He said that he would stay at Merriston House for 'just as long as ever she would let him.' Merely to be near her was to him, separated as he was from her for so much of his life, an unspeakable boon.

Franklin rarely dealt in demonstrative speeches, but, in this letter, after a half-shy prelude to his own daring, he went on to say: 'Perhaps, considering how long it's been since I saw you, you'll let me kiss your beautiful hands when we meet.' Franklin had only once kissed her beautiful hands, years ago, on the occasion of her first touched refusal of him.

She had severe scruples as to encouraging, by such graciousness, a person you didn't intend to marry; but she really thought, thrilling a little as she read the sentence, that this time, perhaps, Franklin might.

Franklin himself never thrilled her; but the words he wrote renewed in her suddenly a happy self-confidence.

Who, after all, was Franklin's superior in insight?
Wrapped in the garment of his affection, could she not see with equanimity Helen's vagueness and Gerald's indifference?
Why, when one came to look at it from the point of view of the soul, wasn't Franklin their superior in every way?
It needed some moral effort to brace herself to the inquiry.