Thyrza had never been exactly a favourite, though some older than herself always used to pet her, generally causing her annoyance.
About a quarter of an hour had passed, and work was getting into trim, when a girl, a late arrival, in coming to her place, handed Lydia a letter.
'Someone downstairs asked me to give it you,' she whispered.

'You needn't blush, you know.' Lydia was too surprised to manifest any such self-consciousness.

She murmured thanks, and looked at the address.

It was a man's writing, but she had no idea whose.

She opened the envelope and found Ackroyd's short note.
What did this mean?
It at once flashed across Lydia's mind that there might be some connection between this and Thyrza's strange disorder.
Old habit still brought Ackroyd and Thyrza together in her thoughts.
Yet how was it possible?
Ackroyd was engaged to Totty Nancarrow, and Thyrza had never shown the least interest when she mentioned him of late.