His friend laughed derisively and walked off and left him.

And the days passed and the "trial month" drew closer and closer to its end until one morning he awoke to realize that that end had come; the month was up that very day.
He had not mentioned the subject to the widow, nor had she to him.
His reasons for not speaking were obvious enough; one was that he did not know what to say, and the other that he was afraid to say it.

But, as the time approached when the decision must be made, he had expected that she would speak.

And she had not.

He saw her daily, sometimes several times a day.