it possible?

But if Lady Blanche, whose habits of sentimental indiscretion were
ingrained, _had_ gossiped to this lady, what then? Why should he be
frowned on by Miss Lawrence, or anybody else? That malicious talk at
Simla had soon exhausted itself. His present appointment was a
triumphant answer to it all. His slanderers--including Aileen's
ridiculous guardians--could only look foolish if they pursued the matter
any further. What "trap" was there--what _mesalliance_? A successful
soldier was good enough for anybody. Look at the first Lord Clyde, and
scores besides.

The Duchess, too. Why had she treated him so well at first, and so
cavalierly after dinner? Her manners were really too uncertain.

What was the matter, and why did she dislike him? He pondered over it a
good deal, and with much soreness of spirit. Like many men capable of
very selfish or very cruel conduct, he was extremely sensitive, and took
keen notice of the fact that a person liked or disliked him.

If the Duchess disliked him it could not be merely on account of the
Simla story, even though the old maid might conceivably have given her a
jaundiced account. The Duchess knew nothing of Aileen, and was little
influenced, so far as he had observed her, by considerations of abstract
justice or propriety, affecting persons whom she had never seen.

No, she was Julie's friend, the little wilful lady, and it was for Julie
she ruffled her feathers, like an angry dove.

So his thoughts had come back to Julie, though, indeed, it seemed to him
that they were never far from her. As he looked absently from the train
windows on the flying landscape, Julie's image hovered between him and
it--a magic sun, flooding soul and senses with warmth. How
unconsciously, how strangely his feelings had changed towards her! That
coolness of temper and nerve he had been able to preserve towards her
for so long was, indeed, breaking down. He recognized the danger, and
wondered where it would lead him. What a fascinating, sympathetic
creature!--and, by George! what she had done for him!

Aileen! Aileen was a little sylph, a pretty child-angel, white-winged
and innocent, who lived in a circle of convent thoughts, knowing nothing
of the world, and had fallen in love with him as the first man who had
ever made love to her. But this intelligent, full-blooded woman, who
could understand at a word, or a half word, who had a knowledge of
affairs which many a high-placed man might