But for the moment she did not answer, and
Eldrick saw that she was thinking.
"I can get him across from his chambers in a few minutes," he said.
"He's sure to be in just now."
"Can I have a few minutes to decide?" asked Nesta.
Eldrick jumped up.
"Of course!" he said. "I'll leave you a while. It so happens I want to
see my partner, I'll go up to his room, and return to you presently."
Nesta, left alone, gave herself up to deep thought, and to a careful
reckoning of her position. She was longing to confide in some
trustworthy person or persons, for Pratt's revelations had plunged her
into a maze of perplexity. But her difficulties were many. First of all,
she would have to tell all about the terrible charge brought by Pratt
against her mother. Then about the second which he professed to--or
probably did--hold. What sort of a secret could it be? And supposing her
advisers suggested strong measures against Pratt--what then, about the
danger to her mother, in a twofold direction?
Would it be better, wiser, if she kept all this to herself at present,
and waited for events to develop? But at the mere thought of that, she
shrank, feeling mentally and physically afraid--to keep all that
knowledge to herself, to brood over it in secret, to wonder what it all
meant, what lay beneath, what might develop, that was more than she felt
able to bear.
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