Ralph was shocked and humiliated; his calculations had been false and the person in the world in whom he was most interested was lost.

He drifted about the house like a rudderless vessel in a rocky stream, or sat in the garden of the palace on a great cane chair, his long legs extended, his head thrown back and his hat pulled over his eyes.

He felt cold about the heart; he had never liked anything less.

What could he do, what could he say?
If the girl were irreclaimable could he pretend to like it?
To attempt to reclaim her was permissible only if the attempt should succeed.

To try to persuade her of anything sordid or sinister in the man to whose deep art she had succumbed would be decently discreet only in the event of her being persuaded.