Brought into contact day and night with people to whom politics were more or less a game; run after everywhere; subjected to no form of discipline--it was a wonder that he was as serious as he was.

Nor had he ever been in love, until, last year, during her first season, Barbara had, as he might have expressed it--in the case of another 'bowled him middle stump.

Though so deeply smitten, he had not yet asked her to marry him--had not, as it were, had time, nor perhaps quite the courage, or conviction.

When he was near her, it seemed impossible that he could go on longer without knowing his fate; when he was away from her it was almost a relief, because there were so many things to be done and said, and so little time to do or say them in.

But now, during this fortnight, which, for her sake, he had devoted to Miltoun's cause, his feeling had advanced beyond the point of comfort.
He did not admit that the reason of this uneasiness was Courtier, for, after all, Courtier was, in a sense, nobody, and 'an extremist' into the bargain, and an extremist always affected the centre of Harbinger's anatomy, causing it to give off a peculiar smile and tone of voice.
Nevertheless, his eyes, whenever they fell on that sanguine, steady, ironic face, shone with a sort of cold inquiry, or were even darkened by the shade of fear.