She listened, but the walls were thick, and she heard no sound from the distant dining-room.

Cary would know only what she told him, and in a few minutes he would be gone.

"I should like to hear the letter," she said, and motioned to the armchair beside the hearth.
He took it, and she seated herself opposite him, upon an old, embroidered tabouret.

Between them the fire of hickory logs burned softly; without the curtained windows the maple branches, moved by the wind, struck at intervals against the eaves.

Jacqueline faced the door.
It was her intention, should she hear steps, to rise and speak to Lewis in the hail without.
The letter which Cary drew from his breast pocket was from Major Churchill.