My only doubts were as to the possibilities of winning such a prize.
The effect of the Miss Maugers' teaching on Carette herself had been to lift her above her old companions, and indeed above her apparent station in life, though on that point my ideas had no solid standing ground.

For, as I have said, the Le Marchants of Brecqhou were more or less of mysteries to us all, and there had been such upsettings just across the water there, such upraisings and downcastings, that a man's present state was no indication of what he might have been.

The surer sign was in the man himself, and much pondering of the matter led me to think that Jean Le Marchant might well be something more than simply the successful smuggler he seemed, and that Carette's dainty lady ways might well be the result of natural growth and not simply of the Miss Maugers' polishing.
I would not have had it otherwise.

I wanted the very best for her; and if she were by birth a lady, let the lady in her out to the full.

Far better that the best that was in her should out and shine than be battened under hatches and kept out of sight.