But after that his presence of mind came in aid. He
took her in his arms and kissed her; murmuring fond words of sympathy,
and promises of faith, nay, even of greater love than before, since
greater need she might have of that love. But somehow he was glad when
the dressing-bell rang, and in the solitude of his own room he could
reflect on what he had heard; for the intelligence had been a great shock
to him, although he had fancied that his morning's inquiries had prepared
him for it.
CHAPTER IX.
Ralph Corbet found it a very difficult thing to keep down his curiosity
during the next few days. It was a miserable thing to have Ellinor's
unspoken secret severing them like a phantom. But he had given her his
word that he would make no further inquiries from her. Indeed, he
thought he could well enough make out the outline of past events; still,
there was too much left to conjecture for his mind not to be always busy
on the subject. He felt inclined to probe Mr. Wilkins in their after-
dinner conversation, in which his host was frank and lax enough on many
subjects. But once touch on the name of Dunster and Mr. Wilkins sank
into a kind of suspicious depression of spirits; talking little, and with
evident caution; and from time to time shooting furtive glances at his
interlocutor's face. Ellinor was resolutely impervious to any attempts
of his to bring his conversation with her back to the subject which more
and more engrossed Ralph Corbet's mind.
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