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Copyright © 2020 by McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Except as
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Complete Italian Step-by-Step

This book contains content previously published in Easy Italian Step-
by-Step and Advanced Italian Step-by-Step.

TERMS OF USE

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 Contents

Preface
Guide to Pronunciation

I Easy Italian Step-by-Step

1 Nouns, Articles, and Descriptive
Adjectives
The Gender of Nouns
The Indefinite Article
The Definite Article
Descriptive Adjectives
Key Vocabulary

2 Subject Pronouns, stare, and essere

Subject Pronoun Basics
Stare Versus essere
Key Vocabulary
 Reading Comprehension La casa

3 C’è and ci sono, Interrogative Words, and

the Calendar
C’è (There Is) and ci sono (There Are)
Interrogative Words
Calendario (Calendar)
Reading Comprehension Una città italiana
Key Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension Il cinema

4 Numbers, Time, and Dates

Cardinal Numbers
Ordinal Numbers
The Date
Telling Time
Reading Comprehension Il ristorante
Reading Comprehension Il lavoro casalingo

5 Regular Verbs
Uses of the Present Tense
-are Verbs
The Preposition a
-ere Verbs
-ire Verbs
-are and -ere Verbs with More than One Meaning
Reading Comprehension Arturo e Carla

6 Irregular Verbs
 Irregular -are Verbs
-ere Verbs
-ire Verbs
Reading Comprehension La famiglia Marchetti

7 Andare and the Future

Andare (to go; to be going)
The Future with andare + a + Infinitive
The Future Tense of Regular Verbs
Key Vocabulary
Useful Words: che and per
Key Vocabulary
Time Expressions
Reading Comprehension L’appuntamento dal dentista

8 Adjectives and Adverbs

Possessive Adjectives
Definite Articles
Demonstrative Adjectives
Adjectives of Nationality
Adjectives That Precede a Noun
Comparative Adjectives
Superlative Adjectives
Adverbs
Reading Comprehension Il cane e il gatto

9 Negatives and Prepositions

Negatives and Negative Expressions
Prepositions
Reading Comprehension Il treno
 Key Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension La visita

10 The Indirect Object

Piacere and the Indirect Object
Verbs Like piacere
Indirect Object Pronouns
Reading Comprehension Andare a fare spese
Reading Comprehension La spiaggia

11 The Direct Object

Transitive Verbs and the Direct Object
Direct Object Pronouns
Review Table of Indirect and Direct Object Pronouns
Reading Comprehension Gli svaghi degli italiani

12 Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive Pronouns
Frequently Used Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive Verbs Whose English Translations Do Not Include
Oneself
Position of the Reflexive Pronoun
Reflexive Verbs with Parts of the Body and Clothing
Reflexive Verbs That Express Emotion or Movement
Reflexive Verbs Followed by a Preposition
Review of Indirect and Direct Object Pronouns and Reflexive
Pronouns
Reflexive Verbs with Reciprocal Meanings
Si and Impersonal Expressions
Reading Comprehension I mezzi di trasporto pubblici
13 The Preterit and the Present Perfect
Tenses
Formation of the Preterit
Key Vocabulary
Uses of the Preterit
Irregular Verbs
The Present Perfect Tense
Present Perfect with essere
Reading Comprehension La moda italiana

14 The Imperfect Tense

Formation of the Imperfect
Uses of the Imperfect
Preterit, Present Perfect, and Imperfect Compared
Double Object Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns with Direct Object Pronouns
Reading Comprehension Il traffico in Italia

II Advanced Step-by-Step
Accent Marks, Stress, and Intonation in Italian

15 Nouns, Descriptive Adjectives, and

Pronouns
Definition and Classification of Nouns
The Gender of Nouns
Singular and Plural Nouns

16 Definite and Indefinite Articles

 Inclusion and Omission of Articles
Reading Comprehension Firenze
Indefinite Articles
The Partitive Article
Reading Comprehension Il gioco delle bocce

17 Descriptive Adjectives
Adjectives ending in –o
Invariable Adjectives
Position of the Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives
Irregular Adjectives
Adjectives That Precede a Noun
The Adjective bello
Adjectives That Express Quantity
Adjectives That Express Next, Only, and Last
Adjectives Related to the Five Senses
Comparison of Adjectives, Adverbs, Nouns, and Verbs
Superlative Adjectives
Reading Comprehension Al ristorante
Suffixes of Adjectives
Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns

18 Possessive Pronouns
Formation and Uses of Possessive Pronouns
Relative Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns
Indefinite Pronouns
19 Prepositions
The Preposition a
The Preposition in
The Preposition di
The Preposition da
The Preposition con
The Preposition su
The Preposition sotto
The Prepositions fra and tra
The Preposition per

20 Adverbs
Formation of Adverbs
Adverbs of Time
Adverbs of Location
Reading Comprehension Amici
Adverbial Expressions with the Prepositions: a, di, da, and in
Adverbs of Direction

21 Stare vs Essere
Uses of Stare
Present Continuous Tense (or Progressive Tense)
Reading Comprehension Il bar

22 Avere and Fare

Uses of Avere
Verb Fare (to do, to make)
Reading Comprehension Visita della mia amica Isabella
23 The Present Tense of Regular Verbs
Conjugations
Useful First Conjugation or –are Verbs
First Conjugation Verbs Ending in –care and –gare
First Conjugation Verbs Ending in –ciare, –giare, and –sciare
Second Conjugation, –ere Verbs
Second Conjugation Verbs Ending in –cere and –gere
Second Conjugation Verbs Ending in –gliere and –gnere
Verbs in –cere, –gere, –gliere, and –gnere
Modal Verbs
Conjugation of –ire Verbs
Group II Verbs in –isc
Uses of the Present Tense

24 The Imperfect Tense

Regular Verbs in the Imperfect
Irregular Verbs in the Imperfect
Uses of the Imperfect
Reading Comprehension Anna va in Italia a studiare
l’italiano

25 The Present Perfect Tense

Formation of the Present Perfect
Formation of the Past Participle
–Ere Verbs with Irregular Past Participles
The Present Perfect with avere
The Present Perfect with essere
Reading Comprehension La vendemmia

26 Negatives
 Negative Expressions
More Negative Expressions
Mica and Affatto
The Past Progressive Tense

27 Direct Object Pronouns

Transitive Verbs and the Direct Object Pronouns
The Indirect Object Pronoun

28 The Pronouns Ci and Vi and Ne

Pronouns Ci and Vi
Pronoun Ne

29 Combined Pronouns and Their Use

Combined Pronouns with the Imperative, the Infinitive, and the
Gerund
Double Pronouns with the Negative Form of the Imperative
Double Pronouns with Compound Tenses
Double Pronouns with Modal Verbs

30 Verbs with Pronouns

The Present Perfect with Modal Verbs
The Imperative of Reflexive Verbs

31 The Future
The Future Tense of Regular Verbs
Stem Changes in the Future Tense
The Future Tense of Irregular Verbs
Expressing the Future Using the Present Tense
 The Future Perfect Tense
Reading Comprehension I ponti di Roma e Venezia

32 The Conditional
Formation of the Conditional Tense
Verbs with Irregular Conditional Stems
Uses of the Conditional Tense
The Conditional Perfect
Sequence of Tenses in Indirect Speech

33 The Present Subjunctive

Formation of the Present Subjunctive
–are Verbs in the Present Subjunctive
–ere and –ire Verbs in the Present Subjunctive
Irregular Verbs in the Subjunctive
Uses of the Present Subjunctive
The Present Subjunctive After Certain Conjunctions
In Certain Dependent Adjective Clauses

34 The Present Perfect Subjunctive

Formation of the Present Perfect Subjunctive
Uses of the Present Perfect Subjunctive

35 The Imperfect Subjunctive

Formation of the Imperfect Subjunctive
Use of the Imperfect Subjunctive in Subordinate Clauses
The Imperfect Subjunctive After Certain Verbs
The Se Clause
Conditions Contrary to the Fact
 Reading Comprehension Il carnevale

36 Past Perfect Subjunctive

Formation of the Past Perfect Subjunctive
Se Clause and the Past Perfect Subjunctive
Sequence of Tenses with the Subjunctive Mood

37 Special Construction and the Passive

Fare and Its Uses
Lasciare and Its Uses
Metterci and Volerci
The Passive Voice
Verbs Other Than Essere That Express the Passive
Alternative to the Passive Voice

38 Conjunctions and Verbs with Prepositions

Functions of Conjunctions in Italian
Most Commonly Used Conjunctions
Verbs and Expressions Followed by the Preposition a
Verbs and Expressions Followed by the Preposition di
Verbs Followed by the Preposition su
Reading Comprehension La musica italiana

Answer Key
Index
 Preface

Complete Italian Step-by-Step has been written for beginner and

advanced beginner learners. It teaches Italian grammar in a
progressive order, enabling students to acquire an advanced
knowledge of the language. It allows students to learn the rules of
the language, and to read and write Italian in a very natural way.
This is not an entirely new program, but rather the combination of
two previously published books: Easy Italian Step-by-Step and
Advanced Italian Step-by-Step. These two bestselling programs have
been combined in a way that makes it easier for students to learn
Italian in one streamlined style.
The first part of this book (Easy Italian Step-by-Step) provides the
essential grammatical rules of the language. It introduces the most
commonly-used vocabulary and the basic tenses of regular and
irregular verbs. There are many exercises to allow learners to
practice what they have studied or need to study. Its explanations
are easy to comprehend and to remember.
The second part of the book (Advanced Italian Step-by-Step)
provides a concise review of key concepts, then continues
challenging learners with new grammar rules and exercises. It dives
deeper into the nuances of Italian grammar and the conjugations of
the verbs. It offers many exercises to enhance students’ knowledge
so that they become more confident in speaking and understanding
Italian.
To take full advantage of the Complete Italian Step-by-Step
program, I advise you to complete all the exercises as you progress
through the book. By doing this, you will continue to reinforce what
you have studied in the chapters already completed. Do not be in a
rush! Make sure you have mastered the concepts studied so far
before moving on to the next chapter. By studying the rules a few at
a time, and by answering the progressive exercises, you will steadily
gain mastery of the language. And, self-study learner or a student in
a regular class, it is my fervent hope that you will find learning
Italian to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Acknowledgments
Writing a grammar book that is cogent and written with learners in
mind is always my goal, and I think we have accomplished that with
Complete Italian Step-by-Step. I would like to thank Barbara
Bregstein, the author of Easy Spanish Step-by-Step, for laying the
foundation on which this program was created.
I would also like to thank Garret Lemoi and Christopher Brown,
my editors at McGraw-Hill, for their assistance, patience, and
guidance throughout the writing of the two original books that make
up this program. I would also like to thank my husband, Robert Tate,
for proofreading the books, and finally a big thank-you to all my
students who continue to inspire me to write and to all the people
whose love of Italian inspired them to pick up this program.
 Guide to Pronunciation

Italian is pronounced as it is written. This makes it easier to learn

how to say the words in Italian. The words are pronounced by
adding together the sound of each individual letter. There are only
twenty-one letters in the Italian alphabet: j, k, w, x, and y are not
part of the Italian alphabet. They belong to foreign words and they
are pronounced as the word requires.

Abbreviations
The following abbreviations have been used throughout the text.

Vowels
Italian vowels are always pronounced in a sharp or clear way
regardless of stress. They are never slurred or pronounced weakly.
Pronounce the examples.

Consonants
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The war of the
Carolinas
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: The war of the Carolinas

Author: Meredith Nicholson

Illustrator: Stephen Reid

Release date: June 10, 2022 [eBook #68275]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: Thomas Nelson & Sons,

1909

Credits: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This book was produced from images made available
by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR OF

THE CAROLINAS ***
 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

THE PRIMROSE PATH. Mrs. Oliphant.

THOMPSON’S PROGRESS. C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne.
LOVE AND MR. LEWISHAM. H. G. Wells.
THE FOOD OF THE GODS. H. G. Wells.
KIPPS. H. G. Wells.
CYNTHIA’S WAY. Mrs. A. Sidgwick.
CLARISSA FURIOSA. W. E. Norris.
RAFFLES. E. W. Hornung.
FRENCH NAN. Agnes & Egerton Castle.
SPRINGTIME. H. C. Bailey.
MOONFLEET. J. Meade Falkner.
WHITE FANG. Jack London.
MAJOR VIGOUREUX. “Q.”
EIGHT DAYS. R. E. Forrest.
THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE. Sir G. Parker.
A LAME DOG’S DIARY. S. Macnaughtan.
FORTUNE OF CHRISTINA M’NAB. S. Macnaughtan.
THE RECIPE FOR DIAMONDS. C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne.
OLD GORGON GRAHAM. George Horace Lorimer.
MRS. GALER’S BUSINESS. W. Pett Ridge.
THE DUENNA OF A GENIUS. M. E. Francis.
THE OCTOPUS. Frank Norris.
THE PIT. Frank Norris.
MATTHEW AUSTIN. W. E. Norris.
HIS GRACE. W. E. Norris.
MARCELLA. Mrs. Humphry Ward.
THE INTRUSIONS OF PEGGY. Anthony Hope.
THE PRINCESS PASSES. C. N. & A. M. Williamson.
And Many Other Equally Popular
Copyright Novels.

NELSON’S LIBRARY.
She loosed his horse’s rein, and led it rapidly towards
her own horse.
 The War
of the
Carolinas
By
MEREDITH
NICHOLSON

THOMAS NELSON
AND SONS
Oh, for you that I never knew,
Only in dreams that bind you!—
By Spring’s own grace I shall know your face
When under the may I find you!

H. C. Bunner.
 TO YOU AT THE GATE.
There was a daisy-meadow, that flowed brimming to the stone wall
at the roadside, and on the wooded crest beyond a lamp twinkled in
a house round which stole softly the unhurried, eddyless dusk. You
stood at the gate, your arms folded on the top bar, your face uplifted,
watching the stars and the young moon of June. I was not so old but
that I marked your gown of white, your dark head, your eyes like the
blue of mid-ocean sea-water in the shadow of marching billows. As
my step sounded you looked up startled, a little disdainful, maybe;
then you smiled gravely; but a certain dejection of attitude, a sweet
wistfulness of lips and eyes, arrested and touched me; and I stole on
guiltily, for who was I to intrude upon a picture so perfect, to which
moon and stars were glad contributors? As I reached the crown of
the road, where it dipped down to a brook that whispered your name,
I paused and looked back, and you waved your hand as though
dismissing me to the noisy world of men.
In other Junes I have kept tryst with moon and stars beside your
gate, where daisies flow still across the meadow, and insect voices
blur the twilight peace; but I have never seen again your house of
shadows among the trees, or found you dreaming there at the gate
with uplifted face and wistful eyes. But from the ridge, where the
road steals down into the hollow with its fireflies and murmuring
water, I for ever look back to the star- and moon-hung gate in the
wall, and see your slim, girlish figure, and can swear that you wave
your hand.
Katonah, June 30, 1908. M. N.
 CONTENTS.
I. Two Gentlemen say Good-Bye 7
II. The Absence of Governor Osborne 29
III. The Jug and Mr. Ardmore 40
IV. Duty and the Jug 55
V. Mr. Ardmore Officially Recognized 71
VI. Mr. Griswold Forsakes the Academic Life 89
VII. An Affair at the State House 100
VIII. The Labours of Mr. Ardmore 115
IX. The Land of the Little Brown Jug 129
X. Professor Griswold Takes the Field 138
XI. Two Ladies on a Balcony 149
XII. The Embarrassments of the Duke of Ballywinkle 160
XIII. Miss Dangerfield Takes a Prisoner 175
XIV. A Meeting of Old Friends 191
XV. The Prisoner in the Corn-Crib 209
XVI. The Flight of Gillingwater 228
XVII. On the Road to Turner’s 237
XVIII. The Battle of the Raccoon 246
XIX. In the Red Bungalow 255
XX. Rosæ Mundi 269
XXI. Good-Bye to Jerry Dangerfield 281
 THE
WAR OF THE CAROLINAS.
 CHAPTER I.
TWO GENTLEMEN SAY GOOD-BYE.

“IF anything really interesting should happen to me I think I should

drop dead,” declared Ardmore, as he stood talking to Griswold in the
railway station at Atlanta. “I entered upon this life under false
pretenses, thinking that money would make the game easy, but here
I am, twenty-seven years old, stalled at the end of a blind alley, with
no light ahead; and to be quite frank, old man, I don’t believe you
have the advantage of me. What’s the matter with us, anyhow?”
“The mistake we make,” replied Griswold, “is in failing to seize
opportunities when they offer. You and I have talked ourselves
hoarse a thousand times planning schemes we never pull off. We
are cursed with indecision, that’s the trouble with us. We never see
the handwriting on the wall, or if we do, it’s just a streak of
hieroglyphics, and we don’t know what it means until we read about
it in the newspapers. But I thought you were satisfied with the thrills
you got running as a reform candidate for alderman in New York last
year. It was a large stage, and the lime-light struck you pretty often.
Didn’t you get enough? No doubt they’d be glad to run you again.”
Ardmore glanced hastily about and laid his hand heavily on his
friend’s shoulder.
“Don’t mention it—don’t think of it! No more politics in mine. The
world may go hang if it waits for me to set it right. What I want is
something different, a real adventure—something with spice in it. I
have bought everything money can buy, and now I’m looking for
something that can’t be tagged with a price.”
“There’s your yacht and the open sea,” suggested Griswold.
“Sick of it! Sick to death of it!”
“You’re difficult, old man, and mighty hard to please. Why don’t you
turn explorer and go in for the North Pole?”
“Perfectly bully! I’ve thought of it a lot, but I want to be sure I’ve
cleaned up everything else first. It’s always up there waiting—on ice,
so to speak—but when it’s done once there will be nothing left. I
want to save that for the last call.”
“You said about the same thing when we talked of Thibet that first
evening we met at the University Club, and now the Grand Lama
sings in all the phonographs, and for a penny you can see him in a
kinetoscope, eating his luncheon. I remember very well that night.
We were facing each other at a writing-table, and you looked up
timidly from your letter and asked me whether there were two g’s in
aggravate; and I answered that it depended on the meaning—one g
for a mild case, two for a severe one—and you laughed, and we
began talking. Then we found out how lonesome we both were, and
you asked me to dinner, and then took me to that big house of yours
up there in Fifth Avenue and showed me the pictures in your art
gallery, and we found out that we needed each other.”
“Yes, I had needed you all right!” And Ardmore sniffed dolefully, and
complained of the smoke that was drifting in upon them from the
train sheds. “I wish you wouldn’t always be leaving me. You ought to
give up your job and amuse me. You’re the only chap I know who
doesn’t talk horse or automobile or yacht, or who doesn’t want to
spend whole evenings discussing champagne vintages; but you’re
too good a man to be wasted on a college professorship. Better let
me endow an institution that will make you president—there might be
something in that.”
“It would make me too prominent, so that when we really make up
our minds to go in for adventures I should be embarrassed by my
high position. As a mere lecturer on ‘The Libelling of Sunken Ships’
in a law school, I’m the most obscure person in the world. And for
another thing, we couldn’t risk the scandal of tainted money. It would
be nasty to have your great-grandfather’s whisky deals with the
Mohawk Indians chanted in a college yell.”
The crowd surged past them to the Washington express, and a
waiting porter picked up Griswold’s bags.
“Wish you wouldn’t go. I have three hours to wait,” said Ardmore,
looking at his watch, “and the only Atlanta man I know is out of
town.”
“What did you say you were going to New Orleans for?” demanded
Griswold, taking out his ticket and moving towards the gate. “I
thought you exhausted the Creole restaurants long ago.”
“The fact is,” faltered Ardmore, colouring, “I’m looking for some one.”
“Out with it—out with it!” commanded his friend.
“I’m looking for a girl I saw from a car window day before yesterday. I
had started north, and my train stopped to let a south-bound train
pass somewhere in North Carolina. The girl was on the south-bound
sleeper, and her window was opposite mine. She put aside the
magazine she was reading and looked me over rather coolly.”
“And you glanced carelessly in the opposite direction and pulled
down your shade, of course, like the well-bred man you are——”
interrupted Griswold, holding fast to Ardmore’s arm as they walked
down the platform.
“I did no such thing. I looked at her and she looked at me. And then
my train started——”
“Well, trains have a way of starting. Does the romance end here?”
“Then, just at the last moment, she winked at me!”
“It was a cinder, Ardy. The use of soft coal on railways is one of the
saddest facts of American transportation. I need hardly remind you,
Mr. Ardmore, that nice girls don’t wink at strange young men. It isn’t
done!”
“I would have you know, Professor, that this girl is a lady.”
“Don’t be so irritable, and let me summarize briefly on your own
hypothesis. You stared at a strange girl, and she winked at you, safe
in the consciousness that she would never see you again. And now
you are going to New Orleans to look for her. She will probably meet
you at the station, with her bridesmaids and wedding cake all ready
for you. And you think this will lead to an adventure—you defer
finding the North Pole for this—for this? Poor Ardy! But did she toss
her card from the window? Why New Orleans? Why not Minneapolis,
or Bangor, Maine?”
“I’m not an ass, Grissy. I caught the name of the sleeper—you know
they’re all named, like yachts and tall buildings—the name of her car
was the Alexandra. I asked our conductor where it was bound for,
and he said it was the New Orleans car. So I took the first train back,
ran into you here, and that’s the whole story to date.”
“I admire your spirit. New Orleans is much pleasanter than the polar
ice, and a girl with a winking eye isn’t to be overlooked in this vale of
tears. What did this alleviating balm for tired eyes look like, if you
remember anything besides the wicked wink?”
“She was bareheaded, and her hair was wonderfully light and fluffy,
and it was parted in the middle and tied behind with a black ribbon in
a great bow. She rested her cheek on her hand—her elbow on the
window-sill, you know—and she smiled a little as the car moved off,
and winked—do you understand? Her eyes were blue, Grissy, big
and blue—and she was perfectly stunning.”
“There are winks and winks, Ardy,” observed Griswold, with a judicial
air. “There is the wink inadvertent, to which no meaning can be
attached. There is the wink deceptive, usually given behind the back
of a third person, and a vulgar thing which we will not associate with
your girl of the Alexandra. And then, to be brief, there is the wink of
mischief, which is observed occasionally in persons of exceptional
bringing up. There are moments in the lives of all of us when we lose
our grip on conventions—on morality, even. The psychology of this
matter is very subtle. Here you are, a gentleman of austerely correct
life; here is a delightful girl, on whom you flash in an out-of-the-way
corner of the world. And she, not wholly displeased by the frank
admiration in your eyes—for you may as well concede that you
stared at her——”
“Well, I suppose I did look at her,” admitted Ardmore reluctantly.
“Pardonably, no doubt, just as you would look at a portrait in a
picture gallery, of course. This boarding-school miss, who had never
before lapsed from absolute propriety, felt the conventional world
crumble beneath her as the train started. She could no more have
resisted the temptation to wink than she could have refused a
caramel or an invitation to appear as best girl at a church wedding.
Thus wireless communication is established between soul and soul
for an instant only, and then you are cut off for ever. Perhaps, in the
next world, Ardy——”
Griswold and Ardmore had often idealized themselves as hopeless
pursuers of the elusive, the unattainable, the impossible; or at least
Ardmore had, and Griswold had entered into the spirit of this sort of
thing for the joy it gave Ardmore. They had discussed frequently the
call of soul to soul—the quick glance passing between perfect
strangers in crowded thoroughfares—and had fruitlessly speculated
as to their proper course in the event the call seemed imperative. A
glance of the eye is one thing, but it is quite another to address a
stranger and offer eternal friendship. The two had agreed that, while,
soul-call or no soul-call, a gentleman must keep clear of steamer
flirtations, and avoid even the most casual remarks to strange young
women in any circumstances, a gentleman of breeding and
character may nevertheless follow the world’s long trails in search of
a never-to-be-forgotten face.
The fact is that Ardmore was exceedingly shy, and a considerable
experience of fashionable society had not diminished this
shortcoming. Griswold, on the other hand, had the Virginian’s natural
social instinct, but he suffered from a widely-diffused impression that
much learning had made him either indifferent or extremely critical
where women are concerned.
Ardmore shrugged his shoulders and fumbled in his coat pockets as
though searching for ideas. An austere composure marked his
countenance at all times, and emphasized the real distinction of his
clean-cut features. His way of tilting back his head and staring
dreamily into vacancy had established for him a reputation for
stupidity that was wholly undeserved.