You had better stand clear, Stephen--that's all." Stephen marked his thin hands quivering, and this alarmed him as nothing else had done.
They walked on beside the water.

Stephen spoke quietly, looking at the ground.

"How can I stand clear, old man, if you are going to get into a mess?
That's impossible." He saw at once that this shot, which indeed was from his heart, had gone right home to Hilary's.

He sought within him how to deepen the impression.
"You mean a lot to us," he said.

"Cis and Thyme would feel it awfully if you and B.---" He stopped.
Hilary was looking at him; that faintly smiling glance, searching him through and through, suddenly made Stephen feel inferior.