They'll
raise no objections when they find you are willing to leave the case in
their hands."
"You have heard nothing of your brother?"
"Well, no--nothing, or next to nothing. I called at his office yesterday.
He has not been there since the beginning of Charlotte's illness, and
there has been no letter or message for Orcott since your wedding-day.
Things look rather piscatorial, altogether. Orcott hints that Phil's
affairs are in queer street; but he's a shallow-headed fool, and knows
very little. It seems, by his account, that Phil was a Bull, and that
the fall in every species of stock has been ruin to him. You see, when a
man once goes in for the Bull business, he never by any chance turns
Bear--and _vice versa_. There's a kind of infatuation in the thing, and a
man sticks to his line until he's cleaned out--at least, that's what
stockbrokers have told me--and I believe it's pretty near the truth."
This was all that Valentine could ascertain about Mr. Sheldon at present.
Every knock fluttered Georgy; every accidental visitor at the Kilburn
villa seemed like the swooping of eagle on dovecote.
"I cannot get over the feeling that he will come and take me away with
him," she said. "If Sir Wilde Creswick would only do something, so that
my second husband mayn't be able to insist upon my living in that
dreadful, dreadful house, where I suffered such nights and days of agony,
that I am convinced the sight of chintz curtains lined with pink will
make me wretched as long as I live!"
"My dear Mrs.
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