As an artist as well as a brother, he frowned when they blundered.

He would have liked to be the medium through which they talked, so that he could give looks and words their proper force.

He had thought it all out so thoroughly for Elspeth's benefit that in an hour he could have drawn out a complete guide for her admirers.
"At the first meeting look at her wistfully when she does not see you.
She will see you." It might have been Rule One.
Rule Two: "Don't talk so glibly." How often that was what the poker meant! Being herself a timid creature, Elspeth showed best among the timid, because her sympathetic heart immediately desired to put them at their ease.

The more glibly they could talk, the less, she knew, were they impressed by her.

Even a little boorishness was more complimentary than chatter.