She had been disposed to dislike him for having been blackmailed by them; his praise of them softened her heart.
Discussing them, they came right to the gate of Colet House; and it was only natural that she should invite him to tea.

He accepted with alacrity.

At tea he changed the subject: they talked about her.
He came home yet more interested in her, resolved yet more firmly to see more of her.

With a natural simplicity he used his skill in woodcraft to compass his end, and availed himself of the covert afforded by the common to watch Colet House.

Thanks to this simple device he was able to meet or overtake Mrs.Dangerfield, somewhere in the first half-mile of her afternoon walk.
They grew intimate quickly, thanks chiefly to his simple directness; and he found that his first impression that he wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything in his life, more even than he had wanted, in his enthusiastic youth, to shoot a black rhinoceros, was right.