His talk with Mr.Manley had been illuminating.
Olivia dined in her sitting-room, and with a poor appetite.

Away from Grey, she had fallen back into her anxiety and fearfulness.

Wilkins was waiting on her, an insensible block of a fellow; but even he perceived that she was very little aware of what she was eating, and now and again paused, and in some worrying train of thought forgot that she was dining at all.
After dinner, however, her mood changed.

The fearfulness and anxiety at times vanished from her face, and a pleasant, eager expectancy took their place.
At a quarter to nine she took a dark wrap from her wardrobe, went quietly down the stairs, and slipped out of the side door, across the east lawn, and into the path through the shrubbery, unseen.

Grey had suggested that he should come to the Castle after dinner to spend the evening with her; but they had decided that it would be wiser to meet in the pavilion.
There would be talk if he spent the evening with her so soon after her husband's death, with his body still unburied in the house.