On the other hand, he no doubt gained something.

Claudia was not insensible to that aspect of the case which Ayre had apprehended would influence her so powerfully.

She did perceive the halo of romance; and the idea of an Ajax defying heavenly lightning for her sake had its attractiveness.

But Ayre reasoning, as a man is prone and perhaps obliged to do, from himself to another, had omitted to take account of a factor in Claudia's mind about the existence of which, even if it had been suggested to him, he would have been profoundly skeptical.

Ayre had never been able, or at least never given himself the trouble, to understand how real a thing Stafford's vow had been to him, and what a struggle was necessary before he could disregard it.