Since the Hannaford's removal to London, they had not been able to
see much of each other. Irene understood that she was not very
welcome in the little house at Hammersmith, even before her aunt
wrote to ask her not to come. Lee Hannaford's aloofness from his
wife's relatives had turned to hostility; he spoke of them with
increasing bitterness, threw contempt on Dr. Derwent's scientific
work, and condemned Irene as a butterfly of fashion. Olga ceased to
visit the house in Bryanston Square, and the cousins only
corresponded. It was Dr. Derwent's opinion that Hannaford could not
be quite sane; he was much troubled on his sister's account, and had
often pondered extreme measures for her rescue from an intolerable
position.
At length there came to pass the event to which Mrs. Hannaford had
looked as her only hope. The widowed sister in America died, and,
out of her abundance, her children all provided for, left to the
unhappy wife in England a substantial bequest. News of this came
first to Dr. Derwent, who was appointed trustee.
But before he had time to communicate with Mrs. Hannaford, a letter
from her occasioned him new anxiety. His sister wrote that Olga was
bent on making a most undesirable marriage, having fallen in love
with a penniless nondescript who called himself an artist; a man
given, it was suspected, to drink, and without any decent connection
that one could hear of.
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