She feared that Olga was beginning to shrink from her.
Since the Hannaford's removal to London, they had not been able to see much of each other.

Irene understood that she was not very welcome in the little house at Hammersmith, even before her aunt wrote to ask her not to come.

Lee Hannaford's aloofness from his wife's relatives had turned to hostility; he spoke of them with increasing bitterness, threw contempt on Dr.Derwent's scientific work, and condemned Irene as a butterfly of fashion.

Olga ceased to visit the house in Bryanston Square, and the cousins only corresponded.

It was Dr.Derwent's opinion that Hannaford could not be quite sane; he was much troubled on his sister's account, and had often pondered extreme measures for her rescue from an intolerable position.
At length there came to pass the event to which Mrs.Hannaford had looked as her only hope.