She wished to gain time before committing herself.

Her glance fell upon young Mr.Brand, who stood there, with his arms folded and his hand on his chin, looking at her.

"The gentleman, I suppose, is a sort of ecclesiastic," she said to Mr.Wentworth, lowering her voice a little.
"He is a minister," answered Mr.Wentworth.
"A Protestant ?" asked Eugenia.
"I am a Unitarian, madam," replied Mr.Brand, impressively.
"Ah, I see," said Eugenia.

"Something new." She had never heard of this form of worship.
Mr.Acton began to laugh, and Gertrude looked anxiously at Mr.Brand.
"You have come very far," said Mr.Wentworth.
"Very far--very far," the Baroness replied, with a graceful shake of her head--a shake that might have meant many different things.
"That 's a reason why you ought to settle down with us," said Mr.
Wentworth, with that dryness of utterance which, as Eugenia was too intelligent not to feel, took nothing from the delicacy of his meaning.
She looked at him, and for an instant, in his cold, still face, she seemed to see a far-away likeness to the vaguely remembered image of her mother.

Eugenia was a woman of sudden emotions, and now, unexpectedly, she felt one rising in her heart.