Totty, as soon as that unfortunate game of cross-purposes with Luke Ackroyd had come to an end, experienced a revival of all her kindness for Thyrza.

Privately she was of opinion that no faith whatever should be given to Egremont's self-defence.

In concert with Ackroyd, she even planned an elaborate scheme for tracking Egremont in his goings hither and thither.

They discovered that he was very seldom at his rooms in Great Russell Street, but their resources did not allow them to keep a watch upon him when he was away from town, which appeared to be very frequently the case.

Circumstances of a darkly suggestive kind they accumulated in abundance, and for weeks constantly believed themselves on the point of discovering something.