Three years ago such a prospect would have been replete with terror to him.

Down to that--that week at the Pierce's, he had never gone to a place where he expected to "encounter" (for that was the word he formerly used) women without dread.

Since that week--except for the twenty-four hours of the wedding, he had not "encountered" a lady.

Yet here he was, going to meet an entire stranger without any conscious embarrassment or suffering.

He was even in a sense curious.
Peter was not given to self-analysis, but the change was too marked a one for him to be unconscious of it.