But Mr.Juxon had heard of women who had carried charity as far as to receive back their husbands under even worse circumstances; women were soft-hearted creatures, reflected the squire, and capable of anything.
Few people in such a situation could have acted consistently as though nothing had happened.

But Mr.Juxon's extremely reticent nature found it easy to bury other people's important secrets at least as deeply as he buried the harmless details of his own honest life.

Not a hair of his smooth head was ruffled, not a line of his square manly face was disturbed.

He looked and acted precisely as he had looked and acted before.

His butler remarked that he ate a little less heartily of late, and that on one evening, as has been recorded, the squire forgot to dress for dinner.