'I hope so,' said Mrs Mildmay again. But again her sigh somewhat belied her words.
The very next day brought the dreaded opportunity. Some little allusion was made to Colonel Mildmay's intention of running up to London again the following week.
'Shall you have any commissions for me, Lady Myrtle?' he said lightly.
The old lady shook her head, but without her usual smile.
'I think not, Colonel Mildmay, thank you,' she said. 'I _had_ thought of asking you to see my agent about my house in Brook Street. The present tenant's lease expires nine months hence, and I must make up my mind what I am going to do.'
'I fear I am not very _au fait_ of such matters,' he replied. 'But I could at least hear what the agent has to say more satisfactorily than by letter. So pray let me call; give me all your instructions. I should be more than delighted to be of any use, you must know,' he ended earnestly.
'Thank you,' she said. 'Well, yes then; I will tell you what I want to know.'
This conversation took place at luncheon. That afternoon Jacinth sought her mother in her own room.
'Mamma,' she said, 'are you busy? May I talk to you a little?'
'I was writing to Marmy,' she said, 'but I have plenty of time. What is it, dear? I am glad to have a little quiet talk together. I have been wishing for it, too.'
'Mamma,' she began again, somewhat irrelevantly it might have seemed. 'Brook Street isn't a _very_ grand part of London, is it? At least all the houses in it are not tremendously grand, are they? I was thinking about Lady Myrtle's house. Couldn't it be arranged for _us_ to be her tenants? I'm sure she would like it if she thought we would. Mightn't I say something about it to her? She likes me to say whatever I think of, but I thought--for such a thing as a _house_, perhaps I had better ask you first.'
'But, my dearest child, we don't want any house in London,' said Mrs Mildmay with a smile which she strove to make unconstrained. 'You forget, dear, the choice was never between Barmettle and _London_, but between Barmettle and India again, and'----
'But mamma,' interrupted Jacinth, 'please answer my question first. Is Brook Street very grand? Would a house there be out of the question for us, even if we--if we had one there for nothing?'