Perfect manners (Metaphor)
Leo's school taught him one thing: a high social position mattered a lot. His parents belonged to the lower-middle class, but his father’s premature death worsened the situation. If Leo’s mother hadn’t sold her husband’s books, Leo wouldn’t have gone to school. Though some children liked to make fun of Leo, the boy found a friend. Marcus came from old money, but he would never brag about “the wealth and grandeur” of his parents, on the contrary, the boy was always “precociously sophisticated.” His “corners must have been rubbed off” before he came to school.
Fooling (Metaphor)
Leo was so fond of Marian, so charmed by her, that he couldn’t believe that she was fooling him into doing what she wanted. As for her, she had been “quite fond” of the boy before there was “any question” of his acting “as go-between.” “Afterwards” Marian “had redoubled her favours,” making up to Leo and “stuffing” him “with lies.” That especially had hurt Leo when he learned the truth. Marian was the epitome of flawless, purity, and all good that existed in that world for him. She simply betrayed his feelings.
Grieving (Metaphor)
Leo didn’t remember what had happened to “Lord Trimingham, Ted, Marian, the whole Maudsley family”, who had “welcomed” him “into their midst.” However, he did know how Ted’s story ended, and “it was for him” he “grieved.” He “haunted” Leo. The boy remembered how his “blood and brains stuck to the kitchen walls.” The idea that Ted had cleaned his gun “to shoot himself” was “a special torment” to Leo. That was “an arrow” in his “spirit.”
Assuming (Simile)
Leo was able “to winnow out other fact” that “had been hidden” from him “at that time.” For instance, he came to the conclusion that it “must have been” Marcus who told his mother that Leo knew “something about Marian’s whereabouts when she gave out that she was with her old nannie.” He had “goaded” Leo, “by his superior knowledge of French,” into “making that silly and disastrous boast.” Leo had assumed that “all schoolboys obeyed the “no sneaking” rule as implicitly” as he did. It didn’t occur to him that Marcus could change his nature.
Loyal (Simile)
Marian was a beautiful woman; consequently, she had lots of admirers who were ready to wait for her as long as needed. What was more, Marian knew that she was a beauty and used that power of hers to manipulate people. Ted’s death was a hard blow, not to mention that it did a great damage to the family’s reputation. However, it didn’t scare Hugh off. The man was “as true as steel” and wouldn’t hear a word against Marian. They held their heads “high.”
