Explore "The Silent Woman" by Eliza Margaret Jane Humphreys on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
One afternoon Rufus Myrthe returned to the Peak Hall somewhat earlier than his wont. The day was clouding in; the sky looked a stormy prophecy of rain and wind. He entered the fire-lit hall, and a sense of comfort and peace fell upon him. The group before the fire greeted him with a warm welcome, and little as he cared individually for any of them, he felt the gratitude of a stranger in a strange land for their appreciation of himself.
He suffered them to draw him into their midst, and give him tea and hot cakes, and other delicacies, which, as a rule, he despised, and made himself agreeable in his own fashion, until the fair Arabella let fall a piece of information which had an unexpected effect.