He stayed out late at night; he stayed out all night long.

He told Isabel the mill needed him, and she either believed him or pretended to do so.
So that after the first winter of her fashionable existence she generally "entertained" alone.

"Mr.Callendar had gone to Stirling, or up to the Highlands to buy wool," or, "he was so busy money-making she could not get him to recognize the claims of society." And society cared not a pin's point whether he presided or not at the expensive entertainments given in his name..