He may also have mused on Lady Grace, for anything that can be known to the contrary, and have possibly made a mental note that if it had been she whom he had asked to walk home with him, instead of Ruth, he would not have been alone at that moment.

Be that how it may, he leisurely pursued his path until a fallen tree beside the bank looked so inviting that (Evelyn and Ralph having gone out to friends at a distance) Charles, who was in no hurry to return to Lady Mary, seated himself thereon, with a cigarette to bear him company.
To him, with rent garments and dust upon her head, and indeed all over her, suddenly appeared Molly; Molly, white with panic, breathless, unable to articulate, pointing in the direction from which she had come.
In a moment Charles was tearing down the road at full speed.

A tall, swaying figure almost ran against him at the first turn, and Ruth only avoided him to collapse suddenly in the dry ditch, her face in the bank, and a yard of sash biting the dust along the road behind her.
Her pursuer stopped short.

Charles made a step towards him and stopped short also.

The two men stood and looked at each other without speaking.
When Ruth found herself in a position to make observations she discovered that she was sitting by the road-side, with her head resting against--was it a tweed arm or the bank?
She moved a little, and found that first impressions are apt to prove misleading.