"Why wait till I've gone? Let me help you," said Ideala.
His countenance cleared, and they set to work merrily, he explaining the curious histories of coins and cameos, of ancient gems, ornaments of gold and silver, and valuable intaglios, as they returned them to their places. Both forgot everything in the interest of the collection; so that, when the last tray was completed, they were surprised to find that two trains had gone while they were busy, and another had become due, and there was only time to jump into a hansom to catch it.
Lorrimer was still irritable.
"Why on earth does a lady always carry her purse in her hand?" he said, as they drove along.
Ideala laughed, and put hers in her pocket.
"When are you coming to go on with your work?" he asked.
"I will write and fix a day," she said.
"I shall be away a good deal for the next three weeks," he continued. "The twenty-third or twenty-sixth would be the most convenient days for me, if they would suit you."
"Thank you," she answered, and hurried down the platform, without having said a word or given a thought to what she had come to say.
And then at last the twenty-four hours' fasting, fatigue, and mental suffering overcame her. A little later she was lying insensible on the floor of her room, and she was alone. The servants had not seen her enter, and there was not a creature near her to help her.