Then, when he sits down by one he has the knack of dropping his voice and talking in a confidential sort of way, even when it is only about the weather.

I am always asking myself how much of it is real, and what there is under the surface." Mrs.Doolan nodded approval.
"I don't think there is much under the surface, dear, and what there is is just as well left alone; but there is no doubt he can be delightful when he chooses, and very few women would not feel flattered by the attentions of a man who is said to be the handsomest officer in the Indian army, and who has besides distinguished himself several times as a particularly dashing officer." "I don't think handsomeness goes for much in a man," Isobel said shortly.
Mrs.Doolan laughed.
"Why should it not go for as much as prettiness in a woman?
It is no use being cynical, Isobel; it is part of our nature to admire pretty things, and as far as I can see an exceptionally handsome man is as legitimate an object of admiration as a lovely woman." "Yes, to admire, Mrs.Doolan, but not to like." "Well, my dear, I don't want to be hurrying you away, but I think you had better get back before the sun gets any higher.

You may say you don't feel the heat much, but you are looking pale and fagged, and the less you are out in the sun the better." Isobel had indeed been having a hard time during those ten days.

At first she had thought of little but what she should do when Bathurst called.

It seemed impossible that she could be exactly the same with him as she had been before, that was quite out of the question, and yet how was she to be different?
Ten days had passed without his coming.