The Real Charlotte. 309 



husband, and stepping out of the carriage she walked un- 

 steadily across the courtyard in the white glare of the 

 electric light, leaving the hotel servant, who had offered his 

 arm at the carriage door, to draw what conclusions seemed 

 good to him from the spectacle of her wet cheeks and 

 trembling lips. She made for the broad flight of steps, and 

 went blindly up them under the drooping fans of the palms, 

 into the reading-room on the first floor. The piano-organ 

 was still audible outside, reiterating to madness the tune 

 that had torn open her past, and she made a hard effort to 

 forget its associations and recover herself, catching up an 

 illustrated paper to hide her face from the people in the 

 room. It was a minute or two before Lambert followed 

 her. 



" Here's a go ! " he said, coming towards her with a green 

 envelope in his hand, ^' here's a wnre to say that Sir Benja- 

 min's dead, and they want me back at once." 



CHAPTER XLI. 



The morning after Lambert received the telegram announ- 

 cing Sir Benjamin's death, he despatched one to Miss Char- 

 lotte Mullen at Gurthnamuckla, in which he asked her to 

 notify his immediate return to his household at Rosemount. 

 He had always been in the habit of relying on her help in 

 small as well as great occasions, and now that he had had 

 that unexpectedly civil letter from her, he had turned to her 

 at once without giving the matter much consideration. It 

 was never safe to trust to a servant's interpretation of the 

 cramped language of a telegram, and moreover, in his self- 

 sufficient belief in his own knowledge of women, he thought 

 that it would flatter her and keep her in good humour if he 

 asked her to give directions to his household. He would have 

 been less confident of his own sagacity had he seen the set 

 of Miss Mullen's jaw as she read the message, and heard the 

 laugh which she permitted to herself as soon as Louisa had 

 left the room. 



" It's a pity he didn't hire me to be his major-domo as 

 well as his ste\yard and siud-groom ! " she said to herself. 



