Wharton, Edith — The Age of Innocence [89]

The persons of their world lived in an atmosphere of faint implications and pale delicacies, and the fact that he and she understood each other without a word seemed to the young man to bring them nearer than any explanation would have done. Her eyes said: “You see why Mamma brought me,” and his answered: “I would not for the world have had you stay away.” — Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence, 89

Note

The telegraphic eye-exchange shows communication through implication rather than statement — exactly the ‘hieroglyphic’ register of the whole society. Wharton renders a non-verbal bargain as legible dialogue.