Of course it would be absurd to suppose that any real feeling could have
been engendered by so ridiculously brief an acquaintance. I had only met
the girl three times, and even now, excepting for business relations,
was hardly entitled to more than a bow of recognition. But yet, when I
considered the matter impartially and examined my own consciousness, I
could not but recognise that she had aroused in me an interest which
bore no relation to the part that she had played in the drama that was
so slowly unfolding. She was undeniably a very handsome girl, and her
beauty was of a type that specially appealed to me--full of dignity and
character that gave promise of a splendid middle age. And her
personality was in other ways not less attractive, for she was frank and
open, sprightly and intelligent, and though evidently quite
self-reliant, was in nowise lacking in that womanly softness that so
strongly engages a man's sympathy.

In short, I realised that, had there been no such person as Reuben
Hornby, I should have viewed Miss Gibson with uncommon interest.

But, unfortunately, Reuben Hornby was a most palpable reality, and,
moreover, the extraordinary difficulties of his position entitled him to
very special consideration by any man of honour. It was true that Miss
Gibson had repudiated any feelings towards Reuben other than those of
old-time friendship; but young ladies are not always impartial judges of
their own feelings, and, as a man of the world, I could not but have my
own opinion on the matter--which opinion I believed to be shared by
Thorndyke. The conclusions to which my cogitations at length brought me
were: first, that I was an egotistical donkey, and, second, that my
relations with Miss Gibson were of an exclusively business character and
must in future be conducted on that basis, with the added consideration
that I was the confidential agent, for the time being, of Reuben Hornby,