He had not prepared himself for the interview as he ought to have done, and felt himself to be awkward.
She evidently expected him to speak, and for a few seconds sat waiting for what he might say.
At last she found that it was incumbent on her to begin.

"Were you surprised at our suddenness when you got my note ?" "A little.

You had spoken of waiting." "I had never imagined that he would have been impetuous.

And he seems to think that even the business of getting himself married would not justify him staying away from Parliament.

He is a rigid martinet in all matters of duty." "I did not wonder that he should be in a hurry, but that you should submit." "I told you that I should do just what the wise people told me.