CHAPTER XXI — EVERYBODY GOES TO THEM

When the Melmottes went from Caversham the house was very desolate.  The task of entertaining these people was indeed over, and had the return to London been fixed for a certain near day, there would have been comfort at any rate among the ladies of the family.  But this was so far from being the case that the Thursday and Friday passed without anything being settled, and dreadful fears began to fill the minds of Lady Pomona and Sophia Longestaffe.  Georgiana was also impatient, but she asserted boldly that treachery, such as that which her mother and sister contemplated, was impossible.  Their father, she thought, would not dare to propose it.  On each of these days,—­three or four times daily,—­hints were given and questions were asked, but without avail. ...