She was not accustomed to consider things seriously.

A good girl in a certain true sense, she had never yet seen that she had to be better, or indeed to be anything.

But she was able to feel, though she was far from understanding him, that Donal was in earnest, and that was much.

To recognize that a man means something, is a great step towards understanding him.
"What a lovely garden this is!" remarked Donal after the sequent pause.
"I have never seen anything like it." "It is very old-fashioned," she returned.

"Do you not find it very stiff and formal ?" "Stately and precise, I should rather say." "I do not mean I can help liking it--in a way." "Who could help liking it that took his feeling from the garden itself, not from what people said about it!" "You cannot say it is like nature!" "Yes; it is very like human nature.