My answer seemed at once to disconcert him and to make him pull himself together. He went and leaned against the mantelshelf; as I've noticed men, whether they're gentlemen or not, seem fond of doing. It's like a looking-glass to some women. I'm sure Mr. FitzHoward is standing in front of a fireplace most of the time there's one about for him to stand in front of. Directly Mr. Howarth felt that mantelpiece in the small of his back, he began to seem more at his ease.
'I was sorry to hear yesterday that you have had no news of your husband lately.'
'Were you indeed, sir?'
'I cannot imagine what possible grounds you have for associating me with his absence.'
'Whether that is true or not, sir, you know better than I do.'
'I understand that these absences of his are by no means infrequent.'
'That is so. Sometimes he has been away from me for months together.'
'Then why, in this particular case, should you suggest that I have been inciting him to desert his wife and home?'
'I suggest nothing, sir. It is you who are suggesting.'
'I may as well tell you that during my very brief acquaintance with your husband, I was very much struck by what I saw of him.'