 Lydgate, if possible, before I go home,
and I hoped that you might possibly tell me where I could find him, or even
allow me to wait for him, if you expect him soon.«
    »He is at the New Hospital,« said Rosamond; »I am not sure how soon he will
come home. But I can send for him.«
    »Will you let me go and fetch him?« said Will Ladislaw, coming forward. He
had already taken up his hat before Dorothea entered. She coloured with
surprise, but put out her hand with a smile of unmistakable pleasure, saying -
    »I did not know it was you: I had no thought of seeing you here.«
    »May I go to the Hospital and tell Mr. Lydgate that you wish to see him?«
said Will.
    »It would be quicker to send the carriage for him,« said Dorothea, »if you
will be kind enough to give the message to the coachman.«
    Will was moving to the door when Dorothea, whose mind had flashed in an
instant over many connected memories, turned quickly and said, »I will go
myself, thank you. I wish to lose no time before getting home again. I will
drive to the Hospital and see Mr. Lydgate there. Pray excuse me, Mrs. Lydgate. I
am very much obliged to you.«
    Her mind was evidently arrested by some sudden thought, and she left the
room hardly conscious of what was immediately around her - hardly conscious that
Will opened the door for her and offered her his arm to lead her to the
carriage. She took the arm but said nothing. Will was feeling rather vexed and
miserable, and found nothing to say on his side. He handed her into the carriage
in silence, they said good-bye, and Dorothea drove away.
    In the five minutes' drive to the Hospital she had time for some reflections
that were quite new to her. Her decision to go, and her preoccupation in leaving
the room, had come from the sudden sense that there would be a sort of deception
in her voluntarily allowing any farther intercourse between herself and Will
which she was unable to mention to her husband, and already her errand in
seeking Lydgate was a matter of concealment. That was all that had been
explicitly in her mind; but she had been urged also by a vague discomfort. Now
that she was alone in her drive, she heard the notes of the man's voice and the
accompanying piano, which she had not noted much at the time,
