But it was clear he had not quite understood her.

And this man whom they had picked up was undoubtedly handsome, strong and masterful, of the kind that the natural woman admires.

But then he--Delaine--had never thought of Elizabeth Merton as the natural woman.

There lay the disappointment.
What was his own course to be?
He believed himself defeated, but to show any angry consciousness of it would be to make life very uncomfortable in future, seeing that he and the Gaddesdens were inevitably neighbours and old friends.

After all, he had not committed himself beyond repair.