"A very cold afternoon," he said, feeling it to be ungracious to pass one of his own guests in his own grounds without a word of salutation.
"Very cold indeed, your Grace,--very cold." The Duke had intended to pass on, but the Major managed to stop him by standing in the pathway.

The Major did not in the least know his man.

He had heard that the Duke was shy, and therefore thought that he was timid.

He had not hitherto been spoken to by the Duke,--a condition of things which he attributed to the Duke's shyness and timidity.

But, with much thought on the subject, he had resolved that he would have a few words with his host, and had therefore passed backwards and forwards between the house and the stables rather frequently.