When she made some remark to him, his plan was to show that, though he answered cordially, his cheerfulness was the result of a terrible inward struggle.

He did contrive to accomplish this if he was waiting for her observation; but she sometimes took him unawares, starting a subject in which he was interested.

Then, forgetting his character, he would talk eagerly or jest with her across the strip of water, until with a start he remembered what he had become.

He would seek to recover himself after that; but of course it was too late to create a really lasting impression.

Even when she left him alone, watching him, I fear, over the top of her novel, he disappointed himself.