“And you will do this for me, Mr Rowle?” she said.
“If you will trust me, Miss Carr, I will be your steward in this matter,” he said quietly.
“And keep my secret? He must not know.”
“I will be as silent as the grave, my dear, and I thank you for placing so much confidence in me.”
A few preliminaries and the thing was settled. Then, after tea, Miss Carr sang to the old man a couple of old-fashioned ballads, and he left soon after, I walking home with him, after arranging that I was to take him to Great Ormond Street the following evening, as if after a casual meeting and a desire to see Hallett again. The rest was to be left to chance.
The old man was very quiet and thoughtful, but I noticed that our leave-taking was a great deal warmer than it had ever been before, and I went back to my lodgings hopeful and eager, feeling that the sun was about to shine at last upon poor Hallett’s venture, respecting which I, with him, would not own now that there could be such a thing as failure.