Sir Thomas was as good as his word. He drove over to Greystone the next morning, and as he had not returned home by luncheon time, it was evident that he had been admitted. Mr. Fawcett fidgeted about all day, sometimes wishing he had gone with his father, sometimes almost hoping the worst of the rumours that had reached them might be true, sometimes earnestly trusting they might be proved to be altogether unfounded.
At last Sir Thomas returned. Trevor heard the sound of the carriage-wheels, and came out to meet him. It seemed to him that his father looked grave and distressed.
“Well, father?” he said with a faint at tempt at speaking lightly, to cover his anxiety, “well, father, how have you got on? You were not turned back at the door it appears.”
“Come into my room,” said Sir Thomas. “Your mother is out? So much the better. Remind me, by the bye, to tell her that those poor things would like to see her to-morrow.”
His son followed him into the study. Sir Thomas took off his gloves, unbuttoned his top-coat, and rubbed his hands together with a sort of affected cheerfulness.
“I have not brought you very good news, I’m afraid, my boy,” he began.
Trevor, who had sat down in one of the old-fashioned leathern arm-chairs beside the fire, looked up anxiously.
“About their affairs, you mean?” he said. “Then the report was true after all. But how can it be certain so soon? It takes a long time to get to the state of a man’s affairs, and Colonel Methvyn has only been dead two days.”
“Wait a minute,” said Sir Thomas. “I’ll tell you all if you won’t interrupt me. The report was true, or something very like it, I fear. I am glad I went over to-day. Methvyn’s lawyer had just arrived; it was absolutely necessary for him to see poor Helen, and she begged me to remain with her on that account. She told me all she knew at once. She is excited and fussy—you might almost call it—not the least like herself, or like what I expected to find her. I fancied she would have been utterly prostrated. On the contrary, she is more energetic than I ever saw her.”
“Perhaps she does not realise it yet,” suggested Trevor.