Could it be poetry?
In her imagination the sombre hues surrounding an incendiary opposed that bright spirit.

She listened, smiling incredulously.

Miss Denham could interpret looks, and said, 'Dr.
Shrapnel is very fond of those verses.' Rosamund's astonishment caused her to say, 'Are they his own ?'--a piece of satiric innocency at which Miss Denham laughed softly as she answered, 'No.' Rosamund pleaded that she had not heard them with any distinctness.
'Are they written by the gentleman at his side ?' 'Mr.Lydiard?
No.

He writes, but the verses are not his.' 'Does he know--has he met Captain Beauchamp ?' 'Yes, once.

Captain Beauchamp has taken a great liking to his works.' Rosamund closed her eyes, feeling that she was in a nest that had determined to appropriate Nevil.