The Keepers of the People

617When she reached the house, she found it in a bustle, the door was open, a police inspector was talking to the butler, and three messenger boys were waiting in the hall. Robert had related to the servants amid many “Well I never’s,” how he had spent the morning; and Lady Hammersmith, having found Althea’s I.O.U. on her table, had learned from them that she was wandering alone about London. Since she knew little about her, and suspected her of an idyllic ignorance quite foreign to her, she had made up her mind that she must needs come to harm; and since her mind ran always in that groove, she hastened to assure herself that she must needs be dragged to the lair of one of the silk-hatted satyrs, by whom, by dint of asserting it frequently, she had come to believe the West of London to be inhabited. She had seized the chance of once more proving herself a woman of prompt and vigorous action; and bringing her extraordinary powers of making a fuss to the prevention of this most unlikely catastrophe, was working Scotland Yard, the District Messengers and the telegraph wires as hard as mortal woman could work them. She had, besides, despatched Lord Hammersmith, the footmen, and some of the maids in search of the child; and at the very moment the questing servants were very pleasantly engaged in the saloon bar of a Piccadilly public-house.

618At the entrance of Althea, the butler, relying on his years, and desirous of appearing important before the inspector, said to her, “So you’ve come back, have you, Miss Althea? And a pretty trouble you’ve given us all. You ought to know—”

619“Will you be so good as to remember your place, Reed? If ever you dare to speak to me again before I speak to you, I will have you discharged for impertinence!” said Althea, turning on him with very angry eyes.

620The butler flushed and gasped; the inspector grinned; a messenger boy sniggered; and Althea walked up the stairs, holding herself very straight; went to her room; and having taken off her hat, composed herself to read one of the books from Mudie’s, awaiting with a serene mind her mother’s onslaught.