surely if the earl were inside there would be a light . no one in them and nothing discussed seemed familiar to me . her mind was frantically trying to keep pace with his words , and she stopped looking at his chest in order to understand what he was telling her . providing feedback , clarifying an idea , even returning an argument was fine as long as someone else asked it of me . `` i hope the surprise wo n't be too severe , '' walter marsh said with a frown as he stood . 