By eleven o'clock he was at Notting Hill; in the drawing-room, he sat alone for two or three minutes. Marcella entered silently, and came towards him without a smile; he saw that she read his face eagerly, if not with a light of triumph in her eyes. The expression might signify that she rejoiced at having been an instrument of his discomfiture; perhaps it was nothing more than gladness at seeing him again. 'Have you come to live in London?' she asked, when they had shaken hands without a word. 'I am only here for a day or two.' 'My letter reached you without delay?' 'Yes. It was sent from Twybridge to Bristol. I didn't reply then, as I had no prospect of being in London.' 'Will you sit down? You can stay for a few minutes?' He seated himself awkwardly. Now that he was in Marcella's presence, he felt that he had acted unaccountably in giving occasion for another scene between them which could only end as painfully as that at Exeter. Her emotion grew evident; he could not bear to meet the look she had fixed upon him. 'I want to speak of what happened in this house about Christmas time,' she resumed. 'But I must know first what you have been told.' 'What have _you_ been told?' he replied, with an uneasy smile. 'How do you know that anything which happened here had any importance for me?' 'I don't know that it had. But I felt sure that Mr. Warricombe meant to speak to you about it.' 'Yes, he did.' 'But did he tell you the exact truth? Or were you led to suppose that I had broken my promise to you?' Unwilling to introduce any mention of Sidwell, Peak preferred to simplify the story by attributing to Buckland all the information he had gathered. 'I understood,' he replied, 'that Warricombe had come here in the hope of learning more about me, and that certain facts came out in general conversation. What does it matter how he learned what he did? From the day when he met you down in Devonshire, it was of course inevitable that the truth should sooner or later come out. He always suspected me.' 'But I want you to know,' said Marcella, 'that I had no willing part in it. I promised you not to speak even to my brother, and I should never have done so but that Christian somehow met Mr. Warricombe, and heard him talk of you. Of course he came to me in astonishment, and for your own interest I thought it best to tell Christian what I knew. When Mr. Warricombe came here, neither Christian nor I would have enlightened him about--about your past. It happened most unfortunately that Mr. Malkin was present, and he it was who began to speak of the _Critical_ article--and other things. I was powerless to prevent it.' 'Why trouble about it? I quite believe your account.' 'You _do_ believe it? You know I would not have injured you?' 'I am sure you had no wish to,' Godwin replied, in as unsentimental a tone as possible. And, he added after a moment's pause, 'Was this what you were so anxious to tell me?' 'Yes. Chiefly that.'