Never mind; both are places without which the study could not exist.' Egremont bit his lips over this; for the first time he was dissatisfied with Mrs.Ormonde.He wondered on what terms she had received Thyrza.
He had imagined the girl as treated with every indulgence at The Chestnuts, but the tone of this letter made him fear lest Mrs.Ormonde had deemed it a duty to refrain from too much kindness.

It was very unlike her; what had she observed that made her so disagreeably prudent all at once?
It added to his mental malaise.

What change was befalling his life?
Was he about to find himself actually sundered from the friends he had made in the sphere which his birth gave him no claim to enter?
It all meant that he was reverting to the condition wherein he was born.

His attempt to become a member of Society (with a capital) was proving itself a failure.

Very well, he would find his friends in the working world.
When he needed society of an evening, he would find it with Gilbert Grail and his wife.