He would have laughed at the notion.

The girl was absolutely and immeasurably below him; a girl of the people.

He had seen her once only.

In reason, therefore--and polite good breeding enforced the demand--he should have viewed Mr.Dunborough's conquest with easy indifference, and complimented him with a jest founded on the prowess of Mars and the smiles of Venus.
But the girl's rare beauty had caught Sir George's fancy; the scene in which he had taken part with her had captivated an imagination not easily inveigled.

On the top of these impressions had come a period of good resolutions prescribed by imminent danger; and on the top of that twenty-four hours of solitude--a thing rare in the life he led.