Therefore she justified her conduct to herself with great success, till Torpenhow came up to her on the steamer and without preface began to tell the story of Dick's blindness, suppressing a few details, but dwelling at length on the miseries of delirium.

He stopped before he reached the end, as though he had lost interest in the subject, and went forward to smoke.

Maisie was furious with him and with herself.
She was hurried on from Dover to London almost before she could ask for breakfast, and--she was past any feeling of indignation now--was bidden curtly to wait in a hall at the foot of some lead-covered stairs while Torpenhow went up to make inquiries.

Again the knowledge that she was being treated like a naughty little girl made her pale cheeks flame.

It was all Dick's fault for being so stupid as to go blind.
Torpenhow led her up to a shut door, which he opened very softly.