Annabel paused a little, then made an unforced transition to other matters.  She rose to leave before long.  Whilst her hand was in Mrs. Ormonde’s, she asked: 

‘May I know anything more than father told me?’

She had said it with a little difficulty, but without confusion of face.

‘What did your father tell you?’

’Only that she is in your care, and that you think her voice can be cultivated, so as to serve her.’

’Yes, I will tell you more than that, dear.  He is absolutely without bond as regards her.  They have never met since her flight from home, and, more, she has no suspicion that he ever took an interest in her save as Mr. Grail’s future wife.’

‘She does not know that?’

’She has no idea of it.  They have never exchanged a more than friendly word.  He believed, when absent from England, that she was already married, and of his movements since then she is wholly ignorant.’

She listened with frank surprise; her face showed nothing more than that.

‘But,’ she said, hesitatingly, ’I cannot quite understand.  He holds himself quite without responsibility?  He leaves England without troubling about her future?’

’Not at all.  He knows I have her in my care.  She being my ward, I have a perfect right to demand that the child’s fate shall not be trifled with, that she shall be allowed to grow older and wiser before any one asks her to take an irrevocable step—­say for the space of two years.  Mr. Egremont grants my right, and I have never yet had real grounds for doubting his honour.’

‘I never doubted it, even on seeming grounds,’ said Annabel, quietly.

’You are justified, Bell.  Well, as you asked me, I thought it better to tell you thus much.  He leaves England morally as free as if he had never heard her name.’

’One more question.  How do you know that she has no assurance of his—­affection?’

’He has himself told me that there has been not a word of that between them.  The only other possible source was her sister, who has seen her.  I did not see Lydia before the interview, because it was repugnant to me to do so; their love for each other is something very sacred, and a stranger had no right to come between them before they met.  But I subsequently saw Lydia in London.  She soon spoke to me very freely, and I found that she almost hated me because she thought I was planning to marry her sister to Mr. Egremont.  I also found out—­I am old, you know, Bell, and can be very deceitful—­ that Lydia, no more than her sister, suspects serious feeling on his part.  She scorned the suggestion of such a possibility.  It is her greatest hope that Thyrza may yet marry Mr. Grail.’

‘And what can you tell me of Thyrza herself?’

’She has been ill, but seems now in very fair health, The day she spent with Lydia evidently did her a vast amount of good.  That natural affection is an invaluable resource to her, and, if I am not mistaken, it will be the means of recovering happiness for me.  She is quiet, but not seriously depressed—­sometimes she is even bright.  The singing lessons have begun, and she enjoys them; I think a new interest has been given her.’