At last she ventured upon a personal question.
‘How is Mrs. Eldon?’
She thought he looked at her gratefully; certainly there was a deep kindness in his eyes, a look which was one of the new things she noted in him.
‘Very much as when you knew her,’ he replied. ‘Weaker, I fear. I have just spent a few days at Agworth.’
Doubtless he had often been at Agworth; perchance he was there, so close by, in some of the worst hours of her misery.
When the ladies withdrew Mrs. Boscobel seated herself by Adela for a moment.
‘So you really knew Mr. Eldon?’
‘Yes, but it is some time since I saw him,’ Adela replied simply, smiling in the joy of being so entirely mistress of herself.
‘You were talking pictures, I heard. You can trust him there; his criticism is admirable. You know he did the Grosvenor for the—?’
She mentioned a weekly paper.