And such an explanation did not strike him as a possibility even.

It is foreign to a mystified condition of mind to realize of the mystifier that the processes of approving a course suggested by circumstance, and of striking out a course from inner impulse, would look the same in the result.

The vast difference between starting a train of events, and directing into a particular groove a series already started, is rarely apparent to the person confounded by the issue.
When Boldwood went to bed he placed the valentine in the corner of the looking-glass.

He was conscious of its presence, even when his back was turned upon it.

It was the first time in Boldwood's life that such an event had occurred.