. She had no idea of
the broad distinction he drew between all good and innocent women like
herself, and all the rest whom he considered lawful prey. She concluded
therefore, very rashly, that he was simply pursuing his usual tactics, a
main part of which consisted in seeming perfectly unaffected and natural
while only waiting for a faint sign of encouragement in order then to
play the part of the passionate lover.

The generalisations of youth are terrible. What has failed once is
despicably damned for ever. What is true to-day is true enough to-morrow
to kill all other truths outright. The man whose hand has shaken once
is a coward; he who has fought one battle is to be the hero of seventy.
Life is a forest of inverted pyramids, for the young; upon every point
is balanced a gigantic weight of top-heavy ideals, spreading
base-upwards.

To Clare, everything Johnstone said or did was the working of a
faithless intention towards its end. It was clear enough that he sought
her and stayed with her as long as he could, day by day. Therefore he
intended to make love to her, sooner or later, and then, when he was
tired, he would say good-bye to her just as he had said good-bye to Lady
Fan, and break her heart, and have one story more to laugh over when he
was alone. It was quite clear that he could not mean anything else,
after what she had seen.

All the same, he pleased her when he was with her, and attracted her
oddly. She told herself that unless he had some unusual qualities he
could not possibly break hearts for pastime, as he undoubtedly did, from
year's end to year's end. She studied the question, and reached the
conclusion that his strength was in his eyes. They were the most frank,
brave, good-humoured, clear, unaffected eyes she had ever seen, but she
could not look at them long. There was no reason why she should, indeed,
but she hated to feel that she could not, if she chose. Whenever she
tried, she at once had the feeling that he had power over her, to make
her do things she did not wish to do. That was probably the way in which
he had influenced Lady Fan and the other women, probably a dozen,
thought Clare. If they were really as honest as they seemed, she thought
she should have been able to meet them without the least sensation of
nervousness.

One day she caught herself wishing that he had never done the thing she
so hated. She was too honest to attribute to him outward defects which
he did not possess,