It is a rule of mine that when I am to do a thing, to do it at once.

So I shall employ at least twenty men, and before Christmas everything will be finished, and I will show you rooms worthy of a palace.

It is of Gretchen I am thinking, more than of myself.

Poor little Gretchen!' Arthur's voice was inexpressibly sad and pitiful as he said 'Poor Gretchen,' while his eyes again grew soft and tender, with a far-away look in them, as if they were seeing things in the past rather than in the future.
There was not a particle of sentiment in Frank's nature, and Gretchen was to him an object of dread rather than a romance.

So far as he could judge, his brother had no intention of routing him; but a woman in the field would be different, and he should at once lose his vantage-ground.
'You seem to be very fond of Gretchen,' he said, at last.
'Fond!' Arthur replied, 'I should say I am, though the poor child has not much cause to think so.