He could discern pink and white and blue and gold; but the indeterminate shades, the subtleties and mysteries of charm were enigmatical to him.
His emotions would be as literal as his convictions or his oratory.

Yet there must be some faculty in him which did not appear on the surface, some primitive grasp of realities in his understanding of men.

Why should the influence of this sanguine, loud-talking demagogue, she asked herself the next minute, be greater than the influence of John Benham, who possessed every admirable trait except the ability to make people follow him?
What was this fundamental difference in material or structure which divided them so completely?
When she had traced it to its source would she discover the secret of Vetch's conquering personality?
Looking away from the General, her eyes rested for a moment on Stephen Culpeper, who was listening with his reserved impersonal attention to the amusing prattle of Patty Vetch.

Obeying an imperative rule, Mrs.
Berkeley had placed her youngest guests together; and yet, if Stephen had been seventy-five instead of twenty-six, he could sparcely have had less in common with the Governor's daughter.

With her small glossy head, and her scarlet cheeks and lips above the fan of ostrich feathers, the girl reminded Corinna of a spray of Christmas holly, all dark and bright and shining.