Would he be annoyed?
I could tell him about his old friends at Helsingfors----" "He would be delighted to see you!" cried Piers, his face glowing.

"Let me know before--let me write----" "Is he quite alone ?" "No, his wife--my stepmother--is living." Irene's quick perception interpreted the change of note.
"It would really be very interesting--if I can manage to get so far," she said, less impulsively.
They walked the length of the great avenue at Nonsuch, and back again in the golden light of the west.

Piers Otway disregarded the beauty of earth and sky, he had eyes for nothing but the face and form beside him.

At dinner, made dull by Hannaford's presence, he lived still in the dream of his delight, listening only when Irene spoke, speaking only when she addressed him, which she did several times.

The meal over, he sought an excuse for spending the next hour in the drawing-room; but Mrs.Hannaford, unconscious of any change in his habits, offered no invitation, and he stole silently away.
He did not light his lamp, but sat in the dim afterglow till it faded through dusk into dark.