And all the time he doesn't know it; but goes his way crowned with a modesty which is the marvel and the wonder of this most marvellous of ages." "It sounds like a hero out of one of 'Ouida's' novels," she remarked, as listlessly as before.
But behind her lowered lids her eyes were shining with a singular brightness.
Howard turned to her delightedly.
"My dear Miss Falconer, if you were a man I should ask to shake hands with you.

It so exactly describes him.

That's just what he is.

As handsome as the dew--I beg your pardon!--as frank as a boy, as gentle as a woman, as staunch, as a bull-dog, as brave--he would have stopped a drayman's team just as readily as yours last night--and as invulnerable as that marble statue." He pointed to a statue of Adonis which stood whitely on the edge of the lawn, and she raised her eyes and looked at it dreamily.
"I could break that thing if I had a big hammer," she said.
"I daresay," he said.

"But can't break Stafford.