‘Just about the same age; and now I look at you, she is rather like you.’
Ada flew out at the door; and Tuppit turned eagerly to Mrs Wrentham, his little form seeming to enlarge with the earnestness of his speech.
‘You are astonished, ma’am, at the liberty I am taking; but the fact is your husband has got into ... well, got into a scrape.—Please, don’t alarm yourself. I hope we shall pull him through all right. I only came to warn you, knowing that he might have forgotten it.’
‘Warn me about what?’ exclaimed the lady, trembling without knowing why.
‘That a gentleman will call here to-day and make inquiries about your husband. Answer him frankly, and, if you can manage it, do not look as if you were afraid of him. He is a good-natured chap, and will not press you very hard. But you must try to be quite calm and say nothing about my visit.’
The poor lady became pale immediately; and the first dreadful thought which occurred to her was that Wrentham had met with a serious accident of some sort—she had never approved of his horse-racing and horse-dealing proclivities. This good-natured friend was no doubt trying to break the horrible truth to her as gently as possible.
‘Oh, please tell me the worst at once. Is he much hurt—is he killed?’
Bob Tuppit stared; but quickly comprehended the mistake which the wife had made.
‘He is neither hurt nor killed, and is likely to live for a good many years to come,’ he said reassuringly. ‘He has got into a bother about some money matters. That is all.’
Tuppit felt ashamed of himself as he uttered the last words. What would a broken leg or arm, or even a broken neck, have been compared with the risk and disgrace of penal servitude? But Mrs Wrentham had no suspicion of such a danger, and was relieved as soon as she heard that her husband was physically unharmed. As for a difficulty about money, she was confident that he would easily arrange that; so she promised that she would answer any questions the gentleman who was coming might have to ask; for she knew nothing about her husband’s money affairs, and therefore had nothing to tell.