It was difficult to suppose that, after such a fatiguing journey, and other things taken into account as well, a delicate person like Lady Gwendolyn would have gone out into the cold. But as she was not to be found, this seemed the only feasible solution of the mystery; and Phœbe went down-stairs to see if she could get any information on the subject.
In the passage she came upon a very polite waiter, who was quite willing to tell her all he knew, and even a little more. He knew the lady at No. 10 had gone out, for he had fetched her a carriage himself. But after he had sufficiently admired Phœbe’s black eyes, which had done great havoc among couriers and valets since she had been abroad, he did hint that the head chambermaid would know more about it than he did, as she had been summoned to the lady’s room, and had brought down the order for the carriage.
“Perhaps you will kindly tell me where to find her, then?”
“I’ll go and fetch her, miss,” answered the obliging waiter, and vanished, returning presently with rather a sour-faced woman of forty, whom he introduced as Miss Smith.
And Miss Smith, who was more amiable than she looked, was able to give Phœbe all the information she required, and a message from Lady Gwendolyn to boot, that she had gone away upon business, and should not, probably, be back until the evening of the next day.
“And, meantime, miss, she said you was to be sure and make yourself comfortable, and order whatever you required,” concluded Miss Smith affably; “and at any time that you want a little company and change, there’s a pleasant room down-stairs, where there’s always somebody in and out, and ready for a chat.”
Phœbe thanked her, and said she would look in later, and then went back to her room, wondering.
Lady Gwendolyn’s strange conduct suggested a mystery; but with all the theories Phœbe started, the idea of any difference between her master and mistress never once occurred to her. She would have quoted them confidently anywhere as the most united couple in England.
She passed the evening down-stairs, and allowed the obliging waiter to languish as much as he liked, being fortified against his seductions by her honest love for a cousin in the country. But when Miss Smith said slyly:
“Does her ladyship often go off so sudden-like?”