"If you will come to see me at five o'clock to-morrow, and are kind to me, I won't do it."
Returning to her mother's room the girl handed her the letter. "Read the last page," she said briefly.
Lady Kingsmead shuddered. "We must wire him. We'll tell him to come down here—he must be mad—I—oh, Brigit!"
Brigit shook her head. "Of course he's mad. But we must go to him. We'll wire from the station."
Hurrying her distracted mother to the train, the girl settled into a corner and remained in unbroken silence until they reached town.
"It is odious, disgusting of him," she broke out in the hansom as they went up St. James Street. "When he is quieted down, mother, you must make him understand that I absolutely refuse to accept the responsibility of his deeds. I never could bear him."
Lady Kingsmead nodded. "It is the morphine he takes. He must go into one of these great cure places—or no, that is for drinking, I believe——"
They had reached the house and gone up the stairs before she spoke again. "I hope he won't be violent," she declared, "I wish you hadn't insisted on coming. A wire would have done every bit as well——"
No one answering the ring, Brigit tried the door on which a card bearing Carron's name was neatly tacked.
To her surprise the door was open, and crossing the little ante-chamber the two women went into the sitting-room.