Yet occasionally she would put in a claim, a light word, now mocking, now caressing, which betrayed the old intimacy, and Marsham would wince under it.

It was like a creeping touch in the dark.

He had known what it was to feel both compunction and a kind of fear with regard to Alicia.
But, normally, he told himself that both feelings were ridiculous.

He had done nothing to compromise either himself or her.

He had certainly flirted with Alicia; but he could not honestly feel that the chief part in the matter had been his.
These thoughts passed in a flash.