He threw reticence to the winds.
"I am going to give you the real reason, Mrs.Repton.I saw her photograph this afternoon on Mrs.Carruthers' piano, and it left me wondering whether happiness could set so much character in a woman's face." Mrs.Repton shrugged her shoulders.
"Some of us age quickly here." "Age was not the new thing which I read in that photograph." Mrs.Repton did not answer.

Only her eyes sounded him.

She seemed to be judging the stuff of which he was made.
"And if I doubted her happiness this afternoon I must doubt it still more now," he continued.
"Why ?" exclaimed Mrs.Repton.
"Because of your reticence, Mrs.Repton," he answered.

"For you have been reticent.

You have been on guard.