Boldly went he to The Mount, knocking and ringing freely. Far from feeling small for having, so to say, run away with the prettiest daughter of the house, for which act he might expect reproach and obloquy, he seemed to think he had come on some errand that merited reward. One of the men-servants threw open the door.
"Can I see Mrs. St. Clare?"
"Mrs. St. Clare is not at home, sir."
"Indeed!" returned Frank, in surprise. For it was not her habit to go out so early.
"My mistress and the young ladies have left home this morning, sir," explained the man. "They have gone for a week or so."
"Where to?"
"I don't know, sir. It was uncertain. Perhaps as far as Malvern: Miss Lydia likes Malvern: or perhaps only to one of the seaside places on this coast."
"You cannot tell me where a letter would find Mrs. St. Clare?"
"No, sir. My mistress said that all letters might wait here until she came back."
So there was no help for it: he could not make the communication to Mrs. St. Clare. But in all probability she would hear nothing of the news before her return. Daisy would be sure to write to him, and Edina had been requested to forward his letters to town.