It may have been that whilst the opinions of the others advanced, his own stood still; but the effect was an attitude which appeared negative, if not wholly one of negation.
As for Margaret, she seemed to be in some way overcome.

Either it was some new phase of feeling with her, or else she was taking the issue more seriously than she had yet done.

She was generally more or less distraite, as though sunk in a brown study; from this she would recover herself with a start.

This was usually when there occurred some marked episode in the journey, such as stopping at a station, or when the thunderous rumble of crossing a viaduct woke the echoes of the hills or cliffs around us.

On each such occasion she would plunge into the conversation, taking such a part in it as to show that, whatever had been her abstracted thought, her senses had taken in fully all that had gone on around her.