Mrs.Vanstone was habitually silent; Norah kept herself obstinately in the background; Magdalen was quiet and undemonstrative beyond all former precedent.

From first to last, she kept rigidly on her guard.

The few meaning looks that she cast on Frank flashed at him like lightning, and were gone before any one else could see them.

Even when she brought him his tea; and when, in doing so, her self-control gave way under the temptation which no woman can resist--the temptation of touching the man she loves--even then, she held the saucer so dexterously that it screened her hand.

Frank's self-possession was far less steadily disciplined: it only lasted as long as he remained passive.