he was asking herself whether
Walter ought not to be summoned back at once. Was it too late for that?

'Not in London? Then where? You saw him on Saturday?'

'Yes, I saw him.'

'And you would not tell him where I was, Mrs. Ormonde? You spoke like
you did that night. You persuaded him not to come to me--when I was
waiting. I forgave you for what you said before, but now you have done
something that I shall never forgive----'

'Thyrza----'

'There's nothing you can say will make me forgive you! Your kindness to
me hasn't been kindness at all. It was all to separate me from him.
What have you told him about me? You have said I don't think of him any
more. You made him believe I wasn't fit for him. And now you will
refuse to tell me where he is.'

'Thyrza!'

Mrs. Ormonde took the girl's hands forcibly in her own, and held them
against her breast. She was pale and overcome with emotion.

'Thyrza, you don't know what you are saying! Do force yourself to be
calmer, so that you can listen to me.'

'Don't hold my hands, Mrs. Ormonde! I have loved you, but I can't
pretend to, now that you have done this against me. I will listen to
you, but how shall I believe what you say? I didn't think one woman
could be so cruel to another as you have been to me. You don't know
what it means, to wait as I have waited; if you knew, you'd never have
done this; you wouldn't have had the heart to do this to me.'

'My poor child, think, think--_how_ could I know that you were waiting?
You forget that you have only just told me your secret for the first
time. I have seen you always so full of life and gladness, and how was
I to dream of this sudden change?'

Thyrza listened, and, as if imperfectly comprehending, examined the
speaker's face in silence.

'I am not the cruel woman you call me,' Mrs. Ormonde went on. 'I had no
idea that your happiness depended upon meeting with Mr. Egremont again.'

'You had no idea of that?' Thyrza asked, slowly, wonderingly. 'You say
that you didn't know I loved him?'

'Not that you still loved him. Two years ago--I knew it was so then.
But I fancied----'

'You thought I had forgotten all about him? How could you think that?
Is it possible to love any one and forget so soon, and live as if
nothing had happened? That cannot be true, Mrs. Ormonde. I know you
_wished_ me to forget him. And that is what you told him when you saw
him on Saturday! You said I thought no more of him, and that it was
bette