He was bewildered, it is true, but he was also chafed, and it needed that he should turn his eyes to the sweet cause of his offence, before he could find himself relieved of the painful feelings which her father's look and manner had occasioned him.
Poor Edith had a keener sense of the nature of the case.

Her instincts more readily supplied the means of knowledge.

Besides, there were certain family matters, which the look of her father suddenly recalled--which had never been suffered to reach the ears of her cousin;--which indicated to her, however imperfectly, the possible cause of that severe and scornful expression of eye, in the uncle, which had so confounded the nephew.

She looked, with timid pleading to her father's face, but dared not speak.
And still the latter stood at the entrance, silent, sternly scanning the young offenders, just beginning to be conscious of offence.

A surprise of any kind is exceedingly paralyzing to young lovers, caught in a situation like that in which our luckless couple were found on this occasion.