He read in their clear depths a hint of terror and his heart fell.

He had not realised before that the chief incentive he found in this case was not to discover the murderer of Thornton Lyne, but to prove that the girl was innocent.
"Mr.Tarling," she said with a queer little break in her voice, "I--I did not expect to see you." It was a lame opening, and it seemed all the more feeble to her since she had so carefully rehearsed the statement she had intended making.

For her waking moments, since the accident, had been filled with thoughts of this hard-faced man, what he would think, what he would say, and what, in certain eventualities, he would do.
"I suppose not," said Tarling gently.

"I am sorry to hear you have had rather a shaking, Miss Rider." She nodded, and a faint smile played about the corners of her mouth.
"It was nothing very much," she said.

"Of course, it was very harried at first and--what do you want ?" The last words were blurted out.