In a hundred small ways he made her conscious of the interest which he felt in her; and whenever there was a commission to be particularly remembered, he never gave it to his sisters alone, but to her also.
His pretty pleasure-boat--a long, light, sharp-built yawl, with a red stripe along its black side, and two sloping masts--which he had lately had built, lay often the whole week through moored in the bay under the house.

He was very particular about the boat, and during his absence it was to Elizabeth's sole care that she was intrusted.

There was always something or other to be looked after; and when he came home he would generally subject her, in a jokingly harsh tone, to an examination, which he called holding a summary court-martial.
Sometimes on Saturdays he would come up the path waving in his hand a letter covered with post-marks.

It would be from his father to his stepmother; and Madam Beck would generally read it by herself first, and then it would be read aloud, Elizabeth listening with strained attention--she was always so afraid that there might be something bad about Salve.
One Sunday she remarked that Carl wore in the buttonhole of his uniform a wild flower which she had thrown away.

It might have been the purest accident; but she knew that he had seen her with it in her hand.