t leave London.«
    »What work?«
    »The same I told you of last year.«
    Mallard regarded him with curious inquiry.
    »His wife travels for her health?«
    »She seems to be all right again, but Mrs. Lessingham judged that a change
was necessary. Won't you use the opportunity of meeting her?«
    »As it comes naturally, there's no reason why I shouldn't. In fact, I shall
be glad to see her. But I should have preferred to meet them both together. What
faith do you put in this same work of Elgar's?«
    »That he is working, I take it there can be no doubt, and I await the
results with no little curiosity. Mrs. Lessingham writes vaguely, which,
by-the-bye, is not her habit. Whether she is a believer or not, we can't
determine.«
    »Did the child's death affect him much?«
    »I know nothing about it.«
    They smoked in silence for a few minutes. Then Mallard observed, without
taking the cigar from his lips:
    »How much better Mrs. Baske looks!«
    »Naturally the change is more noticeable to you than to us. It has come very
slowly. I dare say you see other changes as well?«
    Spence's eye twinkled as he spoke.
    »I was prepared for them. That she should stay abroad with you all this time
is in itself significant. Where does she propose to live when you are back in
England?«
    »Why, there hasn't been a word said on the subject. Eleanor is waiting;
doesn't like to ask questions. We shall have our house in Chelsea again, and she
is very welcome to share it with us if she likes. I think it is certain she
won't go back to Lancashire; and the notion of her living with the Elgars is
improbable.«
    »How far does the change go?« inquired Mallard, with hesitancy.
    »I can't tell you, for we are neither of us in her confidence. But she is no
longer a precisian. She has read a great deal; most of it reading of a very
substantial kind. Not at all connected with religion; it would be a mistake to
suppose that she has been going in for a course of modern criticism, and that
kind of thing. The Greek and Latin authors she knows very fairly, in English or
French translations. What would our friend Bradshaw say? She
