She firmly believed that Fred would actually have gone in swimming with her sitting there on the bank; he was just that stubborn.

For that she sometimes hated him--since no one detests stubbornness so much as an obstinate person.
Fred looked after her, still smiling oddly because he had known so well how to persuade her to go back to the house and help Kate.

Fred almost loved Marion Rose.

He admitted to himself that he almost loved her--which is going pretty far for a man like Fred Humphrey.

But he also admitted to himself that she could not make him happy, nor he her.