Then he turned to his companion with a changed aspect.

'Well, now, then--we are as we were--and'-- with a long half-indignant breath--'remember I have signed that contract!' He rose from his seat as he spoke.
They walked home together through the great wood, and across the park.

They were mostly silent.

The Squire's words 'we are as we were' echoed in the ears of both.

And yet both were secretly aware that something irrevocable had happened.
Then, suddenly, beating down all the personal trouble and disquiet in Elizabeth's mind, there rushed upon her afresh, as she walked beside the Squire, that which seemed to shame all personal feeling--the renewed consciousness of England's death-grapple with her enemy--the horror of its approaching crisis.