Probably the neighborhood of Mrs.Thornburgh was enough to make the veriest chatterbox secretive.

But notwithstanding, no one possessing the clue could live in the same house with him these June days without seeing that the whole man was absorbed, transformed, and that the crisis might be reached at any moment.

Even the vicar was eager and watchful, and playing up to his wife in fine style, and if the situation had so worked on the vicar, Mrs.Thornburgh's state is easier imagined than described.
The walk to Shanmoor need not be chronicled.

The party kept together.
Robert fancied sometimes that there was a certain note of purpose in the way in which Catherine clung to the vicar.

If so, it did not disquiet him.