The voice was Mrs.Ormonde's.
'So at last,' she said, 'you have come.' There was a brief silence, then the tones for which she waited once more fell upon her ear.
'You are alone to-night ?' asked Egremont.
'Quite.

I have been reading and thinking.

Shall we go into the house ?' 'If you will let me, I had rather sit with you here.' Again there was silence.

When Mrs.Ormonde spoke, it was in a lower voice, and such as one uses in reply to a look of affection.
'Why have you kept me in anxiety about you for so long, Walter ?' 'I have had no mind to speak to any one, not even to you.

I had nothing to tell you that would please you to hear.