He had been inclined to fancy that the man must needs be much handsomer than himself, possessed of every outward attribute calculated to subjugate the mind of an inexperienced girl like Marian; but the parish-clerk at Wygrove and Miss Long had both spoken in a disparaging tone of Mr.Holbrook's personal appearance; and, remembering this, he was fain to believe that Marian had been won by some charm more subtle than that of a handsome face.
He went on eating his dinner in silence for some little time, meditating upon what the landlord had told him.

Then, as the man cleared the table, lingering over his work, as if eager to impart any stray scraps of information he might possess, Gilbert spoke to him again.
"I should have fancied that, as a settled inhabitant of the place, you would be likely to know every farm and farm-house within ten miles--or within twenty miles," he said.
"Well, sir, I daresay I do know the neighbourhood pretty well, in a general way.

But I think, if I'd known the name of the place this lady and gentleman were going to, it would have struck me more than it did, and I should have remembered it.

I was uncommonly busy through that afternoon, for it was market-day, and there were a mort of people going in and out.

I never did interfere much with the fly business; it was only by taking the gentleman out some soda-and-brandy that I came to take the notice I did of the lady's looks and his care of her.