'The body is indulging itself; recovery of health absorbs his energies.' Opportunities for anything like sustained converse with Miss Hood, Wilfrid found very few and far between; only once before the long talk in the hollow had he been able to gratify his curiosity--perhaps already some other feeling--in a dialogue of any intimacy.

In a situation such as this, delicacy prescribed a very rigid discretion; Emily, moreover, was not facile of approach.

Throughout the day she was scarcely away from the children; of course he could and did often exchange words with her in the presence of the twins, but he felt himself held at a distance by a tact which was perfect; without undue reserve, without a shadow of unrefined manoeuvring, Emily limited their intercourse in precisely the way that Mr.Athel or Mrs.Rossall would have deemed becoming.

Then there were almost always guests at the house.
With prudent regard to the character of these visitors, Mrs.Rossall chose opportunities for inviting the governess to the drawing-room during the evening, but Emily was not wholly at her ease under such conditions, and Wilfrid was withheld by only half-conscious motives from talking with her at these times.

He shrank from subjecting himself to examination whilst encouraging her to speak on the subjects he would naturally choose; he felt, too, that she desired him not to address her, though this perception came to him in subtle ways of which he could render to himself no account.