There were no indications that he was pressing his suit with Miss Wildmere, and our heroine's mirror and the eyes of others began to tell her that the confident belle would not now bestow a glance so cold and indifferent as to mean, "You can be nothing to him or to any one." Moreover, Miss Wildmere's coveted beauty might prove an ally.
One so attractive would be sought, perhaps won, before Graydon returned, and absence might have taught him that his regard had been little more than admiration.

Naturally Madge would not be inclined to think well of one who had brought so cruel an experience into her life; but, prejudice apart, the society girl had given evidence of a type of womanhood not very high.

Even Graydon, in his allusions, had suggested a character repulsive to Madge.

A woman "as hard to capture and hold as a 'Bedouin'" was not at all her ideal.

The words presented to her one who was either calculating or capricious, either heartless or fickle.
"Truly," she thought, "if there was ever a man who merited whole-hearted, lifelong constancy, it is Graydon Muir; and if he even imagines Miss Wildmere incapable of this, why should he think further of her?
Perhaps while beyond the spell of her beauty he has formed a truer estimate of her character, and has abandoned all thought of her as a mocking dream.