Tallente rose slowly to his feet.

He was listening intently.

The thing wasn't possible, he told himself.

It wasn't possible! Then he heard a voice in the hall.
Robert threw the door open and announced in a tone of triumph-- "Lady Jane Partington, sir." She came towards him, smiling, self-possessed, but a little interrogative.

He had a lightning-like impression of her beautiful shoulders rising from her plain black gown, her delightfully easy walk, the slimness and comeliness and stateliness of her.
"I know that I ought to be ashamed of myself for coming after I had told you I couldn't," she said.