What they were doing there was no concern of his, but any trifle that diverted his attention a moment was welcome in that time of strain, for he had felt of late that exposure was close at hand, and was fiercely anxious to finish his work before it came.

Maud Barrington's finances must be made secure before he left Silverdale, and he must remain at any cost until the wheat was sold.
Then he turned slowly towards her.

"It is not your aunt's confidence that hurts me the most." The girl looked at him steadily, the color a trifle plainer in her face, which she would not turn from the light, and a growing wonder in her eyes.
"Lance," she said, "we both know that it is not misplaced.

Still, your impassiveness does not please us." Winston groaned inwardly and the swollen veins showed on his forehead.
His companion had leaned forward a little so that she could see him, and one white shoulder almost touched his own.

The perfume of her hair was in his nostrils, and when he remembered how cold she had once been to him, a longing that was stronger than the humiliation that came with it grew almost overwhelming.