’I shall be so glad when I know, Mrs. Ormonde.  You’ll tell me, when you’ve heard, won’t you, please?  I’ve been thinking about it a long time—­before I was ill, and again since I got my thoughts back.  I want to be sure of that, more than anything.  I’m sure he must have gone.  Mr. Egremont was going away somewhere, and when he came back of course he would be told about—­about me, and he wouldn’t let that make any difference to Gilbert.  And then I told Lyddy in the letter that I should come back some day.  I’m quite sure it wouldn’t keep him from going to the library.’

Mrs. Ormonde was herself very desirous of knowing what turn things had taken in Lambeth.  She had no ready means of inquiry.  But doubtless Mr. Newthorpe would have intelligence; it was only too certain that the affair was being discussed to its minutest details among the people who knew Egremont.  She determined to see Mr. Newthorpe as soon as Thyrza was transported to the house by Regent’s Park.

This took place on the following day, with care which could not have been exceeded had the invalid been a person as important and precious as even the late Miss Paula Tyrrell.  Mrs. Gandle was adequately recompensed; her conviction that Mrs. Ormonde was a real lady suffered no shock under this most delicate of tests.  Mrs. Ormonde bade farewell to Bank Street and Caledonian Road with a great hope that duty or necessity might never lead her thither again.

Thyrza still, of course, needed the nurse’s attendance, and accommodation was found for that person under the same roof.  When the party arrived, at mid-day, Mrs. Emerson was at home by appointment.  She assisted in carrying the invalid upstairs, where a bright warm room was in readiness—­as pleasant a change after the garret in Bank Street as any one could have desired.

CHAPTER XXVIII

HOPE SURPRISED

Mrs. Tyrrell and Annabel were lunching with friends somewhere:  Mr. Newthorpe had just taken a solitary meal in the room which he used for a study.  Thither Mrs. Ormonde was conducted.

She noticed that he looked by no means so well as he had done before leaving Eastbourne.  His greeting was nervous.  He would not sit down, preferring to move restlessly from one position to another.

‘I was about to write to you,’ he said.  ‘What news do you bring?’

‘I have come to you for news.’

‘But you have seen Egremont?’

‘Neither seen nor heard from him.’

’Then I suppose that settles the matter.  I went to his place once, but could hear nothing of him, and since then I have just waited till the muddy water should strain itself clear again.’

‘But I am in ignorance yet of the state of things in Lambeth,’ said Mrs. Ormonde.  ‘Do you know anything about the library?’

‘Dalmaine keeps our world supplied with the latest information,’ Mr. Newthorpe replied, with cold sarcasm.  ’The library scheme, I suppose, is at an end.  The man Grail, we are told, pursues his old occupation.’