He had been standing, awaiting
her, in the shadows near the mantel; the chair that he chanced to drop
into stood almost under one of the yellow lamps; and when she saw his
face, she hardly repressed a start. For he seemed to have aged ten
years since he last sat in her parlor, and if she had thought his face
long ago as grave as a face could be, she now perceived her mistake.
The moment they were seated he began, in his usual voice, and with
rather the air of having thought out in advance exactly what he was to
say.
"I have come again, after all, to talk only of definite things. In fact,
I have something of much importance to tell you. May I ask that you will
consider it as confidential for the present?"
At the very beginning she was disquieted by the discovery that his gaze
was steadier than her own. She was annoyingly conscious of looking away
from him, as she said:--
"I think you have no right to ask that of me."
Surface's son smiled sadly. "It is not about--anything that you could
possibly guess. I have made a discovery of--a business nature, which
concerns you vitally.
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