The more
she was in his thoughts, the less spiritual his feeling for this girl of
the people had become.
In those days he seemed much changed to such as knew him well. Instead
of the delicate, detached, slightly humorous suavity which he had
accustomed people to expect from him, the dry kindliness which seemed
at once to check confidence and yet to say, 'If you choose to tell me
anything, I should never think of passing judgment on you, whatever you
have done'--instead of that rather abstracted, faintly quizzical air,
his manner had become absorbed and gloomy. He seemed to jib away from
his friends. His manner at the "Pen and Ink" was wholly unsatisfying
to men who liked to talk. He was known to be writing a new book; they
suspected him of having "got into a hat"--this Victorian expression,
found by Mr. Balladyce in some chronicle of post-Thackerayan manners,
and revived by him in his incomparable way, as who should say, 'What
delicious expressions those good bourgeois had!' now flourished in
second childhood.
In truth, Hilary's difficulty with his new book was merely the one of
not being able to work at it at all. Even the housemaid who "did" his
study noticed that day after day she was confronted by Chapter XXIV., in
spite of her employer's staying in, as usual, every morning.
The change in his manner and face, which had grown strained and
harassed, had been noticed by Bianca, though she would have died sooner
than admit she had noticed anything about him.
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