But Mr. Grey did not wait till dinner-time to see Alice. Early in the morning his card was brought up, and Lady Glencora, as soon as she saw the name, immediately ran away.
"Indeed you need not go," said Alice.
"Indeed I shall go," said her ladyship. "I know what's proper on these occasions, if you don't."
So she went, whisking herself along the passages with a little run; and Mr. Grey, as he was shown into her ladyship's usual sitting-room, saw the skirt of her ladyship's dress as she whisked herself off towards her husband.
"I told you I should come," he said, with his ordinary sweet smile. "I told you that I should follow you, and here I am."
He took her hand, and held it, pressing it warmly. She hardly knew with what words first to address him, or how to get her hand back from him.
"I am very glad to see you,—as an old friend," she said; "but I hope—"
"Well;—you hope what?"
"I hope you have had some better cause for travelling than a desire to see me?"
"No, dearest; no. I have had no better cause, and, indeed, none other. I have come on purpose to see you; and had Mr. Palliser taken you off to Asia or Africa, I think I should have felt myself compelled to follow him. You know why I follow you?"