I came down as I thought your mother should be told.' So much he said, but would say no more.

In this he probably took the most unwise course that was open to him.

He might have held his tongue altogether, and let Katie believe that love alone had brought him down, as it had done so often before; or he might have told her all, feeling sure that all must be told her before long.

But he did neither; he left her in suspense, and the consequence was that before her mother's return she was very ill.
It was past eleven before the fly was heard in which Linda and her mother returned home.

Katie had then gone upstairs, but not to bed.