After the Glenavelin party had gone he wandered out to the lawn, pulling his moustache in vast perplexity and cursing the twisted world.

He had no guess at Lewis's manner of wooing; to him it had seemed the simple, straightforward love which he thought beyond resistance.

And now, when he learned of this melancholy issue, he was sore at heart for his friend.
He was awakened from his reverie by Lewis himself, who, having ridden straight to the stables, was now sauntering towards the house.

A trim man looks at his best in riding clothes, and Lewis was no exception.

He was flushed with sun and motion, his spirits were high, for all the journey he had been dreaming of a coming meeting with Alice, and the hope which had suddenly increased a thousand-fold.