits of anger with him, her remonstrances, appeals--and then her awkward inevitable submissions when he had crushed her with sarcasm or with facts.