CHAPTER XI.
MANNERING'S ALTERNATIVE Once again Mannering found himself in the over-scented, overheated room, which was perhaps of all places in the world the one he hated the most.
Fresh from the wind-swept places of his country home, he found the atmosphere intolerable.

After a few minutes' waiting he threw open the windows and leaned out.

Hester was walking in the Square somewhere.

He had a shrewd idea that she had been sent out of the way.

With a restless impatience of her absence he awaited the interview which he dreaded.
Her mother's coming took him a little by surprise.