as only away for a minute or two. She reentered the room
panting with the speed she had made. And she sat down at the bedside.

There was no word for a long time. Thyrza's eyes were closed; her lips
quivered every now and then with a faint sob. The golden braid, which
Lydia had not troubled to undo, lay under her cheek.

Lydia held counsel with herself. Something had happened, something
worse, she thought, than a mere fit of wretchedness in the suffering
heart. There was no explaining the disordered state in which the girl
had come back.

Gilbert said that he had met Mr. Egremont at the end of Newport Street.
Was it conceivable that Thyrza had had an appointment with Egremont at
Totty's house? No; that was not to be credited, for many reasons.
Totty--by Luke's account--was angry with Thyrza, and refused to hear
anything of what was going on. Yet it was very strange that he should
be going to see Mr. Bunce just at the same time that Thyrza was there,
and in Totty's absence too.

What to think of Mr. Egremont? There was the central question. She knew
him scarcely at all; had only seen him on that one occasion when she
opened the house-door to him, There was Gilbert's constant praise of
him, but Lydia knew enough of the world to understand that Gilbert
might very easily err in his judgment of a young man in Egremont's
position. Ackroyd seemed to have no doubt at all; he had said at once
that Egremont deserved to be thrashed. Clearly he believed the worst of
Egremont, attributed to him a deliberate plot. If he was right, then
what might not have befallen?

She had said to herself that she would not dishonour her sister by
fearing more than a pardonable weakness. Now there was a black dread
closing in upon her.

How to act with Thyrza? Must she reveal all that Ackroyd told her, and
so compel a confession?

Not that, if it could possibly be avoided. It would drive Thyrza to
despair. No; it must be kept from her that prying eyes had watched her
going and coming. Already it might be too late; the marriage with
Gilbert might be impossible, if only because Thyrza would inevitably
betray her love for Egremont; but there was all the future to think of,
and Thyrza must not be driven to some irreparable folly.

There was one hypothesis which Lydia quite left aside. She did not ask
herself whether Egremont might not truly and honestly love her sister.
It was natural enough that she should not think of it. Every tradition
wei