It was like the veritable elixir of life: never in his life before had Freeman quaffed so deep a draught of the fiery spirit.

It was just what he wanted.
But he felt oddly embarrassed.

He did not know what to make of Miriam.
It was not her strange costume merely, but she seemed to have put on--or put off--something with it that made a difference in her.

She was assertive, imperious; as loving, certainly, as lover could wish, but not in the manner of the Miriam he knew.

He might have liked the new Miriam better, had he not previously fallen in love with the former one.