Iris could endure the suspense no longer.

"It's a lovely afternoon," she said to Mrs.Lewson.

"Let us take a walk along the road, and meet Arthur." To this proposal the housekeeper readily agreed.
It was nearly five o'clock when they reached a place at which a by-road branched off, through a wood, from the highway which they had hitherto followed.

Mrs.Lewson found a seat on a felled tree.

"We had better not go any farther," she said.
Iris asked if there was any reason for this.
There was an excellent reason.