Mrs.Goddard might have married at sixteen--twenty-six, twenty-seven--what was that?
John called himself twenty-two.

Five years was simply no difference at all! Besides, who cared for age?
He had suddenly found himself almost on a footing of intimacy with this lovely creature.

His odes had served him well; it had pleased her to hear the story.

She had laughed a little, of course; but women, as John knew, always laugh when they are pleased.

He would like to show her his odes.
As he walked through the park by her side he felt a curious sense of possession in her which gave him a thrill of exquisite delight; and when they entered the Hall he felt as though he were resigning her to the squire, which gave him a corresponding sense of annoyance.