At dinner, of course, nothing could be spoken of but the most ordinary affairs--in such speaking, that is, as there was.

It was not till they had gone out into the walled garden and sat them down, all three of them, on the long garden-seat beside the rose-beds, that a word was said on these new matters.

There was silence as they walked there, and silence as they sat down.
"Tell her, Robin," said the maid.
* * * * * It appeared that matters were not yet as wholly decided as Mrs.Manners had thought.

Indeed, it seemed to her that they were not decided at all.
Robin had written to Dr.Allen, and had found means to convey his letter to Mr.Simpson, who, in his turn, had undertaken to forward it at least as far as to London; and there it would await a messenger to Douay.

It might be a month before it would reach Douay, and it might be three or four months, or even more, before an answer could come back.