The occasion was in her own drawing-room at the afternoon-tea hour, and, since the room was only lit by firelight and a tall standard lamp, his face, where he stood by the mantel-shelf, was in shadow.

There had been something portentous in the manner of the telling.
For a few seconds he kept silence.

Then he spoke very quietly.
"I hope Miss Drummond may be happy," he said.

He did not trouble to put on a pretence of indifference with Bel, just as he did not wish to talk about it.

He went on to speak of ordinary topics.