He would never for an instant suffer such an impulse again.

He did not really love her.

It was not in him to love any woman.

He would make her a formal offer of marriage, and when she had refused him he would dismiss the matter from his mind and return to his work undisturbed.
So she schooled herself to make her plans, leaving him out of the reckoning, telling herself ever that her newly restored freedom was too dear ever to be sacrificed again.

In Mrs.Ralston's company she attended some of the social gatherings of the station, but she took no keen pleasure in them.