'Lady Forestfield!' cried all three ladies at once, but with different intonation; Eleanor eagerly, Mrs. Chadwick flatly, and Mrs. Hamblin savagely.
'I do not see that anything that has happened to Lady Forestfield could, or at all events ought to, have any interest for a respectable family like ours,' said Mrs. Chadwick, bridling up and casting a sidelong glance at her sister.
'Will you please tell us what it is, Sir Nugent?' said Eleanor, without heeding her. 'You say it is good news--and I know it must be, or you would not have been so anxious to bring it.'
'It is good news--the best that under the circumstances could be,' said Uffington. 'The fact is, that all farther proceedings in the Divorce Court are to be stopped, and Lady Forestfield returns at once to her husband's protection.'
'O, thank Heaven!' cried Eleanor, 'this is indeed good news;' and her joy was so great that she found it impossible to restrain her tears.
'Well, indeed,' said Mrs. Chadwick, veering round at once, as she saw the position vastly improved, 'I am really delighted to hear it. Poor dear Lady Forestfield! When one imagines all that she must have gone through, it is quite delightful to think that she will be restored to her place in society again. I wonder whose influence brought that about?'
Uffington was silent on this point. He knew by Eleanor's manner that she recognised his influence in the matter, and that was all he cared for.
'And so Lady Forestfield is to be received back by her husband,' said Mrs. Hamblin, with a cold smile, as she rose preparatory to taking her leave. 'What a very strange world we live in! I confess I cannot join my voice to your chorus of congratulations, for it appears to me that Lady Forestfield is no more respectable than she was before, and that Lord Forestfield has made himself contemptible.'