She had not heard of Lady Howel's death, and had written ignorantly to prepare that good friend for seeing her.

The messenger sent with the letter had found the house in the occupation of strangers, and had been referred to the agent employed in letting it.

She went herself to this person, and so heard that Lord Howel Beaucourt had lost his wife, and was reported to be dying in one of the London hospitals.
"'If he had been in his usual state of health,' she said, 'it would have been indelicate on my part--I mean it would have seemed like taking a selfish advantage of the poor lady's death--to have let him know that my life had been saved, in any other way than by writing to him.

But when I heard he was dying, I forgot all customary considerations.
His name was so well-known in London that I easily discovered at what hospital he had been received.

There I heard that the report was false and that he was out of danger.