I should have predicted it, had you come to me.' She stood, either musing or in weakness, and said abruptly: 'Will you object to lunching at one o'clock ?' 'The sooner the better,' said Redworth.

She had sighed: her voice betrayed some agitation, strange in so serenely-minded a person.
His partial acquaintance with the Herculean Sir Lukin's reputation in town inspired a fear of his being about to receive admission to the distressful confidences of the wife, and he asked if Mrs.Warwick was well.

The answer sounded ominous, with its accompaniment of evident pain: 'I think her health is good.' Had they quarrelled?
He said he had not heard a word of Mrs.Warwick for several months.
'I--heard from her this morning,' said Lady Dunstane, and motioned him to a chair beside the sofa, where she half reclined, closing her eyes.
The sight of tears on the eyelashes frightened him.

She roused herself to look at the clock.

'Providence or accident, you are here,' she said.
'I could not have prayed for the coming of a truer' man.