And he had been kind then--very kind, Billy declared stoutly.

He had been patient and interested, too, and he had seemed not only willing, but glad to teach her, while now-- Sometimes Billy thought she would ask him candidly what was the matter.
But it was always the old, frank Billy that thought this; the impulsive Billy, that had gone up to Cyril's rooms years before and cheerfully announced that she had come to get acquainted.

It was never the sensible, circumspect Billy that Aunt Hannah had for three years been shaping and coaxing into being.

But even this Billy frowned rebelliously, and declared that sometime something should be said that would at least give him a chance to explain.
In all the weeks since Billy's purchase of Hillside, Cyril had been there only twice, and it was nearly Thanksgiving now.

Billy had seen him once or twice, also, at the Beacon Street house, when she and Aunt Hannah had dined there; but on all these occasions he had been either the coldly reserved guest or the painfully punctilious host.