The whole imbroglio was very simple, very natural.

They had first met at my own rich cake and jam-puff bespread tea-table.

When Randall went into the office to speak, presumably, about a defective draught in the kitchen range, and really about things quite different, the ethics of the matter depended entirely on Randall's point of view.
Their meetings had been contrived by no unmaidenly subterfuge on the part of Phyllis.

She knew him to be above her in social station.

She kept him off as long as she could.