She had lost much since then, freshness, innocence, the trusting heart and the transparent gaze, but she had lost neither charm nor radiance.
"So we are invited to meet Gideon Vetch," remarked the Judge as they went down the steps; and from the whimsical sound of his voice, she knew that there was a smile on his face.

The house, with its picturesque English front half hidden by Virginia creeper, stood at the end of a long avenue, in the centre of a broad lawn planted in fine old elms.
"Yes, there must be some reason for the dinner, but Sarah Berkeley did not tell me." "Well, I'll be glad to see the Governor again," said the Judge, leaning comfortably back as the car rolled down the avenue to the road, "but you will have a dreary evening, I fear, unless John should be there." Corinna smiled in the darkness.

So even her father, who so rarely noticed anything, had observed her growing interest in John Benham.
After all, might this be--this sudden revival of an old sentiment in John's heart--"the something different," the ultimate perfection for which she had sought all her life?
"He is beginning to mean more to me than any one else," she thought.

"If only I had never heard that old gossip about Alice Rokeby." Leaning over, she patted the Judge's hand.

"Don't have me on your mind, Father darling.