And to feel her power over him was delightful, if it had not been spoilt by a kind of recurrent fear--a panic fear of his power over her.
What did she know of him after all?
She was quite aware that her friends, the Kings, had made some enquiries at Cannes before allowing her to see so much of him as she had done during his stay with the rich and hospitable Jaroslavs.

She believed Colonel King had not liked him personally.

But Douglas Falloden belonged to one of the oldest English families, settled on large estates in Yorkshire, with distinguished records in all the great services; he was heir presumptive to a marquisate, so long as his uncle, Lord Dagnall, now past seventy, did not take it into his head to marry; and there was his brilliant career at Oxford, his good looks and all the rest of it.

Constance had a strong dash of the worldling in her mixed character.

She had been brought up with Italian girl friends of the noble class, in whom the practical instincts of a practical race were closely interwoven with what the Englishman thinks of as Italian "romance" or "passion." She had discussed dowries and settlements since she was fifteen; and took the current values of wealth and birth for granted.