It was better, she decided, that she did not think of the future at all.

It was better that she should nurse the gratitude which she most assuredly felt.
The dinner-party that night consisted of men only, and although the conversation was fairly general, even Virginia had a suspicion that these men had not been brought together absolutely as ordinary guests for social purposes.

Lightly though they all talked, there was something in the background.

More than once the voices were lowered, allusions were made which she failed to understand, and half-doubting glances were thrown in her direction.

One of these her uncle appeared to notice, and, leaning a little forward in his chair, he said a few words to the man at his side in such a way that they were obviously intended for the information of all.
"My niece," he said, "is going to take the part which I had once hoped my daughter might fill.