I know they made me feel shy and awkward before her, though I told myself furiously that all that was only a matter of outside polish, and that inside I was as worthy of her as any, and loved her as none other could.

But the outside she could see, and the inside she could not, and I could not yet tell her, though I could not but think she must know.
And then, what had I to offer her in place of Torode's solid advantages?
Just myself, and all my heart, and two strong arms.

They were good things, and no one in the world could love her as I did.

But, to a girl brought up as she had been of late, would they be enough?
And would these things satisfy her father, who had always been much of a mystery to us all, and who might have his own views as to her future, as the education he had given her seemed to indicate?
I had plenty to think about as we jogged along on Gray Robin, and Carette was thoughtful too.
Now and again, indeed, the clinging arms would give me a convulsive hug which set my blood jumping, but that was only when Gray Robin stumbled, and it meant nothing more than a fear of falling overboard on her part, and I could not build on it.
We chatted, by snatches, of the party and of things that had happened in my absence.

But of the sweet whispers and little confidences which should set all riders on Riding Day above all the rest of the world, there were none between us, and at times we fell to silence and a touch of constraint.
On Eperquerie Common I got down, and led Gray Robin cautiously over the long green slopes among the cushions of gorse and the waist-high ferns, and down the rocky way to the knoll above the landing-place.