Frank Greystock was silent for a moment, and then he answered his mother's
question. "I am not quite sure whether it would or would not. But I do
think this: that if I were bold enough to marry now, and to trust all to
the future, and could get Lucy to be my wife, I should be doing a great
thing. I doubt, however, whether I have the courage." All of which made
the dean's wife uneasy.

The reader who has read so far will perhaps think that Frank Greystock was
in love with Lucy as Lucy was in love with him. But such was not exactly
the case. To be in love as an absolute, well-marked, acknowledged fact is
the condition of a woman more frequently and more readily than of a man.
Such is not the common theory on the matter, as it is the man's business
to speak, and the woman's business to be reticent. And the woman is
presumed to have kept her heart free from any load of love till she may
accept the burden with an assurance that it shall become a joy and a
comfort to her. But such presumptions, though they may be very useful for
the regulation of conduct, may not always be true. It comes more within
the scope of a woman's mind than of a man's to think closely and decide
sharply on such a matter. With a man it is often chance that settles the
question for him. He resolves to propose to a woman, or proposes without
resolving, because she is close to him. Frank Greystock ridiculed the idea
of Lady Fawn's interference in so high a matter as his love--or abstinence
from love. Nevertheless, had he been made a welcome guest at Fawn Court,
he would undoubtedly have told his love to Lucy Morris. He was not a
welcome guest, but had been banished; and, as a consequence of that
banishment, he had formed no resolution in regard to Lucy, and did not
absolutely know whether she was necessary to him or not. But Lucy Morris
knew all about it.

Moreover, it frequently happens with men that they fail to analyse these