[CHAPTER XX.]
Howard did not know what to do: it seemed such a terrible thing to go back to Lora with bad tidings. Perhaps the shock would kill her.
Oh, if Mrs. St. John had but waited a little longer! Why need she have hurried away so precipitately?
Well, there was no help for it.
He must go back and tell her how inopportunely things had turned out, and how sorry he was that he could not keep his promise.
He would get Dame Videlet to break it to her very gently.
She would not bungle over it like a great, awkward fellow like himself.
The good old woman was waiting for him outside the door.
Her face was radiant, but it changed and grew very anxious as he came up to her, and she saw that his arms were empty.