Hannah saw him and came forward, grim as usual, but gaunt and sad.
"Did you want to see any one?" she asked.
"I heard that your mother was dead," he answered, awkwardly; "I came to see if I could be of any use. I have known her husband all my life—where is Margaret?"
"She's lying down; she's made her head bad with fretting."
"What have you done about her father?"
"We haven't told him yet. Margaret says he's coming back. It will be bad for him then."
"But he ought to be told."
"We'll send a telegram to-morrow. It'll be time enough; it's no good hurrying sorrow on him. He'll have had a day longer to think he'll see her again."
Sir George looked at her shrewdly. "A kind woman at heart," he thought, and then he said aloud, "You know that he is Lord Eastleigh now?"