Flora had not noticed his conduct as distinct from the manner in which she was usually accosted and regarded. From her earliest recollection, every one had looked upon her smilingly and tenderly, and spoken to her gently and fondly. Colonel Mires had done no more, and she saw nothing different in his behaviour to her to that of others at all times. She had been grateful for this good feeling so generally evinced towards her, and had tried to repay it by being herself sweet tempered, kind mannered, and soft spoken. Hitherto she had made no distinction between persons; now she began to perceive that there was one she should like to make; a homage it would be little short of felicity to herself to render. She began to feel that there was a voice whose music touched her brain, and thrilled the pulses of her heart; whose language, simple as it might be, bore a richer poetry than all that tongue of poet ever uttered. There was a hand whose pressure filled her with emotions no other touch could raise--there was a presence whose absence was not compensated for by the coming of all the world beside. She began to be sensible of the new feeling growing upon her, and taking possession of her soul, after Hal Vivian paid his first visit, as distinct from, and subsequent to, that when accompanied by Lotte. He being rather retiring by nature and abashed by the style in which the Wiltons now lived, made his appearance but seldom, though he would gladly have spent every hour of the day beneath the roof that sheltered Flora. But if he came seldom, Colonel Mires came often, and thus Flora began to shape her first distinction between persons. She had no objection to the frequent appearance of Mires, but she would infinitely rather that Hal came oftener, even if his coming were to cause the absence of the Colonel--even if it occasioned him to stay away for ever. She did not permit this impression in Hal’s favour to show itself; as soon as she began to recognise it, and assure herself that it was a reality, she fashioned it into her first secret, which was to be looked at with no eyes but her own. So she came to compare the interval that passed between the visits of Hal and the space of time that elapsed during the absence of Colonel Mires, and she began to think that if Hal had ever conceived the notion of vexing her, this was just the plan that would be most successful. At each of his last visits, Hal had met Colonel Mires; the ordinary civilities passed between them, but they looked at each other with fierce eyes.