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'This is Miss Trent, mum, said Bessie, pointing to her companion, who had descended to the platform. 'She's been so kind as to take care of me. Mrs. Ormonde turned quickly round. 'Miss Trent? She viewed the girl with surprise which she found it impossible to conceal at once. Then she said to Thyrza: 'Arc you the young lady of whom I have heard as Mr. Grail's friend?
The kindness of his face as he stood before her caused her to speak the words she was thinking: 'Are you Mr. Egremont, sir? Then she was shocked at her boldness; she did not see the smile with which he replied: 'Yes, that is my name. 'I am Miss Trent. Perhaps you have perhaps Mr. Grail has told you This, Miss Trent? This, Gilbert Grail's wife?
Should he by word or deed throw light upon Gilbert Grail's future, he felt that all the good of his own life would be at an end. He could not face man or woman again. It came to this, then. Henceforth he must remember that, however near his intimacy with Gilbert, there must be no playing at friendship with Gilbert's wife. Friendship was impossible.
Her larger experience, however, speedily brought her to the right point of view; in less time than it would have taken her to express surprise, her wits had arranged a number of little incidents which remained in her memory, and had reviewed them all in the light of this disclosure. This was the meaning of Mr. Grail's reticence, of his apparent coldness at times.
But the utterance of Grail's name had brought Egremont the last impulse he needed. 'When I come back, he said, 'I shall find you in your new home. As I shan't see you again, let me say now how much I hope that you will live there a long time and very happily. Good-bye, Miss Trent. Surely that was formal and automatic enough. Not one more word, not one more glance at her face.
To begin with, Ackroyd was pronounced in radicalism, was aggressive and at times noisy; then, he was far from possessing Grail's moral stability, and did not care to conceal his ways of amusing himself; lastly, his intellectual tastes were of the scientific order.
Lydia was again busy with conjecture, in woman's way rapidly reading secrets by help of memory and intuition. She connected this event with what Mary Bower had reported to her of Ackroyd. If it were indeed true that Ackroyd no longer made pretence of loyalty to his old love, would not Grail's knowledge of that change account for his sudden abandonment of disguise?
'Well, it's tempted eighteenpence out of my pocket, was the other's reply, as he gave the volume to be examined. 'I've wanted a book on electricity for some time. He spoke with a slight North of England accent. His name was Luke Ackroyd; he had come to London as a lad, and was now a work-fellow of Grail's.
Only after-thought could occupy itself with the charge distinctly made against him. He said, as soon as he could command his voice: 'You were wrong in thinking so. I know nothing of Miss Trent. I have no idea where she can have gone. It was only when he found Grail's eyes fixed upon him that he added, after a pause: 'What were the reasons that led you to think so?
It contained a life of Sir Thomas More, or rather a pleasant story founded upon his life, with much about his daughter Margaret. 'Yes, that'll do nicely, was Mrs. Grail's opinion. He began with a word or two of explanation to Thyrza, then entered upon the narrative.
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