He thought, perhaps, the harder that he had neither the leisure nor opportunity for putting down his thoughts on paper or imparting them to another like-minded with himself.

How his fellows would have stared if they could have known the things that went on inside Walter Gray's mind as he leant above his table, peering into the interior of the watch-cases! "Sit down, Mr.Gray," said Lady Anne graciously; "I want to talk to you about Mary." She approached the matter delicately, having wit enough to see that Walter Gray was no common person.

While she talked she looked with frank admiration at his face: the fine, high, delicate nose; the arched brows, like Mary's own; the over-development of the forehead.

The dust of years and worries lay thick upon his face, yet Lady Anne said to herself that it was a beautiful face beneath the dust.
"I want to talk to you about Mary," she went on.

"The child interests me strongly.