He did not want her just then.

He could hardly tell why, except that, somehow, she ran counter to his thoughts altogether that morning.

She seemed, even in her excellent brown costume that fitted her fine figure so well, out of place, and out of place for the first time.
They were not openly engaged, these two, but there was an understanding between them, and an understanding that her family was slowly recognising.

Mr.Lessing, at first, would never have accepted an engagement, for he had other ideas for his daughter of the big house in Park Lane.

The rich city merchant, church-warden at St.John's, important in his party, and a person of distinction when at his club, would have been seriously annoyed that his daughter should consider a marriage with a curate whose gifts had not yet made him an income.