"DEAR UNCLE TITUS,—
"I want to talk with you a little. If I were well, I should come to see you in your study. Will you come up here, and see me in my room?
"Yours sincerely, DESIRE LEDWITH."
Uncle Titus liked that. It counted upon something in him which few had the faith to count upon; which, truly he gave few people reason to expect to find.
He put his hat directly on, took up his thick brown stick, and trudged off, up Borden Street to Shubarton Place.
When Luclarion let him in, he told her with some careful emphasis, that he had come to see Desire.
"Ask her if I shall come up," he said. "I'll wait down here."
Helena was practicing in the drawing-room. Mrs. Ledwith lay, half asleep, upon a sofa. The doors into the hall were shut,—Luclarion had looked to that, lest the playing should disturb Desire.
Luclarion was only gone three minutes. Then she came back, and led Mr. Oldways up three flights of stairs.
"It's a long climb, clear from the door," she said.