Morley at the
same moment approached Sybil, and spoke to her in a subdued
tone. Egremont feeling embarrassed advanced, and bade her
farewell. She rose and returned his salute with some
ceremony; then hesitating while a soft expression came over
her countenance, she held forth her hand, which he retained
for a moment, and withdrew.
"I was with him more than an hour," continued Morley. "At
first he recollected nothing: even the name of Gerard, though
he received it as familiar to him, seemed to produce little
impression; he recollected nothing of any papers; was clear
that they must have been quite insignificant; whatever they
were, he doubtless had them now, as he never destroyed papers:
would order a search to be made for them, and so on. I was
about to withdraw, when he asked me carelessly a question
about your father; what he was doing, and whether he were
married and had children. This led to a very long
conversation in which he suddenly seemed to take great
interest. At first he talked of writing to see your father,
and I offered that Gerard should call upon him. He took down
your direction in order that he might write to your father and
give him an appointment; when observing that it was
Westminster, he said that his carriage was ordered to go to
the House of Lords in a quarter of an hour, and that if not
inconvenient to me, he would propose that I should at once
accompany him.
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