Yet such fears were groundless.

No woman was ever blessed with a gentler, tenderer husband.

This gentleness and violence on his part was a curious blend similar to the one in his carriage of awkwardness and ease.

That slight awkwardness! He never got over it, and it was delicious.

His behavior in our drawing-room reminded me of a careful bull in a china shop.* * In those days it was still the custom to fill the living rooms with bric-a-brac.