Daily there were great armfuls of flowers deposited at Lupton House--his lover's offering to his mistress--and no day went by but that some richer gift accompanied them.

Now it was a collar of brilliants, anon a rope of pearls, again a priceless ring that had been Mr.Wilding's mother's.
Ruth received with reluctance these pledges of his undesired affection.
It were idle to reject them, considering that she was to marry him; yet it hurt her sorely to retain them.

On her side she made no dispositions for the marriage, but went about her daily tasks as though she were to remain a maid at Lupton House for a time as yet indefinite.
In Diana, Wilding had--though he was far from guessing it--an entirely exceptional ally.

Lady Horton, too, was favourably disposed towards him.
A foolish, worldly woman, who never probed beneath life's surface, nor indeed dreamed that anything existed in life beyond that to which her five senses testified, she was content placidly to contemplate the advantages that must accrue to her niece from this alliance.
And so mother and daughter in Mr.Wilding's absence pleaded his cause with his refractory bride-elect.

But they pleaded it to little real purpose.