After that, he took up the slouch hat which he had been wearing in the garden before he was called to his breakfast, and, with the letters in his hand, sauntered down among the shrubs and lawns.
He knew, he thought he knew, that there was more in Alice's mind than a mere wish for delay.

There was more in it than that hesitation to take at once a step which she really desired to take, if not now, then after some short interval.

He felt that she was unhappy, and unhappy because she distrusted the results of her marriage; but it never for a moment occurred to him that, therefore, the engagement between them should be broken.

In the first place he loved her too well to allow of his admitting such an idea without terrible sorrow to himself.

He was a constant, firm man, somewhat reserved, and unwilling to make new acquaintances, and, therefore, specially unwilling to break away from those which he had made.