"As I've told you, I was on the way to your father's house to take leave
of the family. If you're not going immediately home, perhaps I may be
the bearer of a message for you?"
The irony is evident; but Helen Armstrong is not sensible of it. She
does not even think of it. Her only thought is how to get
disembarrassed of this man who has appeared at a moment so _mal
apropos_. Charles Clancy--for he was the expected one--may have been
detained by some cause unknown, a delay still possible of justification.
She has a lingering thought he may yet come; and, so thinking, her eye
turns towards the forest with a quick, subtle glance.
Notwithstanding its subtlety, and the obscurity surrounding them, Darke
observes, comprehends it.