He was in love with Edie, and he could not bear to think that I should have her.

Poor devil, how could he help it?
Maybe I should have been the same.

There was a time when I should have wondered that a girl could have turned a strong man's head like that, but I knew more about it now.
For a fortnight I saw nothing of Jim Horscroft, and then came the Thursday which was to change the whole current of my life.
I had woke early that day, and with a little thrill of joy which is a rare thing to feel when a man first opens his eyes.

Edie had been kinder than usual the night before, and I had fallen asleep with the thought that maybe at last I had caught the rainbow, and that without any imaginings or make-believes she was learning to love plain, rough Jock Calder of West Inch.

It was this thought, still at my heart, which had given me that little morning chirrup of joy.