His buoyancy began to desert him.
'It must be a great trial to Mrs.Elsmere,' she said presently with an effort, once more steering away from herself and her concerns, 'this going back to her old home.' 'It is.

My father's long struggle for life in that house is a very painful memory.

I wished her to put it off till I could go with her, but she declared she would rather get over the first week or two by herself.
How I should like you to know my mother, Miss Leyburn! At this she could not help meeting his glance and smile, and answering them, though with a kind of constraint most unlike her.
'I hope I may some day see Mrs.Elsmere,' she said.
'It is one of my strongest wishes,' he answered, hurriedly, 'to bring you together.' The words were simple enough; the tone was full of emotion.

He was fast losing control of himself.

She felt it through every nerve, and a sort of wild dread seized her of what he might say next.