“Gone?”
I suppose my look and accent of despair struck the old woman with some pity, for she added, “Lauk, sir, they be only gone for a few days.”
I recovered my breath. “And can you, my good lady, tell me where they are gone?”
“Somewhere down in Surrey—Lord knows—I forget the names—but to General somebody’s.”
“General B——‘s, perhaps.”
“Ay, ay,—that’s it.”
My imagination ran over in an instant all the general’s family, the gouty brother, and the white-toothed aide-de-camp.
“How long are they to stay at General B——‘s, can you tell me, my good lady?”
“Dear heart! I can’t tell, not I’s, how they’ll cut and carve their visitings—all I know is, they be to be back here in ten days or a fortnight or so.”
I put a golden memorandum, with my card, into the old woman’s hand, and she promised that the very moment Mr. and Miss Montenero should return to town I should have notice.