"Come, Jerry," Diana called to the groom.

"We will walk our horses up the hill." "You are very good, madam," said Mr.Wilding, and he bowed to the withers of his roan.
Ruth said nothing; expressed neither approval nor disapproval of Diana's withdrawal, and the latter, with a word of greeting to Wilding, went ahead followed by Jerry, who had regained control by now of the beast he bestrode.

Wilding watched them until they turned the corner, then he walked his mare slowly forward until he was alongside Ruth.
"Before I go," said he, "there is something I should like to say." His dark eyes were sombre, his manner betrayed some hesitation.
The diffidence of his tone proved startling to her by virtue of its unusualness.

What might it portend, she wondered, and sought with grave eyes to read his baffling countenance; and then a wild alarm swept into her and shook her spirit in its grip; there was something of which until this moment she had not thought--something connected with the fateful matter of that letter.

It had stood as a barrier between them, her buckler, her sole defence against him.