"Well, well; we will discuss that when the time comes," said Yeldham, who was impatient for the termination of this agitating interview. "And now, Gordon, I'm going to turn you out."
"All right, old fellow," said Gordon cheerfully. "I'll soon come and see you again, Mr. Streightley; meantime, if you have any good news, you'll let me have the pleasure of sharing it. I understand now why Yeldham has never spoken much of you to me; but that's all over, is it not?" And the handsome, happy young man held out his hand, with all the irresistible grace of his peculiar manner, to Robert, who clasped it fervently in his poor thin fingers. Yeldham left the room with Gordon, and the two held a brief colloquy on the landing.
"Will he find her, do you think?"
"I fear not. If ever a determined woman lived, she is that woman. And he has no hold on her--no knowledge of her past, no intimacy with her intimates."
"She hadn't any, I believe," said Gordon. "I don't think she had a friend in the world. She was dangerous, you see, being so handsome, and so poor; and her father was so deuced disreputable. Did she make many friends since her marriage?"
"I fancy not; I never heard--except Mrs. Frere."
"O, she knows nothing about her," said Gordon hurriedly. "Good-bye, Charley. Go back to the poor fellow; he wants you."
Gordon Frere had taken a step down the stairs, and Yeldham's hand was on the door, when the former turned and came back.
"By Jove, Charley," he said, "I was just going away without telling you one of the principal things I came to say. That fellow Thacker, you know, he manages all Hester's business--as far as she allows any one but herself to manage it, that is to say--and very well he does it, I fancy. However, that's not the news, and this is. She gave him a lot of money to invest on one occasion, and he invested it, it appears, in a thingummy--a loan--you know what I mean--where you get the place if you are not paid up to time."
"Yes; a mortgage. Go on, Gordon."