That unsought grace, that lithe long beauty of line, belonged to but one woman in the house.
He rose, and approached her.
"I have been wishing to see you," he said, "and hoping that accident might bring about some such meeting as this." He offered her a chair.

Mercy hesitated before she took her seat.

This was their first meeting alone since Lady Janet had interrupted her at the moment when she was about to confide to Julian the melancholy story of the past.

Was he anxious to seize the opportunity of returning to her confession?
The terms in which he had addressed her seemed to imply it.

She put the question to him in plain words, "I feel the deepest interest in hearing all that you have still to confide to me," he answered.