“Certainly,” said Bulstrode, whose mind was very active at this moment. “Perhaps you will yourself oblige me, Mr. Garth, by calling at Mr. Lydgate’s as you pass⁠—or stay! he may at this hour probably be at the Hospital. I will first send my man on the horse there with a note this instant, and then I will myself ride to Stone Court.”

Bulstrode quickly wrote a note, and went out himself to give the commission to his man. When he returned, Caleb was standing as before with one hand on the back of the chair, holding his hat with the other. In Bulstrode’s mind the dominant thought was, “Perhaps Raffles only spoke to Garth of his illness. Garth may wonder, as he must have done before, at this disreputable fellow’s claiming intimacy with me; but he will know nothing. And he is friendly to me⁠—I can be of use to him.”

He longed for some confirmation of this hopeful conjecture, but to have asked any question as to what Raffles had said or done would have been to betray fear.