“I am quite aware of that fact.”

“How so?  I thought Mr. Holbrook was quite unknown to you?”

“I have learnt a good deal about him lately.”

“Indeed!” exclaimed the lawyer, with a genuine air of surprise.

“But of course your client has been perfectly frank in her communications with you upon this subject?” Gilbert said.

“Yes; I know that Mrs. Holbrook has left her husband, but I did not for a moment suppose she had left him of her own free will.  From my knowledge of her character and sentiments, that is just the last thing I could have imagined possible.  There was no quarrel between them; indeed, she was expecting his return with delight at the very time when she left her home in Hampshire.  The thought of sharing her fortune with him was one of perfect happiness.  How can you explain her abrupt flight from him in the face of this?”

“I am not free to explain matters, Mr. Fenton,” answered the lawyer; “you must be satisfied with the knowledge that the lady about whom you have been so anxious is safe.”

“I thank God for that,” Gilbert said earnestly; “but that, knowledge of itself is not quite enough.  I shall be uneasy so long as there is this secrecy and mystery surrounding her fate.  There is something in this sudden abandonment of her husband which is painfully inexplicable to me.”

“Mrs. Holbrook may have received some sudden revelation of her husband’s unworthiness.  You are aware that a letter reached her a few hours before she left Hampshire?  There is no doubt that letter influenced her actions.  I do not mind admitting a fact which is so obvious.”

“The revelation that could move her to such a step must have been a very startling one.”

“It was strong enough to decide her course,” replied the lawyer gravely.

“And you can assure me that she is in good hands?” Gilbert asked anxiously.

“I have every reason to suppose so.  She is with her father.”

Mr. Medler announced this fact as if there were nothing extraordinary in it.  Gilbert started to his feet.

“What!” he exclaimed; “she is with Mr. Nowell—­the father who neglected her in her youth, who of course seeks her now only for the sake of her fortune?  And you call that being in good hands, Mr. Medler?  For my own part, I cannot imagine a more dangerous alliance.  When did Percival Nowell come to England?”

“A very short time ago.  I have only been aware of his return within the last two or three weeks.  His first step on arriving in this country was to seek for his daughter.”

“Yes; when he knew that she was rich, no doubt.”

“I do not think that he was influenced by mercenary motives,” the lawyer said, with a calm judicial air.  “Of course, as a man of the world, I am not given to look at such matters from a sentimental point of view.  But I really believe that Mr. Nowell was anxious to find his daughter, and to atone in some measure for his former neglect.”