That delighted me.

It showed what charming things there are in the world that have no spectators! What a _delicious_ place this is!--what a heavenly old place--especially in these half lights! There was a raw sun when I was here before, but now--" He stood in front of the fire, looking round the great room, and at the few small lamps making their scanty light amid the flame-lit darkness.
His hands were loosely crossed behind his back, and his boyish face, in its setting of curls, shone with content and self-possession.
"Well," said Marcella, bluntly, "I should prefer a little more light to live by.

Perhaps, when you have fallen downstairs here in the dark as often as I have, you may too." He laughed.
"But how much better, after all--don't you think so ?--to have too little of anything than too much!" He flung himself into a chair beside the tea-table, looking up with gay interrogation as Marcella handed him his cup.

She was a good deal surprised by him.

On the few occasions of their previous meetings, these bright eyes, and this pronounced manner, had been--at any rate as towards herself--much less free and evident.