Contrary to his expectation there was visible no sign of that confusion or alarm which a serious accident to the mistress of the abode would have occasioned.

He was shown into a room at the top of the staircase, cosily and femininely draped, where, by the light of the shaded lamp, he saw a woman of full round figure reclining upon a couch in such a position as not to disturb a pile of magnificent hair on the crown of her head.

A deep purple dressing-gown formed an admirable foil to the peculiarly rich brown of her hair-plaits; her left arm, which was naked nearly up to the shoulder, was thrown upward, and between the fingers of her right hand she held a cigarette, while she idly breathed from her plump lips a thin stream of smoke towards the ceiling.
The doctor's first feeling was a sense of his exaggerated prevision in having brought appliances for a serious case; the next, something more curious.

While the scene and the moment were new to him and unanticipated, the sentiment and essence of the moment were indescribably familiar.

What could be the cause of it?
Probably a dream.
Mrs.Charmond did not move more than to raise her eyes to him, and he came and stood by her.