ken, and that
all remembrance of him would pass away. This made no difference to
Thyrza's love. When she met Lydia it was always with the same
passionate joy. Their meetings took place in a private room at the
hotel Mrs. Ormonde always used. Lydia never made any inquiry; whatever
she might tell about herself, Thyrza had to tell unasked. It would have
made a great difference had there been no secret to keep beyond that
comparatively unimportant one of where Thyrza was living. But Thyrza
resolved to breathe no word till the two years were gone by. Would it,
then, make a coldness between her and her sister? It should not; her
happiness should not have that great flaw.

When the spring came, Thyrza knew a falling off in her health. The pain
at her heart gave her more trouble, and she had days of such physical
weakness that she could do little work. With the reviving year her
passion became a yearning of such intensity that it seemed to exhaust
her frame. For all her endeavours it was seldom during these weeks that
she could give attention to her books; even her voice failed for a
time, and when she resumed the suspended lessons, she terrified her
teacher by fainting just as he was taking leave of her. Mrs. Ormonde
came, and there was a very grave conversation between her and Dr.
Lambe, who was again attending Thyrza. It was declared that the latter
had been over-exerting herself; work of all kind was prohibited for a
season. And when a week or two brought about little, if any,
improvement, Thyrza was taken to Eastbourne, to her old quarters in
Mrs. Guest's house.

There Lydia spent two days with her.

The elder sister could not give herself to full enjoyment of these
days. Much as she delighted to be with Thyrza, there was always one and
the same drawback to her pleasure in the meetings. Thyrza was so
unfeignedly cheerful that Lydia could by no effort get rid of her
suspicion that she was being deceived. She shrank from reopening the
subject, because it was so disagreeable to her to pronounce Egremont's
name; because, too, she could not betray doubt without offending
Thyrza. It was hard to distrust Thyrza, yet how account for the girl's
most strange apparent happiness? Even now, though under troubled
health, her sister's spirits were good. Far more easily Lydia could
have suspected Mrs. Ormonde of some duplicity, yet here she was checked
by instincts of gratitude, and by a sense of shame. Mrs. Ormonde did
not certainly