Sentence:  And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint <WSD>bruit</WSD> of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, ... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Rumour; talk; hearsay.