There was just one loop-hole of escape!--that Mrs. Darrow might have destroyed the will. In that case no possible good was to be achieved by exposing her. He would let her see that he knew her for what she was. But a scandal was a thing he had a loathing of, and would never be the one to bring about. Of course all this was based upon the hypothesis that Shorty had told the truth. There was always the possibility that he had not. Hilda arrived home for dinner in the best of tempers. Her visit had been to her thoroughly successful, since not only had she been the best looking and best dressed woman in the room, but had been told so, which was infinitely more important. Her husband told her of the arrangement he had made for her to take Dicky to Rosary Mansions the following afternoon. She was pleased to express herself delighted. It, too, was likely to be a highly successful visit from her point of view. She, the mistress of Thorpe Manor, conferring her presence upon Dicky's quondam governess now married to the man whom she had jilted, and resident in one of the meaner tenements of West Kensington, was a picture in which she could see herself quite plainly. Still she was prepared to be cordial. When Miriam came to welcome her she was surprised at the warmth of her manner. Dicky of course was embraced and made much of. "And how is the doctor, Hilda, and your mother?" asked Miriam. "Oh, they are pretty well, thank you--they are better off now, of course, and the children are at school. But the house is much the same, dirty as ever. Sometimes when I drive round to see them, I wonder how I ever managed to support existence in that poky place. I hate small rooms, don't you?" Miriam did not reply. "And Mrs. Darrow--how is she?" was all she said. "Oh, I believe much the same. I don't see much of her, you know. In fact, I was obliged to give her clearly to understand that I was mistress in my own house. As a result she has no great love for me, you may imagine. However, she keeps out of the way, and that's the great thing." "I wonder she entrusted Dicky to you!" "Oh, she knew Dicky would be all right; besides, the arrangement was that my husband was to bring him up to see Dr. Briggs. She didn't know anything about my coming. I expect when she hears he's been with me, there'll be a nice old row. However, I don't care. Nothing can make me dislike the woman more than I do. I think she's the most detestable----" "Hush, Hilda, the boy will hear you! Run along, Dicky, and have a prowl round the house." "But this is a flat, Miss Crane, isn't it, not a house?" said Dicky dubiously. "Well then, the flat, dear, since you are so particular." He looked terribly fragile Miriam thought. And the flush on his cheek and the bright light in his eyes indicated only too surely the road upon which he was travelling. "May I go into all the rooms, Miss Crane?--even into the kitchen?" "Yes, dear, anywhere you like--we have no blue-beard's chamber here."