Had circumstances been different, she would assuredly
have spent a month there with Helen.
Well, she was going to Egypt, after--
One glance she gave at Arnold's short note. "My dear Irene"--"In
haste, but ever yours." These lines did not tempt her to muse. Yet
Arnold was ceaselessly in her mind. She wished to see him, and at
the same time feared his coming. As for the house, it occupied her
thoughts with only a flitting vagueness. Why so much solicitude
about the house? In any decent quarter of London, was not one just
as good as another? But for the risk of hurting Arnold, she would
have begged him to let her off the inspection, and to manage the
business as he thought fit.
A number of small matters claimed her attention during the morning,
several of them connected with her marriage. Try as she might, she
could not bring herself to a serious occupation with these things;
they seemed trivial and tiresome. Her thoughts wandered constantly
to the house at Campden Hill, which had a tragic fascination. She
had promised to see her aunt to-day, but it would be difficult to
find time, unless she could manage to get there between her business
with Arnold and the hour of dinner. Olga was to telegraph if
anything happened. A chill misgiving took hold upon her as often as
she saw her aunt's face, so worn and woe-stricken; and it constantly
hovered before her mind's eye.
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