As he was putting on his hat and coat to go out and post the letter Amy opened the dining-room door.
'You're going out ?' 'Yes.' 'Shall you be long ?' 'I think not.' He was away only a few minutes.

On returning he went first of all into the study, but the thought of Amy alone in the other room would not let him rest.

He looked in and saw that she was sitting without a fire.
'You can't stay here in the cold, Amy.' 'I'm afraid I must get used to it,' she replied, affecting to be closely engaged upon some sewing.
That strength of character which it had always delighted him to read in her features was become an ominous hardness.

He felt his heart sink as he looked at her.
'Is poverty going to have the usual result in our case ?' he asked, drawing nearer.
'I never pretended that I could be indifferent to it.' 'Still, don't you care to try and resist it ?' She gave no answer.

As usual in conversation with an aggrieved woman it was necessary to go back from the general to the particular.
'I'm afraid,' he said, 'that the Carters already knew pretty well how things were going with us.' 'That's a very different thing.