She, on her side, had flushed painfully, laying her white fingertips imploringly on his arm.
Mrs.Seaton turned away with a little dry cough, so did her spectacled sister at the other end of the table.

Mrs.Leyburn, on the other hand, sat in a little ecstasy, looking at Catherine and Dr.Baker, something glistening in her eyes.

Robert Elsmere alone showed presence of mind.
Bending across to Dr.Baker, he asked him a sudden question as to the history of a certain strange green mound or barrow that rose out of a flat field not far from the vicarage windows.

Dr.Baker grasped his whiskers, threw the young man a queer glance, and replied.

Thenceforward he and Robert kept up a lively antiquarian talk on the traces of Norse settlement in the Cumbrian valleys, which lasted till the ladies left the dining-room.
As Catherine Leyburn went out Elsmere stood holding the door open.