I think he had absolutely the grace to feel a little ashamed of leaving us." "I don't think that is fair," Isobel said warmly, "when he is going away to fetch assistance for us." "He is deserting us as rats desert a sinking ship," Mrs.Doolan said positively; "and I am only surprised that he has the grace to feel a little ashamed of the action.

As for caring, there is only one person in the world he cares for--himself.

I was reading 'David Copperfield' just before we came in here, and Steerforth's character might have been sketched from Forster.

He is a man without either heart or conscience; a man who would sacrifice everything to his own pleasures; and yet even when one knows him to be what he is, one can hardly help liking him.

I wonder how it is, my dear, that scamps are generally more pleasant than good men ?" "I never thought about it, Mrs.Doolan," Isobel said, roused to a smile by the earnestness with which Mrs.Doolan propounded the problem; "and can give no reason except that we are attracted by natures the reverse of our own." Mrs.Doolan laughed.
"So you think we are better than men, Isobel?
I don't--not one bit.