"Where do you think she has been?" She professed to make the inquiry with an air of reproof.
"How should one know?" rather with the old stiffness. "It is impossible to tell."
Lady Maria Bayne was not the person possessing the temperament to incline him to explain that, wheresoever the outer sphere might be to which the dying woman had been drifting, he had been following her, as far as living man could go.
The elderly house steward opened the door and spoke in the hollow whisper.
"The head nurse wished to know if your ladyship would be so good as to see Lord Oswyth before he goes to sleep."
Walderhurst turned his head towards the man. Lord Oswyth was the name of his son. He felt a shock.
"I will come to the nursery," answered Lady Maria. "You have not seen him yet?" turning to Walderhurst.
"How could I?"
"Then you had better come now. If she becomes conscious and has life enough to expect anything, she will expect you to burst forth into praises of him. You had better at least commit to memory the colour of his eyes and hair. I believe he has two hairs. He is a huge, fat, overgrown thing with enormous cheeks. When I saw his bloated self-indulgent look yesterday, I confess I wanted to slap him."
Her description was not wholly accurate, but he was a large and robust child, as Walderhurst saw when he beheld him.