It passed across his consciousness slowly
but with a slow completeness; and in its light the incidents
of the past hour stood out in a new aspect. The echo of
recollection stirred by Lady Bramfell's voice, the re-echo of
it in the sister's tones; his own blindness, his own egregious
assurance--all struck across his mind.
Meanwhile the party about Lillian drew nearer. He felt with
instinctive certainty that the supper-room was its
destination, but he remained motionless, held by a species of
fatalism. He watched her draw near with an unmoved face, but
in the brief space that passed while she traversed the
corridor he gauged to the full the hold that the new
atmosphere, the new existence, had gained over his mind. With
an unlooked-for rush of feeling he realized how dearly he
would part with it.
As Lillian came closer, the meaning of her manner became
clearer to him. She talked incessantly, laughing now and
then, but her eyes were never quiet. These skimmed the length
of the corridor, then glanced over the heads crowded in the
door-way.
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