to this
shape the forms of his thoughts fell. Such things dimly felt below the
clear level of consciousness were in him. And they gave his attempt to
take up and answer the question that perplexed her, something of the
quality of an attempt to clothe and serve hidden purposes. It could not
but be evident to him that the effort of Lady Harman to free herself a
little from her husband's circumvallation and to disentangle herself a
little from the realities of his commercial life, might lead to such a
liberation as would leave her like a nascent element ready to recombine.
And it was entirely in the vein of this drift of thought in him that he
should resolve upon an assiduous proximity against that moment of
release and awakening....

I do not do Mr. Brumley as the human lover justice if I lead you to
suppose that he plotted thus clearly and calculatingly. Yet all this was
in his mind. All this was in Mr. Brumley, but it wasn't Mr. Brumley.
Presented with it as a portrait of his mind, he would have denied it
indignantly--and, knowing it was there, have grown a little flushed in
his denials. Quite equally in his mind was a simple desire to please
her, to do what she wished, to help her because she wanted help. And a
quite keen desire to be clean and honest about her and everything
connected with her, for his own sake as well as for her sake--for the
sake of the relationship....

So you have Mr. Brumley on the green seat under the great trees at
Hampton Court, in his neat London clothes, his quite becoming silk-hat,
above his neatly handsome and intelligent profile, with his gloves in
his hand and one arm over the seat back, going now very earnestly and
thoughtfully into the question of the social benefit of the
International Bread and Cake Stores and whether it was possible for her
to "do anything" to repair any wrongs that might have arisen out of that
organization, and you will understand why there is a little flush in his
cheek and why his sentences are a trifle disconnected and tentative and
why his eye wanders now to the soft raven tresses about Lady Harman's
ear, now to the sweet movement of her speaking lips and now to the
gracious droop of her pose as she sits forward, elbow upon crossed knee
and chin on glove, and jabs her parasol at the ground in her
unaccustomed efforts to explain and discuss the difficulties of her
position.

And you will understand too why it is that he doesn't deal with the
question before