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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34925-8.txt b/34925-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae46243 --- /dev/null +++ b/34925-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13854 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Parlous Times, by David Dwight Wells + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parlous Times + A Novel of Modern Diplomacy + +Author: David Dwight Wells + +Release Date: January 12, 2011 [EBook #34925] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARLOUS TIMES *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print archive. + + + + + + + + + +The Dollar Library + + +PARLOUS TIMES + + + + +THE DOLLAR LIBRARY +OF AMERICAN FICTION + + * * * * * + +THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE. +By E. HOUGH. + +PARLOUS TIMES. +By D. D. WELLS. + +LORDS OF THE NORTH. +By A. C. LAUT. + +THE CHRONIC LOAFER. +By NELSON LLOYD. + +HER MOUNTAIN LOVER. +By HAMLIN GARLAND. + +ETC. ETC. ETC. + + * * * * * + +LONDON: WM. HEINEMANN. + + + + +PARLOUS TIMES + + * * * * * + +A NOVEL OF MODERN DIPLOMACY + + * * * * * + +BY +DAVID DWIGHT WELLS + +AUTHOR OF +"HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT," "HIS LORDSHIP'S LEOPARD" + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN. 1901 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Conspiracy 5 + II. Wanted--a Chaperon 15 + III. Parlous Times 29 + IV. A Lady in Distress 41 + V. A Gentleman in Distress 51 + VI. Afternoon Tea 63 + VII. An Irate Husband 75 + VIII. Diplomatic Instructions 88 + IX. A House-warming 95 + X. Before Dinner 105 + XI. After Dinner 117 + XII. A Morning Call 129 + XIII. The Serious Side of Miss Fitzgerald's Nature 141 + XIV. The Serious Side of the Secretary's Nature 149 + XV. The Secretary's Intentions 156 + XVI. Man Proposes 169 + XVII. Her Husband 179 + XVIII. The Door with the Silver Nails 190 + XIX. A Midnight Message 201 + XX. The Wisdom of Age 209 + XXI. The Resources of Diplomacy 219 + XXII. A Little Commission 229 + XXIII. Forty Thousand Pounds 240 + XXIV. A Very Awkward Predicament 252 + XXV. The Rustle of a Skirt 264 + XXVI. Face to Face 274 + XXVII. The Marriage Register 284 + XXVIII. Two Questions 296 + XXIX. In which Death is a Relief 309 + XXX. Two Letters 322 + XXXI. Miss Fitzgerald Burns her Boats 335 + XXXII. The Top of the Tower 346 + XXXIII. The Secret of the Door 356 + XXXIV. Within the Tower 366 + XXXV. The Short Way Out 374 + XXXVI. The Day of Reckoning 384 + XXXVII. The Price of Knowledge 397 + XXXVIII. The Price of Love 406 + XXXIX. The Price of Silence 422 + XL. The Price of a Lie 433 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CONSPIRACY + + +"Forty thousand pounds is a pretty sum of money." + +"Bribery is not a pretty word." + +"No--there should be a better name for private transactions when the +amount involved assumes proportions of such dignity." The speaker smiled +and glanced covertly at his companion. + +"Darcy is our man without doubt. Can you land him? He may hold out for +the lion's share and then refuse on the ground of--honour." + +"Darcy and honour! That is a far call." + +"There is much unsuspected honesty going around." + +"Perhaps--but not Darcy." + +"But what if he refuse?" + +"He cannot." + +"Why not?" + +"That's my secret. I force Darcy's hand for you, and in return I expect +fair recognition." + +"You have our promise, but it must be to-night. There is no time to +lose. I'll go on to the house. Where will you see Darcy?" + +"Leave that to me. Until morning--_adios_," and he vanished among the +deep shadows and dark shrubbery. + + * * * * * + +The sun had sunk red and fiery below the edge of the waving mesa, and a +full tropical moon shed its glory over the landscape, making dark and +mysterious the waving fields of cane, which surrounded the whitewashed +courts of the palatial hacienda. The building was brilliantly lighted +within, and from it came such sounds of discordant merriment as could be +produced only by a singularly inferior native orchestra. Through one of +the long French windows which gave on to the veranda of the house, there +stepped forth the figure of a man. He stood for a moment taking long +breaths of the heavy miasmatic air, as if it were grateful and +refreshing after the stifling atmosphere of the ballroom. Had he not +worn the uniform of a British officer he would still have been +unmistakably military in appearance, standing six feet or over, a fine +specimen of an animal, and handsome to look upon. But it was a weak face +for a soldier, in spite of its bronze and scars, a weakness which was +accentuated by the traces of a recent illness. To judge from his pallor +it had been severe. The man had a pair of shifty grey eyes, which never +by any chance looked you straight in the face, and now expressed +ill-concealed ennui and annoyance. Not the countenance of a joyful +bridegroom certainly, and yet, he had but that moment left the side of +his wife of a few hours, the most beautiful woman in that South American +State, and the only child and sole heiress of its most famous planter, +Seņor De Costa. + +Up to that day the progress of his suit and the many obstacles which +might intervene to prevent its successful consummation, had given a +certain zest to the game. Now that he had won, he was heartily sick and +tired of the whole affair. Seizing a moment when his wife was dancing +with one of her relations, he had stolen out on the broad veranda to be +alone, and to pull himself together in order that he might play out the +rest of what was, to him, a little comedy; and to the woman +within--well, time would show. The soft moonlight tempted him. His place +was in the ballroom, he knew, but he put one foot off the edge of the +piazza, and as it pressed the soft grass under his feet, he fell a +willing victim to the spell of the night, and strolled slowly off into +the darkness. + +His meditations were not, however, destined to remain uninterrupted. He +had gone scarcely thirty yards when a lithe figure rose suddenly out of +a clump of bushes, and touching him softly on the arm, whispered in +perfect English, without the faintest touch of Spanish accent:-- + +"Hist, Seņor Darcy. A word with you, and speak softly." + +"Who the devil are you?" demanded Colonel Darcy, instinctively feeling +for his revolver, for in this remote and not over well-governed section, +a night encounter did not always have a pleasant termination. + +"I mean you no harm," said the stranger, "only good." + +"Then why couldn't you come to the house and see me there?" demanded the +officer brusquely. + +"It was out of consideration for your Excellency," replied the stranger +quietly. "I had the honour to serve under your Excellency some years +ago, in England." + +"Impossible!" said the Colonel. "You are Spanish, but----" + +"Of Spanish parents, Seņor, but English-born. I joined the regiment at +Blankhampton. My room-mate was Sergeant Tom Mannis." + +Darcy drew in his breath sharply. + +"Your Excellency may remember he died of fever." + +"I never saw or heard of your friend!" + +"Though he was your Excellency's body-servant," suggested the stranger. + +Darcy bit his moustache. + +"When he died," continued the speaker, "he bequeathed certain papers to +me, containing evidence of a ceremony performed over a certain officer +of his regiment, then stationed in Ireland, in the month of August three +years ago." + +"Ah," said the Colonel, "I think I see the drift of your remarks, my +friend. You wish to have a little chat with me, eh?" + +The man nodded. + +"It is a pleasant night," continued Darcy, "suppose we stroll a trifle +farther from the house." He slipped his hand furtively behind him. + +"With pleasure," acquiesced the other. "But," he added, as they took +their first step forward, "the Seņor will find only blank cartridges in +his revolver. It is a matter that I attended to personally." + +Darcy swore under his breath. Aloud he said, simply:-- + +"Say what you have to say, and be quick. I shall be missed from the +ballroom." + +The man nodded again, and plunged abruptly into his narration. + +"There is an island at the mouth of the X----River, off the coast of +this country, as you have probably heard. It contains large +manufactories for the sale of a staple article, which we produce. Owing +to an amiable arrangement between the heads of the firm in England and +our Government, a monopoly of this article is secured to them, in return +for which certain officials in this country receive thousands of pesetas +a year. As your Excellency may remember, a treaty is pending between +this country and Great Britain, looking to the secession of the island +to the latter. If the treaty succeeds, the monopoly, owing to your +accursed free-trade principles, will cease, and the island and its +products be thrown open to competition." + +"It has been suggested by certain patriotically disposed personages, +with a desire for their country's good, that a prearranged disposition +of forty thousand pounds in gold among a majority of the members of the +Cabinet who are to pass upon the treaty some six months hence, might +result in its rejection." + +"Well," said Darcy, shortly, "what of that?" + +"The only difficulty that remains, is the transportation of the bullion +from England to our capital. Those interested in the matter have felt +that if an Englishman of undoubted integrity," there was just a +suspicion of sarcasm in the speaker's tones, "who is so highly connected +in this country that the usual customs formalities would be omitted on +his re-entry, I say, if this Englishman could see his way to bringing +over the gold, things might be satisfactorily arranged." + +"A very interesting little plot," said the officer. "And what would the +philanthropic Englishman receive for his services?" + +"He would receive at the hands of the president of the company a packet +of papers, formally the property of Sergeant Tom Mannis, of her +Britannic Majesty's --th Fusiliers, lately deceased." + +"And what would prevent the philanthropic but muscular Englishman from +wringing the neck of the low-down sneak who has proposed this plan to +him, and taking the papers out of his inside pocket?" + +"Because, Excellency, they are now in the safe of the manufacturing +company." + +"And the president of that company?" + +"Is a guest at your Excellency's wedding." + +Darcy clenched his hands nervously. He was battling silently, skilfully, +not to betray the dread which was unnerving him. The music floated out +from the house--fitful and discordant. + +"An Englishman," he said slowly, "never gives way to a threat, but of +course, if he could be brought to see the purely philanthropic side of +the argument, and receive--well, say, five per cent. of the bullion +carried, for his travelling expenses, he might see his way to sacrifice +his personal interests for the good of his adopted country." + +"Good," said the stranger. "The president will meet you the day after +to-morrow, at three o'clock in the afternoon, at the capital in the San +Carlos Club." + +"Very well," said Darcy. "Go. Someone's coming!" + +The figure of the stranger faded into the darkness, and a moment later +the soft footsteps of a woman approached. + +"Ah, _mia carrissima_," he said, taking her in his arms. "You have +missed me." + +"Yes," she said, with a little sigh of satisfied relief, as she felt his +strong embrace about her. "But why did you leave me? I do not +understand." + +"The air of the room oppressed me. I came out to breathe." + +"I did not know," she said. "I was frightened." And as she raised her +face to him, he saw that she had been crying. + +She might well have commanded any man's attention. Tall and slight, +lissome in every movement of her exquisitely shaped figure, barely +thirty, and very fair withal. Even the tears which sparkled on her long +lashes could not obscure the superb black eyes full of a passion which +betrayed Castilian parentage as surely as did those finely-chiselled +features, and that silky crown of hair which, unbound, must have +descended to her feet. Half Spanish, half Greek, she was a woman to be +looked upon and loved. + +"But, Inez, surely you trusted me?" came the suave tones of +expostulation from her husband. + +"Trusted you, my knight? Have I not trusted you this day with my soul, +with my whole life? You have been so near to death's door, and I have +been so near to losing you, that I fear now, every moment you are out of +my sight." + +"Oh, I don't think there is any danger," he said, laughing. "I am strong +enough now, though I daresay I should never have pulled through without +such a plucky nurse." + +"Ah, yes," she said. "I can shut my eyes and see you now, how +frightfully ill and worn you were, when you came to my father's house +that night, three months ago, invalided home from India." + +"Yes," he said. "It was the greatest stroke of luck in my life that I +should have lost my way and have been obliged to beg your hospitality +for the night." + +"And then the fever. The next morning you were delirious. For days you +knew nothing, understood nothing, yet you talked, talked, always." + +Colonel Darcy shifted uneasily. + +"One generally does that," he said. "The raving of delirium." + +"You said things that meant nothing usually. But one name you were +always repeating, a strange English name of a woman." + +"And it was?" he murmured, stroking her hair. + +"Belle. La Belle, I think you meant. And the other name, I do not +remember. It sounded harsh, and I did not like it." + +He laughed nervously. + +"There is nothing for you to be jealous about, _cara mia_," he said. "It +was the name of a playmate of my childhood. I had not heard or thought +of it for years. But that is the way in fever. The forgotten things, the +things of no importance come uppermost in the mind." + +"And then," she went on, "came that happy day when you knew us, and then +you grew stronger and better, and I realised that you would be going +away from us for ever." + +"Did you think?" he asked softly, "that I could ever have forgotten my +nurse?" + +"I had been unhappy and very lonely. I feared to hope for joy again, +till the day that you told me you loved me." And she hid her face on his +shoulder to hide her blushes. + +"Come," he said. "We must think of the present. I have a little surprise +for you. I have been going over my affairs, and I do not think it will +be necessary to take you away from home for so long a time as I had +first thought. I hope that in six months we may be able to return." + +"Oh!" she cried. "That is indeed good news! I dread your England. It is +so far away, and so strange." + +"I shall try to teach you to love it. But we must be returning to the +house. Our guests will miss us." + +"Oh, yes," she replied. "I meant to have told you. The president of some +great manufacturing company has arrived to pay his respects, and is +anxious to speak with you." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WANTED--A CHAPERON + + +Aloysius Stanley, Secretary of a South American Embassy, was not happy. +Yet he was counted one of the most fortunate young men in London. Of +good family, and large fortune, he had attained a social position, which +not a few might envy. His rooms faced the park, he belonged to the +swellest and most inane club in town, was _ex officio_ a member of the +Court, and knew at least two duchesses, not perhaps intimately, but well +enough to speak to at a crush. He had been christened Aloysius, because +his father owned a large plantation in a South American Republic--no, it +was a Dictatorship then--and had named his son after the saint on whose +day he had been born, out of consideration for the religious prejudices +of the community. + +His name, then, was Aloysius Stanley, and this was the reason his +intimates called him "Jim." His other titles were "my dear colleague," +when his brethren in the diplomatic corps wanted anything of him, and +"Mr. Secretary" when his chief was wroth. + +Having shown no special aptitude for growing sugar he had been early put +into diplomacy, under the erroneous impression that it would keep him +out of mischief. + +He was, on the evening on which he is first introduced to us, standing +in the immaculate glory of his dress suit, on the top step of the grand +staircase of the Hyde Park Club. + +His party, a very nice little party of six, had all arrived save one, +and that one was his chaperon. The two young ladies, safe in harbour of +the cloak-room, awaited her coming to flutter forth; the two gentlemen +wandered aimlessly about the now nearly deserted reception-room, for +dinner was served and most of the brilliant parties had already gone to +their respective tables. + +Surely she would come, he told himself; something unavoidable had +detained her. Lady Rainsford was much too conscientious to leave an +unfortunate young man in the lurch without sending at least a +substitute--yet, with it all, there was the sickening suspicion that she +might have met with a carriage accident in crowded Piccadilly; have +received, as she was on the point of starting, the news of some near +relative's death; some untoward accident or stroke of fate, which took +no count of social obligations, and would leave him in this most awful +predicament. Why had he departed from his invariable rule of asking two +married ladies--what if it did cramp him in the number of his guests? +Anything was better than this suspense! If fate was only kind to him +this once, he vowed he would never, as long as he lived, tempt her again +in this respect. + +Hark--what was that! a hansom was driving at break-neck speed up to the +ladies' entrance. Some other belated guest--Lady Rainsford had her own +carriage--no, a man--and-- Good Heavens! it, was her Ladyship's--butler. +Something had happened. He needed no page to summon him--he rushed down, +two stairs at a time. + +"No, sir, no message," explained the flustered butler--"I come on my own +responsibility--seeing as her Ladyship had fainted dead away as she was +just a putting on her opera cloak--and knowing as she was coming to you, +sir, as soon as the doctors had been sent for, I jumps into a cab and +comes here to let you know as you couldn't expect her no-how--her not +having revived when I left--and-- Thank you, sir----" as Stanley, +cutting short his volubility, pressed a half-sovereign into his hand, to +pay him for his cab fare and his trouble--adding as he did so:-- + +"Pray request her Ladyship not to worry herself about me, I shall be +able, doubtless, to make other arrangements--and--express my deep +regrets at her indisposition." The man touched his hat and was gone, and +the Secretary slowly reascended the stairs. + +"Make other arrangements!" Ah, that was easier said than done. What +would his guests say when he confessed to them his awkward dilemma? Lady +Isabelle McLane would raise her eyebrows, call a cab, and go home, would +infinitely prefer to do so than to remain under the present conditions. +But Belle? Without doubt Belle Fitzgerald would do the same--not +because she wished to, but because Lady Isabelle did. And the two +men--they would probably stay and chaff him about it the rest of the +evening. Lieutenant Kingsland always chaffed everybody--he could stand +that--but Kent-Lauriston's quiet, well-bred cynicism, would, he felt, +under the circumstances, simply drive him mad. + +Yet, they must be told. He must face the music, or find a chaperon, and +how could he do the latter in a maze of people whom he did not know, and +who were all engaged to their own dinner-parties? Outside the Club it +was hopeless, for there was no time to send for any lady friend, even +were such an one dressed and waiting to come at his behest. A telephone +might have saved the situation, but London is above telephones; they are +not sufficiently exclusive. No, he must meet his fate, and bear it like +a man, and none of his guests would ever forget it or forgive him, or +accept any of his invitations again. + +Stanley ascended the stairs with the sensations of an early Christian +martyr going to the arena--indeed, he felt that a brace of hungry lions +would be a happy release from his present predicament. As he reached the +top step, a conversation, carried on in the low but excited tones of a +man and a woman, reached his ears, which caused him to pause, partly out +of curiosity at what he heard, but more because the words carried, in +their meaning, a ray of hope to his breast. + +"I tell you, I will not dine with those men. It is an insult to have +asked me to receive them, they are----", but here the man, evidently her +husband, interrupted earnestly in a low tone of voice, begging her to be +silent, but she did not heed his request. + +"I tell you," she continued, as he passed on to the dining-rooms, "I +will go back alone. Ugh! how I despise you!" loathing and contempt stung +in her words. "If only my father were here, he would never permit----" +She turned suddenly, and crossed the hall to the staircase, coming face +to face with the Secretary. + +"What-- Inez? You? I did not know you were in London. But of course-- I +might have known-- Then that was Colonel Darcy? I have never had an +opportunity to congratulate him or--to wish you every happiness," he +added bitterly. + +"Don't, Jim! Don't!" There was something suspiciously like a sob in her +low voice. "That is a mockery I cannot stand--at least from you." + +"I fail to understand how my wishes, good or otherwise, would mean +anything to Madame Darcy." + +"No--you do not understand. That is just it. Oh, Jim--it has all been a +piteous, horrible mistake. They lied to me--and then you did not come +back. They said you were--oh, can't you see?" + +The Secretary looked at the beautiful face before him, now flushed and +distressed. How well he knew every line of that exquisite profile and +the hair parted low and drawn back lightly from the brow. + +"Let me explain," he urged hotly. + +Madame Darcy had recovered her self-possession and drew herself up with +a gesture of proud dignity. + +"No--" she answered gently. "This is neither the time nor place for +explanations between us. Will you see me to my carriage--please?" + +"Oh, don't go! I need you so. Please stay and help me out of a most +embarrassing situation." + +"What can I do for you?" + +"Well, you see it is a most awkward predicament. My chaperon has been +taken suddenly ill at the last moment, and is unable to be present," he +began, plunging boldly into his subject. "As I am entertaining two young +ladies at dinner to-night, you will understand my unfortunate situation. +Will you honour me by accepting the vacant place at the head of my +table, as my chaperon?" + +Madame Darcy said nothing for a moment, but looked intently at the +Secretary. + +"Who form your party, Mr. Stanley?" she asked presently. + +"Do not call me Mr. Stanley, Inez." + +"It is better--at least for the present." + +"As you wish, Madame Darcy," he acquiesced stiffly. + +"I cannot explain now--but believe me it is wiser. And your party +consists of--?" + +"Lady Isabelle McLane, daughter of the Dowager Marchioness of Port +Arthur, Miss Fitzgerald, a niece of Lord Axminster, Lieutenant +Kingsland, of the Royal Navy, and Lionel Kent-Lauriston--well, everybody +knows him." + +She smiled. + +"Yes," she said, "I have met him; he is most charming." In saying which +she but voiced the generally accepted verdict of society. + +Everyone knew Kent-Lauriston and everyone liked him. He was a type of +the most delightful class of Englishman. With all his insular prejudices +strong within him, and combining in his personality those rugged virtues +for which the name of Britain is a synonym, he had in addition that +rarest of talents, the quality of being all things to all men; for he +was possessed of great tact and sympathy flavoured with a cheerful +cynicism which hurt no one, and lent a piquancy to his conversation. It +was said of him, were he put down in any English shire, he would not +need to walk five miles to find a country house where he would be a +welcome and an honoured guest. + +"Then I may hope that you will do me this great kindness?" continued the +Secretary. + +"I accept with pleasure." + +"And Colonel Darcy----" he began. + +"My husband," she replied, not waiting for him to finish his sentence, +"cannot possibly have any objection to my dining with my country's +diplomatic representative. I will speak to him, however, and tell him +when to order my carriage," and she passed into the next room. Though +unperceived himself, the Secretary saw reflected in a great mirror the +scene that followed; her proud reserve as she delivered her dictum to +her husband, his gesture of impatient anger, and the look which attended +it; and finally the contempt with which she turned her back on him and +swept out of the room. A moment later she was by Stanley's side, +saying:-- + +"Will you take me to your guests?" + +As she entered the reception room on the Secretary's arm, he trembled +with evident agitation. Her marvellous beauty, the wonderful charm of +her voice and manner brought to mind only too vividly a realising sense +of something he had once hoped for--of something which, of late, he had +tried to forget. Yet he was about to give a dinner to a lady whose +future relations with himself had been a subject of debate for some +months, not only in his own mind, but in the minds of his friends. + +Miss Fitzgerald was the guest of the evening, and, it must be allowed, +was one of the most winsome, heart-wrecking, Irish girls that ever +delighted the gaze of a youth. She was tall, fair, and almost too slim +for perfection of form, though possessed of a lissomeness of body that +more than compensated for this lack, and she had, in addition, the +frankest pair of blue eyes, and the most gorgeous halo of golden hair, +that could well be imagined. + +She was possessed of a legendary family in Ireland, and numerous sets +of relations, who, though not very closely connected, were much in +evidence in the social world of London. She had, however, no settled +abiding place, and no visible means of support. She was sparkling, +light-hearted, and perfect dare-devil, and the town rang with the +histories of her exploits. All the men were devoted to her, and as a +result, she was cordially hated by all the dowagers, because she +effectively spoiled the chances of dozens of other less vivacious but +more eligible debutantes. The remainder of the guests were brought +together rather by circumstance than by design. Kent-Lauriston had been +especially invited, because the Secretary knew him to be greatly +prejudiced against the fascinating Belle, with regard to any matrimonial +intentions she might be fostering. Miss Fitzgerald herself had suggested +the Lieutenant, and the Lieutenant had opportunely hinted that his +distant connection Lady Isabelle did not know Miss Fitzgerald, and as +they were all to meet in a country house in Sussex at the end of the +week, perhaps it would be pleasanter to become acquainted beforehand. + +At Madame Darcy's coming, such a feeling of relief was made manifest +that her task would have been light, had not her charm of manner served +to put all immediately at their ease. The ladies welcomed her warmly as +a solution of an embarrassing situation, and with men she was always a +favourite, so the little party lost no time in seeking their already +belated dinner. + +At first, indeed, there was a little constraint, owing to the fact that +Lady Isabelle, a type of the frigid high-class British maiden, was +disposed to assume an icy reserve towards Miss Fitzgerald, a young lady +of whom she and her mother, a dragon among dowagers, thoroughly +disapproved. + +The conversation was desultory, as is mostly the case at dinners, and +not till the champagne had been passed for the second time did it become +general, then it turned upon racing. + +"You were at Ascot, I suppose?" asked Miss Fitzgerald of Madame Darcy. + +"Oh, yes," she replied, "They are very amusing--your English races." + +She spoke with just the slightest shade of foreign intonation, which +rendered her speech charming. "I was on half a coach with four horses." + +"What became of the other half?" queried the Lieutenant. + +"That is not what you call it--it is not a pull----?" she ventured, a +little shy at their evident amusement. + +"Perhaps you mean a drag," suggested Stanley, coming to the rescue. + +"Yes, that is it," she laughed, a bewitching little laugh, clear as a +bell, adding, "I knew it was something it did not do." + +"I always go in the Royal Enclosure," murmured Miss Fitzgerald +languidly, turning her gaze on the Secretary, while she toyed with the +course then before her. "It's beastly dull, but then one must do the +correct thing." + +It was a very simple game she was playing--quite pathetic in its +simplicity--but dangerous in the presence of Lady Isabelle, in whose +veins a little of the dragon blood certainly ran, as well as a great +deal that was blue, and Miss Fitzgerald's assumption was a gage of +battle not to be disregarded. + +"Really. I gave up the Enclosure several years ago. It is getting so +common nowadays," said her Ladyship, growing a degree more frigid while +the Irish girl flushed. + +"Perhaps Miss Fitzgerald enjoyed a run of luck to compensate her for the +assemblage?" suggested Kent-Lauriston drily. + +"No," responded that young lady. "I came a beastly cropper." + +"That was too bad for you," he replied. + +"Or somebody else," suggested the Lieutenant, and amidst a burst of +laughter Miss Fitzgerald regained her good humour. + +"Possibly our host had better luck," ventured Kent-Lauriston. + +"Oh, His Diplomacy never bets," laughed Miss Fitzgerald. "He is much too +busy hatching plots at the Legation." + +"I protest!" cried that gentleman. "Don't you believe them, Madame +Darcy. I'm entirely harmless." + +"Yes?" she said. "I thought one must never believe a diplomat." + +"Oh, at the present day, and in a country like England, our duties are +very prosaic." + +"Come now, confess," cried Miss Fitzgerald, laughing. "Haven't you some +delightfully mysterious intrigue on hand, that you either spend your +days in concealing from your brother diplomats, or are dying to find +out, as the case may be?" + +"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he replied gravely, "but my duties and +tastes are not in the least romantic." + +"At least, not in the direction of diplomacy," murmured the Lieutenant, +giving the waiter a directive glance towards his empty champagne glass. + +"You have a beautiful country, Miss Fitzgerald," came the soft voice of +Madame Darcy, who had heard the aside, and was sorry for the young girl +at whom it was directed. + +"Oh, Ireland, you mean. Yes, I love it." + +"We are mostly Irish here," laughed Lieutenant Kingsland. "One of my +ancestors carried a blackthorn, and Miss Belle Fitzgerald." + +"Belle Fitzgerald!" she said, starting and looking keenly at the Irish +girl, who turned towards her as her name was mentioned, "are you the +Belle Fitzgerald who knows my husband, Colonel Darcy--so--well----" + +"Your husband?" she said slowly, looking Madame Darcy straight in the +face. "Your husband? No, I have never met _your_ husband. I do not know +him." + +Lieutenant Kingsland, seeing the attention of the company diverted from +his direction, half closed his eyes, and softly drew in his breath. Just +then the orchestra made an hejira to the drawing-room, and the little +party hastened to follow in its footsteps, in search of more music, +liqueurs, coffee, cigarettes, and the most comfortable corner. + +"My dear Jim," expostulated his guest of honour, half an hour later, +"there is not a drop of green Chartreuse, and you know I never drink the +yellow. Do be a good boy and run over to the dining-room, and persuade +the steward to give us some." + +As he rose and left them, obedient to the Irish girl's request, she +leaned over to Kingsland, who was seated next her, and handing him a +square envelope, said quietly, and in a low voice:-- + +"I want this given to Colonel Darcy before Stanley returns--his party is +still in the dining-room. Don't let our crowd see you take it." + +"Oh, I say," he expostulated, inspecting the missive which was blank and +undirected, "it's a risky thing to do, especially in the face of the +whopper you just told his wife about not knowing him." + +"I had to, 'Dottie'--I had indeed--she's so jealous she would tear the +eyes out of any woman who ventured to speak to him." + +"I won't do anything for you if you call me 'Dottie.' You know I hate +it." + +"Well, Jack then--dear Jack--do it to please me and don't stand there +talking, Stanley may return any minute." + +"All right, I'll go." + +"And don't flourish that envelope, it's most important and--it's too +late." + +"The Chartreuse is coming," broke in the Secretary. "I met the steward +in the hall--a letter to be posted?" he continued, seeing the missive, +which the Lieutenant held blankly in his hand. "Give it to me, and I'll +attend to it." + +A sharper man might have saved the situation, but sharpness was not one +of Kingsland's attributes, and dazed by the sudden turn of affairs, he +allowed Stanley to take the letter. + +"Why, it's not addressed!" he exclaimed, examining the envelope which +bore no mark save the initials A. R. in blue, on the flap. "Whom is it +to go to?" + +"I don't know," replied the Lieutenant, shamefacedly. + +"Where did it come from?" + +Kingsland looked about for help or an inspiration, and finding neither +fell back on the same form of words, repeating, "I don't know." + +Miss Fitzgerald had started up on the impulse of the moment, but sank +back in her seat as the Secretary said, slipping the missive into the +inside pocket of his dress-coat:-- + +"I am afraid I must constitute myself a dead-letter office, and hold +this mysterious document till called for." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PARLOUS TIMES + + +"We are living in parlous times," said the Chief Confidential Clerk, of +the Departmental Head of the South American Section of Her Majesty's +Foreign Office. + +Mr. Stanley, Secretary of South American Legation, bowed and said +nothing. Inwardly, he wondered just what "parlous" meant, and made a +mental note to look it up in a dictionary on the first opportunity that +offered. + +The Chief Confidential Clerk was the most genial of men, who always +impressed one with the feeling that, diplomatic as he might be at all +other times, this was the particular moment when he would relax his +vigilance and unburden his official heart. As a result, those who came +to unearth his secrets generally ended by telling him theirs. + +In this instance neither of the speakers knew anything of the subject in +hand, a treaty relating to the possession of a sand bar at the mouth of +a certain South American river. A matter said to have had its rise in a +fit of royal indigestion, in the sixteenth century. Somehow it had +never been settled. Each new ministry, each new revolutionary +government was "bound to see it through," and the treaty was constantly +on the verge of being "brought to an amicable conclusion," just as it +had been for nearly three hundred years. + +The fate of nations had, in short, drifted on that sand-bar and stuck +fast, at least the fate of one nation and the clemency of another. + +The Chief Confidential Clerk was not conscious that he was really +ignorant of the subject in hand--no true diplomat ever is--the young +Secretary was painfully aware of his own unenlightenment. + +"You are to understand," his Minister had said, "that you know nothing +concerning the status of the Treaty." + +"But, I do not know anything, Your Excellency," admitted the Secretary. + +"So much the better," replied the Minister, "for then you cannot talk +about it." + +The result of this state of affairs was, that at the end of half an hour +the Chief Confidential Clerk had discovered that the Secretary knew +nothing, while the Secretary had discovered--nothing. + +"We are living in parlous times," said the English official, "parlous +times, Mr. Stanley." + +Then his lunch arrived, and the interview closed in consequence. + +"I wonder," said the Secretary, half to himself and half to the horse, +as he trundled clubwards in a hansom, "I wonder if I could write out a +report of that last remark; it might mean so much--or so little." + +Stanley did not worry much over his failure to extract information at +the Foreign Office, because he was much more worried over deciding +whether he was really in love with Belle Fitzgerald. + +That young lady had been the cause of much anxiety to all those friends +who had his interests at heart, and from whom he had received advice and +covert suggestions, all tending to uphold the joys of a bachelor +existence as compared with the uncertainties of married life. They had +spoken with no uncertain voice. It was he who had wavered, to-day, +believing that she was the one woman on earth for him; to-morrow, sure +that it was merely infatuation. Now his decision had been forced. He was +invited to a house-party at her aunt's, Mrs. Roberts; Belle would be +there, and if he accepted, he would, in all probability, never leave +Roberts' Hall a free man. + +Miss Fitzgerald and the Secretary had seen a great deal of each other +during the season just drawing to a close. At first, as he assured +himself and his friends, it was merely "hail, fellow, well met," but +when he came to know the Irish girl better, their relations assumed a +different significance, as he gradually realised the isolated position +she occupied. Interest had changed to pity. He regretted that, for lack +of guidance, she seemed to be her own worst enemy, and feared that her +really sweet nature might be hardened or embittered from contact with +the world. He told himself he must decide at once whether he loved this +wilful girl, and should ask her to give him the right to protect her +from the world and from herself. + +Yet Stanley was keenly sensitive of the rashness of the step he +contemplated. The sweet bells of memory ring out whether land or sea +separates us. In spite of much honest effort on his part, the picture of +a beautiful face could not be banished from his mind. Now, just when he +was convincing himself that he could put the past behind him, Inez +crossed his path again. + +He grew bitter at the thought. "She did not trust me. She never loved me +or she could not have married that scoundrel, Darcy. It is all over +now--and Belle needs a protector." + +On the other hand, he realised how many reasons opposed such a course of +action. His father, his colleagues, and society, demanded something +better of him. That very social position which had put him in the way of +meeting his inamorata required of him in return that he should not make +a mesalliance, while sober common sense assured him with an irritating +persistence that the world could not be persuaded to perceive that Miss +Fitzgerald had any of the necessary qualifications for the position +which he proposed to give her. But he was young and high-spirited, and +these very limitations which society imposed, irritated him into a +desire to do something rash. He was still, however, possessed of a +substratum of worldly wisdom, and knowing that left to his own devices +he would certainly go to Mrs. Roberts', regardless of what might follow, +he resolved to give himself one more chance. If he could not guide +himself, he might, in this crisis, be guided by the stronger will of +another. He determined to ask advice of his friend Kent-Lauriston. + +In a case of this sort, Lionel Kent-Lauriston was thoroughly in his +element, having assisted at hundreds of the little comedies and +tragedies of life, which do more to determine the future of men and +women than any great crisis. + +His creed may be summed up in the fact that he loved all things to be +done "decently and in order." In a word he was a connoisseur of life, +and the good things thereof. Unobtrusive, always harmonious, he knew +everyone worth knowing, went everywhere worth going. Lucky the youth who +had him for his guide, philosopher and friend. He could show him life's +pleasantest paths. + +Stanley was one of these favoured few. They had met soon after he came +to England, and the younger man had conceived a genuine admiration for +the older. + +It seems hardly necessary to say, that Kent-Lauriston, though (or +because) a bachelor, was an authority on matchmaking. He had reduced it +to a fine art. His keen eye saw the subtle distinction between the +vulgar buying and selling of a woman, with the consequent desecration of +the marriage service, and the blind love, which, hot-headed, sacrifices +all the considerations of wisdom to the passion of the hour. + +"Never marry without love," he would say, "but learn to love wisely." + +It was to this man that the Secretary determined to make confession. +Kent-Lauriston, he was sure, did not approve of the match and would use +his strongest arguments to dissuade him from it. Stanley knew this was +the moral tonic he needed. He did not believe it would be successful, +but he determined to give it a fair trial. + +The Secretary reached his decision and his destination at one and the +same moment, and feeling that his good resolutions would be the better +sustained by a little nutriment, made his way to the luncheon table for +which this particular club was justly famous; indeed, few people +patronised it for anything else, situated as it was, almost within city +limits, and boasting, as its main attraction, an excellent view of the +most uninteresting portion of the Thames. + +Happening to look in the smoking-room, on his way upstairs, Stanley +caught sight of Lieutenant Kingsland. + +"Hello!" he said. "You lunching here?" + +"I don't know," returned the other, laughing uneasily. "I'm inclined to +think not. Viscount Chilsworth asked me to meet him here to-day; but, as +he's half an hour late already----" + +"You think your luncheon is rather problematical?" + +"I was just coming to that conclusion." + +"Make it a certainty, then, and lunch with me." + +"My dear fellow, you forget that I dined with you last night." + +"What of that? When I first came to London, I was told that an English +club was a place where one went to be alone--but I prefer company to +custom." + +"Yes--but there are limits to imposing on a friend's hospitality. While +I'm about it, I might as well share your breakfast and bed." + +"Not the latter, in any event, as long as I'm in small bachelor +quarters." + +The Lieutenant laughed. + +"Well, then," he began, "if you'll forgive me----" + +"There's one thing I won't forgive you," interrupted the Secretary, "and +that is keeping me a moment longer from my lunch, for I'm ravenously +hungry. I just want to send a telegram to Kent-Lauriston, asking him to +meet me at the club this afternoon, and then I'll be with you." + +Once they were settled at the table and the orders given, their +conversation turned to general subjects. + +"I suppose we'll all meet at the end of the week in Sussex," said the +Lieutenant. + +"Yes," replied Stanley, "at Mrs. Roberts'." + +"Is it to be a large party?" + +"I don't imagine so. Sort of house-warming. They've just inherited the +estate. Belle Fitzgerald, you and I, and the Port Arthurs-- I don't +know who else." + +"That reminds me," exclaimed Kingsland, "I must hurry through lunch. I +promised the Marchioness I'd do a picture exhibition with her Ladyship +at three, and it's nearly two, now." + +"Under orders as usual, I see," said his host, and the Lieutenant +shrugged his shoulders and looked sheepish. He was weak, impecunious, +handsome and dashing, and rumour said just a bit wild, and, moreover, +was known throughout the social world of London as the tame cat of the +Dowager Marchioness of Port Arthur; a very distant relative of his, and +as the especially privileged companion of her only daughter, Lady +Isabelle McLane, on the tacit understanding that he would never so far +forget himself as to aspire to that daughter's hand. + +"I say," remarked that officer, who did not relish the turn which the +conversation had taken, "tell me something about your country." + +"Do you desire a complete geographical and political disquisition?" +asked the Secretary, laughing. + +"Hardly. What's it like?" + +"The climate and Government of my country are both tropical." + +"I suppose you mean intense, and subject to violent changes." + +The Secretary looked out of the window at the most uninteresting view of +the Thames, saying: + +"I think we're going to have a thunderstorm." + +"Am I to take that remark in a political sense?" inquired the +Lieutenant. + +"I don't believe I've told you," said his host abruptly, discontinuing +an inopportune subject, "that I'm a South American only by force of +circumstances. My parents were born in the States." + +"My dear fellow," Kingsland hastened to assure him, "I never had the +least intention of prying into your affairs, domestic or diplomatic. I +was merely wondering if the country you represent brought forth any +staple products, which would yield a profitable return to foreign +investment?" + +The Secretary mentioned one--which was said to be connected prominently +with the treaty which was the subject of his recent visit to the Foreign +Office--and so was naturally uppermost in his mind--"but," he added, +"that staple is practically a monopoly, controlled by a firm of +manufacturers, whose headquarters are in London, and, unless they fail, +the outside public would have little chance in the same field." + +"I suppose their failure is hardly likely." + +"I'm not so sure of that--it all depends on a treaty now pending between +your Government and mine. Frankly, if I had any money to invest, I would +not expend it in that direction." + +"Thank you. By the way, if your land doesn't produce good investments, +it certainly brings forth beautiful women. What wonderful beauty that +Madame Darcy has, who dined with us last night." + +"Our fathers are old friends," replied Stanley. + +"Ah, what a pity," said the Lieutenant. + +"I don't understand." + +"That she should not have married you, I mean, instead of that bounder +Darcy. I have heard his name more than once in official circles, and +there's precious little to be said in his favour. But his wife--ah, +there's a woman any man might be proud to marry. Such beauty, such +refinement, so much reserve. Rather a contrast to our fascinating Belle, +eh?" + +"I have the greatest respect for Miss Fitzgerald," said the Secretary +stiffly. + +"Yes, but not of the marriageable quality," said the Lieutenant, +speaking _ex cathedra_ as one who had also been in the fair Irish girl's +train. "Oh no, my dear fellow, a woman of Madame Darcy's type is the +woman for you. The Fitzgerald, believe me, would break a man's heart or +his bank account, in no time." + +"Look here," said Stanley shortly, "I don't like that sort of thing." + +"Don't turn nasty, old chap," said Kingsland. "I'm only speaking for +your good. I'd be the last man to run down a woman. I love the whole +sex, and the little Fitzgerald is no end jolly, to play with, but to +marry--! By the way, have you heard of her latest exploit. The town's +ringing with it. She----" + +"Thanks, I'd rather not hear it," replied the Secretary, who just now +was trying to forget some phases of her nature. + +"By Jove!" broke in the Lieutenant--"speaking of angels--there she is +now." + +"What, down in this section of the city?" + +"Yes, in a hansom cab." + +"An angel in a hansom!" cried the Secretary, "that's certainly a +combination worth seeing," and rising, he stepped to the window, +followed by Kingsland. The two men were just in time to see the lady in +question dash by along the Embankment, and to note that she was not +alone. Indeed, even the fleeting glimpse which they caught of her +companion was sufficiently startling to engrave his likeness indelibly +on their minds. + +He was an oldish man, of say sixty, clad in a nondescript grey suit of +no distinguishable style or date, surmounted by a soft felt hat of the +type which distinguished Americans are said to affect in London, while +his high cheek bones and prominent nose might have given him credit for +having Indian blood in his veins, had not his dead white skin belied the +charge. He was possessed, moreover, of huge bushy brows, beneath which a +ferret's keen eyes peeped out, and were never for an instant still. + +"Gad!" exclaimed the Lieutenant, "this promises to be the strangest +escapade of all." + +"Who the devil is he?" demanded Stanley, facing around, with almost an +accusing note in his voice. + +The Lieutenant returned his glance squarely. + +"Why, he's the man who gave her--I mean, who was talking to her last +night at the Hyde Park Club." + +"Last night? I don't remember seeing him." + +"It was when you were waltzing up and down stairs in search of a +chaperon." + +"Who is he?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure," replied the Lieutenant brusquely, lighting a +cigarette, and thrusting his hands in his trousers' pockets. + +"But you must have some idea?" + +"Never saw him before last night, I assure you. Must be off now, old +chap. Late for my appointment already. Thanks awfully for the lunch. See +you at Lady Rainsford's tea this afternoon? Yes. All right. Hansom!" + +And he was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A LADY IN DISTRESS + + +After lunch the Secretary returned to the Legation and made out his +report to his Minister, concerning the treaty. He had looked up the word +"parlous" in the dictionary, and found that it meant, "whimsical, +tricky,"--a sinister interpretation he felt, when connected with +anything diplomatic; moreover the Foreign Office was distressingly +uninformed on the subject, another reason for suspicion. Yet, as far as +he knew--only the mere formalities of settlement remained, the +ratification by vote of his home Government--the exchange of +protocols--and behold it was accomplished--much to the credit of his +Minister and the satisfaction of all concerned. Doubtless the visit was +nothing more than a bit of routine work, and his private affairs seeming +for the time more important, he dismissed it from his mind as not worthy +of serious consideration and compiled an elaborate report of three +pages, not forgetting to mention the arrival of the Chief Clerk's lunch, +as matter which might legitimately be used to fill up space. This done, +he was about to leave the office in order to meet his appointment with +Kent-Lauriston, when John, the genial functionary of the Legation, +beamed upon him from the door, presenting him a visiting card, and +informing him that a lady was waiting in the ante-room. + +"An' she's that 'ansome, sir, it would do your eyes good to see 'er." + +The Secretary answered somewhat testily that his eyes were in excellent +condition as it was, and that the lady did not deserve to be seen at all +for coming so much after office-hours, and delaying him just as he was +about to keep an appointment--then his eyes happened to fall on the card +and his tone changed at once. + +"Madame Darcy!" he exclaimed. "Why, what can have brought her to see +me!--John, show the lady in at once, and--say my time is quite at her +service." + +A glance at his fair chaperon of the night before, as she entered the +room, told him that she was in great trouble, and he sprang forward to +take both her hands in his, with a warmth of greeting which he would +have found it hard to justify, except on an occasion of such evident +sorrow. + +"Inez--Madame Darcy," he said, leading her to his most comfortable +arm-chair--"this is indeed a pleasure--but do not tell me that you are +in distress." + +"I am in very great trouble." + +"Anything that I can do to serve you--I need hardly say," he murmured, +and paused, fascinated by this picture of lovely grief. + +"I was prompted to come to you," she replied, "by your kindness of last +evening, for I knew you had seen and understood, and were still my +friend, and also my national representative in a foreign land, to ask +your aid for a poor country-woman who is in danger of being deprived of +her freedom, if not of her reason." + +"But surely you are not speaking of yourself!" + +"Yes, of myself." + +The young diplomat said nothing for a moment or two, he was arranging +his ideas--adjusting them to this new and interesting phase of his +experience with Madame Darcy. + +As a Secretary of Legation is generally the father confessor of his +compatriots--he had ceased to be surprised at anything. People may +deceive their physician, their lawyer, or the partner of their joys and +sorrows; but to their country's representative in a strange land they +unburden their hearts. + +"Tell me," he said finally, breaking the silence, "just what your +trouble is." + +"I need sympathy and help." + +"The first you have already," he replied with a special reserve in his +manner, for he felt somehow that it was hardly fair that she should +bring herself to his notice again, when he had almost made up his mind +to marry a lady of whom all his friends disapproved. Indeed, in the last +few minutes the force of Kingsland's remarks had made themselves felt +very strongly, and he especially exerted himself to be brusque, feeling +in an odd kind of way that he owed it to Miss Fitzgerald. So putting on +his most official tone he added, "to help you, Madame Darcy, I must +understand your case clearly." + +"Don't call me by that name--give me my own--as you once did. My +husband's a brute." + +"Quite so, undoubtedly; but unfortunately that does not change your +name." + +"Would you mind shutting the door?" she replied somewhat irrelevantly. +They were, as has been said, in the Secretary's private office, a dreary +room, its furniture, three chairs, a desk and a bookcase full of +forbidding legal volumes, its walls littered with maps, and its one +window looking out on the unloveliness of a London business street. + +As he returned to his seat, after executing her request, she began +abruptly:-- + +"You're not a South American." + +"No, my father was a Northerner, but, as you know, he owned large sugar +plantations in your country, and if training and sympathy can make me a +South American, I am one." + +"You're a Protestant." + +"Yes, so are you." + +"It is my mother's faith, and though I was brought up in a convent at +New Orleans, I've not forsaken it. I feel easier in speaking to you on +that account." + +"You may rest assured, my dear, that what you say to me will go no +farther. 'Tis my business to keep secrets." + +"Two years ago," she began abruptly, plunging into her story, "after +our--after you left home, an Englishman, a soldier returning from the +East incapacitated by a fever, and travelling for his health, craved a +night's rest at my father's house. As you know, in a country like ours, +where decent inns are few and far between, travellers are always +welcome. It was the hot season, we pressed him to stay for a day or two, +he accepted, and a return of the fever made him our guest for months. He +needed constant nursing--I--I was the only white woman on the +plantation." + +"I see," said Stanley. "You nursed him, he recovered, was grateful, paid +you homage." + +"Remember I was brought up in a convent. I was so alone and so unhappy. +He told me you had married. I believed him--trusted him. + +"Quite so. His name was Darcy. He is a liar." + +"He is--my husband." + +"A gentleman--I suppose?" + +"The world accords him that title," she replied coldly. + +"I understand-- He's a man of means?" + +"He has nothing but his pay." + +"And you--but that question is unnecessary. Seņor De Costa's name and +estates are well known--and you are his only child." + +"Yes, you're right," she burst out. "It's my money, my cursed money! Why +do men call it a blessing! Oh, if I could trust him, I'd give him every +penny of it. But I cannot, it's the one hold I have on him, and because +I will not beggar myself to supply means for his extravagances he +dares----" + +"Not personal violence, surely?" + +"To put me away somewhere--in a retreat, he calls it. That means a +madhouse." + +"My dear Madame Darcy!" + +"Call me Inez De Costa, I will _not_ have that name of Darcy, I hate +it." + +"My dear Inez, then; your fears are groundless; they can't put sane +people in madhouses any longer in England, except in cheap fiction--it's +against the law." + +"It's very easy for you to sit there and talk of law. You, who are +protected by your office, but for me, for a poor woman whose liberty is +threatened!" + +"I assure you that you're in no such danger as you apprehend." + +"But if I were put away, you would help me?" + +"You shall suffer no injustice that we can prevent. You may return home +and rest easy on that score." + +"I shall never return to that man." + +"Why not return to your father?" + +"Would that I could!" she exclaimed, her eyes brimming with tears. "But +how can I, with no money and no friends?" + +"I thought you said----" began the Secretary, but his interruption was +lost in the flow of her eloquence. + +"I've not a penny. I can cash no cheque that's not made to his order, +and to come to you I must degrade myself by borrowing a sovereign from +my maid. I've travelled third-class!" + +The Secretary smiled at the ante-climax, saying: + +"Many people of large means travel third-class habitually." + +"But not a De Costa," she broke in, and then continued her narration +with renewed ardour. + +"I've no roof to shelter me to-night. No where to go. No clothes except +what I wear. No money but those few shillings; but I would rather starve +and die in the streets than go back to him. I'm rich. I've powerful +friends. You can't have the heart to turn away from me. Have you +forgotten the old friendship? You must do something--something to save +me----" and in the passion, of her southern nature she threw herself at +his feet, and burst into an agony of tears. + +Stanley assisted her to rise, got her a glass of water, and had cause, +for the second time in that interview, to thank his stars that love had +already shot another shaft, because if it were not for Belle, his +official position, and the fact that the Seņora had one husband +already--well--it was a relief to be forced to tell her that legations +were not charitable institutions, and that much as he might desire to +aid her, neither he nor his colleagues could interfere in her private +affairs. + +"Then you refuse to assist me--you leave me to my fate!" she cried, +starting up, a red flush of anger mantling her cheek. + +"Not at all," he hastened to say. "On the contrary, I'm going to help +you all I know how. I can't interfere myself, but I can refer you to a +friend of mine, whom you can thoroughly trust, and who's in a position +to aid you in the matter." + +"And his name?" + +"His name is Peter Sanks, the lawyer of the Legation, a gentleman, truly +as well as technically. A countryman of yours who has practised both +here and at home, and who always feels a keen interest in the affairs of +his compatriots. He has chambers in the Middle Temple. I'll give you his +address on my card." + +"You're most kind-- I'll throw myself without delay on the clemency of +this Seņor----" + +"Sanks." + +"_Madre de Dios!_ What a name!" + +"I dare say he was Don Pedro Sanchez at home, but that would hardly go +here. I've written him a line on my visiting card, requesting him to do +everything he can for you, and, of course, I need hardly say to you, as +a friend, not as an official, that my time and service are entirely +devoted to your interests. There is nothing that I possess which you may +not command." + +"And for me, you do this?" she asked, looking up wistfully in his face. + +He took her two little hands in his, and bending over, kissed the tips +of their fingers. + +"I cannot express the gratitude," she began. + +"Don't," he said, cutting short her profuse thanks. "It's nothing, I +assure you. Here is my card to Sanks. Better go to him at once, or you +may miss him. It's nearly three o'clock." And feeling that it was unsafe +to trust himself longer in her presence, he touched the bell, saying to +the confidential clerk who answered it:-- + +"The door, John." + +A moment later she was gone, leaving only the subtle perfume of her +presence in the room. Stanley threw himself moodily into the nearest +chair. It was too bad that this bewitching woman should be married to a +brute. It was too bad that he couldn't do more to help her, and it +was--yes, it really was too bad, that she should have come again into +his life just at the present moment. She was so exactly like what he had +fancied the ideal woman he was to marry ought to be. But she wasn't a +bit like Belle, and the reflection was decidedly disturbing. And now, he +supposed, she would get a divorce, and--oh, pshaw! it wasn't his affair +anyway, and he was late for his appointment with Kent-Lauriston. + +He rang his office bell sharply, picking up his hat and gloves as he did +so, and saying to the messenger who answered his summons:-- + +"Give this report to his Excellency, John, and let me have some visiting +cards, will you---- No, no, not any official ones. Some with my private +address on." + +"Very sorry Sir, but they're all out. I ordered some more day before +yesterday, Sir. They should have come by now." + +"Just my luck, why didn't you attend to them earlier?" + +"Isn't there one on your desk, Sir. I'm sure I saw one lying there this +morning." + +"Why, yes, so there was." And he turned hastily back, only to exclaim +after a moment's hopeless rummaging:-- + +"Confound it! I must have given it to Seņora De Costa!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A GENTLEMAN IN DISTRESS + + +Kent-Lauriston was prompt to his appointment, and it took but a few +moments to establish the Secretary and himself in a private room with a +plentiful supply of cigarettes, and two whiskeys and sodas. + +Stanley was nervous and showed it. Kent-Lauriston adjusted his monocle, +tugged at his long sandy moustache, and surveyed his companion from head +to foot. + +"Not feeling fit?" he queried. "Suffering from political ennui?" + +"Oh, my health is all right, as far as that goes----" + +"Yes, I see," this last remark meditatively. Then he added. "Some deuced +little scrape?" + +Stanley nodded. + +"Woman?" + +"It concerns a lady--perhaps two." + +Kent-Lauriston frowned, and tugged his moustache a trifle harder, to +imply that he now understood the affair to be of a more complex order, +requiring the aid of skilful diplomacy, in place of the simple +directness of five-pound notes. + +"Want my advice, I suppose?" + +"Yes," admitted Stanley, "and so I'd better make a clean breast of the +matter." + +"Decidedly." + +"The fact is, I want to marry--or rather, don't want to marry--no, +that's not it either-- I want to marry the girl bad enough, but I think +I'd better not. It would be what the world--what you might call, a +foolish match." + +"Deucedly hard hit, I suppose?" + +"You see," continued the Secretary, ignoring his friend's question, "I +know I oughtn't to marry her, but left to myself, I'd do it, and I need +a jolly good rowing--only you mustn't be disrespectful to the lady--I--I +couldn't stand that." + +"I think I know her name." + +"Miss Fitzgerald. You dined with her at the Hyde Park Club last +evening." + +"Daughter of old Fitzgerald of the --th Hussars----" + +"I--I believe that was her father's regiment, but now she lives----" + +"Lives!" interjected Kent-Lauriston. "No, she doesn't live--visits round +with her relatives--old Irish ancestry--ruined castles and no +rents--washy blue eyes and hair, at present, golden." + +"She is one of the most beautiful Irish girls I've ever seen," cried +Stanley. "In repose her face is spirituelle. She is a cousin of Lord +Westmoorland." + +"Fourteenth cousin--twice removed." + +"I don't know her degree of relationship." + +"I do." + +"She's splendid vitality and courage," said the Secretary, desirous of +turning the conversation, which threatened to drift into dangerous +channels. "She's dashing, thoroughly dashing." + +"Gad, I'm with you there! I've seldom seen a better horse-woman. I've +watched her more than once in the hunting field put her gee at hedges +and ditches that many a Master of Hounds would have fought shy of,--and +clear 'em, too." + +Stanley smiled, delighted to hear a word of commendation from a quarter +where he least expected it, but Kent-Lauriston's next remark was less +gratifying. + +"Little rapid, isn't she? Trifle fond of fizz-water and cigarettes?" + +"She's the spirits of youth," said the Secretary, a trifle coldly. + +"Let me see," mused his adviser. "How about that Hunt Ball at +Leamington?" + +"I wasn't there, and I must ask you to remember that you're talking of a +lady." + +"Um, pity!" said his friend ambiguously, and added, "How far have you +put your foot in it?" + +"Well, I haven't asked her to marry me." + +"Ah. Order me another whiskey and soda, please," and Kent-Lauriston sat +puffing a cigarette, and tugging at his moustache till the beverage +came. Then he drank it thoughtfully, not saying a word; a silence that +was full of meaning to Stanley, who flushed and began to fidget uneasily +about the room. + +Having finished the last drop, and disposed of his cigarette, his +adviser looked up and said shortly:-- + +"How did this begin?" + +"I met her some months ago--but only got to know her intimately at the +races." + +"Derby?" + +"No, Ascot." + +"Royal Enclosure, of course." + +"Royal Enclosure, of course. She was visiting her aunt." + +"I know. That type of girl has dozens of aunts." + +"Her uncle brought her down and introduced us. He left her a moment to +go to the Paddock and never came back." + +"Um, left you to do the honours." + +"Exactly so, and I did them. Saw the crowd, saw the gees, had lunch--you +know the programme." + +"Only too well. Do any betting?" + +"A little." + +"Thought it was against your principles. You told me so once." + +"I--I didn't bet--that is----" + +"Oh, I see. She did." + +"Rather--a good round sum." + +"You knew the amount?" + +"Well, the fact is--she'd given her uncle her pocket-book, and he got +lost." + +"Clever uncle; so you paid the reckoning." + +"She said she knew the winning horse." + +"We always do know the winners." + +"This was an exception to prove the rule." + +"So you put down--and she never paid up." + +"Youth is forgetful, and of course--you can't dun a lady." + +"No--you can't dun a _lady_!" + +"Look here!" cried Stanley. "I won't stand that sort of thing!" + +"Beg your pardon, I was thinking aloud, beastly bad habit, purely +reminiscent, I assure you. Go on." + +"Well, of course I saw something of her after that. Aunt invited me to +call, also to dine." + +"What about that trip down the Thames?" + +"Why, I'd arranged my party for that before I met Belle--I mean Miss +Fitzgerald." + +"Oh, call her Belle, I know you do." + +"And she happened to mention, quite accidentally, that one of her +unaccomplished ideals was a trip down the Thames. I fear she's +shockingly cramped for money you know, so as I happened to have a vacant +place----" + +"You naturally invited her-- I wonder how she found out there was a +vacant place," mused Kent-Lauriston. + +"My dear fellow," reiterated Stanley. "I tell you she didn't even know I +was getting it up. Of course if she had, she'd never have spoken of it. +Miss Fitzgerald is far above touting for an invitation." + +"Of course. Well you must have advanced considerably in your +acquaintance during the trip. Had her quite to yourself, as it were, +since I suppose she knew none of the party." + +"Oh, but she did. She knew Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"To be sure. He was the man who wagered her a dozen dozen pairs of +gloves that she wouldn't swim her horse across the Serpentine in Hyde +Park." + +"And she won, by Jove! I can tell you she has pluck." + +"And they were both arrested in consequence. I think the Lieutenant owed +her some reparation, and I must say a trip down the Thames was most _ā +propos_." + +"Look here, Kent-Lauriston, if you're insinuating that Kingsland put her +up to----" + +"Far from it, my boy, how could I insinuate anything so unlikely? Well, +what other unattainable luxuries did you bestow?" + +"Nothing more to speak of--why, yes. Do you know the poor little thing +had never seen Irving, or been inside the Lyceum?" + +"So you gave the 'poor little thing' a box party, and a champagne supper +at the Savoy afterwards, I'll be bound, and yet surely it was at the +Lyceum that----" + +"What?" + +"Oh, nothing, I was becoming reminiscent once more; it's a bad habit. +Let's have the rest of it." + +"There isn't much more to tell. I've ridden with her sometimes in the +Park. Given her a dinner at the Wellington, a few teas at the Hyde Park +Club. I think that's all--flowers perhaps, nothing in the least +compromising." + +"Compromising! Why, it's enough to have married you to three English +girls." + +"She's Irish." + +"I beg her pardon," and Kent-Lauriston bowed in mock humility. + +"What do you think of my case, honestly?" + +"Honestly, I think she means to have you, and if I was a betting man, +I'd lay the odds on her chances of winning." + +"Confound you!" broke in Stanley. "You've such a beastly way of taking +the words out of a man's mouth and twisting them round to mean something +else. Here I started in to tell you of my acquaintance with Miss +Fitzgerald, and by the time I've finished you've made it appear as if +her actions had been those of an adventuress, a keen, unprincipled, +up-to-date Becky Sharp. Why, you've hardly left her a shred of +character. I swear you wrong her, she's not what you've made me make her +out,--not at all like that." + +"What is she like then?" + +"She is a poor girl without resources or near relations, thrown on the +world in that most anomalous of positions, shabby gentility; who has to +endure no end of petty insults; insults, covert, if not open, from men +like you, who ought to know better. I tell you she's good and straight, +straight as a die; brave, fearless, plucky--isn't the word for it. A +little headstrong, perhaps, and careless of what the world may say, but +whom has she had to teach her better? There's no harm in her though. Of +that I'm sure. And underneath an exterior of what may seem flippancy, +her heart rings true; but you're so prejudiced you'll never admit it." + +"On the contrary," replied his friend, lighting another cigarette, "I'm +perfectly willing to agree to nearly all that you have just said in her +favour--all that is of vital importance, at least. I know something of +this young lady's career, and I'm prepared to say I don't believe there +is anything bad in her. She has to live by her wits, and they must be +sharp in consequence; and having to carve out her own destiny instead of +having a mother to do so for her, she has become self-reliant, and to +some extent careless of the impression she makes, which has given her a +reputation for indiscretion which she really does not deserve. She's +certainly charming, and undeniably dashing, though whether it arises +from bravery or foolhardiness, I'm not prepared to say; but one thing I +can state most emphatically--you're not the man to marry her." + +"And why not, pray?" + +"Because you're too good for her." + +"That's a matter of opinion." + +"No--matter of fact." + +Stanley flushed angrily--but Kent-Lauriston continued: + +"No need to fly into a passion; what I say is perfectly true. The only +way for Belle Fitzgerald to marry, be happy, and develop the best that +is in her, is to have a husband whose methods--forceful or +otherwise--she can understand and appreciate. You are too good for her. +Her struggle with life has been a hard one, she has seen the seamy side +of human nature, and it has taught her to estimate all men at their +worst. She'd consider your virtue, weakness. You could never take her to +South America and the ancestral plantation; it would bore her to +extinction. She'd require to live in London or keep open house in the +country, and she'd gather about her the set she goes with now. Her +companions, her manner of life, you think unworthy of her; already they +grate on your finer sensibilities, blinded as you are; believe me, +they'd grate much more when she bore your name. No, the only man who +could marry her, be happy, make her happy, and keep his good name +untarnished in the future, would be one who knows her world better than +she does herself; who has a past that even she would shudder at; who has +no ideals, no aspirations, just manly vigour and brute force; who could +guide her with a hand of steel in a glove of velvet, and pull her up +short at the danger line, because he knows what lies beyond, and she +knows that he knows. She'd tire of you in six months; she would not dare +to tire of the other man." + +"I think you wrong her," said Stanley wearily. "Indeed, your own +criticism of her might be applied to yourself. Your knowledge of the +world has caused you unconsciously to misjudge a nature you cannot +understand. Yet I know that my friends would all voice your +sentiments--that they'd all be disappointed in the match." + +"Exactly so--and they'd be in the right--excuse me for being blunt, but +with your wealth and social position you would be simply throwing +yourself away." + +"I know all that--but--I'm so sorry for her." + +"You could serve her better as her friend than as her husband. She must +live your life or you must live hers--in either case, one of you would +be unhappy." + +"I half believe you're right. Confound it! I know you're right, and +yet--how am I to get out of it with honour?" + +"Don't have any false sentimentality about that, my boy. Believe me, she +understands the situation much better than you do. So far you have been +chums; if you stop there, she is too much a woman of the world to lay it +up against you. You've given her much pleasure during the past season +and she appreciates it; but she's quite enough of a philosopher to +accept cheerfully the half-loaf." + +"But I can't be just a friend." + +"Not now, perhaps, but you can a few months later, when other things +have supervened." + +"If I see her again--it's all over." + +"Don't see her then." + +"That is just the point. She's going to stay with an aunt in Sussex." + +"Another aunt?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Roberts, and I am invited to go down to the house-party +to-morrow, and have accepted, and shall come back engaged." + +"Send your excuses, by all means, write to-day." + +"Yes, I suppose it's for the best, but you know I hate to do it. Somehow +I can't think all you imply of her." + +"My dear boy," said Kent-Lauriston, "I may be doing the lady gross +injustice and keeping you out of a very good thing, but even in that +case you must not go to Sussex. For heaven's sake, man, take time to +consider! It's too important a matter to be decided in a hurry. If she +cares for you and is worthy of you, she'll give you every fair +opportunity of asking her the fateful question and a reasonable amount +of time to think it over. Take a fortnight for calm reflection; it's +very little to allow for what may be a life's happiness or misery. +Meanwhile try and keep your mind off it. Run over to Paris with me. If +at the end of our trip you still feel the same towards her, I won't +stand in your way, I promise you. Come, is that a fair offer?" + +"Most kind," said Stanley, "and to show you my appreciation of all the +trouble you've taken, I'll send my regrets to Mrs. Roberts by the first +post." + +"Good boy!" said his mentor, sententiously. + +"I don't know about Paris, as to whether I can get leave, I mean." + +"Nonsense, you have already arranged your leave for the house-party, +I'll be bound. Dine with me here to-morrow night at eight, and we'll +talk it over." + +"Thanks, I will. I must be going now, I have to look in at a tea or +two." + +"Not to meet our charming enchantress?" + +"No, no, trust me, I'll play fair," and he was gone. + +Kent-Lauriston puffed meditatively at his cigarette, now that he was +alone, and tugged hard at his moustache. + +"The little Fitzgerald a pattern of all the virtues, eh?" he said, half +to himself, and half to the departing Secretary, and added, under his +breath: + +"Gad! How she would rook him! Never been to the Lyceum or down the +Thames! May she be forgiven!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AFTERNOON TEA + + +The Secretary had stated that he had several calls to make, but they +resolved themselves into one, the fact being that the day was +disagreeable and the prospect of riding vast distances in hansom cabs, +interspersed with short intervals of tea, not alluring. He therefore +decided to confine his attentions to one hostess, and selected his +missing chaperon, Lady Rainsford, whose indisposition had come so near +wrecking his little dinner. Her Ladyship had much to commend her. Her +house was central and large, one knew one would meet friends there, and +there were plenty of nooks and corners for tęte-ā-tętes, while, as her +circle was most select, and she received frequently, there was a fair +chance that her rooms would not be crowded. + +Stanley found his hostess quite recovered, and standing by the side of a +bright fire in a diminutive fireplace, for the rain had made the day a +bit chilly. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary," she cried, as he entered. "I was +beginning to think you'd not forgiven me for leaving you in the lurch +last night." + +"Don't speak of it, I beg," he said, hastening to deprecate her +apologies. "I should have called to enquire the first thing this +morning." + +"You should most certainly, and I ought to tax you with base desertion," +she went on. + +"That would be impossible, but I'm a victim of stern necessity. Society +demands all my spare time, and I'm forced, as one always is in London, +to neglect my friends for my acquaintances." + +"You deserve a thorough rating, and if it were not for my duties as +hostess, I'd give it to you here and now." + +"I claim the protection of your hearth," he rejoined, laughing. + +"Oh! But it's such a tiny hearth," she remonstrated. + +"And I," he added, "am such an insignificant personage." + +"I won't have you run yourself down in that way. I believe you are a +great social lion. Come, confess, how many teas have you been to in the +last seven days?" + +"Fifty-six." + +"Good gracious! How do you men stand it, and having something to eat and +a cup of tea at every place?" + +"Shall I enlighten you as to the professional secrets of the habitual +tea-goer? We don't." + +"But surely you can't always refuse." + +"I never refuse. I always accept the cup--and put it down somewhere." + +"For another guest to knock over. You're a hardened reprobate, but this +time you shall not escape. You know Miss Campbell, who is pouring tea +for me this afternoon? No? Then I'll introduce you. Miss Campbell, this +is Secretary Stanley, a member of the Diplomatic Corps, who has just +confessed to me that he habitually eludes the trustful hostess and the +proffered tea. You'll give him a cup and see that he drinks it before he +leaves the room," and the vivacious little woman departed, leaving him +no alternative but to accept his fate meekly. + +"How do you like your tea?" inquired Miss Campbell, a young lady deft of +hand, but with few ideas. + +"Lemon and no sugar." + +"How nasty! But then, I forgot you never really drink it, Lady Rainsford +says. But this time----" + +"This time," he replied, "I'm a lamb led to the slaughter." + +Miss Campbell said, "Really?" Then there followed an awkward silence. + +Looking around for some means of escape, he saw a face in the crowd, +that caused him to start, so utterly unexpected and out of place did it +seem, considering what he had heard that afternoon. It was the face of +Colonel Darcy. + +He did not think the man knew him, and for obvious reasons he did not +care to be introduced; so he turned again to Miss Campbell, who, seeing +no alternative, rose to the occasion and continued the conversation by +remarking:-- + +"Is it true that you go to such an enormous number of teas? What do you +find to talk about?" + +"Oh, I don't find much. I talk about the same thing at every tea. If you +meet other people it makes no difference." + +"How clever of you!" + +"On the contrary it's simply dulness, and because I'm lazy--I----" but +he left his sentence unfinished, for Miss Campbell's attention was +palpably wavering, and her glance spoke of approaching deliverance. He +looked over his shoulder to see Darcy advancing with Lieutenant +Kingsland. + +The two officers had met in the crush a few minutes before, and the +Colonel had lost no time in taking Kingsland to task for his stupidity +of the past night. + +"I'm no end sorry," the Lieutenant said, in very apologetic tones. + +"That doesn't give me my letter," growled the Colonel. + +"I know I'm an awful duffer," assented Kingsland, "but when he came up +behind me and asked questions about it, I was so staggered I let him +take it right out of my hands. It wasn't addressed, you know, and I +naturally couldn't say who gave it to me." + +"I should hope not indeed." + +"Well, what shall I do--ask him for it?" + +"No, no, leave it alone; you've blundered enough. You all meet at a +country house to-morrow." + +"Yes." + +"Well, trust its recovery to her; she'll get it, if he has it with him. +If he leaves it behind in London so much the easier for me." + +"But I thought you were coming down----" + +"You think a great deal too much, and your actions are----" + +"Sh!" whispered the Lieutenant, laying his hand on Darcy's arm. "He's +looking our way, he'll hear us." + +Stanley had not caught a word of the previous conversation, but a +whisper sometimes carries much farther than the ordinary tones of the +voice, and he heard the caution and saw the gesture which accompanied +it, very distinctly. + +The Colonel and the Lieutenant were close upon him by this time, and +Stanley, who had no wish to be recognised, began to move off, and +disappeared in the crowd, determined to make the best of his way to the +door. He was terribly bored. + +He was not destined to escape quite so easily, however, for Lady +Isabelle McLane sighted him in transit, and in a moment more had drawn +him into a protecting corner with two seats, and settled down to a +serious conversation. + +"I hear you're going down to the Roberts'," she said; "I'm invited too." + +"Then I'm all the more sorry that I'm not to be there," he replied. + +"You surprise me; I supposed your acceptance was of some standing. I +hope there's nothing wrong, that your chief hasn't forgotten his +position, and turned fractious?" + +"Oh, no, my chief behaves very well," Stanley hastened to assure her, +"but the fact is--I, well, I don't find it convenient." + +"Or, in other words, you've some reason for not wanting to go." + +He assented, having learned by long and bitter experience, that when a +woman makes up her mind to exert her faculties of instinct, it is easier +by far to acquiesce at once in any conclusion to which she may have +jumped, however erroneous. + +"Will you be shocked if I say I'm glad of it?" + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders; he thought he knew what was +coming. + +"It certainly isn't complimentary to me," he replied; "but you've always +exercised the prerogative of a friend to tell disagreeable truths." + +"Now, that's very unkind, Mr. Stanley. I'm sure I only do it for your +good." + +"My dear Lady Isabelle, if you'll allow a man who is older than your +charming self, and who has seen more of the world than I hope you'll +ever do----" + +"To tell a disagreeable truth?" she queried, filling out the sentence, +as pique prompted her. + +"To make a suggestion." + +"It's the same thing. Go on." + +"It's merely this. That you'll never achieve a great social success till +you've realised that the well-being of your friends is your least +important consideration." + +"Dear me, Mr. Secretary, I had no idea you were so tender in regard to +Miss Fitzgerald." + +"Who said anything about Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"I did. I don't suppose you knew she was to be at Roberts' Hall." + +"Certainly I know it. That is the very reason why I'm not going." + +"I'm unfeignedly rejoiced. I've watched your progress in London with +much interest, and believe me, Miss Fitzgerald is a stumbling-block in +your path." + +"All my friends, all the people who have my good at heart," he replied a +trifle testily, "seem to think it their duty to warn me against Miss +Fitzgerald." + +"I should hate to see you become entangled." + +"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's not even the shadow of a +chance of such an event coming to pass. Miss Fitzgerald and I are both +philosophers in our way. We attend to the serious business of society +when we are apart, and indulge in a little mild and harmless flirtation +when we occasionally meet, quite understanding that it means nothing, +and is merely a means of relaxation, to keep our hands in, as it were." + +"You say that so glibly, that I'm sure you must have said it before. +It's flippant, and, besides that, it's not strictly true." + +"Really!" + +"Oh, excuse me if I've said anything rude, but this is a very, very +serious matter, according to my way of thinking! and I do wish you'd +consent to be serious about it just for once, won't you, to please me?" + +"Certainly, if you wish it, and I'm amazingly honoured that you should +have spent so much of your valuable time over my poor affairs." + +"That isn't a promising beginning," she said reflectively, "for a man +who has agreed to be serious; but really now, you must know that I'm +distressed about you. Your attentions to this lady are the talk of +London." + +"I've told you," he replied, "that I've refused this invitation to the +house-party. Isn't that a sufficient answer, and won't it set your mind +at rest?" + +"Ye-es. Would you object if I asked just one more question? If you think +it horribly impertinent you're just to refuse to answer it." + +"Ask away." + +"Had you, before refusing, previously accepted this invitation of Mrs. +Roberts?" + +"Yes," he replied, a trifle sheepishly. + +"Thanks, so much," she said, "I quite understand now." + +"Then may we talk on some more congenial subject?" + +"No, you must take me back to Mamma." + +"What, was I only taken aside to be lectured?" + +"Oh, no," she hastened to assure him, naïvely--it was her first +season--"but we have been chatting already fifteen minutes, and that's +long enough." + +"Oh, dear!" he said regretfully, "I thought I'd left Mrs. Grundy at the +tea-table." + +"You are so careless yourself that you forget that others have to be +careful. Here comes Lieutenant Kingsland to my rescue. You would not +believe it, Lieutenant," she continued, as that officer approached them, +"this gentleman considers himself abused because I will not talk to him +all the afternoon." + +"I quite agree with him," said Kingsland, "not that I have ever had that +felicity; it's one of my most cherished ambitions." + +"You're as bad as he is; take me to Mamma, at once." + +"I'll take you to have some tea. Won't that do as well?" and they moved +away. + +Ten minutes later the Secretary met the Dowager Marchioness of Port +Arthur, who bore down on him at once. + +"Mr. Stanley, have you seen my daughter?" she demanded. "I'm waiting to +go home, and I can't find her anywhere." + +"The last I saw of her she was with Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"Oh, you _have_ seen her this afternoon, then." + +This last remark seemed tempered with a little disapproval. + +"I had the pleasure of fifteen minutes' chat with her," continued the +Secretary imperturbably. The Marchioness raised her eyebrows. + +"At least she said it was fifteen minutes"--he hastened to explain--"it +didn't seem as long to me; then Lieutenant Kingsland arrived." + +"I knew his mother," she said, "he comes of one of the best families in +the land." + +Most young men would have been crushed by the evident implication, but +Stanley rose buoyantly to the occasion. + +"He proposed----" he began. + +The Marchioness started. + +"To get her a cup of tea," continued the Secretary, placidly finishing +his sentence. + +"You may escort me to the tea-table," she replied, frigidly, and added: +"We leave town to-morrow." + +"Yes, I know," said her companion, as they edged their way through the +crowd. "I'm invited myself." + +"I should think you would find it difficult to attend to the duties of +your office, if you make a practice of accepting so many invitations." + +"Oh, I haven't accepted," he returned cheerfully. + +The Marchioness was manifestly relieved. + +They had by this time reached the tea-table. Lady Isabelle was nowhere +in sight. + +"I do not see my daughter," said her mother severely. "You told me she +was here." + +"Pardon me, I told you that Lieutenant Kingsland offered to get her a +cup of tea." + +"Well." + +"But they went in the opposite direction." + +"I won't detain you any longer, Mr. Stanley." The Dowager's tone was +frigid. "If my daughter is in Lieutenant Kingsland's charge, I feel +quite safe about her. She could not be in better hands." + +The Secretary bowed and went on his way rejoicing, and his way, in this +instance, led him to his lodgings. + +"I wonder why she is so down on me and so chummy with Kingsland," he +thought. "If she'd seen him on my launch on the Thames, she might think +twice before entrusting her daughter to his charge. Well, it's none of +my business, any more than my affairs are the business of Lady +Isabelle." + +He was just a little annoyed at the persistency with which his friends +joined in crying down a woman, who, whatever her faults might be, +possessed infinite fascination, and was, he honestly believed, not half +so bad as she was painted. He told himself that he must seek the first +opportunity that circumstances gave him at Mrs. Roberts' house-party, to +have a serious talk with Miss Fitzgerald and warn her, as gently as he +could, of what was being said about her. Then he recollected with a +start, that he had decided not to go, that he had promised to write a +refusal and--no, that he had _not_ written. He would do so at once. His +latch-key was in his hand. + +He opened the door. There was his valet, Randell, standing in the hall, +but with a look on his face which caused Stanley to question him as to +its meaning, before he did anything else. + +"Puzzled? I am a bit puzzled. That's a fact, sir," Randell replied to +his question. "And it's about that lady," indicating the Secretary's +sitting-room with a jerk of his thumb. + +"What lady?" + +"Why, the lady as come here half an hour ago, with her luggage, and said +she was going to stay." + +"Randell, are you drunk or dreaming? I know of no lady," cried Stanley, +amazed. + +"Well, you can see for yourself, sir," replied the valet, throwing open +the door. + +The Secretary stepped in, and confronted--Madame Darcy. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AN IRATE HUSBAND + + +"Madame Darcy!" he exclaimed, too astonished not to betray in some +measure his emotions. Then following the direction of her eyes, and +noting the interrogatory glance, which she threw at Randell, he signed +to his valet to leave them together. + +"To what have I the honour----" he began abruptly, his voice showing +some trace of the irritation he was not quite able to suppress. Surely, +he thought, Inez De Costa, large as the liberty of her youth might have +been, must know that in England, worse still in London, a lady cannot +visit a bachelor's apartments alone, without running great danger of +having her actions misconstrued. + +She, with true feminine intuition, was none the less keen to realise the +awkwardness of the situation, and to suffer more acutely because of the +inconvenience to which she was putting him. + +"A thousand pardons for this unwarrantable intrusion," she interrupted, +"on one who has already loaded me with favours. It is the result of a +stupid--a deplorable blunder--for which I shall never forgive myself. +But once it had been committed, it seemed better that I should stay and +explain. What letter could ever have made suitable apology--have made +clear beyond all doubt, as I must make it clear, that until I had passed +your threshold I had no suspicion that these were your lodgings, and not +the Legation." + +Stanley bowed, he could not but believe her, every anguished glance of +her eyes, every earnest tone of her impassioned voice, carried +conviction. But how had this strange mischance come about. + +"You've seen Sanks?" he asked, breaking the silence. + +"Ah, that is it," she exclaimed, thankful for the outlet he had +suggested. "That good Seņor Sanks, he was so kind, he said I had a case, +and could be protected from--him. He has written a letter, I forget what +he called it, some legal name, requiring my husband to surrender my +goods, my money, and I have written him also to send them to your care +at the Legation, as he told me. Then I drive here with what I have-- I +had nothing when I started, but he advanced me a sum," she flushed, "to +buy what was needful till my trunks come. He advised me to stay at some +private hotel, known only to you and to himself, till my husband has +declared his attitude in the case. I make my purchases, I drive, as I +suppose, to the Legation, my luggage is unloaded and carried in. I ask +if Seņor Stanley, if you are here, they say you will be shortly, I +dismiss my cab, I enter, then I find it is not the Legation--it is your +private apartments." + +She paused, awaiting his sentence of displeasure--but his tone was +rather that of thoughtful wonder. + +"How could Sanks have made the mistake in my address? He knew, must have +known, them, both." + +"It was my fault, all mine," she broke in hastily. "It was undecided +where I should have my things sent. I filled in the address myself, from +your card." + +"Ah, that's it," said Stanley, beginning to see light. "I remember now, +I gave you my private card by mistake for my official one. You've +nothing to distress yourself about, Inez, this is my blunder, and it is +I who must beg your pardon." + +"Ah, we will not beg each other's pardon then. It is a foolishness +between friends," she returned, with just that little foreign touch +which rendered her so irresistible. + +"I quite agree with you," he replied heartily. "We've other and more +important things to consider." + +"But what to do?" she exclaimed. + +"Well, you must take Sanks' advice, and go to some quiet, private +Hotel,--say X----'s. I know them and will introduce you, send you over +with Randell: it's better than going with you myself. You'll find it +most comfortable." + +She shivered and shrugged her shoulders. + +"But of course," he hastened to add, "you'll stay and dine with me +first." + +"But Jim!" she said, rising. + +"But why not?" he persisted. "It's a beastly night. You're here. It +makes little difference whether you stay an hour or two, or the thirty +minutes you have already remained. I'll send you over early in the +evening." + +"But the household----" + +"They'd know in any event. The fact is the important thing to them, the +details do not matter. Your staying here for dinner in a prosaic manner, +as if there was no reason why you shouldn't, would do more to stop +tongues from wagging, than your sudden disappearance after a mysterious +visit. Believe me, I should not urge this if it were more or less than +common sense." + +"But your engagements?" + +"I should have dined alone in any case." + +She stood uncertain whether to go or to remain, one hand upon the table. +Then she smiled at him, though there were tears in her eyes, saying;-- + +"I will stay-- I will trust to your judgment. Whom have I to trust but +you?" + +"Good!" he cried, an air of quick decision taking possession of him, now +her consent had been given; "my landlady will put a room at your +disposal should you wish to remove the stains of travel before dinner. +You'll find her kindly, if inexperienced. I'll go and explain the +situation to her and to my valet." And he stepped towards the door. + +"Explain?" + +"Explain by all means, my dear. In this country it is the greatest of +all mistakes to try to deceive your servants, especially where +circumstances give the slightest scope for misconstruction." + +"I thought servants were our worst scandal-mongers." + +"True, they're only human. But put a well-trained servant on his honour +by giving him your confidence, and he's far less likely to betray you, +than if you try to blind him to an obvious truth." + +She laughed, and he left her to arrange for his impromptu dinner. + +When they sat down to table, half an hour later, she was more +self-possessed than he had ever before seen her, and chatted away quite +gaily on indifferent topics, each taking great care to avoid the one +subject which neither could forget. + +With the fruit and wine, the valet, who performed the double office of +body servant and butler, left them to themselves, having first received +careful directions from Stanley in regard to escorting madame to her +hotel, half an hour hence. + +Once they were alone the reserve, which the servant's presence had +called into play, was no longer exerted, and she spoke freely of her own +troubles. + +"You've no idea," she said, "what a misery my winter in England has +been. I shall never look back on it without feeling that this is the +most cruel place on earth." + +"You mustn't judge the whole country from your own unfortunate +experience," the Secretary hastened to interpose. "I've never found +more true culture and refinement than I've met with here." + +"Ah," she replied, "but when the Englishman is a brute----! Since I came +to this country, I've never written a word to my father that has not +been read and--approved!" There was a wealth of scorn in her tones. "Not +a word of my sorrows, of the indignities, the insults he had heaped upon +me. Any attempt to post a letter on my own account, or to send it by a +servant, has resulted in failure, and in the ignominy of having it +opened, and destroyed in my presence. My income lies there in the bank. +His brother is the banker. I had the choice of drawing cheques to my +husband's order, or not drawing them at all." + +"Were you then deprived of money? Surely, to keep up outside +appearances, and I judge your husband would have desired that, you must +have had an allowance?" + +"I had unlimited credit in the town," she replied. "I could buy what I +pleased and charge it, but not a shilling did I have wherewith to pay. +It was my maid, my good Marie, who, when he threatened me with +detention, gave me her little all, her savings, and told me to run +away--ah, that was bitter! But I knew she meant no disrespect--I +accepted it--she shall be repaid a hundred-fold." + +"I think you need have no fears of not being restored to all your rights +and privileges," he said, "and then?" + +"Then I will be free." + +"You mean you will procure a separation?" + +"A divorce." + +"But surely your husband----" + +"Oh, he has not even constancy to commend him; he does not even conceal +his preferences. He is always receiving letters from some woman--some +old friend, he tells me--calling him to London for an hour, or a day, as +the case may be, and no matter what plans I may have made, he goes." + +"You know her name?" + +"She signs her Christian name only--no wonder--but I have her letters +and I'll find her out." + +"And when you've found her, what then? Will you plead with her?" + +"I?" she cried. "I, a De Costa, degrade myself by pleading with a woman +of that class!" + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. + +"I think every woman," he said, "has some good in her, low as she may +be, some spark of longing for better things, some element of +self-respect that never quite dies out." + +"You're right," she admitted. "A man is by nature a brute. A woman, even +at her worst, is not quite that. Some extra spark of divinity seems to +have been given her in compensation for her weakness." + +"I believe no woman is wholly bad," said the Secretary. "The worst women +of history have, at some moments in their lives, been very near +redemption." + +"I believe that is so," she replied. + +"I am very glad to hear you say that. If you can still find charity in +your heart for your own sex, surely I may believe, even in the face of +my friends' hostile criticism." + +"And is there a woman, whom you--shall we say, 'respect' enough to +believe in--no matter what is said of her?" + +"There is," he replied. + +"Then be sure she has some virtues worthy of that respect. I can +picture," she went on, "the woman whom you should marry. You must be, to +her, an ideal, and she must live her life in terms of you. Gentle and +refined, and knowing more of your home than of the world." + +The Secretary sighed. + +"These are the women," he said, "that we dream of, not that we marry." + +"There are many such in the world," she returned. "Is not the woman you +are defending one of them?" + +"No," he said, "not like that." + +"Then she is not worthy of you, she will grate upon you. Does she ever +do so?" + +"I love her," he said simply. + +"Then you will marry her. I'm so glad!" she returned, offering him her +hand. + +"I don't know. I don't think so," he replied. "I can't tell how I should +act." + +"Then you do not love her. Love is blind, it does not reason." + +"I love her," he repeated, seeking to justify himself. "Certainly I +love her, but one should, in this day and generation, love wisely." + +"One should love," she replied, "and that is all, neither wisely nor +unwisely--love has no limits. You do not love her--you must not marry +her--you will be unhappy if you do. I believe she grates on you, you'll +never find the good that is in her. That power has been given to some +other man." + +Stanley raised his hand in protestation, but at that moment, Randell +appeared in the doorway, equipped to take Madame De Costa to her hotel, +and their private conversation was at an end. + +She made her adieux very prettily, not saying too much in the valet's +presence, but enough to show how truly deep was her appreciation of the +Secretary's kindness, and left him wishing, wondering. He found time +before retiring to re-read all Belle's letters for the first time +critically, and seriously caught himself wondering if one could really +love a woman who wrote slang and whose spelling was not always above +suspicion. Subsequently, he remembered, having dismissed Randell for the +night, that he had never written that letter to Mrs. Roberts. + +It was certainly an unfortunate oversight, but it was too late now; he +would telegraph his regrets in the morning, and he fell asleep while +making up his mind that he was very glad he had decided not to go. + + * * * * * + +He arose refreshed and altogether philosophic, relegated Madame De +Costa to past diplomatic experiences, and in the light of that youthful +folly which wears the guise of wisdom, told himself, as he walked across +the Green Park to his office, that he was glad the incident was over. +But nevertheless, while he thought of the fair Seņora many times during +the morning, the existence of Miss Fitzgerald, or of her aunt, never +occurred to him till force of circumstances brought it to his mind. + +Force of circumstances, in this instance, found actual embodiment in the +person of Randell, who put in an appearance at the Legation about noon. +The valet had never been there before in his life, and his appearance in +Stanley's office was assurance in itself that something most unusual +must have happened. The instant he set eyes on him, the Secretary was +prepared for a fire or the death of a relative--at least. + +"Well?" he said. "What is it?" + +"A gentleman 'as called to see you, sir, at the house." + +"You didn't come all the way down here to tell me that!" he exclaimed, +immensely relieved. + +"Yes, sir. You see, sir, it was some particular gentleman." + +"Who?" + +"Colonel Darcy, sir." + +"Good Heavens!" + +"And very excited, sir." + +"Naturally; but how did he know that Madame De Costa--Mrs. Darcy, I +mean. That is, why didn't he come to the Legation?" + +"You see, sir, as he told me the story----" and Randell paused uneasily. + +"Well, out with it, man: what did he tell you?" + +"That the lady had written him--which he got this morning, that she had +placed herself in your care, and all her belongings were to be sent to +your address." + +"What, my private address?" + +"Yes, sir. Quite correct, sir. He showed it to me in her letter." + +"It's all because I gave her my private card by mistake," and Mr. +Stanley cursed a number of people and things under his breath. + +"He asked plenty of questions, which I didn't answer, more than I was in +duty bound. But when he learned as you was a bachelor, sir, and the lady +had been at your rooms last evening, he was that upset----" + +The Secretary tilted his office chair back on its hind legs and gave +vent to a long, low, meditative whistle. + +"I explained to him that there was nothing to be displeased about; but +he wouldn't have none of it and said----" + +"Yes, yes, what did he say?" + +"He said a good many things, some of which I wouldn't repeat, sir, not +being respectful; but he asked for your official address, which I +wouldn't give him, and said as he'd call you out--and spoke of bringing +suit--and called you--wel-l, most everything, sir." + +"You need not particularise, Randell." + +"No, sir." + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes, sir. Except to my mind, he didn't seem really very much displeased +over the matter." + +Stanley grunted significantly. He thought he understood. Darcy could +have wished for nothing better. + +"I took the liberty, sir," continued the valet, serenely, "to bring your +bag, ready packed, and your travelling rug and umbrella, thinking as you +might be leaving town to-day, sir." + +"Confound you, Randell, I believe you think me guilty after all." + +"I thought as you were going to Mrs. Roberts' to-day, sir. You spoke of +it to me a week ago, and had forgotten to give directions about your +things, sir." + +"Yes," said Stanley meditatively, and rang his bell. "John," he +continued to the functionary who appeared, "did I send Mrs. Roberts of +Roberts' Hall, Sussex, a telegram this morning?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well, please wire her at once that I'll arrive this afternoon. Leave in +an hour. Is his Excellency disengaged?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Thanks, that will do," and as John departed he added to Randell: "You +might go ahead and reserve a corner seat in a first-class carriage for +me. Facing the engine. Liverpool Street--you know." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Where is Colonel Darcy?" + +"Waiting at your rooms for an answer." + +"Ah," said Stanley, "that gives me time to explain things to the Chief. +If Colonel Darcy is there when you return after seeing me off, tell him +I don't know anything about his wife, and if that isn't good enough he +can call on his Excellency. Say I'm away in the country for an +indefinite time." + +"Yes, sir." + +"You don't know where." + +"Quite right, sir," and Randell departed for the station. + +"Quite right!" groaned Stanley as he sought the Sanctum Sanctorum of the +Legation. "I only wish it were!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +DIPLOMATIC INSTRUCTIONS + + +Mr. Stanley's Chief was a grey, weazened little man, who had achieved +distinction in diplomacy and in his country's councils, largely on +account of his infinite capacity for holding his tongue. As a result he +let fall little and learned much. His reticence, however, was not the +reserve of impotence, but the reserve of power. + +On this occasion he was busy at his great desk, which occupied the +centre of the room, and merely glancing up at his Secretary's entrance, +he resumed the piece of work on which he was engaged. Ten minutes later +he put down his pen and gave his waiting subordinate an encouraging +smile. It was his official permission to speak. + +"I regret to say that I have got into a little scrape, sir, concerning +which will you give me leave to clear myself?" + +"Leave of absence or my approval, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Both, your Excellency." + +The Minister leaned back in his chair, rested his elbows on the arms, +and bringing the first fingers of each hand together, held them at the +level of his face and gazed attentively at their point of contact. It +was a favourite attitude which the Secretary understood, and he at once +gave a concise account of all the circumstances concerning Madame Darcy. + +The Minister heard him out in perfect silence, and after taking a moment +or two to ponder over his words, remarked quietly: + +"It's a small world, Mr. Stanley." + +"You mean the fact that Seņor De Costa and my father were friends before +they quarrelled, and that his daughter----" + +"No, I do not mean that." + +The Secretary thought it better policy not to ask what he did mean, +though he much wished to know; and silence again reigned. + +Presently the Minister sat up to his desk and ran his hand through the +mass of papers upon it; finally unearthing one in particular, which he +submitted to a careful scrutiny. + +"Your report of your visit to the Foreign Office yesterday," he said--"a +very important communication, Mr. Stanley." + +If his Chief had a disagreeable trait, and he was on the whole an +exceedingly amiable man, it was an assumed seriousness of speech and +demeanour, which he intended for sarcasm, and which invariably misled +his victims to their ultimate discomfiture. + +Stanley, who was aware of this trait and not very proud of the report in +question, hastened to disclaim any inherent excellence it might be +supposed to contain. + +"There's nothing in it, your Excellency, except that remark about +'parlous times.'" + +"Which was just the thing I was most anxious to hear. It proves that the +Foreign Office regards the accomplishment of the treaty as by no means +certain." + +Stanley, with difficulty, checked an exclamation of surprise, but he had +learned to respect his Chief's little fads, and succeeded. + +The Minister cleared his throat, an indication that this was one of the +rare occasions on which he was about to speak at length, and on which he +desired absolute attention and immunity from comment--and proceeded: + +"For three hundred years a treaty has been pending between Great Britain +and our own country, concerning the possession of an island lying at the +mouth of the river X----. At first Spanish distrust of English +aggression and, at a later period, the frequent changes of government to +which our unfortunate country has been subjected, have prevented the +successful termination of the negotiations. + +"Matters have never been more favourable for its settlement than at the +present time, and the immediate cession of the island to Great Britain, +in return for a most satisfactory indemnity. For the last few weeks, +however, we have noted an increasing opposition on the part of certain +members of our own Ministry, to the acceptance of the English +propositions, the cause of which has now been discovered. An influential +manufacturing concern, officered and financed by certain unscrupulous +persons in this country, owns large mills on the island in question, for +the production of an article of which they would be assured a monopoly, +did the territory still remain in our hands, but which would be open to +competition did it come into the possession of Great Britain. The +company, in order to obtain a continuance of the monopoly, have raised +Ģ40,000 for distribution among a majority of the committee, who are to +pass upon the treaty, thus practically insuring the failure of the +negotiations. + +"While there is no reasonable doubt that this unfortunate state of +affairs exists, we have not been able to obtain actual proofs of the +same, and it is very necessary to do so, in order that the Executive +should be able, when the treaty comes up for consideration, six weeks +hence, to inform the intending offenders that their intrigue is known. +It is not the intention of our government to create any scandal in this +matter, it being quite sufficient to insure the passage of the treaty, +that the Executive should hold proof of the Minister's guilt, and be in +a position to back up the threat of exposure and punishment. + +"Now it is known that the English agent intrusted with the financial +part of this disgraceful scheme, the man who is to take the money to be +used in bribery and corruption from this country to ours, is the worst +type of an adventurer, a thorough-going scoundrel, and clever enough to +make a fortune in some honest way. His name is Colonel Robert Darcy." + +The Secretary so far forgot himself as to draw in his breath sharply, +and his Chief looked at him with a disapproving frown, and then +continued: + +"This is why I said that the world was small when you told me of your +connection with this man. For the past few weeks I have had him +carefully watched, and I have learned that he is to go down to Sussex +almost at once, to receive the money for this dishonourable purpose from +one of the heads of the firm, a silent partner, whose identity we have +not yet discovered. This money is to be paid in gold, and after +receiving it, and his private instructions, Darcy will return at once to +London and sail for the scene of his mission. I cannot watch his course +in Sussex personally, and I do not think it wise to risk publicity by +putting the affair in the hands of the police. Before you told me of +your association with this man and his wife, I had some thoughts of +giving you the conduct of this important and delicate matter, now----" + +"Now!" burst out the Secretary, unable in his chagrin longer to contain +himself, "I have by my stupid blundering rendered myself unfit for the +place, and lost a splendid chance!" + +The Minister was visibly annoyed. + +"I was about to say, sir, when you interrupted me (a very bad habit of +yours, Mr. Stanley), that you had unconsciously so perfectly adapted +yourself to fill the position, that you have made it impossible for me +to give it to anybody else." + +Stanley gasped; he could not help it. + +"A diplomat should never express anything," remarked his Chief severely, +and continued his statement. + +"The greatest triumph of art could never have placed you in the position +you now occupy as a result of a fortuitous combination of events. You +can go right to the ground where Darcy must operate, and any one of a +dozen people can tell him that you have perfectly natural and innocent +reasons for being there. Being only human and apparently very angry, +he'll certainly seek you out, and you may depend on it that I'll see +that he has definite information as to where you have gone and with whom +you are staying. All you'll have to do is to associate yourself with +him; he'll give you ample opportunity for doing so, and to keep your +eyes open. + +"I need hardly point out that, should you, during the next fortnight, be +able to obtain in any way the required evidence, you would not only +merit my approval but would put yourself in the sure way of promotion, +and that for the best of all reasons, as one who has done a signal +service to your country. + +"Now, just a word of warning. Do not communicate with me unless it is +absolutely necessary. Do not try to find out anything about Darcy; do +not try to see him. Do not so much as breathe the treaty to anyone. +Simply be yourself. He's bound to suspect you at first, and it will +only be as time passes and he becomes convinced from your manner of +life--that you are young, inexperienced and wholly unfit to be trusted +with a diplomatic secret--that he'll put himself off his guard. Then +will be your opportunity. Seize it if possible. That's all; now go. No +thanks, please; I trust you will deserve mine when you return. I'll +manage everything for you here, and the Legation pays your +expenses--your leave is for an indefinite period." + +Stanley bowed silently, his heart was too full to speak, and he turned +to leave the room. + +"Stop!" came his Chief's voice. "You ought to know that Darcy has a +confederate. One of the two is a masterhand, probably the Colonel; but +see if you can find out the other; I've not been able to do so." + +Stanley started, a vivid remembrance flashing through his mind of +Kingsland's significant caution to Darcy at the tea. "Sh'. He's looking +our way! He'll hear us." + +The Ambassador noticed the involuntary movement of his subordinate, and +a grim smile played about his lips. + +"Deportment, Mr. Secretary, deportment," he said. "A diplomat should +always appear at his ease. So; that is better. You can go." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A HOUSE-WARMING + + +Much has been written of the blessed state of them that go a +house-partying in England, and certain it is that no pleasanter pastime +has been devised by civilised man, and that in no other country in the +world has it been brought to a like degree of perfection. + +Two great canons govern these functions, which it would be exceedingly +well did the hostesses of all lands "mark, learn and inwardly digest." +The first is that all guests are on speaking terms of intimacy with each +other from the time they arrive till they depart. My Lady may not know +you next time you meet her in Bond Street, and the Countess perchance +will have forgotten to put your name on her visiting list for the +remainder of this or any other season, but during the blessed interval +of your sojourn at that hospitable Hall in Berks, you knew them both, +and they were very gracious and charming. The second rule is none the +less framed for your comfort and convenience, and it reads: "Thou shalt +be in all things thine own master." + +Most admirable of rules. The amusements of the place, and most English +country places are framed for some particular amusement, are put +unreservedly at your disposal. Are you on the Thames? Boats and boatmen +are at your beck and call. Are you North in the shooting season? A +keeper waits your orders. Do you hunt? Grooms and horses are yours to +command. But none of these things are you ever compelled to do. Should +you fear the water, though you are on an island, no one will ever +suggest to you the possibility of leaving it. While your ecclesiastical +host, Bishop though he be, would never take it for granted that you were +predisposed to week-day services and charity bazaars. + +Mrs. Roberts was a perfect hostess, and there was no doubt that her +house would shortly be a favourite on many lists. + +I say, "would be," advisedly, for she had quite recently come into the +possession of her own, which had been another's; a distant cousin, in +short, the last of his branch of the family, who had the good sense to +drink himself to death, shortly before the opening of this narrative, +and leave his fine old Elizabethan manor house to his very charming +relative, an action which did him no credit, because the estate was +entailed, and he could not help it. + +Roberts Hall had more than one attraction: indeed, it was blessed with +an unusual number of delightful adjuncts for a country place, which does +not pretend to be a demesne. For one thing, a number of miles intervened +between the lodge gates and the Hall, and that, in England, is a great +consideration. As long as one has plenty of land, the manner of one's +habitation is of little account, while in America houses must be as +large or larger than one can afford, and if when they are built they +cover most of our land, we are none the worse off in our neighbour's +estimation. + +The estate, moreover, could boast of many fallow fields, and more than +one avenue of fine old oaks, while it had a deer park of which many a +larger place might have been proud. There was also a private chapel, for +the use of the family and tenantry, boasting a great square family pew, +fenced round on two sides with queer little leaden-paned windows, giving +a view of the enclosure which contained the family monuments. It was +farther enriched by a pretentious piece of carving in high relief, +vigorously coloured, representing the resurrection, wherein generations +of defunct Roberts were depicted popping up, with no clothes on, out of +a pea-green field, much after the manner of the gopher of the prairie. + +The gardens were extensive, including two artificial ponds, which for +age and solidity might have been constructed from the beginning, +tenanted by a number of swans, all very proud and controversial, and +surrounded by an eight-foot hedge of holly which was a crimson glory in +winter. + +But if the place was fascinating without, it was still more so within. +It had a long low entrance hall with a tesselated pavement, panelled to +the ceiling with the blackest of oak, and boasting a rail screen of the +same material dividing the apartment, which many a church might have +envied. There was moreover a library filled with a priceless collection +of old volumes, chiefly perused, for some fifty years past, by the +rodents of the establishment. + +Mrs. Roberts was in the great hall when Stanley arrived, and so received +him in person. She was a most vivacious little woman, to whom a long +sojourn on the Continent, coupled with a diplomatic marriage, had given +the touch of cosmopolitanism, which was all that had been needed to make +her perfect. + +"I'm awfully glad to see you, though you are the last comer," she said +cordially. "The Marchioness and Lady Isabelle, under the escort of +Lieutenant Kingsland, reached here in time for lunch, and Miss +Fitzgerald came a few hours later, while Mr. Riddle has just driven +over." + +"Mr. Riddle," asked the Secretary, "who is he?" + +"Oh, Arthur Riddle, don't you know him? He is one of our county magnates +and a near neighbour. I hope you'll all like each other, but you must +realise that you have come to the veriest sort of pot-luck. I haven't +begun to get settled yet, or know where anything is." + +"You speak as if you were a visitor," he said, laughing. + +"Indeed, I feel so. I'm constantly getting lost in this rambling old +house, and having to be rescued by the butler." + +"Have you really never been here before?" + +"It's my first appearance. It was quite impossible to visit here during +the lifetime of the late owner. Why, I don't even know the traditions of +the place, and it positively teems with them. I shall organise you all +into an exploring party, with free permission to rummage from garret to +cellar." + +"I suppose there's plenty to discover?" + +"Discover! My dear Mr. Secretary, this place is fairly alive with +ghosts, and sliding panels, and revolving pictures; and there's a great +tiled, underground passage leading off from the kitchens into the +country somewhere, which everyone is afraid to explore, and which the +last incumbent had nailed up because it made him nervous." + +"I hope you've reserved a nice cork-screwy staircase with a mouldering +skeleton at the top, for my especial discovery and delectation." + +"First come, first served," she replied; "but there's something in this +very hall that's worthy of your mettle, the greatest prize puzzle a +hostess ever possessed, only I shan't forgive you if you solve it, for +it's one of the standard attractions of the house, and has amused guests +innumerable." + +"Trot it out forthwith. I'm all impatience." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind unless you treat it with more respect. +An oaken door, studded with silver nails, that has not condescended to +open itself for at least two centuries, cannot be 'trotted out'!" + +"I beg its humble pardon," said the Secretary, approaching the door and +putting his shoulder against it. "It's as steady as a rock." + +"Oh, yes. Nothing but dynamite or the proper combination could ever move +it the fraction of an inch." + +Stanley regarded it as it stood framed in its low Saxon portal, a +magnificent piece of black oak, sprinkled from top to bottom with at +least a hundred huge, silver-headed nails, driven in without any +apparent design. Another peculiarity was that neither lock, hinges, nor +keyhole were visible. + +"Does it lead anywhere?" he asked, greatly interested. + +"To an unexplored tower," she replied. "To which this appears to be the +only entrance; at least it has no windows." + +"How interesting. I wonder how they ever got it open." + +"Tradition says that this is the original of our modern combination +lock. No human strength can move it; but once exert the slightest +pressure on the proper combination of those silver nails, five I +believe, one for every digit, and the portal swings open of itself." + +"And discloses, what?" + +"Open it and see," she answered. + +"Are you sure the house won't tumble down if I do, or that you'll never +smile again--or that some unpleasant ancestral prognostication isn't +only awaiting the opening of that door to fall due and take effect?" + +"I can't insure you," she replied, "and I wish you wouldn't talk such +nonsense," and she shivered slightly. + +"You surely don't believe, in the nineteenth century----" he began; but +she interrupted him, saying almost petulantly: + +"You'd grow to believe anything if you lived in a place like this. On +the whole, I think you'd better leave the door alone," she added, as he +began to finger the nails thoughtfully, "you're too clever, you might +succeed." + +"If I do," he assured her, "I'll promise to keep my discoveries to +myself." + +"You'd better confine your attentions to the library; it's much more +worthy of your consideration," she replied, evidently wishing to change +the subject. + +"With pleasure," acquiesced Stanley, following her lead. "And what am I +to discover there?" + +"Nothing. Now I come to think of it, it's already pre-empted." + +"Who are our literary lights?" + +"Lady Isabelle McLane and Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"I should never have suspected it of either of them," he replied, +manifestly surprised, for Kingsland's literary tastes, as evidenced on +the Thames, had not been of an elevated nature; and Lady Isabelle was +too conventional and well-ordered a person to care to read much or +widely. + +"Nor should I," agreed his hostess; "but they remain glued to the +bookcases, and to see them going into raptures over an undecipherable +black letter volume, adorned with illustrations that no self-respecting +householder would admit to his family circle, is, considering the young +lady's antecedents at least, rather amusing. They've the room entirely +to themselves." + +"Oh!" said Stanley, and they both laughed. + +"But the Marchioness is certain that it is literary enthusiasm," she +assured him. + +"My dear Mrs. Roberts," said the Secretary, "that is merely the wisdom +of age." And they laughed again. + +"And now," he added, "if you'll permit, I'll begin my tour of +exploration, by finding where my belongings are bestowed." + +As he spoke, a footman was at his side, and his hostess, nodding +cheerfully to him, left him to his own devices. + +Stanley's room was charming, and he was so busy examining its +curiosities that the sound of the dressing-bell awoke him to the +realities of the situation with a start of surprise that he could have +unconsciously idled away so much time. + +But then there was a fireplace, almost as large as a modern bedroom, +ornamented with blue tiles of scriptural design, blatantly Dutch and +orthodox; and the great logs resting on fire-dogs, that happened to be +lions, which caused most of the guests to break the tenth commandment in +thought, and neglect to break it in deed, only because they were +unsuited both by weight and design for surreptitious packing in bags or +boxes. Also there was the wall paper, rejoicing in squares of camels, +and groves of palm trees, amidst which surroundings fully a hundred +Solomons received a hundred blushing Queens of Sheba. Moreover, there +was a huge four-poster into which you ascended by a flight of steps, and +from the depths of whose feather-beds you were only rescued the +following morning by the muscular exertions of your valet, which, as +Kingsland aptly remarked at dinner, was a tremendous cinch for the +family ghosts, as they could haunt you all night long if they liked, +without your ever being able to retaliate. + +Altogether, it is doubtful if Stanley would ever have remembered to +dress for dinner, had not his meditations been interrupted by a series +of astonishing sounds in the hall, which seemed to betoken the movements +of great weights with strenuous exertions. Just at that moment the valet +entered with his freshly brushed dress clothes, and a question as to the +cause of the disturbance elicited the fact that: + +"They was Mr. Riddle's chests, sir," and though it wasn't his place to +say it, "he's a mighty queer old gentleman, gives magic lantern shows +and entertainments free for charity, sir." + +"From his luggage, I should imagine he was supporting an opera troupe." + +"They was labelled 'stereopticon,' sir, but they was that heavy----" + +"Thanks," broke in the Secretary. "That's quite sufficient." + +He never approved of encouraging gossip, and was not interested in the +description of the benevolent county magnate--still less in the weight +of his chests--yet he smiled quietly to himself as he dressed for +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BEFORE DINNER + + +The Lieutenant and Miss Fitzgerald were in the billiard-room, and the +former was putting in the half-hour which must elapse before dinner by +teaching the latter the science of bank-shots. + +"I say," queried her instructor, in one of the pauses of the game, "do +you know that little diplomatic affair of yours has turned up again? I +saw it driving in from the station, half an hour ago. + +"Jimsy Stanley, I suppose you mean?" + +"The same,--and look here, you won't turn crusty, if I ask you a +point-blank question?" + +"No, Dottie." + +"Don't call me that, you know I hate it." + +"Isn't it your naval sobriquet?" + +"Never mind if it is." + +"But I do mind, and I shall call you what I please, for it suits you +perfectly. Well, then, Dottie, I don't mind your asking me anything, if +it's for a purpose, and not for idle curiosity." + +"Oh, it's for a purpose fast enough." + +"Go ahead, then. I'll try and bank that ball into the side-pocket, while +you are thinking it out." + +"It doesn't need thinking out. It's just this: Do you mean business with +Little Diplomacy?" + +"What affair is that of yours?" she asked, pausing in the act of +chalking her cue. + +"None, thank goodness; but I'd like to do a pal a good turn, and so----" + +"Well?" + +"If you'll accept a bit of advice." + +"Out with it." + +"Don't lose any time, if you do mean business. He's being warned against +you." + +"Aren't you clever enough to know the result of that?" + +"Yes, if the advice comes from a woman--but supposing it's from a man?" + +"Who?" + +"Kent-Lauriston." + +Miss Fitzgerald so far forgot herself as to whistle. + +"How do you know?" + +"Gainsborough told me. He said he overheard an awful long confab between +them at the St. James, two days ago, and Diplomacy said he'd write a +letter to our hostess, sending his regrets." + +"No such letter has been received." + +"Probably he changed his mind,--but----" + +"Then he'll make a clean breast of it to me, but I'm much obliged just +the same, and I won't forget it." + +"I'll see he owns up to it." + +"You won't do anything of the sort, you'll bungle it, and there's an end +of things." + +"Have I generally bungled your affairs with Little Diplomacy?" + +"No. You were a trump about that launch party. Now I mustn't keep you +from her Ladyship--run along, and remember if I can be of any help--just +call on me." + +"You can be--and I want you to----" + +She broke in with a merry laugh. + +"I knew it." + +"Why?" + +"Because Lieutenant Kingsland doesn't generally put himself out to +oblige his friends, unless he expects them to make return with +interest." + +The gentleman in question looked sheepish and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Come now," she continued briskly. "Let me hear it, and don't go +blundering about for an explanation; the facts are sufficient. I've been +alone with you long enough. I don't wish to set myself up as a rival to +Lady Isabelle." + +"It's about her I want your help." + +"Of course, I know that. Go on." + +"You don't ask if I mean business." + +"I don't need to. I know the amount in consols which she received from +her grandmother." + +"Don't be so damned mercenary!" + +"Why not say a thing as well as mean it? Let's be honest for once in a +way. Besides, you're not to swear at me, Lieutenant Kingsland--please +remember I'm not married to you." + +"No. By Gad! I wish you were." + +"Oh, no, you don't. I haven't silver enough to cross the palm of my +hand. But to come to business. Doesn't your affair progress swimmingly?" + +"Why, it has so far--as long as the Dowager fancied there was danger +from Little Diplomacy's quarter, I was used as a foil. Now that she +learned about your claims she breathes again, and gives me the cold +shoulder in consequence." + +"I suppose you haven't been wasting your time?" + +"Rather not." + +"It's all right then?" + +"Yes, I think so; but the old lady'll never allow it." + +"Marry without consulting her." + +"That's what I mean to do." + +"Where?" + +"Why, here. Haven't we got the parson and the church attached? What +could be more convenient?" + +"Nothing, if the Marchioness doesn't suspect?" + +"But I'm afraid that she does." + +"What--not that----" + +"Only that my intentions are serious." + +"Transfer them to me then--temporarily." + +"Won't do. Devotion to Lady Isabelle is the tack. Why won't you lend me +your little affair?" + +"What, Jimsy?" + +"Yes. I fancy the old lady has a mistaken idea that he's +poverty-stricken. Of course, I know that can't be the case if you----" + +"Do not finish that sentence, Lieutenant Kingsland; I'm quite willing to +oblige you--by mentioning to the Dowager the amount of Mr. Stanley's +income--if I know it." + +"She'll accept your word for it, even if you don't, and once her +attention is turned to him, I'll have a clear field." + +"Is that the help you wanted?" + +"No, I want you to square the parson." + +"Oh, I see; that's a more difficult matter. When do you wish to command +his services?" + +"If I need 'em at all it'll be in about three days. To-day's +Thursday--say Sunday." + +"I'll do what I can." + +"You're a brick. Oh, by the way, I spoke to Darcy about that letter you +gave me at the Hyde Park Club." + +"And he told you to keep a still tongue in your head and leave it to +me." + +"How did you know that?" + +"It's good advice," she continued, ignoring his question, "and I'll give +you some more. If I make any suggestion after dinner, advocate it +warmly--put it through." + +"You mean to get that letter to-night?" + +"I must get it to-night." + +"But suppose he's left it in London?" + +"Then I must find it out this evening, and take steps to procure it +there." + +"You wouldn't have his rooms searched?" + +"I must have that letter--that's all," she replied. "You don't know what +it means to me?" + +"I don't know anything about it. But why not ask him for it?" + +"Tell him it was mine, and that I sent it to Darcy," she exclaimed, +incredulously. + +"I say," he ventured to expostulate--"you know I am no milksop--but +don't you think that you and the Colonel are getting a trifle thick? +He's a married man, you know, and----" + +She flushed angrily, and then controlling herself, said quietly: + +"Oblige me by going to the drawing-room at once, Lieutenant Kingsland. +We've been here too long already." + +He bit his lip, looked at her, laughed shamefacedly, and thrusting his +hands into his trousers' pockets, went out. + +Having given him time to make his escape, she slowly followed his +footsteps. + + * * * * * + +Stanley dreaded meeting his friends, as a man does who stands convicted +of having done something foolish, and while he was wondering whom he had +better encounter first, Lady Isabelle settled the question for him by +meeting him in the great hall. + +"This is indeed unexpected," she said. "After what you told me at Lady +Rainsford's tea, it's naturally the last place where I should have +thought of seeing you." + +"I don't suppose our hostess considered it necessary to mention that I +was coming, after all." + +"I believe that she did say something at luncheon about receiving a +telegram from you; but as you had assured me that you were not to be +here, and as I was much engaged----" + +"In literary pursuits with Lieutenant Kingsland," he said, finishing her +sentence for her, at which termination her Ladyship flushed, and the +Secretary felt that in the first round at least he had given as good as +he had received. + +"But I want you to understand the reason of my coming," he said, leading +her to a seat in a little alcove. "I feel that I owe you some +explanation." + +"I don't see why you should," she replied coldly. "I'm sure you have a +perfect right to do one thing and say another without consulting me." + +Lady Isabelle was nettled, for she felt he had trifled with the serious +side of her nature. She had offered him good advice which he had +pretended to accept, and straightway her back was turned, he had +unblushingly belied his words. + +"I beg your pardon," he said humbly. "I shouldn't have presumed to +suppose that you could have felt any real interest in my affairs." + +"Oh, but I do," she replied, somewhat mollified. "A deep interest, the +interest of a friend." + +She made it a point to qualify any statement that might be open to +possible misconstruction. + +"I see I shall have to throw myself on your mercy, and tell you the +whole truth," said Stanley, which he proceeded not to do. "I intended +to write a letter." + +"It isn't necessary. I would accept your word----" + +"But you'd still have a lingering suspicion of me in your heart. As I +was saying--I intended to write to Mrs. Roberts, declining her +invitation, and forgot to do so till this morning, and then I made a +virtue of necessity, and as it was too late to refuse, telegraphed my +hour of arrival." + +Had the light been a little stronger, he would have noted the quiet +smile which played about Lady Isabelle's face, though her silence was, +in itself, suggestive of the fact that she did not believe him. + +"I probably shan't stay more than a few days, long enough to do the +proper thing, you know." + +"Have you seen your friend?" + +"Miss Fitzgerald? On my word, I haven't laid eyes on her. The fact is, +I've quite decided to follow your advice. You must be my guardian +angel." + +Her Ladyship looked dubious at this, though the rôle of guardian angel +to an attractive young man has ever been dear to the feminine heart. +However that may be, her ultimate decision was perforce relegated to +another interview, by the appearance before them of the subject of their +conversation--Miss Belle Fitzgerald. + +This much discussed lady was dressed in the apparent simplicity which +tells of art. Her costume, the very finest of white muslins, suggested +the lithe movements of the body it encased, with every motion she made, +and her simple bodice was of the fashion of thirty years ago, a fashion +which always inspired wonder that the clothes stayed on, and awe at the +ingenuity with which that miracle must have been accomplished. A broad +frill of the same material, caught with a knot of white ribbon at her +breast, framed her dazzling throat and neck, and a yellow sash, whose +end nearly touched the floor, encircled her waist; a sash whose colour +just matched the tint of that glorious hair, which, astonishing to +relate, hung loose down her back, and was surmounted by a very tiny +white bow, which was evidently a concession to the demands of +conventionality, as it could have been of no possible use in retaining +her tresses. That Miss Fitzgerald was able not only to adopt this style, +but to carry it off with unqualified success, and the approval of all +unprejudiced observers, was its own justification. + +"I always wear my hair like this in the country," she had said at lunch. +"It is so much easier, and I'm really not old enough to paste it over my +forehead and go in for a bun behind"--this with a glance at Lady +Isabelle, which caused the Dowager Marchioness to exclaim, quite +audibly, that it was scandalous for that young person--she was sure she +had forgotten her name--to wear her hair as if she wasn't yet eighteen. +Lady Isabelle, it may be remarked, could lay no claim to anything under +twenty. + +But certainly in this case, the end justified the deed, and Miss +Fitzgerald, rejuvenated, was one of the most simple, blithesome and gay +young maidens that the sun shone on. + +Possibly this was the reason that she never saw or comprehended the +meaning of Lady Isabelle's uplifted eyebrows and steely glare, as she +drew up before the couple and violated the first rule of fair and open +warfare by interrupting their tęte-ā-tęte. + +"Well, Jimsy," she said, using a form of address that the rack would +never have wrung from his companion, "How are you? Feeling fit?" + +He smiled uneasily, and, for the sake of saying something, since her +Ladyship preserved an ominous silence, remarked: + +"There's no need of putting that question to you." + +"Rather not. Once I'm in the country, I'm as frisky as a young colt," +she rattled on. "I'm going to have such fun with you and Kingsland, and +I expect to be, as usual, quite spoiled. Now, how are you going to +begin?" + +"Really," he faltered, rising in an access of agitation, for Lady +Isabelle's expression was fearful to behold. + +"You shall run along with me to Mrs. Roberts," she continued, not giving +him an opportunity to flounder, "and tell her that she must send us down +to dinner together. Because you're a diplomat and will have a post of +honour, and the butler has given me the tip that we're to have just one +round of '80 champagne before the dessert, and you know we really must +have the first of the bottle, there is sure to be sediment farther +down." + +"You must excuse me, but you see-- Lady Isabelle," and he indicated that +stony personage. + +"Oh, I beg Lady Isabelle's pardon--it was so dark I didn't see her!" she +cried in a fit of demure shyness, and added--"If I have said anything +indiscreet, do explain it, there's a dear, good Jimsy." + +"It's not necessary," came the icy tones of his companion. "I shouldn't +think of keeping you, Mr. Stanley, from such congenial society." + +"At least, let me escort you to the drawing-room." + +"Don't trouble yourself, I beg. I dare say I shall find some people +there who are contented to wait till their proper precedence has been +allotted to them," and she turned away. + +"Oh, yes," the irrepressible Belle called after her. "I just sent +Kingsland up there. He's been showing me bank notes in the +billiard-room. I thought I'd never get rid of him." + +If her Ladyship heard this information she betrayed no sign of the fact, +and Miss Fitzgerald returned to more congenial fields. + +"You behaved disgracefully," said Stanley, as they went in search of +Mrs. Roberts, "and I shall have to spend most of this evening in trying +to make my peace with Lady Isabelle." + +"Poor, proper Jimsy! Was he shocked? But I really couldn't help it, you +know--she's such a funny old thing." + +The Secretary wisely changed the subject. + +When they discovered Mrs. Roberts she assured them that their proposed +arrangement at table suited her exactly, but could not forbear +whispering in her niece's ear: + +"I shouldn't think you'd have thought it necessary to ask. Of course, +I'd arranged it that way." + +To which Miss Belle whispered in return: + +"Don't be stupid!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTER DINNER + + +When the Secretary entered the drawing-room he received a distinct shock +of surprise. + +The one person in the party unknown to him was Mr. Riddle. Yet those +high cheek-bones, that prominent nose between the deep-set, restless +eyes, peering out under their shaggy eyebrows, were strangely familiar. +He had seen them once before when they and their owner occupied a cab +together with his fair dinner partner. He was on the point of saying so +to her, but restrained himself, he hardly knew why, in deference, +perhaps, to his diplomatic training, which forbade him ever to say +anything unnecessary. + +Fate placed him next to the Dowager Marchioness, who was manifestly +displeased at his presence, and lost no time in making him feel +thoroughly uncomfortable. + +"I had always supposed," she began, before he was fairly seated at the +table, "that at this season of the year there was a great deal of +activity in the diplomatic world." + +"There is," answered Stanley hastily, scenting danger, and anxious to +turn the conversation from his own affairs. "Most countries have a +little leisure, and, like Satan, expend the time in making and finding +mischief." + +"That is, of course, a matter of which I am no judge, Mr. Stanley, but I +should have supposed, under the circumstances, you would naturally be +much occupied." + +"We are," he replied, a trifle flippantly. Flippancy, he had noticed, +was the one thing that drove the Marchioness to the verge of +desperation. "My Minister and my colleagues are working like +draught-horses." + +"While you----" began her Ladyship. + +"I'm working also--hard," and he turned himself and the conversation to +the fair Miss Fitzgerald, while the Dowager said things in a loud tone +of voice about youthful diplomacy to Mr. Lambert, the local incumbent, +who had taken her down to dinner. + +The Secretary was no more fortunate with his dinner partner. Not that +she rated him; far from it; but she was evidently making conversation, +and he could not help feeling that the cordial good fellowship which had +hitherto existed between them was now lacking, and that a restraint had +taken its place, which, to say the least, did not promote their mutual +ease. But there, he would have a talk with her when opportunity offered, +and they would understand each other and be as good friends as ever; +nothing more. He knew himself now. He was sure she had never been so +foolish as to suppose for an instant that their intimacy could mean +anything further. She would probably laugh at him if he proposed to +her--which he would not do, of course--but all the same he must make +some sort of an explanation, and--what was she saying?--he had not +spoken for a whole course--what must she be thinking of him? He pulled +himself together, and rattled on, till his hostess gave the signal for +the ladies to leave the table. + +The interval for rest, refreshment, and tobacco promised to be somewhat +wearisome, for Kingsland seemed moody and abstracted, and Riddle and the +Reverend Reginald Lambert offered, to Stanley's mind, little hope of +amusement. + +The good pastor was a bit of an archæologist, an enthusiast on the +subject of early ecclesiastical architecture, and the nominal duties of +his living left him much spare time for the exploitation of this +harmless fad. He was possessed of considerable manual dexterity and a +certain nicety in the manipulation of whatever he undertook, whether it +were the restoration of parchments or the handling of leaden coffins, +but apart from his hobby he was as prosy as the most typical member of +his calling. + +As the Secretary could not tell a nave from a chapter house, a very few +minutes served to exhaust his interest in the good old gentleman, and he +turned to Mr. Riddle in sheer desperation. Stanley had conceived a +dislike for the stranger from the first moment he had heard he was a +fellow-guest, either from his reputation for beneficence or his +mysterious acquaintance with Miss Fitzgerald. He had at once put him +down as a hypocrite, and his attitude towards him was reserved in +consequence. This sort of man, he told himself, takes a pride in his +good deeds, and can be most easily approached on that subject. +Accordingly he drew up his chair and opened the conversation with some +allusion to the chests of stereopticon fittings. + +"Yes, they're bulky," replied Mr. Riddle, "and I was almost ashamed to +bring them with me-- I trust they've not annoyed you." + +"On the contrary, I was hoping we might be favoured with a view of their +contents." + +"Oh, no," he said, his face lighting up with a frank smile, which +appealed to the Secretary in spite of his prejudices. "I never inflict +my fads on my friends. I'd promised to send them on to a man in London, +and, as I was coming in this direction, brought them part way myself. +You see, the average porter cannot understand that a thing may be heavy +and yet fragile--if a chest weighs a great deal--and you'd be surprised +how heavy a case of slides can be--he bangs it about regardless of +labels and warnings; so I generally try to keep an eye on them, or put +them in the charge of some trusty friend." + +"You are much interested in these things?" + +"The slides? Oh, yes,--collecting them becomes quite absorbing, and now +these clever scientists of ours are able to photograph directly on them, +it increases our field immensely." + +"Of course the good you can do with them must be their chief charm to +you----" began the Secretary, sententiously. + +The answer surprised him. + +"Not at all. On the contrary, my charities, if they _are_ charities, are +of a very selfish sort. I suppose you've some kind of amusement which +you turn to in your hours for relaxation? Golf, tennis, hunting, what +not. These little entertainments are--mine. I thoroughly enjoy them. The +fact is, I'm passionately fond of children, and not having any of my +own, I've adopted everybody else's for the time being. But it's selfish, +purely selfish. Some benighted idiots call me a philanthropist--I'd like +to have them come pressing their claims for lazy heathen in my bank +parlour, they'd find out what sort of business man I was." And this +queer specimen doubled up his fists, and broke into a roar of laughter, +which was too hearty to have been assumed. "I'll tell you what it is," +he continued, "if it wasn't for our good dominie there, I'd admit to you +that I hate a real professional philanthropist--ten to one he's a +humbug." + +The parson held up his hands, and Stanley laughed nervously--the man was +actually voicing his own thoughts. + +"As for charity-- Bah! Charity begins at home. It doesn't go racing over +the country with magic lantern shows--that's real downright, selfish +egotism." + +Then, evidently feeling that the conversation had proceeded far enough +in this direction, he broke off suddenly, remarking: + +"They tell me that you're a diplomat." + +"Yes," said the Secretary. "Perhaps you know my chief?" + +"I've not that honour. Indeed I've never had any dealings with your +countrymen but once, and then I'd reason to regret it." + +"Really? I'm sorry to hear that." + +"It was with a large manufacturing company," he continued, and mentioned +the name of the concern which had such a sinister reputation in regard +to the treaty. + +"Oh," said the Secretary, at once alert for any information he might +pick up. "You mustn't judge my countrymen by that concern--anyway I +understand that it's really owned in England." + +"Ah, is it so? I can't say how that may be, I'm sure; but I know they +kept so closely to the letter of their contracts with my bank, that it +almost crossed the border line from strict business to sharp dealing." + +"I'm sorry you should have been annoyed, but I know nothing about it. +We--my father, is interested in sugar, and that, as you see, wouldn't +bring us into any connection with their line of business." + +"No, of course not. Do you happen to know who _are_ the heads of the +firm in this country?" + +"I haven't any idea," the Secretary answered, very tersely. "I fancy +they're in the nature of silent partners. But I dare say they might be +known in business circles." + +"Oh, the matter doesn't interest me--except as I've mentioned. It was +recalled to my mind by some notice of a treaty I saw the other day in +the papers--which I should fancy would rather cripple their resources, +if it went through." + +The Secretary held his peace, and silence falling upon the room, the +Reverend Reginald deposited the butt of his cigar tenderly in the +ash-tray, and blew his nose lustily, as a preparatory signal for a +retreat to the upper regions. The others obeyed the hint, and a moment +later were on their way to the drawing-room. + + * * * * * + +Miss Fitzgerald's resentment towards the Lieutenant had been +short-lived, and she was quite ready to aid and abet him to the extent +of her power, the more so as his success would upset the most cherished +plans of the Marchioness, who was, for the time being, the Irish girl's +pet detestation. Accordingly she took up her station near that matron, +who descended on her forthwith. + +"I suppose, my dear," said the Dowager, with an assumption of friendly +interest that was even more terrible to behold than the coldness of her +wrath, "I _can_ only suppose, from what I could not help observing at +table this evening, that you are soon to be a subject of +congratulations." + +"Really I don't understand." + +"Of course, I shouldn't think of forcing your confidence, but when an +engagement is unannounced there's a degree of uncertainty." + +"Oh, but I think you're mistaken," said Miss Fitzgerald, lifting her +liquid blue eyes to the Dowager's face, with an expression of innocence, +which was the perfection of art. "I'm much too young to think of such +things--besides, who'd have me, with no dower except my beauty, such as +it is, which, as your Ladyship knows, is not lasting." + +The Marchioness fairly snorted with rage. She had been a Court belle in +her time. + +"Some country parson, perhaps," continued Miss Fitzgerald reflectively; +"but then I fear I should not make a good parson's wife." + +"I should doubt it," assented the Dowager with asperity. + +"No millionaires would think of me for a moment." + +"I did not know there were any such here." + +"What, not Mr. Stanley?" + +"Mr. Stanley?" + +"Why, to be sure. He's worth millions they say. Stanley & Son, South +American sugar. Anyone in the city would confirm my statements, but you +don't know the city of course-- Lieutenant Kingsland could tell you more +about him if you cared to hear it," and she moved away as the gentlemen +entered the room, and running up to Stanley, exclaimed:-- + +"You've been an interminable length of time over your cigars. Men are +so selfish and I'm simply dying for a game of hearts." + +"You play it so much I should think you would tire of it," he said, +smiling. + +"Tut! tut! naughty man! This is serious business. Sixpence a heart, and +you mustn't win, for I'm quite impoverished. You'll be one of the party, +Jack," she continued, turning to Kingsland, who had just come up. + +"Nothing I should like better. I always approve of assisting the +undeserving," replied the Lieutenant, and added: "I'll get Lady Isabelle +to join us." A very valuable piece of assistance, as her Ladyship would +hardly have done so on Miss Fitzgerald's unsupported invitation; and +since it was manifestly an affair of the young people, this deflection +might have ruined all. + +The Lieutenant's request, however, had due weight, and she graciously +consented to join the party, which was further augmented by Mr. Riddle, +who declared that "young people" meant anyone who felt young, and so he +did not intend to be excluded. + +The cards were accordingly shuffled, but during the deal, Belle +discovered that though she had a pencil, no paper for scoring was +anywhere obtainable. + +"Oh, any old scrap will do," she said. "Surely some of you gentlemen +have an old envelope on which we can keep tally. Jack? Mr. Riddle?" + +Both gentlemen professed to an utter absence of any available material. + +"You, Jim--then?" she queried, turning to the Secretary. + +"I don't generally carry my correspondence round in my evening clothes," +he protested, laughing. + +"Idiot!" she retorted, with an affected depth of scorn. "How can you +tell unless you've looked?" + +"Oh well," he replied, "to please you----" and thrust his hand into the +pocket of his coat. "Why," he exclaimed, "here is something! I declare, +it's that mysterious letter which I intercepted at the Hyde Park Club +night before last. Let me see, Kingsland, I think it dropped from the +ceiling into your hands." + +"The letter belongs to me," came the keen voice of Mr. Riddle. + +"To you!" said Stanley, in genuine surprise. + +"Yes. I gave it to Lieutenant Kingsland at the Hyde Park Club." + +"But surely," contended the Secretary, "Lieutenant Kingsland told me, +only that morning, that he didn't know who you were." + +Silence fell on the little company. The Lieutenant flushed and moved +uneasily in his seat, and Miss Fitzgerald leaned forward with a strained +look in her face, while the keen, restless eye of Mr. Riddle swept round +the table, taking in all present at a glance. + +Then he spoke, with quick decision. + +"Quite true. I did not till to-day have the pleasure of _knowing_ +Lieutenant Kingsland. I saw him leaving the room at the club, however, +and though he was a stranger, ventured, as I was unable to leave my +party, to ask him to do me the favour to post a letter for me, handing +him two-pence for the stamp. I had, it seems, very carelessly forgotten +to address it." + +"Yes," broke in the Lieutenant, catching his breath. "You remember I +told you I didn't know who had given it to me." + +"You will notice," continued Mr. Riddle, "that the envelope is sealed +with the initials A. R. inclosed in scroll work. Here"--detaching it +from his watch chain--"is the seal with which the impression was made." + +A cursory glance assured Stanley that it was the same. + +"If you doubt my statement," continued Mr. Riddle affably, "we can +procure some wax and make a duplicate----" + +The Secretary hastened to disclaim any such intention. Why should he +doubt this gentleman's word? Kingsland corroborated his story, and the +letter was no concern of his, anyway. Indeed, as he said, in handing it +over to its owner, he felt that he owed him an apology for his +unwarrantable interference in the matter. + +At this point Miss Fitzgerald resumed the conversation. + +"There!" she cried. "You and your stupid letter have lost me the deal, +for I don't know where I left off. Take the cards and deal for me-- I'll +run downstairs and get a clean sheet of paper, and come in on the next +hand," and suiting the action to the word, she pushed the pack over to +Stanley, and ran from the room. + +A moment later the game was in progress. Mr. Riddle was the life and +soul of the party, and his irresistible mirth and good humour put every +one at his ease. + +The impoverished, it is perhaps needless to say, were duly remunerated; +and the Secretary, after a round of whiskies and sodas, retired to his +room, feeling that the evening had been a triumphant success, and +reflecting ruefully that he was yet very young, for a little brief +authority had made him suspicious of everybody. Had he not put down Mr. +Riddle as a hypocrite, when that gentleman was one of the most open, +whole-hearted and mirthful personages in existence? As for the letter it +was an unfortunate incident, very successfully brought to a close. +Something was wrong with Belle, however. She had left him with a shrug +and laugh, saying: "Oh, there is no real gambling in a mere game of +cards. Try life!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A MORNING CALL + + +The Dowager was being created for the day. Created seems the only term +applicable to the process, for Lily, Marchioness of Port Arthur, as +finished by her Maker and her maid, were two entirely distinct and +separate articles. Stimson alone was initiated in these mysteries. Even +Lady Isabelle had never been allowed to see her mother as she really +was, and no one exactly knew how she was put together, though several +tradesmen in Bond Street might have been able to make shrewd guesses at +her component parts. + +The Dowager never appeared in public until lunch time. She had, she told +her friends, earned the right to this little luxury now that the +struggle of life was nearly over. Doubtless her Ladyship knew best what +she had done to deserve such an indulgence. But, be that as it may, her +daily retirement gave her a much coveted opportunity for attending to +matters in the private life of other people, and one of these affairs +claimed her attention after the Secretary's arrival at Roberts' Hall. + +Stimson had finished her morning's budget; that is, she had retailed to +her Ladyship all those things about which the Dowager declared +pathetically she had not the slightest desire to know, but which, had +the maid omitted to mention them, would have cost her her place. + +"And so, as I was saying, my Lady," Stimson concluded her recital, "Mr. +Stalbridge, the butler, he tells me as there was a strange lady come to +Coombe Farm yesterday, a foreigner like." + +"I do not know, Stimson, why you worry me with these trivialities," said +the Dowager, "in which I can have no possible interest. You say she was +a foreigner?" + +"Yes, my lady. A Spaniard, Mr. Stalbridge thought, and her name----" + +"You needn't trouble me to tell me her name, Stimson." + +"No, my Lady. I shouldn't presume, my Lady. But, of course, when I heard +as it was Madame Darcy, I couldn't help thinking----" + +"I do not employ you to think, Stimson. I understand you to say that the +lady's name was Madame Darcy? Surely my daughter met a Madame Darcy the +other night, somewhere?" + +"Yes, my Lady, at Mr. Stanley's dinner." + +"It is quite immaterial to me where Lady Isabelle met this person. But, +as you say, it _was_ at Mr. Stanley's dinner. So I infer she must be a +friend of his." + +"She's not staying at the Hall, my Lady." + +"No," said the Marchioness. "I shouldn't have supposed she would stay at +the Hall. Stimson, you may get me my bonnet and a light shawl." + +"But I thought your Ladyship said as how you was not well enough to go +out this morning." + +"I said, Stimson, that you could get me my bonnet and a light shawl. +Perhaps a little air will do me good." + +"If your Ladyship was thinking of taking a little stroll, it's very +pretty towards the Coombe Farm, not ten minutes' walk across the Park to +the left of the house." + +"As you very well know, Stimson," her mistress remarked with asperity, +"I am too nearly tottering on the brink of the grave to venture out of +the garden. Perhaps there is a side-door by which I can leave the house +and be alone. I shouldn't have the strength to talk to anybody." + +"No, your Ladyship. I'll show you the way, and if Mrs. Roberts should +send to inquire for your Ladyship's health----" + +"Say I have been obliged to lie down by a headache, and shall not appear +till lunch." + +"But if anyone saw your Ladyship----" + +"In that case," snapped the Marchioness, "I should be obliged to dismiss +you as being untruthful." + +In a good cause the Dowager was only too apt to overtax her strength, +and this was probably the reason why, half an hour later, she was +obliged to sink down on a wooden bench outside the door of Coombe Farm +and request the privilege of resting herself for a few minutes. The +farmer's wife, who, like most people of her class, took a vast interest +in the guests at the Hall, knew intuitively that she was a Marchioness, +and having ducked almost to the dust, rushed into the house to get her +Ladyship a glass of fresh milk and impart the astounding intelligence to +her lodger. A moment later Madame Darcy appeared upon the scene. + +"I am going to take the liberty of introducing myself, as I have the +pleasure of knowing your daughter," she said. + +Her Ladyship was affable in the extreme. + +"This is, indeed, a pleasure, Madame Darcy," she murmured. "Dear +Isabelle was so impressed with you the other night that she has done +nothing but talk of you since; but, of course, I could not have supposed +my walk would have had such a charming termination. Is not your coming +into the country rather unexpected?" + +"Yes," replied Madame Darcy. "It is what you in this country call a +whim, is it not? I am not yet quite sure of your language." + +The Marchioness smiled indulgently. + +"Yes," she said, "that's quite right. It is very clever of you." + +"I do not like your London," pursued the stranger. "It suffocates me, +and I wish to run away into the country." + +"And how did you know of this charming spot?" said her Ladyship, still +angling on general principles. + +"Oh, I have heard it mentioned." + +"By Mr. Stanley, perhaps?" suggested the Dowager. "You knew he was to be +here." + +"Oh, yes," rejoined Madame Darcy, judging it better to be frank. "But I +came here to be quite alone. I need rest and quiet." + +"I see," said the Marchioness, who was quite bewildered. "But you and +Mr. Stanley are very old friends, are you not?" + +"Our fathers were. We have not met often recently." + +"Yes, yes, of course," said the Marchioness. "Mr. Stanley told me. He's +such a nice young fellow. We often see him at our house. I take quite an +interest in him. And how pleasantly he is situated, too. Diplomacy is +such a delightful profession. But then"--and here she sighed +gently--"like other delightful things in this world it must require a +very long purse." + +If Madame Darcy had had any knowledge of English manners and customs, +the Dowager's method of attack would have put her on her guard at once. +But being totally unversed in the ways of British matrimonial diplomacy, +she took the Marchioness' remarks to mean nothing more than an +expression of kindly interest in the young man's welfare, and did not +hesitate to inform her that the Secretary was amply able to afford any +position he chose to take. + +"Oh, yes," said the Dowager. "His father's greatly interested in sugar, +I believe. Or is it salt? I am very ignorant about these matters. Which +do you grow in your country?" + +Madame Darcy repressed a smile and informed her guest that Mr. Stanley's +father grew sugar, and was one of the most wealthy planters in that +section of the world. + +"Well, I must be going now," said the Marchioness. "I have had such a +pleasant little chat, and I shall certainly ask Mrs. Roberts to call on +you." + +"Oh, pray don't," returned Madame Darcy. "That is--excuse me, I did not +mean to be rude--but I have come down here for absolute rest, and do not +feel in the mood for any gaiety." + +"I quite understand," said the Dowager, "and will respect your feelings. +Indeed, I will not mention having met you at all, and then no one need +be the wiser. No, thanks. I shall be quite able to go by myself. Perhaps +we may meet again in London. You must ask Mr. Stanley to bring you to +call on me. Such a nice young fellow! He ought to be married to keep him +out of mischief." And the Marchioness returned to her room to complete +her headache. + +Scarcely fifteen minutes had elapsed since the Dowager's departure, +when, just by accident, Stanley strolled by, and lifting his eyes caught +sight of Madame Darcy's face at the cottage window. + +"What!" he exclaimed. "You here!" and stood silent a moment as a wave of +feeling rushed over him, the first pleasure of seeing her sad sweet face +being swept away by consternation at the thought of how she had played +into her husband's hands by following him to this place. + +She read what was in his mind, saying, with that charming accent which +appealed to him so strongly: + +"You should not express your thoughts so clearly in your face. You are +thinking--but it is not of me--it is of yourself--in this part of the +world men think only of themselves--in my country they think of us." And +she gave a sigh. + +"You are, what you English call 'put out' at my coming--you think it +will compromise you--strange country where the men consider that they +will be compromised. You do not think of me, not one little bit--eh? I +am right?" + +"I'm afraid so," he said. "You see, nowadays, chivalry doesn't exist far +north or south of the equator." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"I carry my own climate, my own atmosphere," she said. + +The Secretary bowed. + +"No? You are not convinced? I had thought better of you." + +"You see," he said, feeling it wiser to be blunt, feeling that he must, +if possible, bring this wayward, entrancing, fantastic creature within +the limits of practical common sense. "You see, your precious husband +has been making trumped-up charges against me, on your account, which +are highly unpleasant." + +"He is a beast!" + +"Quite so, but as far as circumstantial evidence goes, he has some cause +on his side. Your arrival at my private apartments in London was most +unfortunate; but your following me here was simply the worst sort of +foolishness." + +The Secretary was aggrieved and showed it; but the result of his plaint +was most unexpected. + +His fair companion sprang to her feet and gave him a flashing glance, +that startled him out of the fancied security of his egotism. + +"I come here to follow you! How dare you?" + +"Oh, I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to be rude, really; but I +naturally inferred----" + +"No!" she cried. "Why should I come for you?-- Bah! I come for _her_!" + +"For whom?" + +"For _her_," she cried, pointing towards the Hall. + +"For her?" inquired Stanley, somewhat dazed by this unexpected change of +base. "But who is she?" + +"I do not know. I do not care; but she writes to my husband--she makes +appointments with him." + +"Oh, the nameless friend." + +"Now you understand why I have come?" + +"Yes, I see. Still I think it lays you open to misconstruction. You had +better return to London. I suppose you know you were followed to my +house?" + +She snapped her fingers airily. + +"I care just that for being followed. What of it?" + +"My dear Inez, you forget that you're not in our native country. We +can't fight duels galore in this part of the world, and cut the throats +of inconvenient witnesses. People will talk; there are the newspapers; +and--the dowagers; and the nonconformist conscience to be considered. +You don't know what you are letting me--I mean yourself, in for." + +"I tell you, I must confirm my suspicions. I must see your--what you +call it--your visitors' book--which they have in great houses-- I must +compare the handwriting of the guests with the handwriting of these +letters. When I have proved my case I will return to London--not one +moment before. You are my friend, you will help me." + +"Of course I will help you; but I assure you there is no one in the +house who could be suspected for a moment." + +"At least, you will help me to prove myself wrong?" and she shot at him +one of those unsettling glances. + +"Of course--with all my heart--and then you'll go back to London and +take Mr. Sanks' advice, won't you?" + +"You are very anxious to have me go," she said, piqued. + +"No, no!" he assured her hastily. "Far from it; but can't you see--that +it is for your sake that I urge it. Supposing anyone saw us now; what +would they think, what could they think--an early morning rendezvous." + +"They would say that you were making a report to me of your progress in +discovering the plot against the treaty between England and our +country." + +He looked at her dumbfounded and said nothing. Indeed there was nothing +he could say without risking some imprudent disclosure. + +"Ah," she cried, laughing merrily at his discomfiture. "You see, you +diplomats do not know everything. It is true I only write supervised +letters home, but that does not prevent my receiving letters from my +country first hand, and my father has written much about this treaty. It +seems they are going to try and bribe the Senators to defeat it, with +money raised here, and some cowardly scoundrel has been engaged as +go-between." + +Stanley stood looking at her in horrified astonishment. Was it possible +that if she knew so much she did not know that she was condemning her +own husband? But her next words proved to him that such must be the +case. + +"My father writes me," she continued, "that on proving the identity of +this go-between, the success or failure of the plot depends, and so far, +the government have been at a loss to identify him." + +The Secretary, who held the key to the situation, could see excellent +reasons why the Executive had kept Seņor De Costa in the dark; what +Madame was saying was evidently what everybody knew. Of the truth she +had not the remotest inkling. + +"Well," she cried gaily, "why don't you speak?" + +"I have nothing to say," he replied. + +"Diplomatic to the end, I see," she retorted. "But you can't expect to +share my confidences unless you give me yours. Now tell me, have you +discovered any of the conspirators yet?" + +"I can truthfully say," he replied, "that as far as I know, there is +nobody at Roberts' Hall connected with the conspiracy to which you +allude." + +"So you've come down here at the busiest season of your year on +indefinite leave just to pay a country-house visit." + +"How did you know that?" he asked. + +"Randell," she replied. + +"Good Heavens!" he cried, "you haven't been to my rooms again." + +"Naturally not," she returned coldly. "Your servant brought a pair of +gloves to my hotel, which I left at your rooms." + +The Secretary bit his lips and changed the conversation, and made a +mental note of the fact that if Randell was becoming talkative, he would +have to go. + +"You asked me," he said, "if I had discovered one of the agents of this +mysterious treaty of which you seem to know so much. Perhaps you will +tell me if you have?" + +"Yes," she said, smiling. + +"Who is it?" he asked. + +"Ah!" she cried. "I thought I should break down your reserve." + +"Well," he said sheepishly, "what have you to say?" + +"Nothing," she replied. "I only exchange confidences for confidences. +Tell me whom you suspect, and I will tell you whom I know." + +"What you ask is impossible," he replied, feeling that he could never +wound her by admitting his suspicions of her husband. + +"So be it," she said gaily, giving him her hand, and added, "Come and +see me again when you can spare a little time from your detective work." + +The Secretary saw she was laughing at him, and took his leave +discomfited. Madame Darcy watched him go, and sighed gently as she +turned to re-enter the house. She also had felt that she would not have +dared to wound him by mentioning her suspicions. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SERIOUS SIDE OF MISS FITZGERALD'S NATURE + + +It may have been contrition for her shortcomings which induced Miss +Fitzgerald to offer her services to the Reverend Reginald Lambert to +assist in decorating the altar of the little church for the ensuing +Sunday, and it may not. At any rate, she did offer them, and they were +gratefully accepted. + +She was dressed in a garb which would have befitted a postulant for a +religious order, and her sweet seriousness, and altogether becoming +demeanour, charmed the Reverend Reginald. + +The old parson was, it is needless to say, a thorough nonentity, and the +skilful attentions of his fair assistant were the more appreciated, +because the more rare. + +"It's very kind of you, my dear," he said, "to give so much of your time +to helping an old man." + +"I'm afraid I don't give up half enough. I think we should give +ourselves to the serious side of life at least for a little while every +week, don't you? We are so apt to devote ourselves to frivolities." + +"I'm very glad to hear you say that. Young people are none too serious +nowadays; but I'm sure you're too strong a nature to be wholly +frivolous." + +"I'm afraid not, but I often do things I don't care for, to keep myself +from thinking. My life hasn't been all a bed of roses, Mr. Lambert." + +"You surprise me," he said, sitting down in the front pew to get a +better view of their united arrangement of potted plants. "That's very +pretty, my dear. Now come and sit by me, and tell me all about it, and +if an old man's advice----" + +"Oh, I _do_ so want advice," she said. "You can't realise what the life +I lead means to a girl--my parents are both dead, you know." + +"Yes, poor child. I remember; Mrs. Roberts told me. How sad!" + +"I've no settled home-- I knock about. I try my best, I do indeed, Mr. +Lambert; but with no one to advise me--no older woman than myself who +really cares--it is at times very hard." + +"But you've relatives--Mrs. Roberts." + +"Yes, of course, they're very kind, and all that; but a young girl needs +far more than what she could ask of a remote relative. She needs +watchful care, constant protection. You've had a daughter, Mr. Lambert." + +"Yes, yes, I know. My dear Mary was a model girl, Miss Fitzgerald; a +good child is a great blessing. I see your position." + +"I'm sure you do. Try as one may, a young girl has not that experience +which comes with age, her best efforts are sometimes misinterpreted-- +I've suffered keenly myself." + +"My poor child," said the old rector, patting her hand in a fatherly +manner. "My poor child! You yourself see the need of a guiding hand." + +"I do, I do. Having no one to fight life's battle for me, I've become of +necessity self-reliant." + +"Of course, of course." + +"It has been misinterpreted, misunderstood. I've been called--hard; +worse-- I've been thought----" Her voice broke. + +"My dear child," said the old man, "you'll forgive my speaking plainly, +but you should be married. You need a husband. Someone who will take the +responsibility from you." + +Miss Fitzgerald breathed a contented little sigh, and her bowed head +leaned, oh, so lightly, against his shoulder! + +"I hoped you would say that," she murmured. + +"Is there someone--then--someone you love? You rejoice me exceedingly." + +Resuming a more erect posture, she said earnestly: + +"Tell me, Mr. Lambert, would you ever consent to perform a +marriage--quietly--very quietly--say, with the knowledge of only the +contracting parties and witnesses?" + +"If there were good and sufficient reasons. Of course, if the young +lady's parents were living, I should wish to be assured of their consent +first." + +"Oh!" murmured Miss Fitzgerald. + +"But, in your own case, if you really wished it, though it seems +unnecessary, I could make some such arrangement as you suggest, because +no one would be affected but yourself, though if a large estate or title +was involved it would be a very different matter." + +His companion thought long and deeply; then, looking up at him, she +said: + +"Would you, would you, dear Mr. Lambert, accept my word for it that +silence is necessary?" + +"I--yes. I suppose so. But, Mrs. Roberts?" + +"I can assure you that Mrs. Roberts approves of my marrying; but----" +and she laid her finger on her lips. + +"Well, as you please; but remember the responsibility rests with you; +then there would have to be witnesses." + +"I could promise that Lady Isabelle McLane would be present, and the +best man would be the other." + +"Quite so--but--when would you wish the ceremony to take place?" + +"Say Sunday." + +"But, my dear young lady--there are the fifteen days required by +law--unless, of course, you have a special licence." + +"Perhaps there _is_ a special licence." + +"Of course in that case everything is easy--but do nothing rash. +Marriage is a most solemn covenant, and I should strongly advise that +you speak to Mrs. Roberts. Indeed, I hardly know if I----" + +"I have your word, Mr. Lambert. I'll come to you to-morrow, may I? and +you'll talk to me earnestly, very earnestly, about it all. It will be +decided then--and if I should wish it before early service Sunday +morning, you would help me, I know. But remember, it's a secret, and oh, +you're so kind!" And taking his hand, she kissed it. + +"But, my dear," stammered the old man, quite flustered by this +unexpected mark of affection, "you haven't even told me the gentleman's +name." + +Bending over, she whispered softly, "Lieutenant Kingsland," and fled out +of the church. + + * * * * * + +In the light of the events of the morning, Miss Fitzgerald was naturally +desirous of becoming better acquainted with the appearance of a special +licence, and in the seclusion of the billiard-room, Lieutenant Kingsland +was able to gratify her curiosity. + +"Quite an expensive luxury, I've been given to understand," she said +reflectively, regarding the parchment. + +"Yes," admitted Kingsland regretfully, "it means a special messenger to +the Archbishop, wherever he may happen to be. He never's by any chance +at 'Lambeth' when you want him, and fees all along the line." + +"A matter of forty pounds, I've been told." + +"Well, call it thirty. I know the crowd." + +"I shouldn't have suspected you of being ecclesiastical." + +"It's a long story, and not to the point. Now, what have you done?" + +"Considering that you were thoughtful enough to procure that licence, +I've done everything." + +"Bravo! When can the ceremony take place?" + +"Before early service Sunday morning, say a quarter to eight." + +"The sooner the better. I'm a thousand times obliged. You're a little +brick, and I shall never forget it." + +"I shall ask for a return some day," she said. + +"And you shall have it, no matter what. Is there nothing more?" + +"Only this. You know Mr. Lambert is somewhat aged, very blind--don't +forget that--and a trifle deaf; so, though I assure you I never said so, +I'm quite sure he is under the impression that you're going to +marry--me." + +"But I don't understand." + +"Mr. Lambert informed me that in the case of a person of importance, or +one whose parents were living, he couldn't perform the ceremony +privately--that is, as privately as you would wish; but as regarded +myself, an orphan--you see?" + +"But the name?" + +"Are we not both Isabelles? Besides, he is old, and deaf, and nearly +blind, and the bride and I will both be closely veiled, under the +circumstances. If we should appear to have signed our names in the wrong +places in the registry--why, it's a stupid blunder that any one might +make on such a trying occasion." + +"But how account for Lady Isabelle's presence?" + +"He asked me concerning the witnesses, and I promised that her Ladyship +would be there. As for the other?" + +"My best man will serve." + +"Who is he?" + +Kingsland laughed. + +"Wait and see," he said. "He's an old friend of yours. Anything else?" + +"Yes, two things. Keep a still tongue in your head, and have the bride +there to the minute." + +"I promise. Belle, you're the best friend a man ever had." + +"Not at all. I'm only doing you a service--for a service in return." + +"What is that?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure; but any woman who lives the life I do is sure, +some day, to want a friend who is sufficiently in her debt--to--well, do +anything that may be needful. You understand?" + +"Done!" he cried, and wrung her hand. + +"Oh, by the way," she added, "I've given the Marchioness her tip, and I +don't imagine Jimsy's life will be worth living in consequence." + +"Couldn't you help to make it a little more bearable--for instance?" +insinuated the Lieutenant. + +"It takes two to make a bargain of that sort," she returned. + +"All right," he said, laughing. "I'll see that Little Diplomacy gets a +steer in your direction," and he started to leave the room. + +"No; I forbid you to do anything of the sort," she called after him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SERIOUS SIDE OF THE SECRETARY'S NATURE + + +In virtue of his good resolution to point out to Miss Fitzgerald the +error of her ways, the Secretary had been nerving himself to an +interview with her on this delicate question, and as result, when he +found himself alone with Lieutenant Kingsland in the smoking-room after +dinner that evening, both were silent. Each had something to think +about, yet each was thinking about the same thing. The Secretary +abstractedly wondering how he was to commence the awkward interview +which was staring him in the face; while the young officer, relying on +the axiom that "a woman never says what she means," was pondering over +the best way in which to go to work upon his companion, in order to +induce him to open his heart to the lady in question. + +"I say, Stanley," he remarked, "do you know Bob Darcy?" + +"Darcy? No, I don't think so." + +"Why, he's the chap whose wife chaperoned your little dinner that night +at the Hyde Park Club, when Lady Rainsford failed you." + +"No, I don't know him. Do you?" + +"I--oh, very slightly--I assure you--never exchanged more than half a +dozen words with him in my life." + +"I thought you seemed pretty well acquainted at Lady Rainsford's tea." + +"I"--faltered the young man--"I think you're mistaken." + +Stanley smiled quietly, as the nature of the conversation he had +overheard came back to his mind--he was getting on. + +"I'm afraid," he remarked, "that your friend doesn't attract me. What +did you wish to say about him?" + +"Only that he's awfully gone on Belle Fitzgerald, means business, and +all that--lucky dog--I think he'll win hands down," and Lieutenant +Kingsland heaved a sigh. + +"But he's married, surely?" + +"Oh, yes, I believe he is--but it hasn't been an unqualified success. I +understand there's a divorce in the air, and after that--of course----" + +"He's treated his wife like a brute!" spluttered Stanley. + +"Don't know, I'm sure. He's a jolly good fellow at the club. Any way, +he'd put a job with Belle to do the platonic under Mrs. Roberts' +protecting roof for a week or two, when what does our hostess do but cut +up rusty about his marital infelicities, and refuse to invite him. +Rather a sell on the little Fitzgerald, eh?" + +"I'll be obliged to you if you'll mention Miss Fitzgerald more +respectfully in my presence. She's a lady for whom I have the highest +consideration, and who would, I'm sure, if she knew what I know of +Colonel Darcy, cut him off from her list of acquaintances immediately. I +hope you'll not feel called upon to speak of this more than is +necessary," and he rose stiffly and left the room. + +Kingsland rolled over on the divan, on which he was sprawled out, and +indulged in a fit of hearty laughter. + +"Gad! how he rose to the bait!" he roared. "I supposed Darcy was too old +a story to tempt anyone with; but the world's after all a very small +place." And this, curiously enough, was precisely the reflection which +the Secretary made ruefully to himself, as he sought the captivating +Belle. + +As can be understood in the light of that interview in the smoking-room, +the two gentlemen were late in arriving upstairs, and when Stanley did +put in an appearance, Miss Fitzgerald required all her courage to dare +to claim him as her exclusive property and carry him off to the +comparative seclusion of the conservatory, for black care sat heavy on +his brow, and her interview promised to be anything but agreeable. +However, she was nothing if not courageous, and opened the attack at +once, on the ground that the defensive is always the weakest position. + +"What an old bear you are to-night, Jimsy. I couldn't get a word out of +you at dinner, and now you look as glum as if you'd lost your last +friend." + +"I've been talking to Lieutenant Kingsland," he said bluntly. + +"Dear me, if it always has as bad an effect I must contrive to keep you +two apart in the future." + +"He's been telling me about your relations with Darcy. Confound it, +Belle!--it's too bad of you! Why, he's a beastly cad. I wouldn't have +him in my house, and to think that the woman I--well, any woman I +respect as much as I do you--should be on intimate terms with a man like +that, makes my blood boil. Great Heavens, have some consideration for +your friends, if you haven't for yourself! Think of what will be said of +you; think----" + +"Don't do the heroic, Jimsy, it doesn't become you," she interrupted. +"Give me a cigarette, and see if you can't talk this matter over without +going all to tatters." + +"You smoke too much. I don't approve of ladies smoking. It seems so +common." + +"Nonsense. It's uncommon not to. I'm dying for a whiff, and one never +gets a chance in that crowd of old fogies. Thank you--now what's all +this disturbance about Colonel Darcy? I declare, I almost believe you +are becoming an old fogy yourself." + +"I didn't even know you knew him-- Darcy, I mean-- I object to him +strongly." + +"Really, Mr. Stanley, I don't run my acquaintances on the lines of your +choosing." + +"Of course not; but I may claim the privilege of a friend." + +"To make yourself uncommonly disagreeable; I suppose you may--and I was +feeling so amiable too--just in the mood for an old-time chat. But it +can't be helped. Colonel Darcy's an old friend, and was very kind to me +at a time when I needed friends and hadn't many. I don't know what he +has done or not done, and I don't care. I learned that he was to be in +this neighbourhood shortly on business, and, wishing to make some return +for his past kindness, I proposed to my aunt to invite him here, and +she, who's a woman after your own heart, refused--because, forsooth, he +didn't get on well with his wife--as if his wife mattered to me-- I +certainly didn't want to invite her." + +"I assure you," burst out the Secretary, "that she's a most charming +woman, and that her husband has treated her like the cad and brute he +is." + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Stanley. I didn't know you were posing as the +knight-errant of hysterical wives." + +"I'm not; but I can't stand by and see a lovely and innocent woman +injured." + +"I presume I'm not to defend my friend?" she asked, her small foot +tapping the tiled floor in anger. + +"You would not wish to do so if you knew his true character." + +"I do not wish to prolong this interview, Mr. Stanley. I must remind you +that there are limits even to the rights of friendship, and you have +overstepped them." + +"I fear I've forgotten myself, that I've been too vehement. I humbly beg +your pardon. I won't trespass again, believe me. I only spoke for your +good--indeed, I wanted to have a serious talk with you about yourself; +but the spirit in which you receive my suggestions makes it impossible." + +"You mustn't say that," she replied, more quietly than she had hitherto +spoken. "But you can surely understand that my friendship would be of +little use to any man if I stood quietly by and let him be denounced +without a word of resentment on my part. Are there other of my friends +of whom you do not approve?" + +"It's partly that, but rather the--you'll pardon me--the things that are +said about you, Belle. People--my friends--men as well as women--have +said things in my presence--that I did not like to hear. Things that +show how easy it is for a careless, easy-going nature like yours to be +misinterpreted; in short----" + +"In short, they told you I was fast, I suppose, a sordid, scheming, +money-making wretch. Is that correct?" + +"Really, Belle!" + +"Is that correct? Answer me." + +"Well, they certainly wouldn't have used such words in my presence." + +"But they meant that--or something like it?" + +"I'm afraid they did." + +Her face, white enough before, flushed red, as she demanded: + +"And you! What did you say?" + +"I--I don't remember-- I refused to listen; but I made up my mind to +speak to you-- I thought you ought to know." + +"You"--she cried, turning on him in a fury--"you, my friend, as you +call yourself, had no answer to make, did nothing, except to decide to +lecture me about what you should have known to be a lie! Let me tell +you, Mr. Stanley, you'd have done better to defend me--knowing, as you +must know, the slights, the buffets, the insults I've had to endure, +because I'm unprotected, and men can dare----" + +"I assure you I did. I didn't believe it of you for an instant." + +"You believed it enough to question me as to the truth of these +accusations. It's easy to preach prudence when you've nothing to gain or +lose; but were you a woman, thrown on the world and on her own +resources, you'd find it a different, a very different, thing, and you'd +expect help and encouragement from friends who are stronger and more +fortunate than you--not this!" and she burst into tears. + +"Miss Fitzgerald!-- Belle!" he cried, striving to take her hand, "I +wouldn't have pained you in this way for worlds! Believe me, I'm your +friend, your true friend!" + +"I've friends enough of your sort," she sobbed, "too many." + +"But at least let me explain." + +"Don't say any more, please--you've said enough. Good night, you must +excuse me. I--I'm not myself," and touching her handkerchief to her +eyes, with a great effort she controlled herself and left the +conservatory. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SECRETARY'S INTENTIONS + + +Roberts' Hall preserved the good old English custom concerning +breakfast--which means that a rambling meal extended from eight to +eleven in the morning--at which the butler served you with tea, or +coffee and rolls, and you served yourself to the rest, from the cold +cuts on the sideboard to the hot viands in copper vessels warmed by +alcohol lamps. The cold cuts you had always with you, also the orange +marmalade; as for the eggs and bacon, devilled kidneys, etc., their +state was dependent on the taste of the guests who had preceded you, and +your own ability as an early riser. You came down when you pleased, and +ate your meal in solitary state or in any company that might happen to +be present, which, if it proved to be congenial, made a very jolly, +informal repast, and if it didn't,--well, that was fate, and you had to +submit to it. Fate may be kind or it may not, sometimes it sets out to +play ponderous practical jokes, which may include something nearly akin +to a grim reality in the future for the persons involved. + +This was probably the reason why Stanley, on his advent into the +breakfast-room, found it tenanted by only one person, and that one, +Lady Isabelle. + +At the sight of her, the Secretary felt decidedly sheepish, because Miss +Fitzgerald's tears and some subsequent hours of sleepless meditation +thereon had convinced him that he was morally, if not actually, capable +of all the weakness for which her Ladyship had upbraided him. He told +himself that he owed a duty to the fair Belle, that he must save her +from herself at all costs, even if it involved the sacrifice of his own +future, that he had misjudged her cruelly, and that he was very, very +sorry for her, and that, because he was conscience-stricken, he was +certainly in love. Indeed he kept assuring himself with feverish +insistence, that this must be the real article. + +To Lady Isabelle, on the contrary, Stanley's deficiencies were almost +lost sight of, in view of the disturbing suspicion that that young +gentleman might be led to suppose that her well-meant interference in +his affairs had proceeded from an undue regard for himself. A suspicion +but a few hours old, and dating from an interview with the Marchioness, +who, for some unknown reason, had suddenly assumed a totally different +attitude towards the Secretary, and even tried to entrap her daughter +into admitting that his attentions might mean something. This made Lady +Isabelle most anxious to impress him with the fact that their friendship +was purely platonic. Accordingly, to his intense surprise, she was +exceedingly gracious, and chatted away all through breakfast in a +charmingly easy, if somewhat feverish, manner, even condescending so +far as to say something pleasant about Miss Fitzgerald. Under this +treatment Stanley simply glowed, and opened out as much as he dared in +the presence of the butler and two expressionless footmen, upon that +lady's charms. He was a very young diplomat, as the reader will have +noticed ere this, or he would not have continued to praise one lady to +another; least of all at breakfast time, an hour when the temper of +mortals is by no means certain. But in the pleasure of his subject he +did not notice the scorn that was suggested by the curl of his +vis-ā-vis' lip. + +"I do wish," he said in conclusion, "that you'd take a stroll with me +this afternoon; the deer park is quite worth seeing, I understand, and +besides there are lots of things I want to talk to you about." + +It was during this proposition that Lieutenant Kingsland, preceded by +the Dowager, entered the breakfast-room. + +"Oh, I say," blurted out that officer, "I think we've got an appointment +after lunch, haven't we?" + +"I think not, Lieutenant Kingsland," replied Lady Isabelle, foreseeing +the crisis, and realising the necessity of immediate action. Then +turning to Stanley, she added:-- + +"Thanks, I should enjoy a good walk hugely, and I love deer. It was very +kind of you to suggest it. What time shall we start?" + +"Say three o'clock," said the Secretary, immensely rejoiced at his +restoration to favour. + +"Three, let it be then, if mamma approves." + +It was only too evident that mamma did approve; she nodded and smiled, +and said that exercise was a splendid thing for young people; till +Stanley became frightened at her excessive geniality, and Kingsland +looked black as a thunder-cloud. + +The Lieutenant was not, however, so easily baffled, and jumped to the +conclusion that half of Lady Isabelle was better than no Lady Isabelle +at all. + +"Three's not company, I know," he said, laughing with attempted gaiety, +"but I'm no end fond of deer myself." + +"I was about to ask you, Lieutenant Kingsland," interrupted the Dowager, +coming promptly to the rescue, "to execute a few commissions for me this +afternoon, at Tunbridge Wells. I'm sure our hostess will put a dog-cart +at your service, and it's not above fifteen miles." + +"Charmed, I'm sure," replied the Lieutenant--but he did not look it. +However, he had his reward, for Lady Isabelle had just finished her +breakfast, and Kingsland declared he had already had his, which was not +true, so they disappeared together and left the Dowager to enjoy her +repast in the company of the Secretary, to whom she was so extremely +affable, that, had it not been for his instructions, he would have had +serious thoughts of leaving for London, before he was appropriated body +and soul. + + * * * * * + +"What have you been telling my mother about Mr. Stanley?" asked Lady +Isabelle of the Lieutenant, in the seclusion of the library. "I know you +had a long conference with her last night--and something must have +happened." + +"I'm sure I don't know, unless it was that he's a millionaire, and made +his money, or had it made for him, in some beastly commercial +way--sugar, I think." + +Lady Isabelle gave him one look, and remarked with a depth of scorn +which even the unfortunate Secretary had not evoked:-- + +"Oh, you idiot!" + +Kingsland was immersed in literature the entire morning in company with +Lady Isabelle, who doubtless found the Lieutenant's companionship a +great comfort, under the circumstances, since now that she knew the +reason of her mother's attitude towards the Secretary, she was as +anxious to avoid the walk with him, as she had previously been willing +to take it. + +Kingsland, however, bore up bravely, for his trip to the Wells gave him +an opportunity to settle several little matters of business, which the +Dowager, had she known of them, would hardly have approved. Moreover, +Belle saw him off, saying as he mounted the dog-cart:-- + +"Don't be upset by Lady Isabelle's defection this afternoon, Jack; the +most trustworthy little mare will sometimes jib, just before taking a +desperate leap." + + * * * * * + +When two people start out on a long walk together, each with the firm +intention of doing his duty by the other, the result is apt to be far +from pleasant; but in this case both had so much to talk about that for +the first hour of their walk they said nothing, and their arrival at the +deer-park was a distinct relief, since it furnished a new and harmless +subject for discussion. And, indeed, the pretty animals warranted more +than a passing word. They were seen in numbers, peeping out of a fringe +of woodland across the width of an uncultivated field, and they were in +that delightful state of semi-tameness, when a longing for the bits of +bread, with which Stanley and Lady Isabelle were well supplied, battled +equally with an impulse, born of natural training, to flee the proximity +of the human race. + +But there was not much going in the line of food, and so gradually, step +by step, the most daring of the herd ventured into the open, and slowly +approached the visitors, who were wise enough to throw tempting bits +about twelve feet away from them. Watchful to note the slightest +movement of a muscle, the bread was at length secured, and the herd +scampered away in a panic of fear, only to return for more, thrown +nearer the feet of their friends. So it was at last, with advances of +six feet and retreats of as many yards, at the crackling of a bush or a +change in the wind, that the most adventurous consented, standing as far +aloof as possible, and stretching their necks to the last degree of +tension, to take the bread from the visitors' hands. + +But finally even the charms of the deer were exhausted, and as they +turned about and began slowly to stroll homeward across the park, Lady +Isabelle abruptly broached the subject which both of them had nearest at +heart. + +"I'm afraid," she began, "that I'm very prone to order the lives of my +friends, from my own point of view." + +"My life, for instance?" he asked. + +"Mr. Stanley," she said, "I shan't be really happy till I have +apologised for the way I spoke at Lady Rainsford's tea. I'd no right to +do so, and I'm sure my judgment was hasty and ill-advised. I've been +trusting to my eyes and ears rather than to the reports of other people, +and I'm sure I've been mistaken. Do you know how Miss Fitzgerald spent +part of yesterday?" + +"I have not seen her to speak with to-day." + +"Then I'll tell you. She was helping poor old Mr. Lambert trim the +church for to-morrow. I think it was very nice of her." + +"I'm afraid your commendation has come a trifle late. The fact is, I +took it upon myself to counsel the young lady in question against a +friend of hers--a Colonel Darcy." + +"Not Colonel Robert Darcy?" + +"The same." + +"Do you know him?" she asked. + +"No, but I know how he treats his wife, and his own character is none +too good." + +"It's curious," she said, a trifle sadly, "but I'm in just your position +in regard to a dear friend of mine, and concerning the same man." + +"Concerning Colonel Darcy?" + +"Yes." + +"And his intimacy with Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"How did you know?" + +"'He that hath eyes to see----'" quoted the Secretary. + +"They never even knew each other till a short time ago, but in the last +few weeks they've been constantly together. I can't understand it." + +Mr. Stanley thought he could, but forbore to say so. + +"I don't know why I distrust Colonel Darcy, but I do," she continued, +"and his sudden intimacy with Jack--Lieutenant Kingsland--makes me +apprehensive. Do you think----" + +"I think your friend is of too pliable a nature to be in the hands of so +unscrupulous a rascal." + +She sighed, and then feeling perhaps that she had said too much, +hastened to revert to their original subject, saying: + +"Don't tell me there's a misunderstanding between you and Miss +Fitzgerald. I'm so sorry. I wouldn't for the world--that is, I almost +feel as if I'd been to blame." + +"You're not the only one of my friends who has misjudged her-- I've done +so myself--utterly." + +"But surely this little difference will not be lasting--I hoped----" + +"Would you wish me to marry Miss Fitzgerald, Lady Isabelle?" + +"Well, perhaps I won't say that--but I should certainly not wish +anything I might have said to prevent you from so doing. Of course, my +only reason for interfering was prompted by a wish for your happiness." + +"Do you think you understand what that comprises?" + +"That's just the point I wanted to make clear," she said hastily, +determined that he must understand, even at the expense of a slight +indiscretion on her part, which she felt would be far preferable to the +slightest misunderstanding of their relative positions, in view of any +future action of her mother's. + +"You see," she continued, "to put it frankly, what could I possibly know +of the requirements which, in a woman, would go to make you happy. Of +course, you and I are friends, great friends; but just that state of +affairs, as far as we're concerned, makes any judgment of mine useless +concerning the kind of woman you could love." + +Stanley, who could scarcely help drawing his own inferences, was piqued +that she should have felt it necessary to batter a self-evident fact +into his brain in such a bald manner. + +"I wish," he said, "that her Ladyship, your mother, was possessed of the +same lucid views on kindred subjects." + +"Poor mamma," murmured his companion, "she's a trifle conventional; but, +of course, if you're not in sympathy with her, you can easily avoid +her." + +There, the cat was out of the bag at last, and both felt easier in +consequence. Stanley threw himself into the breach at once, and took the +burden of the conversation. + +"I'm sure," he said, "I don't believe that half of the people in the +world can tell for the life of them why they fall in love with a certain +person and not with another. As we're talking confidentially, I don't +mind telling you that I've decided that I'm in love with Miss +Fitzgerald, and that the best thing I can do is to tell her so as soon +as possible, though I'm afraid there is little chance of her having me." + +"I can honestly say," rejoined his companion, "that, if that is how the +case stands, I do hope you'll be successful." + +Having arrived at this amicable and highly satisfactory conclusion, they +realised that in the earnestness of their discussion they had not +noticed the lapse of time. + +"Dear me, it must be getting late. I trust we're not far from the Hall," +said Lady Isabelle. + +"To tell you the truth, I don't know just where we are," he replied. + +They were standing in a thick plantation at the time, through which +meandered the little path they were following. + +"There's rising ground ahead, however," he continued, "and, I think, a +clearing." + +This proved to be the case, and when they had gained the little knoll +they saw, nearly in front of them, across a slight valley, bordered on +either side by wide stretches of fields and pasture-land, the Hall. + +"It doesn't look to be half a mile distant, but I doubt the wisdom of +trying a short cut," he said, "We'd much better keep to our path." + +Their prudence had its own reward, for they had not been walking five +minutes before they encountered a peasant, who, with more good nature +than brevity, directed their steps in a way that was too plainly not a +short cut. However, there was nothing for it now but to push on, and +though they walked rapidly, it was a long time before they reached the +Hall. + +Unkind fate prompted them on their arrival to venture into the +drawing-room in search of a belated cup of tea, and, to their dismay, +they found the apartment, which should have been deserted at this hour, +tenanted solely by the Dowager, who had evidently been awaiting their +return. + +She was much too formally polite to make them feel at their ease, and +with a word dismissed her daughter, on the plea of removing her wraps, +thus leaving the Secretary to his fate. + +Once they were alone, her Ladyship surveyed the young man deliberately +through her lorgnettes, and when she had made him sufficiently nervous, +remarked in a chilling tone that she trusted her daughter had caught no +cold from walking so late in the park. + +The Secretary acquiesced, and then the Marchioness opened the attack in +earnest. + +"We--my daughter--has had the pleasure of seeing a great deal of you +lately, Mr. Stanley." + +"Er, yes," he replied, scenting danger. "Of course it's been a great +pleasure to me." + +"Still," she continued, "it is not usual for a young lady, unchaperoned, +to walk in the park with a gentleman at this hour; a gentleman who is, +shall we say, a mere acquaintance." + +"The matter was one of necessity," he replied shortly. "We lost our +way." + +"Mrs. Roberts has driven me over her grounds repeatedly, and it appears +to me to be quite impossible for anyone to really lose his way." + +"Deference to your Ladyship's opinion prevents me from saying more." + +"It is certainly not pleasant," resumed the Dowager, ignoring his last +remark, "to continue this conversation, and, were my late husband +living, I should naturally have left the matter to him; as it is, my +duty as a mother and my desire for dear Isabelle's welfare bids me----" + +"Really, your Ladyship, am I to understand you to imply----" + +"I can only say that I have heard your name associated with my +daughter's in a manner--that was not--quite as I could wish. Dear Lady +Wintern, a woman most interested in the good of her friends, spoke to me +herself, and of course you, as a man of honour and a gentleman----" + +"As a man of honour and a gentleman, I deeply regret that anything in +my conduct should have led to a misconception in regard to my relations +with Lady Isabelle, and in the future----" + +"In the future, Mr. Stanley, you will of course see little or nothing of +my daughter--unless----" + +She paused, and for a moment neither spoke. Then the Secretary, who, +whatever else may be said of him, was not a coward, seeing what was +impending, determined to face the situation and have it over as soon as +possible. + +"Am I to understand," he inquired, "that you're asking me my +intentions?" + +Her Ladyship raised her eyebrows. If the French shoulder is expressive, +the English eye-brow, feminine, speaks volumes. + +"You do not make the situation easy for me," she replied. "Of course I +speak only for myself. What my daughter may feel----" + +"You don't suppose," he exclaimed, "that Lady Isabelle really +thinks----" + +"I _know_, Mr. Stanley, that my daughter thinks nothing and does nothing +that would not be proper in a young lady of her position." + +"Then I've only to apologise," he said, rising, "for what you force me +to believe is my fault, however unintentional." And, bowing gravely to +her, he quietly left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MAN PROPOSES + + +As he dressed for dinner that evening, Stanley was still smarting with +irritation at the undeserved attack which had just been made upon him by +the Marchioness, and which through no fault of his own placed him in an +exceedingly unpleasant and awkward position towards her daughter. The +sooner he proposed to Miss Fitzgerald, and their engagement was +announced, the better for all parties concerned. So seeking to justify +himself by force of circumstances, he threw prudence to the winds and +determined to speak that very night. + +If, however, his private affairs had progressed rapidly to a crisis, the +official interests which, he assured himself, were the real cause of his +presence here, had not progressed at all, and he seemed no nearer the +solution of the mystery, and the apprehension of the conspirators, than +when he arrived. + +True, Lady Isabelle's confession concerning Kingsland only served to +strengthen his own conviction that the Lieutenant was Darcy's +confederate; but Darcy himself, the prime mover of the plot, had not as +yet put in an appearance, and till he arrived there was nothing to be +done but to watch and wait. + +Five minutes later the Secretary had joined the party in the +drawing-room just as dinner was announced, and to his utter +consternation his hostess whispered to him: + +"I am sending you down with Lady Isabelle. I hear you and she are great +chums." + +"Great chums!" Stanley was tempted to plead sudden indisposition, and +have his dinner in his room. Then a remembrance of his recent interview +caused a wave of adverse feeling to sweep over him. Yes, he would take +down Lady Isabelle. Was he to be badgered out of his dinner because a +designing old woman could not leave well enough alone? + +He could not indeed resist casting a look of amused triumph at the +Dowager as he passed her with her daughter on his arm, but his +conscience pricked him nevertheless, for he felt that his presence must +be distasteful to his fair companion. That she really cared for him at +all he could not bring himself to believe in the light of their +conversation on the walk. Still, her frankness might have been assumed +through pique at unreturned affection, and with a desire born of pride, +to blind him to the true state of her feelings. The more he thought of +this the more uneasy he became, and he could not help noticing that she +was much more pale than he had as yet seen her, and seemed singularly +abstracted. Moreover, he was certain that she was incurring her mother's +displeasure, which would be to her a grave matter. He tried to make such +atonement as lay in his power to make her feel at ease and to divert her +mind. He told her his best stories, gave her his most brilliant +conversation, but in vain. His endeavours fell hopelessly flat, and at +last, after a dreadful pause, they spoke that which was in their hearts. + +"Do you think it was nice of you to take me in to dinner?" she asked in +that quiet conversational tone with which so many secrets have been told +at dinners without arresting the attention of others. + +"Really," he said, "I'd no option. Our hostess----" + +"You managed to avoid it last night." + +Stanley flushed. + +"Do you mind so much?" he asked. + +"Oh, no; but mamma." + +"She didn't show me much consideration the last time we met." + +"I was very sorry for you," she replied, "but as it had to come I +thought I was better out of the way." + +"Do you mean to say that you deliberately left me to my fate?" + +"You mustn't be too hard on mamma. She wouldn't have thought she was +doing right if she had not spoken." + +"But," he continued relentlessly, "you----" + +"Oh! I----?" + +"Yes, supposing I had--succumbed." + +She paused a minute, and then looked shyly up at him. + +"In that case," she began, when Mrs. Roberts rose, and gave the signal +for the ladies to retire. + +Stanley cursed the convention, yet perhaps it was fortunate, as the +Dowager had been growing dangerously red and puffy in the face, owing to +the fact that the two young people had, unconsciously, drawn closer +together in the excitement of those unfinished words. + +The cigars seemed interminable; but at last they were over, and the +gentlemen were at liberty to seek the drawing-room. + +There is generally a moment of indecision when the men come up from +dinner. The ladies have appropriated the most comfortable and naturally +the most isolated chairs, and their lords and masters huddle like sheep +in the doorway, uncertain where to flee for refuge and the most +desirable companion. The Secretary had studied this peculiarity of his +sex, and had learned to choose his goal beforehand. One glance showed +him that Lady Isabelle was absent; either she had retired, her mother +was quite capable of ordering her off to bed to keep her out of harm's +way, or else she was in the conservatory. He trusted that this last +supposition was correct, and disappeared among the palms, when the +Marchioness' attention was directed elsewhere. + +"And in that case?" he said, as he stood beside her, recalling her last +words at the table. "In that case?" + +"In that case," she replied, flushing slightly, "I should probably have +said something I might have regretted, had not Mrs. Roberts come to my +rescue." + +"And now?" + +"Don't be stupid, Mr. Stanley. Surely you know that any well-brought-up +girl would always obey her mother--and--and you ought to see that this +conversation is impossible." + +"It's certainly unique." + +"Don't you think we had better change the subject?" + +"By all means, if you wish it, after I've asked you one more question. I +trust you won't think me rude to persist, but--do you care for me, Lady +Isabelle?" + +"As a friend, yes." + +"But in no other way?" + +"In no other way." + +"You're quite sure?" + +"Quite, and I'm very sorry you asked me the question. I tried hard to +prevent you." + +"You've succeeded admirably," he said, laughing. "I was afraid you did +care." + +He held out his hand, and she took it, saying with a little constraint +in her manner: + +"You're certainly frank." + +He was pleased to see that she was only piqued; the speech had been +unfortunate; but Lady Isabelle had plenty of common sense, and she +realised that his naïve confession had cleared the atmosphere, and made +social intercourse possible. + +He made another attempt to interest her in general conversation, this +time succeeding admirably. And so an hour slipped by unnoticed, until +the stern voice of the Dowager recalled them to the realities of life. + +"Isabelle," she said coldly, "you are surely forgetting your duty to our +hostess, and to me also, it seems." + +"I'm coming, mamma," she replied, and left him with a quiet +"Good-night." + +Stanley felt immensely relieved. That was over; Lady Isabelle and he +understood each other now, and his path was clear for--was it to be +matrimony after all? He told himself he was a weak fool--that Miss +Fitzgerald cared nothing for him; would not take him after last night; +that he was under no real obligation and that he was a sentimental +idiot--yet, he must see her--for his own sake--to justify +himself--to---- He resolutely shut his eyes to the future, and went in +search of the lady in question. + +Ten minutes later, Belle and he were alone in the most favourable place +in the house for a tęte-ā-tęte, a curious old corner, the two sides of +which were converted into a capacious seat to which there was but one +approach, screened by a heavy curtain on one side and a suit of armour +on the other--safe from all observers. + +"What a quaint old house this is!" he said. "We might almost suppose we +were back in the sixteenth century." + +"Yes," she replied dreamily. "We're out of place in these surroundings." + +She was in a strange mood this evening, sad and thoughtful, yet lacking +the repose which should have accompanied reverie. It was the only time +that the Secretary had ever seen her nervous or _distraite_. + +"What have you been doing all day?" he asked, hoping to lead the +conversation to some more cheerful subject. + +"Trying to forget myself," she replied. + +"Surely it would be a pleasure to remember yourself, I should think." + +"Should you? I fear not." + +"Your ears must have burned this afternoon," he continued, unheeding her +comment. "Pleasant things were being said about you." + +"Did you say them?" + +"Of course I said them, I always do; but I was referring to someone +else--to Lady Isabelle." + +"People only patronise me, when they think me unworthy of reproof." + +"How can you say that!" he exclaimed. "I----" but she silenced him with +a gesture. + +"You've said it. That's why. I've never had one friend with whom there +did not come a day, that he or she threw me over and cast my failings in +my face. I'd believed it was different with you, I believed you trusted +me; that you'd have trusted me through good and evil report--but no, +you're like the rest. Society points its finger at me, and you accept +its verdict, and you're right. You, secure in your social position, +powerful, influential, you shall determine what is right and what is +wrong, and I,--I must accept it without a murmur--I'm only a woman +without a friend." + +"No! no! no!" he cried vehemently. "You wrong me, you do not understand. +No one can respect a woman more than I respect you. It's of some of your +friends that I disapprove." + +"A man is known by the company he keeps--how much more a woman. I'm like +my friends--and you--you"--and for the moment she forgot to be meek and +suffering, and her eyes blazed with passion--"you are the Pharisee of +the nineteenth century, the hem of whose robe we outcasts are unworthy +to touch!" + +"How can you!" he cried, springing to his feet. "How can you do me so +much wrong? It's not that you're like your friends. It is the fear that +you may become so that moves me to speak as I do. But since you've seen +fit to suspect me, you must allow me to justify myself. I know the +affairs of this Colonel Darcy; know them as few others could, by virtue +of my diplomatic position, and I assure you he has wronged and brutally +treated one of the most beautiful and sweet-natured women I have ever +seen. Treated her so badly that she was forced to flee to our Legation +for assistance and protection. Imagine my feelings when you tell me that +this man is your friend--when I hear your name coupled with his in the +idle gossip of the smoking-room." + +"I only know that Colonel Darcy was kind to me once upon a time," she +replied, interrupting the flow of his eloquence. + +"But what's that to do with this?" + +"A man who can be kind to a woman in distress cannot be wholly bad." + +"Why do you defend him?" + +"Never mind why. Don't let us talk any more about it," she said wearily. +"You cannot deny that you think worse of me for defending him; you can't +take back your words of last night. I've been thinking it over +carefully, and I've make up my mind. I'm of no use to anyone. I make my +friends ashamed of me-- I'm misunderstood and misjudged. It's the way of +the world, but it's hard. My spirit's broken. I no longer have the wish +to continue the battle. I'm going away." + +"Going away! When?" he cried, in amazement. + +"At once." + +"And where?' + +"I don't know; somewhere where I'm not known, where I've no friends to +be annoyed at having to claim me as an acquaintance. Somewhere where +people will take me for what I am, not for what I have been, for whom I +know, for what I have done or left undone. Oh, I'm so tired, so sick of +it all," and she bowed her head and wept. + +The effect of all this on Stanley can hardly be over-stated. He +supported her, he soothed her, he told her all that was in his heart, or +all he thought was there. She should not go away alone; he would go with +her; he had shockingly misjudged her; it should be his life task to +make her forget that, to proclaim to all the world how great a heritage +he had received in her love. They would triumph over all obstacles. He +would show the world what a true, noble woman she really was; he would +prove it in the best way possible by marrying her, if she would have +him, if she would so far honour him. His heart was at her feet. She +would be quite right in spurning it, but he besought her to be merciful, +to give him his answer, and let that answer be consent. + +And the lady, who, under these ministrations and protestations, had +gradually recovered her self-control, ceased her passionate sobbing, +rested her head contentedly on his shoulder, and allowed him, with but +feeble resistance, to encircle her waist with a protecting arm--in +short, everything seemed prepared for her success, when the curtain was +pushed aside and there stood before them the figure of a man, which +caused them both to spring to their feet, in time, as they fondly hoped, +to escape detection; the Secretary with a smothered exclamation of rage; +the lady, as she recognised the intruder, with a startled cry of: + +"Colonel Darcy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HER HUSBAND + + +Even an unobserving man--and Colonel Robert Darcy was not that--could +hardly have helped seeing that his presence was unwelcome, and that he +had interrupted an important interview. + +"I beg your pardon," he said, "I fear I've intruded." + +The Secretary said nothing, and Miss Fitzgerald came to the rescue by +declaring that she was very glad to see him, and that she had no idea he +would be in Sussex so soon. + +"The fact is, I particularly wanted to see you," he replied bluntly. + +Thereupon Mr. Stanley did that most unpardonable thing in good +society--lost his temper and gave evidence of the fact; a piece of +egotism often noticeable in young men during their first years of social +life, before a severe course of snubbing has taught them of how little +relative importance they really are. + +"Three's an impossible number for a tęte-ā-tęte," he said stiffly, "so +if you'll excuse me," and he started to leave her side. + +Up to this point Belle had been in some doubt as to how she ought to +act; but when the Secretary took the initiative, it at once gave her +her cue, and she was quick to save the situation. + +"There are no secrets between friends," she said hastily, "and you're +both friends of mine, so I shall expect you to be friends of each +other's." + +"This is Colonel Robert Darcy, Jimsy--we call him Bob for short," she +rattled on, laughing nervously. "And now, Bob, why have you arrived so +unexpectedly in Sussex?" + +"I think you've forgotten to introduce me to Colonel Darcy, Miss +Fitzgerald," suggested Stanley. + +"Dear me, I believe I have," replied that lady, calmly. "Bob, this is +Jimsy; Jimsy, this is Bob--that'll do for the present. I'll tell you the +rest of his names, titles and appurtenances when I've more time and less +to talk about. So now we are friends and have no secrets from each +other, therefore out with yours." + +Darcy laughed. + +"You see, Jimsy," continued Miss Fitzgerald, turning to the Secretary, +"though I'm young and ignorant, men have always come to me for advice, +or, perhaps, for the use of my intuition." + +"I'm sure I trust Colonel Darcy will profit by it; but even our +well-established friendship gives me no right to play third party to his +confidences, and as I promised Kingsland a game of pool----" + +"Ah, but you mustn't go; really you mustn't," expostulated the Colonel, +"or you'll make me feel I've intruded." + +Stanley felt that it was not his fault if that officer did not already +possess those sentiments, and was about to stand to his decision, when +Miss Fitzgerald pulled him down beside her, saying: + +"Don't talk nonsense, Jimsy. I'm dying to hear Bob's secrets, and he's +been here five minutes already, and we haven't allowed him to get a word +in edgewise." + +Thus admonished, the Secretary had no choice but to be an unwilling +listener. + +"I'm sure I don't know why I should dignify my affairs by the name of +secrets," began Darcy, with ill-attempted nonchalance, "or why I should +be reticent about speaking of them, either. It's more than the Press +will be in the next few days," and he laughed harshly. + +"My dear Bob!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, with a horror that was meant +to be assumed, but nevertheless had a touch of reality about it. "My +dear Bob! I knew you were bad, but don't tell me you're as bad as all +that!" + +"I'm afraid so," he replied. Then turning to Stanley, continued, "I +suppose you've not the misfortune to be married?" + +"I'm a single man," replied the Secretary, who, under the circumstances, +felt that a mere statement of fact was infinitely better than an +expressed opinion. + +"Then of course you can't conceive the pleasures of anticipation which +the prospect of the divorce court arouses in the mind of a husband." + +"I can imagine that the point of view would largely depend on his own +status in the case." + +"You don't mean to tell me, Bob," cried Miss Fitzgerald, "that she's +been foolish enough----!" + +"Oh, I'm the accused in the present indictment. But, fortunately for me, +women are by nature inconsistent." + +"Why do you say that?" she asked. + +"Why? Because, having run away from my house and secured legal +assistance in London to bring suit against me--well, on statutory +grounds, she has, as a proof of her injuries, seen fit to take up her +residence at the bachelor quarters of her Secretary of Legation." + +"What! Is she there now?" cried Miss Fitzgerald, her eyes flashing, as +she turned them full on Stanley. + +That gentleman, who had foreseen this _dénouement_ from the first, half +rose to his feet with a view of crushing his defamer, but the Colonel's +next statement so staggered him that he sunk back in his seat. + +"No," replied that officer, in answer to Miss Fitzgerald's question. +"No. London life didn't seem to agree with them, so they've made a +little expedition into Sussex together; in fact, they're both here, or +hereabouts." + +"What do you say?" cried Belle, quite dazed by this astounding +declaration. + +"Oh, it's quite true. She actually had the effrontery to write me +requesting that I send her belongings to his chambers. Of course I got +no satisfaction in London, for my young man, with a discretion far +beyond his years, promptly left for parts unknown. I didn't search for +him, I watched her. I knew I could trust her to put me on the scent, if +not to lead me to the quarry. She's quite fulfilled my expectations. +When she left town my detective was on hand, followed her to Liverpool +Street, watched her while she took her ticket, secured a place in +another part of the same train, located her in a farmhouse on this +estate, and, as I suspected, found that among the guests at the Hall was +my co-respondent, Mr. Secretary Aloysius Stanley." + +The speaker paused, and absolute silence reigned between them; but he +did not seem to notice the tense muscles of the man or the flushed +anxiety of the woman. + +"Well, that's the story," he said shortly. "Not a pretty one, either, is +it; but of course I shall have to see it through, and, as a first step, +I must ask the assistance of you both in meeting this little cad of a +diplomat. After I've settled with him, I shall leave her quite free +to----" + +"Stop!" cried the Secretary. "Don't say that, Colonel Darcy. Don't you +dare to say it!" + +"What the devil-- I----" began Darcy, completely astonished at the turn +affairs had taken. + +"Miss Fitzgerald," continued his companion, "neglected to introduce me +formally, but I will rectify that error. My name is Aloysius Stanley, +and I'm the Secretary of Legation to whom you've presumed to allude in +language for which I shall demand an explanation." + +"We'll settle our difficulties at some more appropriate time, sir," +replied the Colonel, with repressed anger patent in every tone. + +"We'll settle them here and now-- I demand a retraction of what you've +just said, or intimated, in regard to my relations with your wife." + +"I'll give you the only satisfaction you have a right to expect, and I +to demand, when and where you please." + +"Gentlemen! gentlemen!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, fearful of what their +anger might lead to. "Pray remember that you're in the presence of a +lady." + +"You need have no fear," said Stanley, in reply to her request, "_I_ +shall not forget _myself_." Then turning to Darcy, he continued: + +"Did not my profession, which is essentially one of peace, prevent me +from taking any notice of your absurd challenge, I should still refuse +to involve myself in a matter with which I've no concern, merely because +you've been enough of a cad to slander your wife in the presence of a +third person." + +"If I ever meet you outside!" began the Colonel, purple with rage--but +the Secretary continued his remarks, oblivious of the interruption. + +"There is one thing, however, that I shall do," he said. "Unless you +leave this house immediately, I shall inform my hostess, who has +already refused to include your name in her party, of what I know of +you, and then put you out." + +"Do go, Bob!" cried Belle. "Do, to please me." + +"Oh, to please you," said Darcy, sulkily, "I suppose I must. But where +I'm to go for a night's lodging, in this God-forsaken place, is quite a +problem." + +"Oh, there's a good inn just outside the Lodge gates. I know the +proprietor of it," said Miss Fitzgerald. + +"Perhaps you'll give me a line to him," he suggested, "as you're turning +me out, and I've no luggage to insure my respectability." + +"Certainly," she replied, "if you've a pencil, and will excuse the back +of an old envelope." + +The Colonel nodded, and she took an undirected envelope, which seemed to +be carrying more than it could conveniently hold, from the pocket of her +dress, and hastily scribbled a line on it with the pencil he gave her, +handing them both to him nervously. + +"Perhaps," suggested the Secretary coldly, who had watched this +transaction with growing irritation, "it would be as well to remove the +contents of your letter, Miss Fitzgerald. You should be careful to whom +you entrust your correspondence." + +She faced him, and looked at him steadily, with those great blue eyes of +hers, while she said, with measured force and deliberation: + +"I should be quite willing to trust the contents of any of my letters to +Colonel Darcy's care." + +The Colonel had, meantime, been nervously twisting the envelope round +his fingers, and Stanley caught sight of a well-known monogram composed +of the initials A. R. It was the letter he had taken from Kingsland, and +restored to Mr. Riddle. How came it in Belle's hands--the seal still +unbroken, and why was it given to Darcy? His suspicions, so long lulled +by careful artifice, were at once aroused, and he threw the Colonel a +glance, the meaning of which was not lost on the woman. Suddenly, her +whole manner changing, she became nervous and excitable, once more +saying to Darcy: + +"Now, go, Bob; go at once, for all our sakes." + +He growled a surly reply, and before the Secretary was aware of his +intentions, had left the room. + +Stanley stood for a moment, dazed; uncertain whether to follow or +remain, his breast full of conflicting emotions; bewilderment at the +vast field of possibilities opened by the Colonel's receipt of the +letter; rage at his cowardly imputations, and dismay at the consequences +of the strong circumstantial evidence which Madame Darcy had unwittingly +manufactured against him; and at the effect which the Colonel's charges +might produce on Miss Fitzgerald. + +He was prepared for hysterics, recriminations, stern questions, scorn, +anger, and endless tears; but totally unprepared for the ringing burst +of laughter which greeted him as soon as the Colonel had left the room; +cold, cynical laughter, from the girl he had just asked to be his wife, +who threw herself on the couch, her eyes flashing and her whole face +twitching with anger or merriment, he was not certain which. + +"Oh dear--oh dear!" she cried, when she could at last control her voice, +"this is too funny! too dreadfully funny!" + +"I don't see anything amusing about it," he said bluntly. He was angry +and sore, and this ill-timed merriment irritated him. + +"Don't you? Then you must have lost your sense of humour. This young +man," she continued, pointing at him, as if she were exhibiting him to a +crowd. "This good young man, who preaches me sermons on +self-respect--who is concerned for my good name--who thinks I've been +too careless of my reputation, who is cut to the heart because I do not +live up to the ideal to which he considers a woman should attain, who +has just done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage--not because he +loves me--oh dear, no--but because he feels it his duty to save me from +myself. This practical young man, who combines pleasure with duty, by +conducting an _affaire du coeur_, in a neighbouring farmhouse, with my +friend's wife, but whose morality is so outraged at the man who is +courteous enough to permit that wife to get the divorce, that he can't +bear to be in the same room with him. This superlatively excellent young +man, who had almost persuaded me that I was wrong in my estimate of +human nature, turns out to be the worst of the lot, a whitened sepulchre +of lying and hypocrisy and deceit--or perhaps I should sum it all up +and say--a model of diplomacy. Isn't it funny--isn't it cruelly, +wickedly humorous? Do you wonder I laugh?" + +"If you can believe this of me, Miss Fitzgerald----" began the +Secretary, who had flushed, and then turned as white as a sheet. + +"One story's good till another is told, my dear Jimsy; but I was wrong +to have laughed. I quite understand, believe me, the painfulness of your +position." + +"I tell you it's not true----" he began. + +"Oh, don't try to improve the situation. You can't"--she continued, +rising and towering before him in the majesty of her wrath. "I'd really +come to believe that there was one among the hundreds of worthless, +vicious, mercenary human beings I know, who called themselves men, who +was what he claimed to be; who really believed in the old fallacies of +right and duty, and moral cleanliness, and lived up to them; who really +kept the ten commandments in thought as well as in act, a strong rock of +defence to whom I might cling in time of trouble; but he's a fraud like +all the rest, and the man I made a hero turns out to be of clay!" + +She paused, and the Secretary, controlling himself, replied coldly: + +"After what you've said, it's of course worse than useless for me to +repeat the question I asked you just before Colonel Darcy intruded his +presence upon us. It had better remain unanswered." + +"No," she said. "I don't think so. It needs an answer, and you shall +have it--but not yet. I've been a little fool, and have been punished +for my folly; but I don't know any reason why I should make you suffer. +You're only as you were made. You can't help it, I dare say." + +"You surely can't think of marrying me, believing what you do." + +"I don't know. While I thought you were an angel, I was afraid of you. I +thought I should have to be constantly living up to you and listening to +sermons;-- Thank Heavens you can never preach to me again. Even you +wouldn't have the face to do it now. But since I've found out that +you're only very human, I really don't know but what I might grow to +love you. I'll think it over. There," she continued, "don't look so +sheepish. I may decide not to take you after all, but until then +consider yourself on approval. Don't say anything more, you'd only bore +me. I want to be by myself and get my face straight, if I can," and +crossing the room she broke out again into peals of ringing, unmusical +laughter. + +"This is intolerable!" he cried, but he addressed thin air,--he was +alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE DOOR WITH THE SILVER NAILS + + + "ST. JAMES' CLUB, + "PICCADILLY, W. + + "MY DEAR STANLEY, + + "I am sending this letter to you at Roberts' Hall, because I + am certain that you are there. + + "I can fancy you drawing a long face, and admitting to + yourself that you are certainly in for a sermon from that + old bore, Kent-Lauriston, but you are entirely mistaken. I + shall neither expostulate with nor upbraid you, for you have + done exactly what I expected you would do. Nevertheless I + mean to save you from yourself, to which end I trust you are + not as yet entangled, as it is less easy gracefully to break + than make an engagement. + + "The fact is, my dear Mr. Secretary, I do not consider you, + under the present circumstances, a responsible creature. The + fascinating Miss Fitzgerald has, I can well imagine, driven + all other considerations into the background. + + "I should probably have let you go to your fate, unchecked + by any letter of mine, did I not feel that I had been + morally negligent. You came to put your case in my hands, + and proved so sweetly rational that, for the last time I + swear, I trusted in human nature, and left you to your own + devices, instead of watching your every movement until the + danger was past. + + "Of course I have heard the little scandal about your + escapade with Colonel D----'s wife. All London is ringing + with it, thanks to her husband. + + "What you most want is change of scene and occupation, to + distract you from your present cares. There is only one way + to drown care without drowning oneself--and that is by work. + So unless I find you grinding away at the Legation to-morrow + noon, I shall invite myself to be one of Mrs. Roberts' + house-party, and we shall see what may be effected even in + the face of overwhelming odds. Give me a fair field and no + favour, and I pledge my word to win you to yourself. + + "In any event command my humble services. + + "Yours as ever, + "KENT-LAURISTON. + "Friday evening." + +The Secretary dropped back on the comfortable divan that occupied a +recess in one corner of the smoking-room, and gazed vacantly at the +letter as it lay in his lap; then he gave a great sigh, and reached for +a fresh cigarette. In his own estimation, matters could not be worse, +but unfortunately he was not in a position to heed his friend's advice +and bolt for London the first thing in the morning--indeed his +recognition of Darcy's letter, the possible significance of which he was +at last beginning to realise, imperatively demanded his presence and +attention. + +Besides, he was now accountable to others. To Belle in the first +place--and to Colonel Darcy in the second. For the latter he cared not a +whit. It was true that circumstantial evidence had made rather a strong +case against him--but the Secretary was sure the Colonel did not really +believe the charge he had preferred against his wife to be true, and +that he had merely seen, in the unfortunate combination of +circumstances, a chance of strengthening his own position. + +But while Stanley had little concern for the Colonel's status, he felt a +great deal for his own. Fate had treated him badly, very badly, and he +owed it to Belle and to Madame Darcy, and to his own good name, to right +himself as speedily as possible. + +The figure he would cut in Madame Darcy's eyes was bad enough in all +conscience. He supposed she would never speak to him again, and, for +some reason which he was at a loss to explain satisfactorily to himself, +this prospect made him feel uncommonly blue. He even felt no resentment +against her, though her innocent rashness had been the font of all his +misfortunes. Somehow it seemed an honour to be associated with her, even +to his own undoing. And that by any efforts in her behalf, he should +have unwittingly injured her, nearly drove him to despair, with chagrin +and regret. + +But if his position in the eyes of Madame Darcy and of himself was most +awkward, the position he held in Miss Fitzgerald's estimation was, he +told himself again and again, simply unbearable. That it was possible +for any good woman to believe--and she certainly did believe--the things +that were said about him, and yet find it in her heart to even consider +matrimony with such an unscrupulous cad as he must appear to her, +revolted him. It was not nice; he was sure Lady Isabelle would never +have done so. + +Perhaps she did not care, that was worst of all; that she did not care +for him, for his good name, his honour, his reputation, only for--the +thought was intolerable--he started up and drank off a strong peg of +whiskey; he felt that he needed a bracer. In the hopes of distracting +his thoughts, he once more took up and re-read Kent-Lauriston's letter, +which had arrived before dinner and lain forgotten during the excitement +of the evening; and which he had found waiting to greet him, when, at +the close of that dreadful interview, he had stolen away to his room +without bidding anybody good-night. He remembered that he had hesitated +to open it, knowing as he did that it contained a remonstrance against +committing a folly, which he had already committed. He had determined to +read it calmly, but it awakened within him a scathing self-examination +most unsettling in its result. + +He recognised it as the dictum of an astute man of the world, a +"_connoisseur des grandes passions_" one who knew the symptoms with +unfailing accuracy. In short, the Secretary did not for a moment doubt +the truth of what his friend had written; but he was equally certain +that it did not apply to his own case. + +Miss Fitzgerald had by no means driven all other thoughts from his mind. +Indeed, he realised that she had, during the last few days, held a +relatively small place in his thoughts. He was not miserable when he was +absent from her--he had enjoyed his talk with Madame Darcy and his walk +with Lady Isabelle immensely. He had not even decided that he should ask +Belle to marry him till the eleventh hour, and was not that decision +due, after all, to the pity which, we are told, is akin to love, but +which by itself forms such an unsatisfactory substitute? Would his +friend have any trouble in winning him to himself, as he expressed it? +Was he supremely happy? Was he not rather, in his heart of hearts, +wishing himself well out of the whole affair? The words of Madame Darcy +came back to him, doubly enforced by these contradictory data. + +"You do not love her. Love is blind. Love does not reason." + +Had it come to this, then--was he such a weak fool that he did not know +his own mind; that he had proposed to a woman who existed only in his +imagination; who so little resembled the real one that he had no wish to +assimilate the two; that he was already regretting the step before it +was half taken? What hope did that hold out for a happy future? He was +thoroughly disgusted with himself. In a fit of mortified rage, he +crumpled up the letter in his hand, and threw himself down among the +cushions of the divan. As he lay there Kingsland entered the room. + +"Why," he said, "I thought you had retired." + +This was, indeed, the truth, but the restlessness induced by +Kent-Lauriston's note had made the confinement of his chamber seem +intolerable, and a rapid survey of the rooms downstairs assured him that +the Dowager and Miss Fitzgerald were in full possession; a combination +which, under the circumstances, he did not care to face. These facts, +however, were hardly to be adduced to a third party, and the Secretary, +turning to the resources of diplomacy, reminded the Lieutenant that they +had had an appointment for a game of pool, which one of them, at least, +had not seen fit to keep. + +"Shall we have it now?" suggested Kingsland. + +"No," answered Stanley. "I'm not feeling fit." + +"Try a drink, then." + +"I've just had one." + +"Drinking alone? That's a bad sign. What are you so blue about?" + +"I'm wondering," said Stanley, "how a man can ever be fool enough to +fall in love, or get married." + +"Oh," said the Lieutenant, "so she's refused you, eh?" + +"Who?" + +"Belle Fitzgerald." + +"Yes," replied the Secretary, shortly. + +The Lieutenant thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets and paced +the room in silence, whistling softly to himself. Finally he remarked: + +"Well, I'm sorry, old chap, but I've been more lucky." + +"Oh," said the Secretary. "Lady Isabelle, I suppose." + +Kingland nodded. + +"Does mamma approve?" inquired Stanley. + +The young officer shrugged his shoulders. + +"I'm going to postpone entering into that matter," he said, "till after +the ceremony." + +"Oh," said the Secretary shortly. "An elopement. Well, I don't know that +I can conscientiously offer my congratulations--to Lady Isabelle, at +least, but I dare say you'll find it worth while." + +"You needn't be so nasty, just because you've been disappointed." + +"Oh, it isn't that; but, as you say, I've no reason to express an +opinion. It isn't the first time a young man's eloped with a lady of +means." + +"Well," snapped the Lieutenant in reply, "it's a shade above eloping +with somebody else's wife who happens to have a large bank account." + +Stanley sprang to his feet. + +"If that cad of a Darcy," he cried, "has been saying----" + +"Oh, you needn't assume the high moral rôle," said Kingsland. "I've just +had the story first hand from him." + +"It isn't the first time he's told it to-night," snapped the Secretary. + +"What! You don't mean to the fair Belle?" + +Stanley nodded, and Kingsland threw himself on the sofa in a paroxysm of +laughter. + +"But how did you come to see Darcy?" demanded the young diplomat, +ignoring his friend's ill-timed merriment. "I ordered him out of the +house." + +"Yes," replied the Lieutenant, "so he told me. But he's lost a valuable +letter in the hall." + +"The hall? Why, there doesn't seem to be much chance of losing anything +there. There are no draperies and very little furniture." + +"Well, it's a queer business," admitted the officer. "But while the +Colonel was telling me about your little escapade, he dropped a letter +which he had taken from its envelope, and just at that moment the butler +came in. He started to pick up the letter for the Colonel, but Darcy +jumped forward, and so between them it was pushed under the crack of +that old oak door studded with silver nails." + +"A letter!" cried the Secretary. "Did you notice what it looked like?" + +"No," said Kingsland incautiously, "except that it had an address +scrawled across one side in pencil." + +Stanley waited to hear no more. Fate seemed playing into his hands at +last, and springing to the door he threw it open, and saw to his intense +astonishment the figure of Colonel Darcy grovelling on the floor of the +hall. + +"I thought I told you to leave this house, Colonel Darcy," said +Stanley, striving to be calm, but his voice quivering with suppressed +emotion. + +"So you did," replied his adversary, rising slowly to his feet, very red +in the face and somewhat short of breath. + +"Then why haven't you gone? Do you wish me to speak to Mrs. Roberts?" + +"I intended to obey your request, out of respect to Miss Fitzgerald. But +the fact is, I have lost an important letter." + +"So Kingsland tells me, though it seems almost impossible." + +"Truth, sir, is often stranger than fiction," replied the Colonel +angrily, "as our own relations with each other have already proved. But, +as you have given me the lie once this evening, you can, if you see fit, +prove the truth of my statement by referring it to the butler." + +"I gave you the lie, as you express it, Colonel Darcy," replied the +Secretary, "because my own knowledge assured me, that your charges were +untrue. In this case, however, I am quite ready to fully accept your +statement. But it's a pure waste of time to attempt to recover your +letter. For two hundred years they've tried to open that portal, and to +this day it remains closed." + +"The butler told me some such cock-and-bull story--but of course----" + +"It's quite true." + +"But I must have my letter. I must have it, I tell you--surely someone +knows the secret." + +"There's a legend current to the effect that the pressure of five of +these silver nails, one by each of the five fingers, will suffice to +open the door. But to my way of thinking it's likely to remain closed +for two centuries to come." + +"Curse it!" cried the Colonel, throwing himself against the portal in a +frenzy. "It has neither handle nor keyhole, and it's as firm as iron! +What am I to do?" + +"If it's absolutely necessary to recover this document, I'll tell Mrs. +Roberts. Though I should doubt if she'd consent to ruin an interesting +heirloom for the sake of a gentleman against whom she already entertains +a prejudice." + +"I couldn't think of it. Impossible to put Mrs. Roberts to so much +inconvenience; I shouldn't consider it for a moment! Let the cursed +letter remain where it is!" replied the Colonel, evidently very much +upset by this proposition. + +"As I'd supposed, Colonel Darcy, you would prefer that the document +should remain where it is, rather than it should pass, even temporarily, +into any other hands than yours. Might I inquire if it's the one you +received from Miss Fitzgerald." + +"It is, of course, quite useless to attempt to deceive a diplomat," +replied his companion, with a touch of temper which was not lost on +Stanley, who answered composedly: + +"I think you may be reasonably assured that your letter will never be +found till you and it have long been dust, and till not only its +importance, but its very meaning, have become unintelligible. You may +consider it irrevocably lost, and so, as there's no further excuse for +your remaining, Colonel Darcy, I'll wish you--good-night," and the +Secretary threw open the great hall door. + +"Good-night, Mr. Stanley," replied the unwelcome guest, with a frown of +anger as he passed over the threshold. "Good-night--but not +good-bye--remember we've still a score to settle." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A MIDNIGHT MESSAGE + + +Stanley closed the great front door, turned the key, shot the bolts, and +lighting his bedroom candle, slowly and thoughtfully betook himself to +his chamber. + +Kingsland's knowledge of the mysterious letter only served to increase +the Secretary's suspicions of that young officer's complicity with +Darcy, while the letter itself presented such a bewildering variety of +contradictory possibilities, that his mind was dazed. A further +consideration of his past experiences in this matter did not make him +feel any the easier, and for the first time, under the spur of doubt and +mistrust, he recalled Kingsland's story of the reception of the missive, +and subjected it to a critical analysis. Mr. Riddle had said, and the +Lieutenant had confirmed, that the letter had been handed by the former +to the latter at the Hyde Park Club, and that the Lieutenant was then +"leaving the room." Yet the Secretary, now he came to think of it, was +sure Mr. Riddle had not been of the company at or after dinner, and that +Kingsland had not left the drawing-room or attempted to do so. Moreover, +if Riddle had given him the money for the stamp, why had he not +mentioned the fact at the time? The letter was evidently of importance, +and intended for Darcy, a man of whose every action, he had the greatest +distrust. Yet the important missive, after being lost for three days, +was given by its owner to Miss Fitzgerald, who thought so little of it, +that she used the envelope to scribble an address on, before giving it +to the Colonel, who now had lost it under the secret door. + +It was certainly a mystery to which he was unable to offer any solution, +but which, nevertheless, caused him a vague uneasiness. He drew up an +arm-chair beside the table, and lighting his lamp, prepared to seek +distraction in a book. + +The Secretary had scarcely settled to his reading, however, when he was +startled by a sharp click against his window. At first he thought +nothing of it, but at a repetition of the noise, plainly produced by a +pebble thrown up against the glass, he opened the casement and looked +out. + +The night was very dark, and he could see nothing; but out of the +blackness below him came a voice, which he thought he recognised, +calling his name softly. + +"Why, John!" he cried, scarcely believing it could be the Legation +factotum. "What on earth are you doing here at this time of night?" + +"Special message from 'is h'Excellency, sir," came in the familiar +cockney of the messenger, with the added caution, "don't speak so loud, +please--it's that private--" + +Stanley nodded, quite oblivious of the fact that he was invisible, and +added in lowered tones: + +"Go round to the front, and I'll come down and let you in." + +He cautiously made his way downstairs, pausing at every creaking board +in fear that he had awakened the household, and traversing the long +hall, opened the great front door, and admitted the shivering John; for +the night was cool, and several hours of watching and waiting had +chilled the messenger thoroughly. + +"How long have you been out there?" + +"Since ten, sir." + +"Good Heavens! and it's past midnight! Come up to my room, and I'll give +you some whiskey." + +"Thank ye, sir. I shan't mind a drop--it's that cold, but I'll take off +me boots first." + +"Take off your boots!" + +"'Is h'Excellency was most par-ti'cler, sir, as no one but you should +know as I was 'ere." + +"Oh, I see. Very well. Leave them at the foot of the stairs. You'll find +these flags rather cold for stocking-feet." + +A few minutes later John was installed in the Secretary's bedroom, and +his inner man was being warmed and refreshed with a copious dram of +whiskey--while Stanley, seated at his table, was breaking the seals of +the despatch which the messenger had brought him. + +"It's most secret, sir." + +"Quite so. How did you know which was my room?" + +"The lady of the 'ouse, sir, employs the hinnkeeper's daughter to 'elp +the 'ousekeeper day times--and so----" + +"I see; very clever, John. Eh! what's this?" and bending forward to the +light he read the now opened dispatch. It was short and to the point. + + "Dear Mr. Stanley," wrote the Minister. "This is to inform + you that we have discovered the silent partner in the firm, + who is the chief instrument in putting up the money to + defeat the treaty. His name is Arthur Riddle. He is a guest + of your hostess, and should be watched. Darcy left for + Sussex this afternoon, presumably for your neighbourhood. + Kindly report progress, if any, sending letter by John, who + should return at once. + + "Yours, etc. + "X----." + +As the full force of this communication became apparent to the +unfortunate Secretary, he sunk back in his chair, groaning in an agony +of mortification. + +"Dear, dear, sir!" cried John, who had been meditatively regarding the +bottom of his empty glass. "You don't mean to tell me as they've got +away." + +The messenger, it may be remarked, not being supposed, technically, to +know any official secrets, knew more than most of his superiors. + +"Oh, it isn't that, it's a thousand times worse than that! I'm such an +infernal fool! John, I've had those instructions in my possession." + +"You have!" cried the messenger, much excited. + +"Yes. Had them for three days in the inside pocket of my dress-suit, and +being the greatest idiot in the diplomatic service, I never even +suspected what they were, and gave them back to the man who wrote them." + +"What, Riddle?" + +Stanley groaned, and bowed his head. + +"Dear, dear," said John, gravely, "I'm afraid it's a bad business, sir." +And noticing that the Secretary was absorbed in his own woes, he judged +it a favourable opportunity to replenish his glass, which he +thoughtfully consumed, while the unfortunate diplomat poured out to the +old messenger, who was distinctly the _deus ex machina_ of his Legation, +and who had helped him out of many a tight place in the past, the story +of the letter. How he had received it, how he had been induced to give +it up, and finally how it reached its present destination. + +"Well," he said despairingly, in conclusion, "what do you think, John?" + +"Hit's hall the woman, sir. Take my word for hit, hit's hall the woman," +replied that functionary, with dignity. + +"What, Miss Fitzgerald?" + +John nodded, with the solemnity befitting so weighty a dictum. + +"You old idiot!" cried Stanley. "It's nothing of the sort. Miss +Fitzgerald's share in this matter was merely a coincidence." + +"Didn't you tell me has it was she suggested your taking han hold letter +to keep score hon, knowing well you 'ad _the letter_ in your hinside +pocket hall the time?" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the Secretary. "How could she have known anything +about it? She had never laid eyes on the letter till I produced it." + +"Mr. Stanley," returned the messenger, with a dignity against which the +two glasses he had consumed struggled unsuccessfully, "h'I've fostered +young gentlemen, an' got h'em hout hof scrapes, an' taught h'em their +ha, b, c's of diplomacy, afore you was weaned, han' I knows whereof h'I +speaks, h'I tells yer, hit's the woman!" + +"I wish you'd get me out of this scrape. I'd be your friend for life." + +"That's heasy enough. You _must_ get the letter." + +"But how--I tell you----" + +"Get it," reiterated the messenger, whose potations had made him +optimistic. "Blow this bally hold barn into the next county, hif need +be, but open that door and get it." + +The Secretary looked despairingly at the despatch, and tossing it to +John, said: + +"And what am I to answer to this?" + +"H'I'll answer it, hif you'll let me come to the table." + +"You!" + +"Yes--and you can copy and sign it. Hit won't be the first private note +h'I've hanswered, or the first despatch h'I've written, heither," and +with this rebuke he composed the following: + + "To + "His Excellency, + "The Honourable, + "------ + + "SIR:-- + + "I have the honour to acknowledge your Excellency's private + despatch of the 20th inst., and to inform you in reply that + the person mentioned in it is now a guest in this house, + also that I have discovered the present location of the + papers desired, and hope soon to be able to place them in + your hands. + + "I am, Sir, + "Your obedient servant, + "------. + "Sunday, 12.45 A. M." + +The Secretary read and approved, and in a few moments had produced a +copy of the same, which was duly signed and sealed. + +"And now," he said, "you must be off. There's a train to London about +six." + +"Yes, sir. Hit's a very cold night, sir." + +"No, you've had enough, and you need to keep your wits about you," and +he led the way downstairs. + +"John," he said, as he let the faithful servitor out, "I believe you're +right in what you said." + +"Habout the woman, sir?" + +"Of course not. I tell you the lady knows nothing whatever of the +matter; pray disabuse your mind of that absurd idea, once and for all. I +mean about the letter." + +"Yes, sir." + +"I've got to get it again, John. Send me the best book you can find on +combination locks. I _will_ get it! Impossibilities don't count!" + +"Yes, sir. Good-night, sir, and remember, hit's the woman!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WISDOM OF AGE + + +The Secretary passed one of the worst nights of his life. His pride, +self-esteem, and youthful estimation of his abilities as a diplomat had +received a crushing blow. He told himself that he was not fit to copy +letters in an office, much less to undertake delicate negotiations in +which the honour of his country was involved. The conspirators had known +him for what he was, a conceited young ass, and had egregiously fooled +him to the top of his bent. They had regained the document without half +trying; even Kingsland, whose intellect he had looked down on, had +completely taken him in. It seemed as if he must die of shame when it +became known. He would be disgraced and turned out of the service with +ridicule. Then of his despair was born that resolution to _do_, which +sets all obstacles at naught, and succeeds because it declares the +possibility of the impossible. + +He must retrieve himself, he must regain that letter, and hereafter his +self-reproaches were mingled with every scheme leading to its recovery, +that his brain could concoct. + +He was downstairs soon after seven. + +Entering the great hall, he found Lady Isabelle in sole possession, but +equipped to go out. + +"Whither so early?" he said. + +"I'm going away--that is--out." + +"Away?" he queried, as he saw her eyes fill with tears, and noted that +she was closely veiled "Can I serve you?" + +"No--yes," she replied, uncertain how to answer him. "Could I ask you to +do me a very great favour?" + +"Most certainly." + +"But it's something you won't like to do." + +"Lady Isabelle," he said quietly, "we've been very good friends, and I +may tell you that I've a suspicion of what you intend to do this +morning. Won't you trust me, and allow me to help you in any way in my +power?" + +"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I will, because I'm sure +you mean what you say, and I'm in desperate straits. You remember the +answer I gave to a question of yours last evening?" + +"That you did not care for me--yes." + +"I might have added," she said shyly, casting down her eyes, "that I +cared for someone else." + +"Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"Yes." + +"Are you sure you're making a wise choice, Lady Isabelle?" he asked, +feeling that he ought not to allow this state of affairs to continue +when he was almost certain that the young officer was practically a +criminal, whom it might be his duty to have arrested any day, yet +prevented by his instructions from preferring any charges against him +to Lady Isabelle. + +"Don't, please," she said. "You misjudge him." + +"I hope I do." + +"You do not understand. How should you? Have you ever seen him in his +uniform? He is a picture, and you know," sinking her voice, "his family +dates from the Conquest." + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. He'd had enough of warning people +for their own good, so he contented himself with remarking that a +disregard for the Decalogue seemed compatible with an unbroken descent +from the Norman robber. + +"Now you're cynical," she cried, "but I shan't argue with you, for I +love him, and we're to be married this morning in the chapel. Everything +has been arranged, and in fifteen minutes I shall be his wife." + +"That's very interesting," said Stanley. "But where do I come in?" + +"I need your help." + +"Oh, I see. I suppose that if I'd any real interest in your welfare, I +ought to refuse, but as you'd do as you please in any event, I'm quite +at your service." + +"Thanks. Mamma will be here presently. She's announced her intention of +attending early service, and if she does----" + +"She might interrupt another, and that would be awkward." + +"Dreadfully. She does not wish me to marry Lieutenant Kingsland--I think +she would rather I married you." + +"Is she so bitter? Well, make your own mind easy, I won't ask her." + +"But you must." + +"What!!!" + +"Nothing short of a proposal would deter her from going to service." + +"But, I thought you----!" + +"Oh, I'll promise to be unavailable by the time you've finished,-- Sh! +she's coming. Remember your promise to help me, and wish me luck." + +"With all my heart," he cried, as she vanished through the door, and the +Dowager entered the hall. + +Stanley wished the old lady good-morning which she received with +chilling condescension, and neither of them spoke for some moments; a +precious gain of time, during which her Ladyship put on her gloves, +rearranged her cloak, unrolled and re-rolled her sunshade, paced the +long hall, alternated glimpses out of the windows by glances up the +great stairway, and betrayed every sign of impatient waiting for a tardy +companion. The Secretary stood watching her and counting the minutes, +which seemed to pass unusually slowly. + +Finally the Dowager's patience got the better of her reserve; she faced +round and demanded if he had seen her daughter. + +"Yes," he replied, very deliberately. "I believe she was in the hall +when I came down." + +"Believe. Do you not know, Mr. Stanley?" + +"I certainly caught a glimpse of her," he admitted. + +"But she's not here now." + +The Secretary made a careful inspection, from his point of vantage on +the hearthstone, of every cobweb and corner of the great apartment, and +in the end found himself forced to agree with the Marchioness' +statement. + +"Where has she gone, then?" was her next question. + +"Really," he replied, "it is not your daughter's custom to keep me +posted as to her movements." + +"But you've eyes, haven't you?" she retorted, testily. "At least you +know how she left this hall." + +The Secretary sighed as he saw the end of his little manoeuvre. + +"She went out at the front door," he said. + +"Why couldn't you have told me that to begin with?" + +"You didn't ask me." + +"Don't be so distressingly literal. I'm late for the service as it is. +My daughter has probably misunderstood our arrangements, and is waiting +for me at the church." And the Marchioness showed unmistakable signs of +preparing to leave. + +Even allowing a most liberal leeway to the maundering old parson, +Stanley knew he could not yet have reached that passage beginning, "All +ye that are married," and ending in "amazement," for which there is a +canonical time-allowance of at least five minutes; it therefore behoved +him to play his last trump. + +The Dowager, like a hen preening her feathers, had given the last +touches to her garments, and was already half-way to the door, when the +Secretary, stepping forward, arrested her progress by remarking: + +"I feel that I owe you some explanation of what occurred last night, +Lady Port-Arthur." + +"Perhaps it's as well that you should explain," she replied, pausing at +the door, "though I should have supposed it would have been unnecessary +after our last interview." + +"I've not forgotten it." + +"You appeared to have done so last evening." + +"Really, you know," he said, piqued by her rudeness, "I couldn't refuse +to escort your daughter down to dinner when my hostess requested me to +do so." + +"If Mrs. Roberts so honoured you as to permit you to take in Lady +Isabelle, naturally----" + +"Yes, that is the way I should have put it." + +"I do not pretend to say how you should have expressed yourself, but I +wish to point out that your place at dinner was no excuse for your place +afterwards." + +"Oh, in the conservatory. Well, you see, the fact is, I was telling Lady +Isabelle----" + +"Yes, Mr. Stanley. What were you telling my daughter?" + +He glanced at the clock. Seven minutes had elapsed since the Dowager +entered the hall. He hoped they would shorten the service. + +"I was asking her a question," he continued. + +"Well?" + +The Dowager was far below zero. + +"I asked her if she cared for me." + +"And she naturally referred you to her mother." + +"She told me a few minutes ago that you were coming here," he replied, +noticing that his companion's mercury was rapidly rising. + +"I'm glad," continued the Marchioness, "that you've taken so early an +opportunity to explain what I could only consider as very singular +conduct. For dear Isabelle's sake I'll consent to overlook what has +occurred in the past, and if you can make suitable provision----" + +Five minutes only remained before the time of early service. He thought +his income large enough to fill the interval, and interrupted with: + +"The woman I marry would have----," and then he told the Dowager all +about it, in sterling and decimal currency. + +"I think," said that lady, with a sigh of relief at the end of his +narration, which, it may be remarked, took the best part of half an +hour, "I think dear Isabelle's happiness should outweigh any social +disparity, and that we may consider her as good as married." + +"Yes," he replied, remembering that the church bells had stopped ringing +some fifteen minutes before. "Yes, your Ladyship, I think we may." + + * * * * * + +A few minutes later Stanley found himself in one of the secluded +stretches of the park, breathing in the fresh keen morning air with a +new sense of delight, after the inherent stuffiness of the Dowager. + +He trusted that Lady Isabelle would break the news to her mother at +once, and get it over before he returned; but even then he had an +unpleasant interview before him. As an accepted suitor the Marchioness +would owe him an apology, which he could not avoid accepting. He hoped +he could do the heart-broken and disappointed lover, whose feelings were +tempered by the calm repression of high gentility. It was the rôle he +had figured for himself, and he thought it excellent. + +All his ideas, however, were centred on the problem of recovering the +lost document; some means of entry to that secret tower there must be, +and he must find it. He could not, of course, be certain that the paper +contained Darcy's instructions; but it was admittedly important, and its +loss had done him an injury which could only be atoned for by its +recovery. + +A light footfall interrupted his meditations, and looking up, he saw, +standing before him, half screened by the bushes which she was holding +back, to give her free access to the main path which he was pursuing, +the graceful figure and sad, sweet face of Madame Darcy. + +A shade of annoyance passed over his brow as he remembered the scene of +the night before, and his companion was quick to interpret his mood. +"Ah, Mr. Stanley," she said, "you've seen my husband." + +"Yes," he admitted. "He came up to the Hall last night." + +"I hope he didn't make himself a nuisance," she said. + +"Well, I'm afraid he did rather," he returned, and added, "but it's +nothing," for he felt that it would be impossible for him to tell her +what had really occurred. + +"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I only bring you trouble." + +"No, indeed," he hastened to assure her, "far from it. These little +talks with you are a positive rest and refreshment to me. I hate this +playing the spy." + +"I suppose it won't do for me to ask how you're progressing, and what +you've found out?" + +"I've found out that I've made an awful fool of myself," he said. "Mr. +Riddle----" + +"I could have told you who Mr. Riddle was yesterday," she said. + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. + +"I'm afraid that would have been of little use." + +"Be very careful," she warned him. "There are others besides Mr. Riddle +whom you have to look out for." + +Could it be possible, he asked himself, that she suspected her husband? +Aloud, he said: + +"Whom do you mean?" + +She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not for me to belie my own sex," she +retorted, "but----" + +"You mean there is a woman in the case?" + +She nodded. + +The Secretary drew himself up very stiffly. + +"It's an impossibility that we will not discuss," he said. "Your +prejudices mislead you." + +Yet, in spite of his apparent calmness, he was greatly disturbed, for +this was the second time that day that doubt had been cast upon Miss +Fitzgerald. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RESOURCES OF DIPLOMACY + + +Determined to drive these unjust suspicions from his mind, the Secretary +turned the conversation into other channels, and spent a most delightful +hour in the park with Madame Darcy, in which they came to understand +each other marvellously well. Prompted by that subtle instinct which +invariably suggests to the feminine mind the proper course with a man +she cares to impress, she relegated her own woes to the uncertain +future, and led the conversation into reminiscences of their common +country. So time fled by unnoticed, till Stanley had arrived at the +dangerous point of wondering why fate had not ordained his life +differently before she had married that brute, or he had--no, no, he did +not mean that! He was a very lucky dog, and Belle was much too good for +him--and, in short, he must go back to the Hall. + +To this, however, his fair companion strongly objected. She was lonely, +she wished to be diverted. His time was his own. Considering that he was +partially engaged to two ladies, the Secretary felt this statement +admitted of qualifications. Besides, they were at the entrance of the +farmhouse where she was staying--it was a most ideal spot--he must step +in and see it. + +But his reasons were of a more solid nature, and he laughingly confided +to her that his wish to depart arose not from a desire to avoid her +society, but from the fact that he had, as yet, had no breakfast. + +"But it is my own case," she cried with a ringing laugh. "I'm starving, +actually starving--it is a most droll coincidence." + +Stanley assured her he would not detain her a moment longer, but this +was equally repugnant to his hostess' views of hospitality. She declared +that a breakfast for one was a breakfast for two; if not, more should be +ordered. Her appetite was that of a bird; the repast was humble, but it +was a sin to go without sampling the housewife's eggs and cream--there +were none so good at the Hall, she was sure. + +The Secretary told her that he could not dream of staying, and found +himself within five minutes ensconced at Madame Darcy's table. + +No liquids, other than fresh milk and pure spring water were served at +this repast, yet Stanley arose fully assured that they were the most +intoxicating beverages he had ever tasted, and betook himself Hall-wards +towards noon, through a maze of black eyes, and dazzling flashes of +beauty, his brain vibrating with a voice, whose tones were the poetry of +sound. + +A vision of the Dowager Marchioness of Port Arthur, placidly seated on +the lawn, under a green umbrella, with a book in her lap, and evidently +on the borderland of sleeping and waking, brought him to earth once +more. + +It would be better to interrupt her matutinal slumbers, and get one of +his two dreaded interviews over. She looked rather too composed, he +thought, for a disappointed mother, and he was sure she would be that, +did she know the truth. He coughed discreetly, and approached, slowly +enough to permit her Ladyship to quite recover her senses, before he +arrived by her side. + +It would not do to appear too downcast before being informed of the +hopelessness of his suit, so putting on his best society manner, and +reflecting that an adversary disconcerted is an adversary at a +disadvantage, he asked, as if it were quite the most ordinary of +questions: + +"How beautiful are your feet--Lady Port Arthur?" + +"Dear me, young man!" exclaimed her Ladyship, now thoroughly awake, +"they've always been considered beautiful; but why should you ask?" + +"My reference was scriptural, purely scriptural, I assure you-- I was +referring to the feet of the messengers upon the mountains, who bring +good tidings. You'll find it in Isaiah. Are you one of them?" + +"There are no mountains in Sussex, and the rising generation knows +entirely too much," snapped out the Dowager. "As for you-- I've +conferred with my daughter----" + +She _has_ told her, thought the Secretary, preparing to draw down his +mouth to the requisite expression of woe. + +"--And it gives me great happiness to tell you----" she continued, +beaming on Stanley in spite of his flippancy, at which that gentleman +drew down his mouth in good earnest, as he realised that she was still +undeceived. + +"--It gives me great happiness to tell you, that I believe your suit +will have a favourable termination. She has promised to consider it." + +"Oh," said the Secretary; and then, recollecting himself, added: + +"It's very good of her, I'm sure." + +If he had the opportunity, after lunch, he mentally determined to give +Lady Isabelle a piece of his mind. + +"It's an honest soul," continued her Ladyship, not noticing the +interruption, "which refuses the promptings of her heart. Her hesitancy +is quite natural, I assure you, and most becoming. When his Lordship +asked the honour of my hand----" The Dowager sighed at the sweetness of +reminiscence, and again took up the thread of her discourse. + +"My daughter told me that she could not, without reflection, be certain +of the state of her affections. Make allowance for her, Mr. Stanley, she +is very young. Believe me, I should not speak as I do, were it not for +the fact that I have known the world well--in my youthful days--though +this you would scarcely believe, I dare say--I was one of the +acknowledged leaders of the court." + +"Your Ladyship's wit and beauty are a bye-word in all good society, and +one has only to see you, to realise that they have been enhanced by the +added grace of years," murmured the Secretary, doing his prettiest. + +"You're a deceitful diplomat, and I don't believe you," said the +Dowager, giggling and pretending to be very angry, but vastly pleased, +none the less; and, giving him a flabby pat with one of her expansive +hands, she continued: + +"You must not be downhearted, however; leave everything to me." + +The Secretary assured her that he felt quite safe to trust his heart in +the keeping of one who had held the custody of so many, and was rewarded +for his flattery by a further proof of the Dowager's confidence. + +"Take my advice, dear James----" she began; but Stanley felt this was a +step too far, and hastened to put himself on the defensive. + +"That is not my name, Lady Port Arthur," he said, quietly. + +"But surely," she continued, pressing her point, "your friends call you +by a disrespectful contraction of it. + +"Jim?" he asked, laughing. "Oh, that's because my Christian name is +quite unfitted for ordinary usage--it's only brought out on state +occasions." + +"May I inquire what it is?" + +"Aloysius." + +"Dear me, no, I don't think I could call you that; but as I was saying, +if you take my advice you'll see as little as possible of Isabelle +to-day. Leave her to herself; it's far wiser." + +The Secretary felt decidedly relieved. + +"I quite agree with you," he replied. "You may depend on my following +your advice to the letter," and he turned towards the house. + +"One point more," she said, detaining him with a gesture, "I strongly +disapprove of secret engagements. I don't wish the insinuations made +against my daughter that one hears about that impudent young minx, Miss +Fitzgerald.-- Why, they actually hinted that she was engaged to you!" + +"Dear me! Did they?" murmured Stanley. + +"If there is the happy issue that we both wish, I should desire that our +friends here, if not society in general, should know it immediately." + +"My dear lady," said the Secretary impressively, "the moment that your +daughter tells you definitely that she accepts my offer of marriage, you +may announce it to the whole world; till that time, however, I must +insist, that for her sake as well as mine, you be most discreet," and he +bowed himself from her presence. + +The Marchioness sank back in her chair with a sigh of placid +contentment. Her work in life was, she believed, on the eve of +successful accomplishment, and that most agonising period to a +mother--the time from her daughter's coming out to that young lady's +engagement--was safely over. On the whole her child had behaved +unusually well; but of late she had suffered some inquietude of spirit, +owing to the attentions of Kingsland, whom she, in common with all +mothers of the social world, listed as belonging to the most dangerous +and formidable class of youths that a girl, who has any pretensions to +being a _partie_, can encounter. + +In the case of the Lieutenant, however, Lady Port Arthur flattered +herself that she had nipped matters in the bud, by the best of all cures +for a romantic, impossible lover, _i.e._ a prospective husband. True, +Mr. Stanley was not of noble family, she feared his people might even be +called commercial; but he was eminently safe, and possessed of a +substantial income wherewith to support the glories of the noble name of +Port Arthur. In short, he was an admirable solution of the difficulty. + +The Marchioness felt she was justified in taking forty winks, and did +so. + +Luncheon rather amused the Secretary than otherwise. He obeyed the +Dowager's instructions to the letter, sat as far from Lady Isabelle as +possible, and by the caprice of fate, found himself next to Miss +Fitzgerald, who, with admirable foresight, treated him exactly as if +nothing had happened, and that being half engaged to a man was the +normal state of her existence. This put Stanley quite at his ease, and +even Belle's fictitious claim on his services for the afternoon, based +on her unsupported declaration that he had asked her to drive with him +in the pony cart at four, a proposition he would never have dreamed of +making, was accepted by him as a matter of course. A proceeding which +elicited an expansive smile from the Dowager, who considered it a +deep-laid diplomatic plot, in furtherance of her suggested plan of +campaign. + +The Secretary's attention was, however, mainly directed to Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle, who sat side by side at table, and who acted, in his +opinion like a pair of fools, till it seemed as if everyone present must +guess the true state of affairs. As a matter of fact, no one did, and +Stanley, seeing this, was once more reassured; for he did not wish to +play his little part to more of an audience than was absolutely +necessary. + +Mr. Riddle, towards whom the Secretary, in view of the night's +disclosures, felt even a stronger antipathy, was in high spirits, until +he was silenced by Mrs. Roberts, who assured the company that she had +caught him in the act of aiding and abetting the cottager's children to +make mud pies in the public highway. + +"I really couldn't help it," he said, excusing himself shamefacedly, +"the dear little things were pining for some one to play with, and we +did have such fun--and got so grubby;" and there was such a genuine ring +of honest pleasure in his tones, that Stanley again found cause to +wonder which was the true man. + +Something like an hour later, the Secretary emerged on the driveway, to +find the pony cart and Belle, got up in faultless style; and as he +looked on the technical mistress of his heart, she seemed so +exceedingly fair and gracious, that his morbid imaginings vanished away +like smoke, under the spell of her presence. + +"I'm afraid you'll be very angry with me," she said, apologetically; +"but when I proposed our drive this afternoon, I'd quite forgotten a +promise I made to Mr. Lambert to go and see a poor, sick, old woman, a +parishioner of his." + +"Then I suppose the drive is off?" + +"Not at all, if you'll be a dear, good, self-sacrificing Jimsy, and do +what you're told." + +"What's that?" + +"Just jump into the cart and take it round to the north gate--it's a +couple of miles I know--but I'll walk straight across the fields, make +my visit, and be at our rendezvous almost as soon as you are. I'll +promise not to keep you waiting over ten minutes at the longest. Will +you do it?" + +"Certainly, if I may solace myself with a cigar while I wait." + +"Two, if you like; but you won't have time to smoke them. Now off you +go," and waving her hand to him, she watched him disappear round the +corner of the house. + +Once he was out of sight, Miss Fitzgerald lost no time in producing, +from the mysterious recesses of her pocket, a telegram, the delivery of +which she had intercepted, which she surveyed long and critically. + +A telegram is generally regarded as best serving its purpose when most +promptly delivered; but in the case of this message, Miss Fitzgerald +evidently felt it would improve by keeping, for it had arrived during +the morning, and was now some hours old. The time had come, however, +when it should be delivered to its proper owner, and she accordingly +went in search of Lieutenant Kingsland. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A LITTLE COMMISSION + + +Lady Isabelle and Lieutenant Kingsland sat on the lawn before the old +manor house in the soft glow of an English afternoon, contemplating the +inevitable. In this case the inevitable was represented by the Dowager, +who was enjoying a peaceful nap not fifty feet away. Only fifty feet of +faultlessly-kept turf separated them from the vials of a mother's wrath; +and in spite of their supreme happiness of the morning, they felt the +presence of this gathering storm which must now be faced--as soon as the +Marchioness awoke--for to wake her would put her in a bad temper, and +her rage promised to be violent enough without any external irritants. + +But it happened that while the Dowager slumbered, Miss Fitzgerald, +slipping around the corner of the house, appeared in the background, and +signalling to the Lieutenant to come to her, where they could talk +without awakening the Marchioness, gave him his telegram. He read its +contents once, twice, and a third time, word by word, gave a sigh of +unutterable relief, and then laughed joyously. + +"Good news, apparently," commented Miss Fitzgerald. + +"The best," he replied. "A crusty old relative, who is no good to +anybody, lies dying in the north of England, and for some unknown reason +has made me his heir-- I must leave at once to see him out of this world +in proper style--but it means I'm a rich man." + +"I'm ever so glad. Must you start to-day?" + +"I shall go up to London this afternoon, and on to-morrow." + +"You'll spend the night in town, then?" + +"Yes. I must go to my bank and draw some funds for my journey." + +"Then you can do me a favour." + +"A thousand, if you want them, after what you've done for me." + +"Will you oblige me by taking charge of several chests of Mr. Riddle's +stereopticon views; they're heavy, but fragile and very valuable, and +I've promised him I'd find some one to take them up to town for him, and +put them in safe keeping. Where do you bank?" + +"Bank of England, Victoria Street branch." + +"Will you leave it in their charge subject to my order?" + +"Certainly. How many cases?" + +"Five, and they're rather heavy." + +"All right. Have the chests put in the luggage cart, and I'll look out +for them. Now I must tell my--why, it's Kent-Lauriston!" and to their +mutual astonishment, they beheld that gentleman standing close beside +them. + +"Good afternoon," he said. "You didn't expect to see me? I wired Mrs. +Roberts." + +"I know my aunt will be delighted," said Miss Fitzgerald. "Won't you +come into the house?" and she led the way, calling back to the +Lieutenant: "I'll see they're ready. Thank you so much." + +Once in the hall, she wasted no time over the unexpected, and to her +unwelcome, guest, but, consigning him to the butler, sped away to give +directions as to the disposition of the chests, and was soon scurrying +across the park to join the patient Secretary, who had had ample +opportunity to smoke his two cigars. + +The Lieutenant had in the meantime shown his despatch to Lady Isabelle, +whose face at once assumed an expression very much in contrast to that +of her liege lord's; her brows contracted in a frown, and tears sprang +to her eyes. + +"Oh, Jack!" she cried. "You won't leave me now-- I can't spare you. Your +poor uncle Benjamin!" + +"But you don't understand!" he cried. "You don't see what it means! The +Steward writes that I'll inherit his property, and that I should come +and protect my interests." + +"But he's not dead yet--only very ill," she argued, seeing the +possibilities ahead--yet hoping against hope to win her husband from his +better judgment. + +"It's the same thing--they wouldn't have telegraphed for me if it wasn't +the end." + +"But it's so far off--nearly to the Scottish border." + +"That's all the more reason for hurrying. I must take the first train +for London." + +"And leave me!" + +"My darling, you must be brave, you must be sensible. If I inherit my +uncle's property, I shall be a rich man, and your mother's scruples will +be removed. It's vital that I should lose no chances--it means +everything to us." + +"But is there any danger of your doing so--doesn't the telegram +expressly state that he means to make you his heir?" + +"Yes, yes, but there are other relatives as near as I. They'll all be +there, and if they suspect I'm chosen, will try and get him, at the +last, to turn against me." + +"But why should you be chosen?" + +"Pure cussedness, I think, coupled with the fact that I've never +troubled myself to be even civil to him. His other relatives have spent +their time in fawning about him, and he has seen through it, and led +them a lively dance in consequence. He lived in a beastly old hole of a +place--dull as the water in his own moat. I was sent there as a boy, and +when he tried to cane me for stealing his fruit, I pelted him with +apples. Since I've been old enough to consult my own inclinations, I +have entirely ignored him. I never supposed he'd leave me a penny, and I +wouldn't have let him lead me a dog's life for it, if I had. Now that +he has done so to spite the rest, I shall protect my own interests, +never fear." + +"But you'll tell mamma before you go?" + +"Most certainly not," replied the Lieutenant, glad of any valid excuse +for putting off what promised to be a rather trying interview. "I should +have to go at once in any event, and I certainly couldn't leave you to +face your mother's wrath alone; besides, now I come to think of it, your +late father was one of uncle's pet detestations, politically, and if a +rumour of my secret marriage were to reach him before the end, it would +be all up with my prospects, and you can easily see what splendid +capital it would be for his precious relatives." + +"But mamma might be trusted?" queried Lady Isabelle, feeling that she +was venturing on untenable ground. + +"Those who don't know won't tell; besides, my position will be much +stronger as the heir in possession than the heir prospective. Now I must +be off to make my excuses to Mrs. Roberts, and to pack up my belongings, +or some of them, for I don't expect to be gone more than two or three +days at the most, and till then everything depends on keeping the +secret." + +"But, Mr. Stanley," she expostulated. + +"Oh, pshaw! I forgot him." + +"But we mustn't forget him. You know we promised him that we would tell +at once." + +"Circumstances alter cases. You must arrange it between you somehow. You +can stave off the evil day with your mother. Say you need time to think +it over." + +"You don't know mamma as well as I do, Jack." + +"Then refuse absolutely." + +"She'd take me away at once, abroad perhaps. She's made up her mind to +this match." + +"You must hold it off and on, that is all there is about it. Let her +think you are going to consent, but that you mustn't be hurried." + +"But think of Mr. Stanley's position. How would you feel in his place?" + +"Now, what's the use of arguing suppositious cases when I'm pressed for +time? Stanley has accepted the position, and he must make the best of +it." + +"But if he's afraid Miss Fitzgerald may learn of his proposal to me, and +misunderstand." + +"Not much danger of that, as she saw you married this morning." + +"But Mr. Stanley doesn't know that Miss Fitzgerald was present at our +wedding. Now, if I could tell him so----" + +"Um!" murmured the Lieutenant thoughtfully. "On the whole, I don't think +I would. It wouldn't be quite fair to Belle." + +"To Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"To Miss Fitzgerald. At least you must gain her consent first." + +"But why should she object?" + +"Well, to speak quite frankly, her own position in the matter was open +to question. You see, she had some difficulty in arranging the private +marriage, and, out of friendship to me, she did and said certain things +of which an over-conscientious person, like our friend the Secretary, +might disapprove." + +"Jack!" she cried, frightened. "Tell me the truth. Swear to me that our +marriage was a true marriage--was legal." + +"I swear it, my darling. Hadn't you the special licence to prove it? My +remarks only referred to the means she used to induce the parson to keep +his mouth shut. Not discreditable at all, you understand, and some day, +when I'm at liberty to explain it, you'll see--but we owe it to her to +keep quiet about the whole affair." + +"I don't like it, dear--it doesn't sound honest." + +"Well, I can't help it. It is all fair and square as far as you are +concerned, and if you like you may tell Miss Fitzgerald all about +Stanley's position, so that he can't injure himself in her eyes. But to +him you must say nothing without her consent--absolutely nothing." + +"But this does not settle the matter of the engagement." + +"You must manage that as best you can. Stanley can't really be engaged +to you, because you are a married woman; and Belle can't be jealous if +she knows the truth." + +"But poor Mr. Stanley--consider his feelings--how needlessly you are +making him suffer. He'll think that Miss Fitzgerald will never forgive +him." + +"And a good thing, too, for he's treated her very badly; he deserves to +be made uncomfortable." + +"What has he done?" + +"Never mind. It's not a story for polite society. But he'll deserve all +he gets, take my word for it. Now run along to the library and see if +you can find our place in that old black letter book of the 'Lives of +the Saints.' It'll be positively necessary for me to look up a reference +or two before starting, to fortify myself for my journey;" and so saying +he entered the house, feeling that in giving Belle the whip hand over +the Secretary, he had more than compensated her for all she had done for +him. But Lieutenant Kingsland was destined to find out that a +whip--especially one with so long a lash--is apt to be a dangerous +instrument in unqualified hands, and may even include the giver in its +whistling sting. + +Something over an hour later, the Lieutenant having been duly fortified, +and dispatched on his journey, Lady Isabelle found herself closeted with +her mother in the midst of a most trying scene. The Dowager had placed +before her the manifest advantages of a union with the young diplomat, +and her daughter, incautiously following her husband's short-sighted +advice, had not only seemed to acquiesce in favour of the suit, but had +even overdone the part, in the hopes of thereby inducing such amiability +in her mother, as would lead her to be lenient concerning the final +decision. The result of this was that Lady Isabelle had not, +figuratively speaking, left herself a leg to stand on, and having +admitted all her mother's arguments with a complaisance which could only +argue their ultimate acceptance, came to a standstill the moment a +definite answer was demanded. She agreed to all her mother said, but +could not of herself say yes--or no. + +Lady Port Arthur could only attribute her daughter's hesitation to one +of two reasons, either maidenly modesty which prevented her acceding to +her requests--"A most becoming motive, my dear"--the Dowager assured +her--"and one that does you infinite credit, but which, in this +instance, must give way to my superior wisdom, or else----." Here the +Marchioness expressed herself with a heat and bitterness which it would +be hardly fair to put on record for cool and sober reading; referring to +an "inherited obstinacy," which she assured her daughter had come direct +from the late Lord Port Arthur, and had led to a certain amount of +friction in her marital life, and concluding by remarking that--"this +(obstinacy) I have determined to nip in the bud, and crush out with a +stern hand." + +She therefore requested an immediate answer. Lady Isabelle, not being of +a strong nature, nor daring to brave her mother's wrath by a direct +refusal, and feeling the impossibility of assent, replied that she had +nothing further to say. This equivocal position proved to be most +disastrous--for it left her mother free to lay down the law, which she +proceeded to do. + +"If," she said, "your refusal to answer is due to a foolish access of +modesty, I shall reply in the affirmative for you, and Mr. Stanley will +see the propriety of your attitude, and will, I am sure, excuse its +apparent childishness. If, on the other hand, your motive is due to +obstinacy, I consider myself privileged to interfere in order to save +you from the results of your own foolishness, and I shall still accept +for you. Should you so far forget yourself as to oppose my wishes, I +shall feel that seclusion and rigorous measures will be necessary--we +will leave to-morrow for a six months' course of mud baths in Northern +Bavaria, which will be highly beneficial to me, and will give you ample +time for reflection on the sins of undutifulness and obstinate pride." + +The Dowager paused to watch the effect of her threat. It was all she +could have desired. + +Lady Isabelle knew Snollenbad by reputation; knew that it was a stuffy, +dull, German, provincial town; loathed mud baths; longed for the +gaieties of the world as a girl longs who has only had one season; and, +worst of all, realised that the settlement of estates and the +limitations of leave would make it a six months' exile from her husband. +She hesitated, and the Dowager, relying on the proverb, felt that she +had won. + +"Give me half an hour to consider," she asked. + +"There is nothing to consider," replied her mother. "You know what my +course of action will be; the future will depend on yours; but you had +better retire to your room and think matters over;" and she dismissed +her with a gesture. + +In spite of her words, however, the Dowager did not feel perfectly +secure, and determined to clinch matters in a manner which, had her +daughter suspected it, would have moved even that vacillating nature to +rebellion. As it was, Lady Isabelle contemplated a confession to Stanley +on his return from the drive, in direct disobedience to her husband's +commands; which, at the eleventh hour, would have sealed her mother's +lips by apprising her of the truth. But fate ordained otherwise, and the +Secretary and Miss Fitzgerald were disgracefully late; giving them +barely time to rush to their rooms, hurry into evening clothes, and +appear in the drawing-room, flushed and breathless as the butler +announced dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FORTY THOUSAND POUNDS + + +As the Secretary sat in the governess' cart finishing his second cigar, +he reflected that if he had any strength of character he would never +have lent his aid in countenancing a secret marriage between one of his +best friends, and a man, who, he believed, could be proved guilty of +something very nearly approaching treason to the Sovereign whose uniform +he wore; nor, for that matter, would he be waiting for a girl who had +insulted him by her suspicions of the evening before, and who had capped +the climax by taking the refusal of him at her own valuation. + +However, his reflections were cut short by the appearance of Miss +Fitzgerald herself, who had not hurried so much as to be flushed or out +of breath, and who had arrived with the fixed intention of keeping the +Secretary away from the Hall during the entire afternoon. + +"I'm awfully sorry to have kept you waiting so long," she said, mounting +to the seat which faced him, he driving under her direction. "But you +shall have your reward--for I've two bits of good news for you." + +"That's encouraging," he replied, praying inwardly that one of them was +the announcement of Lady Isabelle's marriage. + +"In the first place, your friend Mr. Kent-Lauriston has arrived." + +The Secretary's face did not express any excess of joy. + +"Won't you be glad to see him?" she asked. + +"Of course," he replied. + +"He's an old friend of yours?" + +"My oldest in England." + +"How nice that he's here!" she said, a slight frown clouding her brows. +"His coming will mean so much to you." + +"Yes," said the Secretary meditatively, "I don't know how much," and +there was silence between them for a while. + +"And your second piece of news?" he asked suddenly, recollecting +himself. + +"Is, that your pet detestation is going away." + +"You refer to Colonel Darcy?" + +She nodded. + +"Away from here?" + +"Away from England." + +"Really." + +"You know so much about him, I thought you might have heard of it." + +"Where is he going?" + +"Abroad somewhere." + +"Does he take his wife with him?" + +She laughed light-heartedly, as though relieved from some oppression. + +"No, I fancy not--in fact I think it is rather to escape her." + +"Oh!" he said, and relapsed into silence. Then suddenly reverting to his +original train of thought, which Darcy's name suggested, he spoke +abruptly:-- + +"Why did you ask me to drive with you this afternoon?" + +"Because I wanted to talk to you--no, I didn't-- I wanted you to talk to +me." + +"About last night?" + +"Yes." + +"But it's impossible--if you can believe----!" he cried hotly. + +"What Bob said, about you and his wife?" she interjected. "I don't, but +it made me very angry just the same. You see, up to last night, you had +been an ideal to me. Then suddenly you proposed to change all our +relations; and just at that moment Bob came in and made those charges, +which, though untrue, showed me how very human you would have to be to +me if I accepted you, and I was bitter and lost my head." + +"But if you didn't believe them, why did you refuse to give me a +definite answer?" + +"Because you'd brought me face to face with new conditions. I wanted to +readjust myself to them." + +"But if you love me---- Do you love me?" he said earnestly. + +"Yes, Jim," she replied, with a quiet seriousness that carried +conviction to him, "I do love you." + +"Really, love me?" + +"Really, more than I have loved any man--ever." + +"But then, how can you doubt?" and he turned impulsively towards her. + +"You'd better keep both hands on the reins--the pony is only just +broken. As I was saying--I love you--in my way--but that's not all, it's +merely the beginning. If I only had to meet you for the rest of our +lives at afternoon tea and dinner, and we had on our best clothes and +our company manners, there would be no question--but you see there are +breakfasts and luncheons to be considered. Suppose after our honeymoon +was over I was to discover that you wanted to live at West Hempstead, or +dined habitually at the National Liberal Club, or wore ready-made +suits--it might wreck my life's happiness." + +Her sincerity had disappeared, and her change in manner grated on him. +He was certain she did not mean what she was saying, but he forced a +laugh in replying:-- + +"Diplomats are not allowed to belong to political clubs, in the first +place," he said, "and I've been told that well-cut clothes may be met +with even at the N. L. C. Besides, if you loved me, it wouldn't really +matter." + +"Ah! But it might, and that's just the point. Either I love _you_, the +real, imperfect, human _you_--and nothing else counts--or else I love +the Secretary of the ---- Legation, in a frock coat or a dress suit, +and everything does count. I've got to determine which. My feminine +intuition will tell me that in an instant some day, and then I can +answer you." + +"Let us hope that your feminine intuition will make up its mind to act +quickly then, for I must be getting back to London in a few days." + +"Why?" she cried. "What have you to do?" + +What indeed, when the canny old messenger the night before had told him +that this beautiful girl was the main spring of the conspiracy he was +here to crush? He did not believe that, but the whole conversation had +revolted him--it was not decent somehow to discuss the most serious +things of life flippantly. His face showed his feelings. + +She was quick to take the cue. + +"I doubt if you really know yourself," she continued. "Suppose Madame +Darcy were unmarried-- I have sometimes thought----" + +"Suppose the impossible," he interrupted. "Suppose you should decide to +drop her husband----" + +"I wonder," she said, ignoring his petulant outburst, "if you would mind +my asking you a very frank question?" + +"About the Colonel?" + +"Yes. You see I've been thinking a good deal of what you said the other +night, but of course one can't throw over old friends without good +cause--merely for marital infelicity--there are always two sides to +those stories, you know. I was wondering if there was anything +else--anything about him which you knew and I wouldn't be likely to-- +I've sometimes thought--that perhaps----" she paused and looked +inquiringly at him. + +The Secretary longed to tell her the truth; but remembering his Chief's +instructions, and chastened by his late reverse, hardened his heart. + +"As for that," he replied guardedly, "he doesn't bear an altogether +savoury reputation, I've understood, but as my personal knowledge of his +affairs dated with his wife's visit to me two or three days ago--my +information is comparatively recent." + +She smiled contentedly, and changed the subject, by suggesting that they +should get out and walk. A long hill was before them, and since from the +construction of governess carts the tendency of an up-grade is to put +all the weight at the rear, it seemed advisable to descend. + +"To give the pony a fighting chance," as the Secretary suggested. + +Miss Fitzgerald complained that it was hot, and, barring the fact of +cruelty to animals, a nuisance to have to climb the hill; saying which, +she took off her hat, giving an unobstructed view of her hair. + +If there is any excuse for the fact that the Secretary forgot his good +resolutions, it must lie in the heart of the reader, who perhaps has +been young some time himself, and had the exquisite pleasure of driving +during a long, perfect English afternoon, through glorious wooded lanes, +and all the picturesque antiquity which England alone knows, with a +winsome Irish girl, with a peaches-and-cream complexion, a ravishing +laugh, bewitching blue eyes, and golden hair loose upon her shoulders, +which a madcap wind whipped in his face. + +"I think it's glorious," said Stanley, reverting to the landscape, a +little later, when the conversation had turned to less serious topics, +"There's no country like England--but it's comparable to the little girl +of the nursery rhyme-- + + "When it is good, it is very very good, + And when it is bad, it is horrid." + +"I'm glad to see you appreciate it at its true worth. Isn't this scene +perfect--but think of it in a November fog," she said. + +"Think of those people wasting their afternoon on the lawn at the Hall, +drinking bitter tea and eating heavy cake." + +"I dare say some of them are above those things," replied Belle. + +"Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant?" queried the Secretary. + +"Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant," she acquiesced. "I wonder if there +is really anything serious in that affair?" + +She said this to probe Stanley, and, as a result, she put him on his +guard. + +"What do you think?" he asked cautiously. "I imagine the Dowager could +never be induced to approve of it." + +"The Marchioness!" cried Belle scornfully, as, having reached the summit +of the hill with a long, downward slope before them, they remounted into +the cart. "She doesn't count." + +"Oh, doesn't she?" said the Secretary. "She counts a great deal, as"--he +added half to himself--"I ought to know." + +They had already turned homewards and were rattling down the hill, and +at that moment they swung at top speed round a corner, to come upon a +wrecked luggage cart, which blocked the whole road. Without hesitation, +Stanley pulled the pony up on its haunches, bringing them to a stop with +a tremendous jerk, within three feet of the obstacle; nearly throwing +them out, and driving, for the time being, all thoughts of their +interrupted conversation from the Secretary's head. + +"Why, Tim!" he said, recognising the driver as one of Mrs. Roberts' +servants. "You've had a spill!" + +"Axle broke, sir. That's what it is, and if it hadn't been as the +carrier"--indicating a second cart on the further side--"had happened to +come up just now, I don't know as Mister Kingsland would have got his +luggage." + +"Lieutenant--Kingsland--is he going away?" + +"Why, didn't you know that, sir? Called sudden on the death of his +uncle--Miss Fitzgerald there--she----" + +"Don't spend all the afternoon gossiping, Tim," broke in that young +lady, sharply--"but attend to your work. Drive round somehow, can't +you?"--she continued, addressing the Secretary--"or we shall be late for +dinner?" + +"Don't you see it's impossible? Besides I want to help Tim." + +"Nonsense, turn round and we'll drive back--some other way. Tim and the +carrier can help themselves," she cried petulantly. + +"I'm not so sure of that," drawled the driver. "Them chests are powful +heavy--for all the Lieutenant said they contained glass picture +slides--it's more like lead." + +"Mr. Riddle's slides, eh?" said Stanley, jumping down, despite his fair +companion's remonstrances. "Then we mustn't let Lieutenant Kingsland go +without them;" and he seized the handle of one of the boxes, and pulling +it off the partially overturned cart, dragged it along the road, while +Miss Fitzgerald sat holding the pony, and biting her lips in +ill-disguised vexation. + +"Gad! They are heavy!" admitted the Secretary, as, with the carrier's +help, he swung it into the cart, and returned for another. + +Four were transported safely, but in lifting the fifth chest, whose +cover seemed a trifle loose, Stanley turned his foot on a round stone, +and losing his grip on the handle, the chest fell to the ground bottom +side up. + +"No great harm done, we'll hope," he said, righting it, and helping the +carrier to lift it beside the others. + +"Why, bless me," ejaculated that official, "if there ain't a bran new +sovereign lying in the dust!" + +The Secretary regarded it critically, and plunging his hands into his +trousers pockets, fished out a lot of loose change, which he examined +carefully, saying: + +"I must have dropped it in bending over; thank you for finding it. +There's a shilling for your trouble." And straightening up, he realised +that Miss Fitzgerald was regarding him intently. + +Half an hour later the wreck was sufficiently cleared for them to resume +their homeward way. + +The remainder of the afternoon was not a success, including, as it did, +a drive home in the teeth of a wind which had suddenly sprung up; which, +finding them hot and dusty, left them at their destination cold and +cross, and utterly fagged out; Stanley with a twinge of rheumatism, +devoutly hoping that Lady Isabelle had got it over, and Miss Fitzgerald +with a splitting headache, realising that she had lost a move in the +game. + +They both looked forward to dinner as a salve for all evils, though when +they entered the drawing-room just in time to go down, they were +naturally surprised, Miss Fitzgerald at being committed to the charge of +Kent-Lauriston, and the Secretary to Lady Isabelle--for the latter of +which arrangements the Dowager was directly responsible--indeed, she had +held an interview with her hostess a few minutes before, which had left +that lady very much excited. + +As soon as they were seated at table, he noticed that he was separated +from Miss Fitzgerald as far as might be, so he lost no time in putting +Lady Isabelle at her ease by engaging her in conversation. Knowing what +he did, he felt that to give her a chance to talk about her husband +would be most acceptable to her, and probably useful to him; so, noting +his absence, he told her of accidentally hearing of his departure. + +"I suppose," he said, "that as he was carrying so much of value, he'll +stop in London before going north?" + +"Of value," she said. "I do not understand." + +"Why, five cases of stereopticon slides for Mr. Riddle. I helped the +carrier to reload them, and very heavy they were." + +"He said nothing to me of it," she replied; "but he certainly is going +to stop in London one night." + +"I wish I'd known, I'd have asked him to cash a cheque for me. It's so +hard to do that sort of thing in the country, and I imagine we bank at +the same place." + +"He banks at the Victoria Street branch of the Bank of England. I'm sure +he would have been glad to have done it for you." + +"Thanks, but it really doesn't matter," replied Stanley, who, having +thus learned the probable destination of Mr. Riddle's chests of +sovereigns was contented to change the subject, saying: "I do hope that +the Lieutenant unburdened his soul to your mother before he left." + +She then told him all the events of the afternoon, even the interview +with her mother, the whole in a conversational tone of voice. The +Secretary sat dazed as the magnitude of what he had let himself in for +dawned upon him; and her Ladyship's eager explanations and apologies, +which presently died down to a whisper, as there came a lull in the +conversation, fell unheeded on his ears. Suddenly he became intuitively +aware that everyone was looking at him--no, at them. His hostess was +making a feeble attempt to smile at him from far down the table--he felt +a horrible premonition of coming catastrophe; he looked at Lady +Isabelle, she was white to the lips. + +"My friends," came Mrs. Roberts' voice, trembling a little, "Lady Port +Arthur has just told me some interesting news, with the request that I +would transmit it to you all; so I am going to ask you to drink your +first glass of champagne this evening in honour of the engagement of +Lady Isabelle McLane and Mr. Aloysius Stanley." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A VERY AWKWARD PREDICAMENT + + +Had Mrs. Roberts' interests not led her in another direction, she must +have felt no small gratification at the effect which her speech +produced. It was a great _coup_ for any hostess, and of tremendous +force, because absolutely unexpected. + +A number of guests had been invited for this particular evening to swell +the party, making a dinner of sixteen, and it was delightful to witness +the manner in which they took the announcement. The men received it in +silence, while the women broke instantly into a confused, joyous cackled +exclamation, surprise and curiosity. + +The Dowager was the person who probably derived the most satisfaction +from the scene, for her work was over and she could survey it calmly; +but Stanley, though the table and the guests whirled before his eyes, +caught some lightning glimpses of various expressions, which he was +destined never to forget. + +He saw the Marchioness' satisfied smile, which said as plainly as words +could: "There, what did I tell you? You see how successfully I have +brought about this affair." He caught the glance of sympathy which his +hostess shot at Miss Fitzgerald, and he caught the glance of vindictive +rage which that young lady bestowed upon him, though he did not see the +smile which followed it. + +It needed no one to tell Miss Fitzgerald that she held the whip now, or +to teach her how to use it. Her lover should smart for this. + +One other glimpse the Secretary caught in that moment--a disgusted shrug +of the shoulders from Kent-Lauriston, and this latter hurt him the most +keenly of all. He wondered how all these people could be so stupid as +not to see the ghastly mistake they were making, the awful position in +which they were placing them both; and then he understood that Lady +Isabelle's pallor and his own flushed face might as easily be traced to +natural embarrassment as to utter confusion. What a shocking +complication--but if it was so bad for him, what must it be for her? +Thank Heavens, he was not to blame for it--he had only done what she had +asked him. What would people say when they learned the truth? What would +Inez think--what--Good Heavens! Why were all the men rising from their +seats? He must rise too--to drink his health. He felt fairly dazed from +agitation. They drained their glasses, he drank with them. The champagne +served to steady him; he was himself once more, ready to do battle for +his honour and hers. What was that they were saying--some idiot at the +far end of the table was crying "Speech--Speech!" Stanley made a mental +note that, despite laws against duelling, he'd run him through before +breakfast to-morrow morning, or know the reason why. Now all the others +were taking it up, every one was crying: "Speech! Speech! Speech!" Good +Heavens, what could he say! Would it not be better to stand up and tell +the truth of this miserable matter? One look at the bent head of Lady +Isabelle, and her nervous fingers clutching the tablecloth, determined +his course of action--he could not expose her to the criticism of this +table of scandal-mongers. She sat there, almost fainting, hanging on his +every word; chivalry, honour, manliness, left but one course open--he +must sacrifice himself to save her. The future would decide itself--his +duty lay clear before him. He saw that he must speak--and that he must +by his words deceive the company, and yet not compromise either her or +himself. He raised his hand to command attention; the rest sat down--it +gave him thirty seconds for reflection, an infinitesimal amount of time +in which to take action, but ample space in which to take thought: then +he spoke:-- + +"My friends:-- + +"You have just done us the honour to drink a toast to our united +happiness. I thank you for your kind intention. Those who are already +married have, by drinking this toast, very gracefully assured me of my +own future happiness, and those who are single have given me the +opportunity to express a hearty wish that it may some day be my +privilege to drink a similar toast to them." + +Had Mr. Stanley never given other evidence of his fitness for a +diplomatic career, this speech alone would have conclusively furnished +it. He resumed his seat, and the look of gratitude which his companion +gave him was sufficient reward. + +How that dinner passed off the Secretary never knew. It was a horrible +nightmare, and it seemed interminable; but it did come to an end at +last, and he repaired to the smoking-room where even a worse purgatory +awaited him. Kent-Lauriston distinctly avoided him, the rest evidently +regarded him as their lawful prey. His over-taxed nerves were beginning +to give way. He laughed hysterically, threw his cigar into the +fireplace, and, begging to be excused, left the room. A burst of +laughter followed him. He knew what it meant--every action of his must +henceforth be misinterpreted. + +His appearance in the drawing-room was the signal for a preparatory +giggle, and then an, only too apparent, ignoring of his presence, +accompanied by meaning glances towards the conservatory. He took the +hint, and went in that direction, to find Lady Isabelle weeping her eyes +out on a divan. + +"There's no use crying over spilt milk," he said to her, cheerfully; +"but you must admit it's a deuce of a mess." + +"How can I ever sufficiently thank you, Mr. Stanley?" she exclaimed, +looking up at him in undisguised admiration. "You were splendid." + +"Oh, not at all--but I'll admit your mother's announcement rather +staggered me." + +"I tried to prepare you." + +"I'm afraid you didn't succeed," he replied coldly, for he felt that he +had been ill-used. + +"I assure you," she said, "if I'd had the remotest idea of what mamma +intended doing, I would have faced all possibilities and told her the +truth, rather than have exposed you to what has occurred. I can never, +never forgive myself for it." + +"It was really more my fault than yours. I gave your mother permission +to announce our engagement whenever you gave your consent." + +"I never gave it!" she cried. + +"Of course," he continued, "I never supposed that your mother would so +far forget herself as to force you." + +"You mustn't be too hard on mamma." + +"Under the circumstances you could hardly expect me to be lenient; I +think we'd better agree to change the subject." + +She bowed silently. + +"There's one thing, however, that you can do to help me," he continued. + +Lady Isabelle shivered as she saw the approach of the dreaded request, +and asked: + +"What is that?" + +"You can go to Miss Fitzgerald and tell her the truth. No statement of +mine, unsupported by you, would have any credence in her ears after what +has passed. You're the only person whose word can right me in her +estimation." + +"Mr. Stanley," she replied slowly, and with evident exertion, "I cannot +tell you the pain, the chagrin, which it gives me to refuse your +request." + +"You won't do it!" he cried, utterly amazed. + +"I can't do it." + +"But do you realise the position in which you place me with Miss +Fitzgerald?" he protested, unwilling to believe his ears. + +"Perfectly--only too keenly," she replied. "The knowledge that I've +wronged you in her estimation is the bitterest part of the whole matter. +I feel it much more than my own position in the affair." + +"And knowing this you can still refuse to interfere in my behalf, when a +word from you would set all right." + +"I deeply regret it, Mr. Stanley, but I must." + +He stood looking at her for a moment in the deepest scorn. Had he +sacrificed himself for a woman like this? + +"Don't think too hardly of me," she pleaded; "believe me, I have +reasons." + +"I've only this to say, Lady Isabelle," he replied coldly. "Until you +absolve me from the unfortunate position in which your foolishness and +weakness have placed me, my good name, my honour, and my future +prospects are in your hands. Your conscience should tell you how far you +have the right to trifle with them," and turning on his heel he left the +conservatory. + +After the departure of the Secretary, Lady Isabelle lost no time in +seeking out Miss Fitzgerald, who had retired to her chamber. + +To pursue a woman who believes that you have cruelly wronged her was a +bold undertaking, but if she could not assure the Secretary that she +would right him in his lady's eyes, her duty, under the circumstances, +was all the more imperative to do so without delay; so summoning all her +courage to her aid, she ascended to Miss Fitzgerald's chamber, and +knocked timidly; so timidly, indeed, that at first she was not heard, +and was compelled to knock again. + +"Come in," called Belle. + +Her Ladyship partially opened the door. + +"It's I," she said. + +"Lady Isabelle!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, in unfeigned surprise, +rising to receive her visitor. "You're the last person I expected to +see!" + +"I must beg your pardon for intruding upon your privacy, but I felt I +must come to you the first moment that I was able." + +"Really?" + +"I owe you an explanation, Miss Fitzgerald." + +Belle looked at her proudly and coldly, with the air of an insulted +queen. It was not often she had the chance to triumph over a lady of +title, and she enjoyed it thoroughly. + +"You owe me more than an explanation," she said, and indicating a chair +for her guest, they both sat down. + +"Of course, you're aware that Mr. Stanley cannot be engaged to me," Lady +Isabelle began, after some hesitation, in which Belle gave her no help, +for she knew this interview was her real punishment. + +"I should hardly have supposed so," replied Miss Fitzgerald, and lapsed +into silence. + +"I"--Lady Isabelle began, covered with confusion--"I--the fact is--I +asked him to propose to me." + +"You asked him to propose to you?" + +"I don't wonder you are surprised; but the facts of the case are these. +My mother asked Mr. Stanley his intentions last evening. Being engaged +to you, he naturally had none." + +"Mr. Stanley is not engaged to me." + +"I beg your pardon, I thought----" + +"He has proposed to me, I admit; but I must say his conduct doesn't +prejudice me in his favour." + +"But you mustn't allow this to injure him, Miss Fitzgerald. Really you +must not." + +"A man who could accept a lady who had so far forgotten herself as to +propose to him----" + +"Pray let me state my case before judging me," pleaded her Ladyship, +ready to sink through the floor with mortification. + +"Proceed, Lady Isabelle," said her tormentor. + +"Mr. Stanley told me of his interview with my mother, who, I knew, was +very anxious to make a match between us. This morning I discovered that +she intended to go to early service. You know what that would have +involved." + +Miss Fitzgerald nodded. + +"I tried every means to deter her, but in vain. Then, as a last +resort--I admit it was very wrong to do so--I asked Mr. Stanley to +intercept my mother on her way to the church, and make her a proposal +for my hand, as I knew this was the only way to detain her, telling him +that I was about to be married, and that I would tell her the truth +to-day." + +Miss Fitzgerald drew a sharp breath. + +"Then he knows that you're a married woman?" + +"He knew that I was to be, before the ceremony." + +The Irish girl gave a contented little sigh, and murmured to +herself--"So he did know after all." + +Then waking up to the immediate present, she continued, with exaggerated +courtesy:-- + +"Your Ladyship has not, I think, finished your story. You promised Mr. +Stanley that you would tell your mother the truth--but you have not done +so." + +"No, I have not, and for the following reasons. My husband, as you know, +received a telegram apprising him of the fact that a relative, who was +dying, intended leaving him a large fortune, and required his immediate +presence. He forbade me to speak till he came back, and insisted that I +must hold out the prospect of my engagement with Mr. Stanley as a bait +to keep my mother here till he could return to me. She, however, pressed +me for an answer, and on my refusing to commit myself either way, took +matters into her own hands, as we have seen. I assure you entirely +without the knowledge of Mr. Stanley or myself." + +"I see. You feel it necessary to continue this bogus engagement, for the +present." + +"I'm between two fires, Miss Fitzgerald: obedience to my husband's +commands, and the reparation I owe to you." + +"What does Jimsy say?" + +"Mr. Stanley has, of course, behaved like a gentleman, and left the +matter for me to decide. I'm in a most dreadful position, either way I +must wrong some one." + +"I'll spare your conscience, Lady Isabelle. I shan't require you to +break your engagement with the Secretary." + +"But you'll forgive him, will you not? It was not his fault, really." + +"You seem to forget that I've not accepted him as yet." + +"But you'll not let this prejudice your ultimate decision. Promise me +that?" + +"Yes, I'll promise--for I don't think there's anything proved against +him in this matter, except that he's weak, and I did not need you to +tell me that." + +"He's a very large heart, Miss Fitzgerald." + +"He has," assented that lady. "Of which I've had ample evidence in the +last few days." + +"You've been so gracious to me in this matter," continued Lady Isabelle, +"that unsuitable as the occasion is, I'm going to venture to ask you a +favour. + +"And what is that, your Ladyship?" + +"Mr. Stanley doesn't know that you're aware of my marriage, and for some +reason which I don't understand, my husband forbade me to tell him of +the fact unless I had your permission; so he fancies that he's put +himself in a worse position than is really the case. Do allow me to +tell him the truth. Poor fellow, he's so unhappy." + +"No," replied Miss Fitzgerald, a gleam of triumph lighting up her face, +as she realised the power which Kingsland had placed in her hands. "Your +husband is quite right; there are excellent reasons why he should not be +told; besides he deserves to be miserable, he's treated me very badly." + +"In that case," said Lady Isabelle, stiffly, rising to go, "I've nothing +more to say." + +"Quite right, Lady Isabelle, and may I give you a parting word of +caution? When your husband, Lieutenant Kingsland, advises a course of +action, follow it blindly." + +"Really, Miss Fitzgerald!" exclaimed her Ladyship, bridling up at the +Irish girl's remark. + +"Good-night, Lady Isabelle," murmured Belle in her silkiest tones, +opening the door, and laughing softly to herself, as her visitor rustled +away in the distance. Then she leaned over the staircase and listened. +No sound met her ears, but her eyes beheld the disconsolate figure of +the Secretary, standing alone in the hall below. She tripped noiselessly +down, and, arriving within a few paces of him unnoticed, drew herself +up haughtily, and said, in her most chilling tones:-- + +"Will you kindly permit me to pass, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Belle--Miss Fitzgerald," he cried. "I must have a few words with you-- +I must explain." + +"It's not necessary, Mr. Stanley. I've already heard a detailed account +of the affair from Lady Isabelle's mother." + +On the verity of the statement we will not attempt to pass judgment; +suffice it to say, that it simply staggered the young diplomat. + +"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "I--it's not true, believe me, it's not +true." + +"Do I understand you to insinuate that the Marchioness has +prevaricated?" + +"No, no, of course not; but it's all a mistake. I can explain--really." + +"Mr. Stanley, answer me one question. Did you or did you not give the +Marchioness to understand, in your interview with her this morning, that +you wished to marry her daughter?" + +"Why, yes--I suppose I did--but, then, you see----" + +"That is quite sufficient. Good-night." + +"If you'd only let me explain!" + +"Good-night, Mr. Stanley," she repeated icily, and swept past him into +the drawing-room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RUSTLE OF A SKIRT + + +"You graceless young dog!" cried Kent-Lauriston, falling upon Stanley in +a half-feigned, half-real burst of anger, as he entered the smoking-room +after his encounter with Belle. "Do you know you've caused me to refuse +invitations by the score, and dragged me down to this God-forsaken +place, at the most impossible season of the year, on false pretences?" + +"False pretences! How so?" + +"Why? You shameless Lothario! Why? Because what's left of my conscience +smote me for leaving a lamb amidst a pack of wolves, and wouldn't let me +rest; nearly destroyed my digestion, I give you my word. I came down to +pluck your innocence alive from the burning, and I've been a fool for my +pains. Why, confound you, I not only find you _épris_ with Madame Darcy, +but engaged to both the Fitzgerald and Lady Isabelle." + +"My dear Kent-Lauriston, pray soothe your ruffled feelings; your logic +is excellent, but your premises are one and all false." + +"What!" + +"I say there's nothing between Madame Darcy and myself, and that I'm +neither engaged to Miss Fitzgerald nor Lady Isabelle." + +"But, my dear Stanley, I've heard----" + +"But, my dear Kent-Lauriston, you've heard wrongly." + +"What--isn't Madame Darcy here?" + +"Yes." + +"And haven't you seen her?" + +"Yes." + +"And walked with her early in the morning?" + +"Yes." + +"And breakfasted with her, _tęte-ā-tęte_ at a farmhouse?" + +"Yes." + +"And hasn't her husband challenged you to a duel on her account?" + +"Yes." + +"And didn't he, moreover, catch you in the act of proposing to Miss +Fitzgerald?" + +"Yes." + +"And haven't you asked the Marchioness for Lady Isabelle's hand?" + +"Yes." + +"And in the face of all this--you attempt to deny----" + +"In the face of all this--circumstantial evidence--I'm quite prepared to +deny everything. Would you like to hear the _facts_ of the case?" + +"Rather!" + +As will have been inferred, the two men had the smoking-room entirely to +themselves, and the best part of an hour passed before the Secretary +had finished his account of events with which the reader is familiar. + +Kent-Lauriston heard him out with great interest, and after drawing a +long breath, at the close of his recital, remarked:-- + +"I think I shall be fully repaid for any inconvenience to which I've put +myself on your account. This whole affair is most interesting, and, +believe me, there's more in it than appears on the surface." + +"I feel the same way myself," replied the Secretary; "but let us hear +your views on the subject." + +"First," replied his friend, "you must assure me of how you yourself +stand. Are you still in your unregenerate state, or have you yet begun +to see the fruits of your folly?" + +The young diplomat was silent for a long time, but finally he said, +looking up into Kent-Lauriston's face with an almost appealing glance: + +"I'm afraid you would think me awfully caddish if I told you the truth +about it." + +"About the state of your affections for Miss Fitzgerald, you mean?" + +"Yes." + +"Of course, I shouldn't think you justified in making a public +declaration of a change of sentiment, because it might seem to reflect +on the lady, but in my case it's very different. Having spoken so +frankly and freely on the subject already, I might almost say that you +owe it to me to continue to do so. Certainly I've given you no cause +for reticence by anything I've done, and, as certainly, you must confide +fully in me if you wish my help in the future." + +"Well, then, the truth is," he blurted out, "that you were right and I +was wrong, and I've found it out too late." + +"I thought as much." + +"But I'm not going back on my word. If I've made a mistake, I must +suffer for it; and if Miss Fitzgerald accepts my proposal, which she now +has under consideration, I shall live up to my part of the agreement; +and if I can prevent it, she shall never suspect that I would have +matters otherwise. If she should refuse me, however----" + +"You'd make a fool of yourself just the same," continued Kent-Lauriston, +"by jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire, and marrying Madame +Darcy the instant she obtained her divorce." + +"Kent-Lauriston," Stanley exclaimed, "you know a d----d sight too much!" + +The Englishman laughed softly, and then resumed the thread of his +discourse. + +"Now that I understand your position----" he began. + +"Do you understand it?" + +"Better than you do yourself, I fancy; let me see if I can state it. +You've proposed to Miss Fitzgerald, and she has taken the question of +marrying you into consideration; since which time you have come to the +conclusion, for reasons which we will not specify out of consideration +for your feelings, that, if she refuses, or could be induced to refuse +you, you'd accept the decision without an appeal. Am I correct?" + +The Secretary nodded gloomily. + +"Under the circumstances, do you give me permission to do what I can to +effect your release?" + +"Do what you please." + +"I'll do my best. Now what induced you to propose to her against your +better judgment? Did she lead you on?" + +"No, certainly not--if you suppose----!" + +"Well, something must have started you up." + +"Charges were made against her. I thought it my duty to tell her what +had been said----" + +"How did she receive it?" + +"She accused me of being a false friend, of not having defended her." + +"And you proposed--when--that day?" + +"No, the next night." + +"I see, the next night; because you thought it your duty to protect +her." + +"Confound you. You read me like a book." + +"An open page is easy reading. Now who made the charges?" + +"Kingsland." + +"I thought so. Whom did they concern?" + +"Darcy." + +"Exactly. And at the very moment that you were asking her to give you +the right to protect her from men of Darcy's stamp--he turns up and +proves you the worst of the lot." + +"And she-- I wonder she didn't refuse me out of hand." + +"I wonder she didn't accept you--but let that pass. All I wish to point +out to you is this:--Kingsland drove you by the charges he made against +Darcy to propose to Miss Fitzgerald. What was his motive for doing so?" + +"Friendship for Miss Fitzgerald." + +"Would that be likely to induce him to make serious charges against +her?" + +"Friendship for me." + +"Nonsense! I know the man. He did it because it paid him to do it." + +"How was that possible?" + +"I can suggest one motive. The removal of the obstacles preventing Lady +Isabelle's secret marriage. Now who could have effected this? Not Lady +Isabelle, she never had the audacity to carry out such a scheme; not +Kingsland, he hasn't brains enough; our hostess is above suspicion; in +fact there's only one person who could have conceived and carried out +the plan to its successful conclusion--namely, Miss Fitzgerald." + +"What grounds have you for proving it?" + +"Was she with the parson at all, before the ceremony?" + +"I knew you'd ask that question!" + +"Then she was." + +"Twice, on the days just preceding--to my knowledge." + +"That's sufficient." + +"Not for me." + +"Then I'll tell you where we can find the missing link of evidence." + +"Where?" + +"In the marriage register of the church. Find the names of the +witnesses, and you'll find the people who have carried it through. If +you'll kindly leave it in my hands, I'll verify my statements to-morrow +morning. I'd prefer that you did not do it yourself." + +"As you please. But even admitting you're right, it doesn't give the +cause for the motive." + +"Oh, yes, it does--Miss Fitzgerald's intervention in this matter was the +price of Kingsland's egging you on to propose." + +"Nonsense!" + +"I'll lay you a thousand to one on it." + +Stanley shrugged his shoulders, saying:-- + +"But your own arguments defeat you, my dear fellow. If Miss Fitzgerald +was such a calculating person, why should she put herself out, and run +the risk of compromising herself, merely to induce the Lieutenant to +play upon my jealousy, when, as you've already shown, and I've admitted, +I was so weak as to make such strategy unnecessary." + +"Perhaps that was not the only favour Miss Fitzgerald looked for, and +the Lieutenant's hands----" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, taking five chests for her to London." + +"Oh," said the Secretary, much relieved, "I know all about that. I quite +assure you it has nothing to do with Miss Fitzgerald." + +"But I heard her asking Kingsland to take them up for her this +afternoon, and to put them in his bank." + +"Look here, Kent-Lauriston, your dislike for poor Belle must have got +the better of your common sense. You certainly misinterpreted what she +said. Those chests belong to Mr. Riddle." + +Kent-Lauriston changed the subject. + +"What is Colonel Darcy here for?" + +"He says, to watch his wife." + +"What is she here for?" + +"She says she has letters written to her husband by some member of this +household, which have aroused her suspicions." + +"That sounds more promising. Who is this person?" + +"A woman of course--but she only knows her Christian name." + +"And that is?" + +"She will not tell me." + +"Ah!" said Kent-Lauriston drily. + +"I've sources of information about Darcy, which I'm not at liberty to +give you," resumed Stanley, "but you're not on the right track, believe +me." + +"Time will prove the correctness of some of my theories, at least," +replied his mentor, "and I shall be better able to talk when I've seen +the marriage register. Now let's have something to drink, and go to +bed;" and he pressed the bell. + +An interval having elapsed without an answer, he rang again, but no +servant appeared. + +"It must be later than I thought. We'll have to shift for ourselves. +There'll be something going in the billiard-room." + +"Hark!" said Stanley. "There's somebody in the hall; it's probably the +butler shutting up for the night." + +They both listened, and a peculiar, shuffling, scraping sound became +audible. + +"That's a curious noise," said the Secretary. "Let's see what it means," +and, suiting the action to the word, he threw open the smoking-room +door. + +The light in the hall was turned out, and the sombre black oak panelling +made the great apartment seem darker than it really was. Absolute +stillness reigned. It was, to all appearance, empty. + +"Must have been rats," said the Secretary. "Everyone seems to have +retired." + +"Have they?" said Kent-Lauriston. + +"Listen!" + +And both could have sworn that they heard, far up the hall, the dying +rustle of a skirt. But there were some things that Stanley had no wish +to know, and he set his face and his steps towards the stairs, +continuing:-- + +"As I was saying, we are the only people up. + +"Then we'd better go to bed." + +"By all means." + +"Shall I turn out the electric lights in the smoking-room?" + +"Yes, we're evidently the last." + +A moment later they stood on the upper landing about to separate for the +night. + +"The woman was behind that screen at the foot of the stairs," said +Kent-Lauriston. + +"Yes, I know," replied the Secretary. + +"Good-night, my dear Stanley." + +"Good-night, old man. You possess a rare talent." + +"Yes?" + +"You know when not to ask questions." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +FACE TO FACE + + +When Kent-Lauriston had disappeared in his bedroom, and closed the door, +the Secretary, extinguishing his own candle, turned on his heel, and +walked slowly back to the head of the stairs. It was easy to preserve an +unruffled demeanour before his friend, but he was far from being as calm +as he appeared. + +All was not right in the house, he knew. Some mischief was afoot, and he +meant to find out what it was, even though he dared not admit to himself +some of the possibilities which it suggested. + +He softly descended the stairs. Everything was silent. He moved the +screen; the space behind it was vacant. Suddenly, his eye fell upon the +smoking-room door, and he drew in his breath softly. There was a line of +light showing under the crack. Yet he could have sworn that +Kent-Lauriston had turned off the switch, and while he stood hesitating +as to what it was best to do, a soft breath of wind upon his cheek +caused him to make another discovery. The great front door was open. He +stepped softly down the hall, and going out under the porte-cochčre, +cast his eyes over the driveway. No one was in sight. He was about to +return to the house when he heard light steps coming down the hall. +Drawing back into the shadow to escape observation, he waited. Someone +was evidently leaving the house. A moment later, a hand was lightly laid +upon the door, and it was closed behind him, before he could realise +what was happening. He was shut out into the night. + +His first impulse was to ring sharply for assistance. Second thoughts +showed him the foolishness of such an attempt. It would be merely +apprising the intruders of his presence, and long before a servant could +be aroused and the bell could be answered, they would have made their +escape. + +The Secretary judged that shutting him out was unintentional. The +persons, whoever they were, had hidden somewhere, till he had gone +upstairs, had then slipped into the smoking-room, probably to arrange +their plans, and coming out while he was on the lawn, and seeing the +door ajar, had closed it, quite unconscious that by so doing they were +putting their pursuer in a very awkward predicament. + +However, the Secretary told himself that there was nothing to prevent +him from seeing what was going on in the hall, and he hastened to make +his way round to the side of the house where there were several large +windows opening into that apartment. He had picked his way across +several flower-beds, and was just turning the corner to approach the +house when he was startled by seeing a dark figure loom up beside him, +and feeling a hand lightly laid on his shoulder, and a whispered word of +caution to be silent. Almost involuntarily, however, he exclaimed:-- + +"Inez! You here, and at this hour." + +"Sh!" she said, "There are listeners. I, like you, am watching." + +"Who are you watching?" he asked, softly. + +"My husband." + +"Your husband?" + +"Yes," she replied. "Why has he entered this house secretly every night +since he has been here?" + +"You amaze me," said the Secretary. "How has it been possible for him to +get in?" + +"He has been aided by someone who opens the door for him." + +"A man?" + +"No, a woman." + +The Secretary whistled softly. + +"Well," he said, "we'll probe this mystery to the bottom. I, too, have +heard suspicious noises in the passages to-night, and, coming down, +after I had retired, to find out what they were, I was shut out from +within, though I don't think they were aware of my presence. We must go +round on the outside and see what we can through the windows." + +"You can't," she said. "The approaches are protected by an iron fence +with spikes." + +"But surely there's a gate?" + +"Yes, but it's always padlocked." + +"We'll have a look at it, any way," he replied; and they approached and +examined it closely. + +The Secretary rattled the lock cautiously and found it old and shaky. + +"I think I could smash this with a couple of bits of flint," he said, +"and if I have a new lock put on at my own expense, my hostess will, +under the circumstances, probably forgive me." And suiting the action to +the word, he managed, by a few judicious blows, with two bits of stone, +picked up from the driveway, to bend the hasp of the lock sufficiently +to release it. + +There being no further impediment to their progress they hastened +through the gardens, and a moment later were standing outside one of the +great hall windows whose lower panes were on a level with their faces. +They could distinctly see three people, but their glances were riveted +on a circle of light farther up the hall, a circle that shifted and +danced over the surface of the secret door, flashing on the heads of the +silver nails; a circle that was made by the lens of a small bull's-eye +lantern, held in the grasp of a crouching figure whose back was turned +towards them. By his side were two others, apparently a man and a woman, +who seemed to be directing him at his work. For several minutes the +little group presented their backs to the spectators, but at an +incautious step of the Secretary's, which caused a dry twig to crackle, +they all turned sharply round, the owner of the lantern throwing its +rays full on the window outside which they were standing. The watchers +drew back, in time evidently to escape detection, for the absence of +footsteps and the recurrence, after a moment, of the curious sounds +which Stanley had noticed from the smoking-room, assured him that they +had once more returned to their work. The lantern, however, though it +had failed to discover them, had, for a brief second, illumined the +faces of the intruders, and both the Secretary and Madame Darcy +recognised the trio. The man at work on the door was the Colonel; his +assistants were Mr. Riddle and Miss Fitzgerald. The Secretary's worst +suspicions were confirmed, and a smothered sob at his side told him that +the discovery had inflicted no less keen a pang on his companion. She +slipped down in a little heap on the ground, and he dropped on his knees +beside her, whispering such consolation as he could without running the +risk of being overheard. + +"I knew it must be so," she said, "and yet I hoped against hope that he +was not guilty of this last infamy." + +Suddenly another thought seemed to have occurred to her. + +"You knew," she said. "You must have known, and yet you did not tell +me." + +"My dear Inez," he said. "How could I, when my suspicions were directed +against your own husband?" + +"But why do I think of myself?" she said. "I am nothing. But it is +you--you, that my heart bleeds for. I, too, concealed my suspicions for +your sake." + +"And you can think of me," he said, "at a time like this?" + +"Of course," she replied. "Yours is the greater sorrow. I knew that my +husband was bad--worthless--capable of anything. My eyes are only +proving what my reason told me must be so. But with you, it is so much +harder. This is the woman you loved, and, whom loving, you must have +made your ideal. And now to find that she is--this." And she pressed his +hand silently. + +"Don't talk about it," said the Secretary. + +"You don't quite understand." + +"But what is to be done?" she said. + +"Nothing, unless they show signs of success, and that I do not think +likely. If the secret of the door has withstood the ingenuity of +generations in the past, it is likely to do so in the future, unless +they tried to force it, and that I think they'd hardly dare to do." + +"Listen," she said. And the Secretary heard a noise of creaking, +straining wood. + +"They are trying to force it!" he cried, springing up and looking +through the window. And she, following his lead, saw that Darcy was +working with might and main with some burglar's tool after the nature of +a lever. But though the old oaken door groaned in protest at such +treatment, it never gave an inch, and the Colonel, removing his +instrument, made a gesture of despair, and stood wiping the sweat from +his brow. + +"What does this all mean?" said Madame Darcy, as they slipped down again +into their place of concealment. + +"It means," said the Secretary shortly, "that your husband's secret +instructions are behind that door, and from his eagerness to get them I +should say that they contain a cipher of something that cannot be +duplicated in the time at his command." + +"I do not understand," she said. + +"Well, if you must know the truth," he replied, "he's to take over the +specie needed to defeat the treaty, and to get there in time he must +sail from England in a few days." + +She nodded mournfully. + +"I supposed it was something like that," she said. "I knew Mr. Riddle +had brought the gold. It is here." + +"No," he said, "it's in the Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of +England, in London." + +"How was it sent up?" + +"Lieutenant Kingsland took it." + +"Is he a member of the conspiracy?" + +"It appears so--but I am not certain. He may be an innocent dupe," +replied the Secretary. + +"And you let the specie go?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said. "When I discovered where they were sending the chests I +helped them. It's safer in the Bank than knocking round here, and I can +prevent its being drawn out any time I wish." + +"By the arrest of the conspirators?" she said. + +"I hope that it won't be necessary to arrest anybody," he replied. + +"Then you have some plan?" + +"Yes. But I'm afraid you mustn't ask me what that is. Nor must you write +a word of all this to your father. But I promise you that if it's +possible I'll save your husband from open disgrace, and I think it will +be." + +"Thank you, thank you," she murmured. "You are indeed my friend," and +her hand again sought his, and he quivered under her touch. + +"Listen!" she said. "They're moving." + +He raised himself cautiously, and looked through the window. The attempt +for that night had evidently been given up. The three conspirators shook +hands, and Miss Fitzgerald and Mr. Riddle stole softly upstairs, leaving +Darcy to put his tools in a bag and let himself out. This he proceeded +to do in a leisurely manner. Once his companions were out of sight, he +again took out the lever, and made one more attempt to open the secret +door, bending all his force to the task. Madame Darcy and the Secretary +watched him breathlessly, but he was again unsuccessful, and with a +disgusted shrug of his shoulders he relinquished the attempt. + +His attacks on the door had, however, evidently marred the wood, and he +produced from his receptacle a bottle of varnish and a brush, with which +he proceeded to repair the traces of the damage. The Secretary's eyes, +wandering from the Colonel, suddenly lighted on the figure of his +friend, Kent-Lauriston, who had evidently been awakened by the +returning footsteps of Darcy's companions as they sought their bedrooms, +and who was now stealing downstairs to intercept the intruder. + +Before Stanley could restrain his friend, Kent-Lauriston had softly +approached the recumbent figure, so softly, indeed, that the Colonel, +who was intent on trying to repair the door, did not hear him, and was +aware of his presence only when a stout arm encircled his neck, throwing +him backwards on the floor, where he lay, with his captor's knee upon +his chest. + +Stanley felt the need of being present also, and exerting his strength +on the sash, found, to his great satisfaction, that the butler had +neglected to bolt the window. With a quiet good-night to Madame Darcy, +who slipped away in the darkness, he swung himself over the sill, and +landing on his feet in the hall, joined the group, nodding to his friend +as he did so. + +"Ah, my fine fellow. Burgling, were you?" said Kent-Lauriston to his +captive. + +"You're mistaken," said the Secretary, stepping quietly up. "This is not +a thief; it's only Colonel Darcy, engaged, if I mistake not, in an +attempt to recover his lost property." + +"I beg your pardon," returned Kent-Lauriston, releasing his prostrate +foe; and turning to Stanley, he continued: "Lacking the fineness of +perception bred of diplomatic training, I must confess I didn't see the +subtle distinction." + +Darcy rose deliberately, growling a surly something, which might have +been equally well an apology or an oath, and snapped to the shutter of +his dark lantern. + +"Yes, we shan't need that light now, thank you," said Stanley, turning +on the central lamp. + +"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked the Colonel, gruffly. + +The diplomat was on his best behaviour. + +"I'm so sorry," he said. "Of course, we did not know you were a caller. +The ladies have retired, and I'm sure you don't want to see us; we won't +detain you." + +"I----" began Darcy, clenching his fist. + +"Oh, I'll make your excuses to Mrs. Roberts," pursued the Secretary. +"Don't trouble about that." + +"I'll be damned if I'll tolerate this interference," burst out the +Colonel. + +"I'm sure you'll be the first, and will also endure the second, my dear +sir," continued Stanley in his most suave tones. "So we'll say no more +about it. The _front_ door is easy to open, Colonel Darcy, as of course +you know. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE MARRIAGE REGISTER + + +On the morning which succeeded Stanley's midnight vigil, the Reverend +Reginald Lambert was early at the little chapel, which was his great +pride in life. The good old gentleman was never so happy as when he +could induce any of the visitors at the Hall to give him an hour of +their time to listen to his dissertations on the ecclesiastical history +of the building; to examine its fragments of "dog-tooth," and discuss +the meaning of that one "foliated capital," in a structure otherwise +severely Saxon. He was even writing a little book on all these things; a +volume which he fondly hoped might some day be given to the world. This +morning, however, he must have been engaged on some work of special +interest, in which he was so absorbed that time flew by unnoticed till +his task was finished. He was just preparing to return to his rectory, +when he received an unexpected visit from a lady, who requested +permission to examine the marriage register. + +The lady was a stranger to him, and was evidently of foreign extraction. +She asked to see an old volume of the records, and took the occasion, +when his back was turned, to hastily glance at the last matrimonial +entry, for the marriage register lay open on the table, comparing the +same with a line of handwriting which she had with her, and evincing +surprise as well as satisfaction at the knowledge she derived therefrom. + +A moment later, when the old man returned, she was, to all appearances, +absorbed in the contemplation of an extremely repellent gargoyle. + +The entry she desired was not to be found, was probably in some +neighbouring parish, she suggested--a fact which the narrator thinks +unlikely. She nevertheless passed a profitable hour, allowing the good +parson to show her every nook and corner of his precious possession, and +displaying an intelligent interest, which was as rare as it was +gratifying. + +But the morning had not yet revealed all its treasures to Mr. Lambert. +Scarcely had the strange lady's footsteps died away, when another +visitor, a new arrival at the Hall, put in an appearance; and avowed +himself such an ardent enthusiast in all matters ancient and +ecclesiastical, and, moreover, substantiated his pretensions to such a +degree, that the old parson declared afterwards he had never had such a +morning of perfect enjoyment in his life. Kent-Lauriston, for it was +none other, exerted himself to interest his _cicerone_, and succeeded +admirably. He possessed that rare gift of developing any topic that +might be suggested by the person to whom he was talking, of making it +his own, and at the same time causing his companion to believe that he +was contributing, in no small part, to the brilliancy of the +conversation. So, more than an hour slipped by, and Kent-Lauriston found +ample opportunity to consult the marriage register unobserved, and to be +much surprised at what he saw there--moreover he learned many things +besides the subject of Norman decoration and Saxon construction--among +the more important of which was the visit of the foreign lady, who +wanted to look up old volumes of the records. + +"I have the honour to be invited to dine at the Hall this evening," said +Mr. Lambert, in parting with Kent-Lauriston. "I shall look forward to +the pleasure of continuing our conversation." + +His visitor bowed, and left him. + +It cannot be said of most of the members of the house party that they +passed the morning as usefully or happily as Kent-Lauriston. In the +Secretary's mind the problem was uppermost, of how to be alone from +breakfast to lunch. He was aided in the accomplishment of his intent by +the connivance of the three ladies whom he was most anxious to avoid. +The Dowager sent him a little note saying that she always spent the +morning in her room, and that her dear Isabelle would be quite free in +consequence. The "dear Isabelle" informed Stanley publicly, that she +should spend the morning in the library, and intimated privately, that +it would be well if he was supposedly with her, and in reality any where +else; while Miss Fitzgerald remarked, that she intended spending the +morning in the park, as she wished to be alone. As a result of these +obvious suggestions, the Secretary followed Lady Isabella into the +library, in full sight of the party at large, and crossing the room, +stepped out of one of the long, low windows on to the lawn, and by means +of a side staircase quietly gained his own apartment, where he spent the +morning in reading and meditation. His reading was confined to a +comprehensive volume on "Locks, Ancient and Modern," by Price, received +that morning from John. His meditations, on the other hand, were on an +entirely different subject. + +The events of the night before, aided by Kent-Lauriston's suggestive +comments, had brought him face to face with a question to which he had +hitherto avoided giving an answer. _Was Miss Fitzgerald a party to the +conspiracy to defeat the treaty?_ He put it to himself in so many words. + +Repugnant as was the task, the Secretary felt that he must, in the +interests of his country, put sentiment aside and face the facts. + +It was not to be supposed because he had made the mistake of taking pity +for love, in the case of the lady, that he was any the less indifferent +to her fate. He still considered himself bound to her, should she ask +the redemption of his promise; he had championed her purity and +innocence in the face of all opposition; and it was inexpressibly +shocking to him to find himself forced to consider even the possibility +of her being connected with such a nefarious transaction. + +Yet he felt it only just to face the evidence against her, and seek to +the best of his ability to rebut it. + +What reasons were there for supposing her to be connected with the plot +to defeat the treaty? He placed them in order of their occurrence. + +1. He had seen her driving with Mr. Riddle on the day after his dinner. + +2. She had denied her acquaintance with Darcy, in his presence, to that +gentleman's wife, though she had since been proven to be very intimate +with him. + +3. She had proposed a game of cards, and suggested Stanley's using an +old letter to score on, which proposal and suggestion had led to the +restoration of the secret instructions to Mr. Riddle. + +4. Kent-Lauriston said she had asked Kingsland to take the chests +containing the money to London. + +5. She had been in the hall late the night before, assisting Darcy to +break open the door. + +This was all the evidence against her. Did it prove that she was a +partner to the plot? + +No, he told himself. It did not. + +Did it prove that she was a dupe of these men? An innocent instrument in +the furtherance of their vile conspiracy? + +He was forced to admit the possibility of this, though he told himself +he knew her too well to believe for an instant that she had any +knowledge of the plot itself, or the desperate game her friends were +playing. It now became his duty to save the Irish girl from the +consequences of her own folly; to open her eyes to the true character of +her friends. He could only do this by proving their complicity. The +destruction of the plot, and her salvation alike, hung on the recovery +of that lost letter, for in the light of the events of the past night, +it seemed fair to assume that this paper had an important bearing on the +conspiracy, and was necessary to its success. + +The money had been sent, the time was short, but Darcy still remained. +Why did he do so, unless it was to attempt a recovery of the document? +It must, then, be of vital importance. + +Having arrived at these conclusions, Stanley found himself committed to +one of two courses of action: either to play the spy on the movements of +his friends, or to effect the opening of the door with the silver nails. +The first was repugnant to his spirit as a gentleman, and he instantly +chose the second, believing that within the portal lay the only real +clue he had so far obtained. This plan also had the added recommendation +of placing in his hand evidence which would not involve the introduction +of Miss Fitzgerald's name in the matter. + +Having thus mapped out his course of action, and finding there was still +an hour before lunch, he descended to the lawn, and made a preliminary +inspection of the exterior walls of the old manor house. It might be +possible to enter in some other way than by the oaken door which +remained so obstinately closed. The building was of stone, and two +stories in height, though most irregular in form, having been added to +and altered during succeeding generations, as suited the taste of the +owner of the period. The north-east end, however, instead of having a +corner, was slightly rounded, and above the level of the roof assumed +the shape of a circular tower, rising some forty feet higher than the +rest of the structure, and surmounted by crumbling battlements. Even an +inexperienced eye might detect that the door with the silver nails gave +entrance to this tower, which Stanley was sure did not assume, in the +lower storey at least, a space commensurate with its diameter above. +Probably the door communicated with a narrow winding stair for the +first, and perhaps the second, floors, the real space of the structure +being contained in the portion which arose detached. This conjecture +could easily be verified by measuring. At the first convenient +opportunity he determined to make these preliminary investigations. It +was said that the tower possessed no windows, and certainly this was the +case, unless they gave on the leads; for, from the ground, it presented +everywhere a blank wall of solid masonry, to which here and there +strands of ivy clung. + +"But they must have got their light from somewhere," he said to himself. +"Perhaps from the roof, in which case there is probably some antique +form of scuttle by which entrance could be had. If one could only get up +there to see--but it's not a likely place for climbing. There should be +the remains of an old flag-staff or cresset, or something of that +nature----" and he walked slowly backwards across the lawn, hoping to +reduce the visual angle sufficiently to see any slight projection above +the battlements, but in vain; and he was about to abandon his backward +course and return to the house, when a soft voice murmured at his +elbow:-- + +"Star-gazing by daylight?" and he turned, to find himself close beside +Madame Darcy. + +"Oh, good-morning," he said, lifting his hat. "I beg your pardon, but I +was trying to discover the remains of some superstructure on those +battlements." + +"Why not go up and see?" + +"That is what many people have wished to do for the last two hundred +years, but the only door of entrance is shut, and no man knows the +secret of the lock." + +"And do you mean to discover it?" + +"I'm afraid it would only be a waste of time, for probably the whole +thing is so disgustingly simple that everyone has overlooked it. +However, the present, as represented by you, is infinitely more +interesting; let the old tower guard the secret it has kept so long; who +wants to know it?" + +"My husband!" she replied. + +"Quite so," said the Secretary. "And that reminds me, I hope you reached +home quite safely last night, and have felt no ill effects from it." + +"None in body," she returned sadly, "but, of course, what I saw could +not but add to my distress of mind. Tell me what happened after I left." + +"Nothing particular," said Stanley. "We all kept our tempers and were +very polite." + +"Then there was no disturbance?" + +"None whatever; the Colonel was quite amenable to reason and went away +quietly." + +"But Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" + +"Oh, he's too much a man of the world not to know when to hold his +tongue." + +"You will not tell your hostess? Promise me that. Badly as he has +treated me, I am still his wife, and his honour is yet mine." + +"I will keep your secret. If he is discovered in the house, someone else +must do it." + +"Oh, you're indeed my friend!" she cried impulsively. "I can never +forget your goodness to me. There are, I'm sure, few men like you in the +world." + +The Secretary flushed under her praise, and disclaiming any inherent +superiority to the other members of his race, hastened to change the +subject by saying:-- + +"Tell me, are you succeeding any better with your proofs against your +husband on another charge?" + +"I've made a discovery this morning which has greatly disturbed me. I do +not know how to act." + +"What have you found?" + +"I've compared the handwriting of the letters I hold, with the +handwriting of the most recent entry in the marriage register of this +church." + +"Good Heavens! It surely can't tally----!" + +"It does, and with the name of the bride." + +The Secretary was simply staggered,--Lady Isabelle--it was impossible on +the face of it. + +"You're mistaken," he said coldly. "Such charges against the lady to +whom you refer are impossible." + +"You know of this marriage then?" + +"Yes--I'm even popularly supposed to be engaged to the bride!" + +"But you are not--tell me you are not." + +"Of course I'm not--I've never had the slightest interest in her, except +as a friend." + +"You relieve me immensely. To lay such charges at the door of one you +loved--to break your heart-- I could not have done it." + +"You could not do it in any event--to a woman of her nature such things +would be impossible. I assure you, it is some grievous mistake." + +She shook her head. + +"Why should my husband be a witness to this secret marriage?" + +"Was he----?" + +"Sh!" she said, "he is coming," and disappeared so silently into the +bushes that she seemed to fade away from his sight. A moment later, the +dry leaves crackled under a man's foot, and Colonel Darcy stood before +him. + +"We have not had our little meeting yet, Mr. Stanley," he said +abruptly. + +"When do you leave this vicinity, Colonel Darcy?" asked the Secretary, +ignoring the other's remark. + +"When you do. Till then I remain here to guard my honour." + +"You surely are not trying to live up to that absurd fable!" + +"Why not, when my wife has this moment left you?" + +"You have sharp eyes, Colonel," replied the Secretary, turning on his +heel, and walking towards the house. + +"I need to have, Mr. Stanley," remarked the other, as he watched him go. + + * * * * * + +"Kent-Lauriston," said the Secretary, when they were alone after lunch, +"affairs have taken a startling turn since I last saw you." + +"I think so myself." + +"Have you been making discoveries?" + +"I don't know that they can be dignified by that name; but tell me of +yours." + +"Madame Darcy assures me that the letters which she holds, and on which +she bases her case against her husband, are in the same handwriting as +the name of Lady Isabelle, in the parish register." + +"Lady Isabelle!" + +"Yes. It's absurd, isn't it?" + +"Perfectly so--you may take my word for it. But do you assure me that +she said 'Lady Isabelle'?" + +"We mentioned no names, of course. She said that the bride's signature +corresponded--it's the same thing." + +"Ah, I see. I think you've made a little mistake about this affair, my +boy. I've seen the register myself." + +"Good Heavens! You don't mean--you can't----!" exclaimed Stanley, a +sickening suspicion dominating his mind. + +"I mean," replied Kent-Lauriston, "that the maiden name of the bride, as +written there, is not Isabelle McLane, but Isabelle Fitzgerald." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +TWO QUESTIONS + + +Kent-Lauriston fully realised that the strong hold which he possessed +over the Secretary rested, more than anything else, on the fact that his +opinions were entirely reliable; and it was most important that +Stanley's confidence in his friend's _dicta_ should remain unimpaired, +if that friend hoped to be able to guide him. Therefore, much as the +Englishman would have liked to voice his suspicions for the Secretary's +benefit, he determined to keep silence till he had full verification of +his conjectures, and for this purpose he sought out Madame Darcy. + +He found her at home, and she welcomed him courteously. + +"Will you think me very presuming," he said, "to have called on you in +the interests of a mutual friend of ours, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Any friend of Mr. Stanley's can claim and receive friendship of me," +she replied, a beautiful light coming over her expressive face, "for he +has done me kindnesses that I can never forget or repay." + +"It is in virtue of that, that I've ventured to intrude myself upon you +this afternoon. You have, like myself, a great interest in his welfare, +I'm sure, and I am come to make common cause with you for his good." + +"You could have come to no one more willing--but will you do me the +honour to accept a seat in the garden, where we can chat more at +leisure." + +"I shall be charmed," he said, and she led the way to a rustic bench, +under the spreading branches of a gnarled, old apple-tree. + +"Our friend makes no secrets of his own affairs from me, you must +understand," Kent-Lauriston began, after assuring himself that they were +alone, "and I imagine, from what he's said, that he's given you some +inkling of his heart troubles." + +"Yes," she said, "he hinted to me in London that he had some affair +under consideration; but I do not think he felt deeply--as he should +have felt. I trust it's not turned out seriously." + +"Not as yet, I'm glad to say--but he's in some danger; and, believe me, +you could not be doing him a greater service, than in helping to ward +off this peril, which would be the ruin of his life." + +"Indeed, yes,--but what means have I?" + +"I believe you have it in your power to prove that the woman who has +bewitched him, is unworthy of his love. Let him realise this and he is +saved." + +"But, surely, you're not alluding to the lady who formed our topic of +conversation this morning?" + +"I fear I am." + +"But Mr. Stanley assured me that she was nothing to him." + +"You were talking at cross purposes, and unintentionally deceiving each +other." + +"How so?" + +"Why, there are two versions of the story of that marriage. The version +Mr. Stanley had been told runs to this effect:--that Lieutenant +Kingsland married Lady Isabelle McLane." + +"But the register----" + +"Says she didn't. I know, I've seen it; but our young friend has not, or +had not when he last saw you." + +"Then he thought I was referring to Lady Isabelle?" + +"Exactly. No names were mentioned, he told me." + +"True--but this is most unfortunate! Do you see my position?" + +"Believe me, I'm fully informed on the matter, so that I'll not put you +to the pain of relating it." + +She bowed her silent thanks, and then continued:-- + +"The fact of this lady's marriage ties my hands. Deeply as she has +wronged me, have I any right to ruin her husband's life by her exposure? +If she has reformed----" + +"My dear Madame Darcy, pray disabuse your mind of two misconceptions: +the lady in question, Miss Fitzgerald, has not reformed, and I doubt if +the marriage is legal. There's some trick about it." + +"What you've told me leaves me free to act where my own honour is +concerned; but I naturally feel a delicacy about interfering in Mr. +Stanley's private affairs." + +"Believe me, I fully appreciate your hesitation; but that there may be +no misunderstanding between us regarding this important matter, let me +tell you something of my friend's present position. I ask you to accept +my word for it, that he's not as yet bound himself to Miss Fitzgerald; +but his high sense of honour may lead him to do so, if he knows nothing +definite against her." + +"I see, and you want me to show him these letters?" and she took a +little packet from her bosom. + +"No, I wouldn't subject you to such a trying ordeal. I ask you to let me +show the letters to him. Remember that you've told him that you have +them." + +"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I think you're right. You +assure me that he does not love her, and that there's positive danger +that he may marry her from a sense of duty." + +"I assure you that such is the case." + +"Then take them," she said, giving him the letters; "but promise me that +no one besides yourselves shall see them, and that they shall be safely +returned to me by to-morrow." + +"I promise," he replied, "and take my assurance that in doing this +you've more than repaid him for any services he may have done you." + +"You cannot persuade me to believe that; but I'm thankful to help where +I'm able, though it be only a little, and I am even more thankful that +he has such a strong champion in you." + +Kent-Lauriston took her extended hand. + +"Thank you," he said heartily. "Stanley's a good fellow; too good and +too unsophisticated for the people he's thrown with, and I'm going to +save him from himself if I can, both now and in the future." + +She looked up at him with a wistful light in her eyes, saying: + +"Perhaps you'll be wishing to save him from me--who've already one +husband too many." + +"I don't know," replied Kent-Lauriston, with an English bluntness, of +which he was not often culpable. + +She laughed merrily, answering: + +"I hope you'll do so, if ever I give you cause." + +"Madame," he returned, "what can I do? You've disarmed me, even before +the first skirmish." + + * * * * * + +The feelings of Stanley on looking at the marriage register were +difficult to describe. In the first shock of the discovery his brain +whirled. The mystery had become a maze, and he felt the imperative need +of a solution of the subject to steady his mind. Accordingly, he had +that evening a fixed purpose in view, which dominated all matters of the +moment; and though at dinner he talked about something, he knew not +what, during the greater part of the meal his eyes and thoughts were +almost continually on the amiable blundering, little old pastor, whom he +had marked out as his prey. When the ladies left the table, and the men +adjourned to the smoking-room, he never lost sight of him; but the +dominie, as if warned by some instinct, contrived to slip out of the +Secretary's grasp, to elude him in corners, and, smiling, vanquish him +in every attempt at an interview. At last, however, the opportunity +came--a move was made to the drawing-room. In a fatal moment, the parson +lingered for one last whiff of his half-smoked and regretfully +relinquished cigar, and the Secretary saw, with a sigh of relief, the +last coat-tail vanish through the door, which he softly closed. + +The click of the latch brought the Reverend Reginald back to the present +with an uncomfortable start. + +"Oh," he cried, tumbling out of his chair, "I didn't see the others had +got away so quickly. Very kind of you to wait for me, I'm sure--very--we +must lose no time in joining the ladies, must we, eh?" + +"Only a little, a very little time, Mr. Lambert," replied the Secretary, +leaning squarely against the closed door, which formed the sole exit +from the room. "Just long enough to ask you one question." + +"Really, I'm sure," said the little man, becoming flustered. "Another +time perhaps-- I should have the greatest pleasure----" + +"You have, I know, performed the marriage ceremony in the last few +days," began Stanley calmly. + +"To be sure--yes, certainly--but this--permit me to suggest, is hardly +the place to discuss my parochial duties." + +"Of course anyone married from this house would have to be married by +you." + +"I'm in charge of this living, Mr. Stanley, there is no one else." + +"I know that, and also that your nearest colleague--excuse me if I use a +professional term--is some distance off." + +"Fifteen miles. And now that I've answered all of your questions, let us +waste no more time before joining the ladies." + +"Excuse me, Mr. Lambert, but I've not as yet asked you a question. I've +made a number of statements, and you've furnished me with a good deal of +gratuitous information, for which I'm deeply obliged. We now come to the +pith of the whole matter, which is simply this. Did you, or did you not, +marry Lady Isabelle McLane to Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"What! The lady to whom you're engaged?" + +"Could I be engaged to a married woman, Mr. Lambert?" + +"My dear sir, you may take my word for it, I did not. I shouldn't think +of such a thing. Let me assure you on the honour of my sacred office, +that Lady Isabelle is not, and cannot be married to Lieutenant +Kingsland." + +"Ah, then Kingsland _is_ married." + +The parson caught his breath in his relief at the escape from the +dreaded question, which he had supposed was inevitable. He had been too +confidential. + +"I did not say so, sir," he replied with dignity. + +"Quite true, Mr. Lambert, you did not say so," persisted his tormentor, +opening the door, "and so I suppose you'd prefer not to have me ask if +you married Miss Fitzgerald to Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"I would certainly prefer not to answer that question, and now I must +really go upstairs;" and without waiting for further parley, the little +man scuttled out of the room. + +Stanley was preparing to follow him at his leisure, when the door +opened, and Kent-Lauriston entered. + +"Kent-Lauriston!" he exclaimed. "You're the very man I want! I must +speak with you!" + +"I know it," replied his friend, "but not before I've had my smoke." + +"But this matter admits of no delay." + +"Oh yes, it does. That's one of the fallacies of modern civilisation. +Every important question _admits_ of delay, and most matters are all the +better for it." + +"But I've seen the register!" + +"Of course you have, but you haven't seen a deduction that is as plain +as the nose on your face, or you wouldn't now be trying to ruin my +digestion. I'll meet you here at ten o'clock this evening and then, and +not an instant sooner, will I discuss your private affairs." + +"You English are so irritatingly slow!" + +"My dear fellow, we've made our history--you're making yours. You can't +afford to miss a few days; we can easily spare a few centuries. Now be a +good boy, and leave me to peace and tobacco. Join the ladies, and pay a +little attention to one of your _fiancées_." + +So it was that Stanley found himself relegated to the drawing-room, and +feeling decidedly upset, he good-naturedly determined to see what he +could do towards upsetting the equanimity of the rest of the party. In +this, however, he was partially forestalled by the good parson, who had +not been wasting the few minutes of grace, which the Secretary's +conversation with Kent-Lauriston had allotted to him. + +No sooner had Mr. Lambert entered the drawing-room, than he sought out +Miss Fitzgerald, and confided to her an astonishing discovery he had +made in the church register. + +"Most careless of me, I assure you," he apologised. "I should have +noticed of course--people often make nervous mistakes at times like +those; but it was not till this morning that I discovered that Lady +Isabelle had written her name in the space reserved for the bride, and +you in the space reserved for the witness." + +"Well?" asked Miss Fitzgerald, her voice ringing hard and cold as steel. + +"Oh, it's all right, my dear," the old man quavered on. "Quite all +right, I corrected it myself. I can do a neat bit of work still, even if +my hands do tremble a little. I cut out the names, reversed them, and +put them back in their proper places, and I'd defy any but an expert to +see that they'd been tampered with. I'm sure that none of the people +who've seen the book since suspected the change." + +"Who has seen the book?" she asked, frozen with horror. + +"After I corrected the register?" + +"Yes! Yes! Who?" + +"Dear me--let me see! That was this morning. Now who was there? Ah!--I +remember. A strange lady in black, very beautiful, and Mr. +Kent-Lauriston." + +Miss Fitzgerald shuddered. + +"Dear, dear!" cried the parson. "You're cold--the draught from the +window--let me get you a wrap." + +"No, no, I'm quite warm, thank you. You're sure that no one else saw the +register?" + +"No one--except Mr. Stanley." + +"You must excuse me, Mr. Lambert," she said. "I'm not feeling very +well." + +"You are faint? Is there nothing I can do for you?" + +"Nothing more, thank you," and she swept past him across the room, to +where Lady Isabelle was seated on a sofa. + +"Nothing more," murmured the little man, after she had left him; "but I +hadn't begun to do anything; and she seemed quite faint. Dear, dear, +she looks strong, but to be so easily upset, I fear something must be +wrong--my daughter was never like that," and, shaking his head, he went +to join the Dowager, who had a _penchant_ for the clergy. + +"You've heard nothing from your husband?" asked Miss Fitzgerald of Lady +Isabelle, as she seated herself beside her. + +"Nothing beyond a telegram telling me of his safe arrival in London." + +"But surely his uncle was _in extremis_. He cannot live long." + +"I do not know," she replied, "but it's very awkward. Oh, why won't you +let me tell Mr. Stanley the truth?" + +"Sh! He's coming," murmured Miss Fitzgerald, and, indeed, the Secretary +was advancing deliberately towards them; a thing suggestive in itself, +considering how he had striven to avoid them all day long. + +"Miss Fitzgerald," he said very quietly, as he stood before them, "will +you permit me to ask you a question?" + +"If it's a proper question to ask, Mr. Stanley." + +"It is eminently proper and fitting," he replied, coldly. + +"Would you rather that I went?" suggested Lady Isabelle, half rising. + +"I would rather you stayed." + +"Don't be so dreadfully mysterious, Jimsy!" cried Miss Fitzgerald, with +a forced laugh that grated on the ears of both her hearers. "Out with +your dreadful question. What is it?" + +"It is this," he replied. "Are you Jack Kingsland's wife?" + +For a moment there was absolute silence. The Secretary stood looking +straight in the face of the Irish girl, without moving a muscle. Lady +Isabelle gave a smothered exclamation, and gripped her companion's wrist +with all her force, flushing red as she did so. Miss Fitzgerald bit her +lip, and stared hard at Stanley for the fraction of a minute; then, +breaking into her hard metallic laugh, she cried: + +"Why, you foolish boy! What can you be thinking of?" + +"You've not answered my question," he replied. + +"Why, what is there to answer?" + +"I ask you-- Are you Lieutenant Kingsland's wife?" he repeated +harshly--betraying the first sign of temper he had so far evinced, which +Miss Fitzgerald saw and was quick to profit by. Whatever was +coming--there was, in Lady Isabelle's presence, but one course open to +her--she looked her accuser boldly in the face and said: + +"No, I'm not Lieutenant Kingsland's wife." + +"You are quite sure of what you are saying?" + +"I repeat, I am not his wife. I have not married him, put it how you +please. Do you doubt my word? If you're so anxious to know whom +Lieutenant Kingsland married, ask your _fiancée_, Lady Isabelle; perhaps +she can tell you." + +"It's not necessary to ask Lady Isabelle if she is Lieutenant +Kingsland's wife--because----" + +"Because she has already told you so," broke in Miss Fitzgerald. + +"Because," continued Stanley, in the same colourless, dogged tone, +"because Mr. Lambert, the one person who could have made Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle man and wife, has solemnly assured me that he did not +perform the marriage ceremony between them----" and he turned on his +heel and left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +IN WHICH DEATH IS A RELIEF + + +After Stanley had left them, Isabelle Kingsland and Isabelle Fitzgerald +sat silent for a while, looking into each other's faces, the brain of +each throbbing with a tumult of agitating thoughts. The Englishwoman +voicing to herself a subtle suggestion of coming evil, which had been +omnipresent since her marriage day, an instinctive presentiment that all +was not well: the Irish girl feeling strongly irritated at this last of +the many annoying _contretemps_ of the week; and smarting under a sense +of injustice that, when she had merely practised a little harmless +deception for a friend's sake, that friend should leave the field and +the eminently disagreeable explanations to her. + +She vented her feelings by a shrug of the shoulders, which broke the +tension of the silence. + +"Tell me--on your honour, tell me," cried Lady Isabelle, "that he did +not speak the truth; that I am married to Lieutenant Kingsland!" + +"Of course you're married to Lieutenant Kingsland," replied Miss +Fitzgerald, with a little sigh of resignation. "You read your licence, +didn't you?" + +"Yes. But----" + +"But that's quite sufficient--and there's no occasion for a scene." + +"It's not sufficient, not nearly sufficient--there's something that's +being kept back from me, and I want to know the truth!" and Lady +Isabelle rose, becoming quite queenly in her indignant agitation. + +"I've been uneasy from the first about my marriage," she continued, +"because it was not open as I should have wished. I knew there was some +mystery about it. My husband admitted as much to me from the first, and +he did not need to tell me that you were the prime mover in the affair. +It is my right to know the truth." + +"The assertion of people's rights is responsible for most of the wrong +done in the world. Did your husband counsel you to insult his best +friend?" + +"He didn't wish me to speak to you on the subject, but I've determined +to take matters into my own hands. In the face of Mr. Stanley's charges, +I must know the truth." + +"You had better obey your husband." + +"I'm responsible to him for that matter, not to you, Miss Fitzgerald. +Now tell me, what did Mr. Stanley mean?" + +"He meant what he said." + +"But how could Mr. Lambert have told him an untruth?" + +"Mr. Lambert told him what he believed to be the truth; and that was, +that he had not married you and Jack--Lieutenant Kingsland, I mean." + +"Was that all he told him?" + +"I should think it highly probable that he added that he had married +your husband to me." + +"My husband to you!" + +"I told you we'd better let this matter alone." + +In a second Lady Isabelle's hands were on Miss Fitzgerald's shoulders, +and her eyes blazed into the eyes of the Irish girl. + +"The truth, woman, the truth! Is he my husband?" + +"Yes." + +"Then why does Mr. Lambert----?" + +"Because he believes that I was the bride." + +"Did you tell him so?" + +"No, but when I went to make the arrangements he blundered into the +mistake--and--well, I didn't take the trouble to correct him." + +"You dared!" + +"Yes," she replied. "I'd do a good deal for Jack--we used to care for +each other once." + +Her Ladyship's eyes flashed dangerously, and Miss Fitzgerald hastened to +add: + +"Of course that was all over long ago--I know Jack too well." + +"How dared you do it?" asked her accuser again. + +"It was risky, but our names were the same, and he's half blind and +somewhat deaf, and in his dotage. The chances of escaping detection were +good, as the event has proved." + +"How dared you do it?" + +"Of course it wasn't my affair whether Jack told you or not. It was +legal and that's the main thing." + +"How dared you do it?" + +"You needn't be so nasty about it; it was merely to be obliging. If you +think it amusing to be a dummy bride----" + +"Be silent!" + +The two women stood facing each other, breathing hard, as though resting +from physical combat; the face of one expressing infinite contempt, of +the other infinite anger. At this juncture a servant brought a telegram +to Lady Isabelle. + +Thankful for the relief from an awkward pause, she tore it open, and her +face lit up as she read its message. + + "Still in London. Uncle died this morning, leaving me his + heir. As preliminaries take some time to arrange, am + returning to you to-morrow. + + "JACK." + +"There!" she said, showing it to her antagonist. "I suppose it's wicked +to rejoice in any one's death; but it's a great relief, for it gives me +back my husband--and he shall defend me from you!" + +"I don't think your husband will be down on me." + +"He'll proclaim the truth about our marriage. It should never have been +concealed, least of all by dishonourable means." + +"You forget yourself, Lady Isabelle." + +"I remember what is due my position, and so will Mr. Lambert, when he +hears how grossly you've deceived him." + +"You mustn't tell him." + +"It will not be necessary. I've only to ask him to look at the marriage +register. That will bear witness to the truth, I know; for I signed in +the proper place for the bride." + +Miss Fitzgerald drew a quick, sharp breath. She had trusted to be spared +this last confession. + +"The register has been changed," she said. + +"Who has done this?" + +"Mr. Lambert, supposing there had been a mistake." + +"Then Mr. Lambert will change it back again, to-morrow morning!" + +"You mustn't speak to him of this." + +"I'll speak to him to-night." + +"No." + +"You've no right to interfere. You've no right to do anything, but +apologise to me for the great wrong you've done me!" + +"I forbid you to apprise Mr. Lambert of the true state of affairs till +your husband returns to-morrow!" + +"I've told you I shall see him to-night." + +"I forbid you, in your husband's interests." + +"You are insolent." + +"I'm in a position to be anything I choose." + +"Why?" + +"Because I have your husband in my power." + +"I do not believe it!" + +"If I choose to make public," she said, laughing insolently, "the manner +in which your husband is spending his time in London, I could have him +cashiered from the navy." + +Lady Isabelle drew herself up, and gave her adversary a look of +unutterable scorn and contempt, saying:-- + +"You will probably circulate any falsehood about my husband that you +please; it will simply prove to others, as it proves to me, that you +still _do_ love him, and that when he knew your true character he left +you," and turning from her astonished and indignant rival, she quietly +crossed the length of the drawing-room, to where the Dowager and the +parson were seated. + +"Mother," she said, "would you think me very rude if I asked for Mr. +Lambert's company for a few moments? I want to have a serious talk with +him." + +"Not at all, my dear. Just take my place. I promised to show Mrs. +Roberts a new embroidery stitch," replied the Dowager, acquiescing +joyfully in the proposal. + +Satisfactory on the whole as her child's training had been, on the point +of her religious convictions, the Marchioness had occasionally felt some +disturbing suspicions. I do not mean that Lady Isabelle was not firmly +grounded in her belief of the thirty-nine articles; indeed, she was, if +anything, a trifle too orthodox for her day and generation; but the +Dowager knew to her cost that missions were a tabooed subject. Her +daughter had even refused to _slum_ with the Viscountess +Thistledown, and worse than all, charity bazaars, though patronised by +Royalty, were her pet aversions. To the Marchioness, who no longer "sold +well," and whose ambition was to see Lady Isabelle tethered in the next +stall to a Princess, such heresies were naturally repugnant. Mr. Lambert +was very strong on all these points, and had just been suggesting to her +a scheme of his own, to raise money for a worthy object, conceived on +principles that would have put the authorities of Monte Carlo to the +blush. So she patted her daughter's hand, established her in her own +place, and murmuring that she was glad Isabelle felt the need of advice, +and that she might safely rely on "dear Mr. Lambert's wisdom +and--er--commonsense," betook herself to Kensington stitch and a remote +corner. + +But her daughter's confidences admitted of no publicity. + +"Suppose we go to the conservatory, Mr. Lambert," she suggested, "we're +quite sure of finding it unoccupied at this hour, and I've a confession +to make." + +"Certainly, my dear, certainly," he replied, following her in the +direction she suggested. "Though I'm sure," he added, "that Lady +Isabelle would have done nothing which she would not be willing that +anybody should know, if need were." + +"I hope not," she answered, and a moment later they were alone. + +"Come now," he said, "what is this terrible confession; not so great a +sin, I'm sure, that we cannot easily find a way for pardon or +reformation." + +"There's no sin to discuss," she replied, "at least, none that I've +committed, unless unconscious participation is a crime. I want to speak +to you about my marriage." + +"Ah, yes; with Mr. Stanley--a most desirable arrangement, I've been +given to understand." + +"No--not with Mr. Stanley--I'm speaking of my marriage with Lieutenant +Kingsland." + +"But, my dear young lady, that's impossible. Lieutenant Kingsland is +already married." + +"Yes, he's married to me." + +"To you? What? How can he be?" + +"Because you married him to me two days ago. + +"Nothing of the sort," cried the old man in irritated bewilderment. "I +married him to Miss Fitzgerald." + +"You married him to me, Mr. Lambert." + +"But I ought to know best whom I married, and to whom, Lady Isabelle." + +"You ought certainly; but, in this case, it seems you do not." + +"But Miss Fitzgerald said----" + +"Ah, that's just the point. What did Miss Fitzgerald say?" + +"Really, I can't remember the conversation, word for word; she came to +make the arrangements, and I inferred----" + +"Did she say that she was going to marry Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"She certainly gave me the impression that such was the case." + +"But did she actually _say_ so?" + +The old man was lost in thought for a moment, striving to recall some +direct admission, but at length shook his head sadly, saying:-- + +"No. I can't remember that she did, in so many words; but she led me to +suppose----" + +"You've _inferred_; you've been _given the impression_; you've been _led +to suppose_, Mr. Lambert, what did not exist. I have, however, held in +my hand and carefully examined the special licence under which you +performed the ceremony, and which was drawn for a marriage between +Lieutenant Kingsland and myself. I was the bride whom you married; it +was I who repeated the vows which you gave _me_; my name is Isabelle, +also, remember, and it was I who signed that name as 'bride' in your +register, where it should be now, if you had not changed it." + +"Bless my soul! This is most bewildering! You say I married you to +Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"Yes, Mr. Lambert, you did, and Miss Fitzgerald and Colonel Darcy were +the witnesses." + +"But this is a serious matter, a very serious matter, Lady Isabelle. +This wedding seems to have been performed under false pretences." + +"I imagine you would not find it difficult to prove that, Mr. Lambert; +but before we discuss the matter farther, I want first to right myself +in your eyes, to assure you earnestly and honestly that I was no party +to this deception, that I did not know till this evening, till just now +indeed, that you were not perfectly cognisant of all the facts. I was +informed at the time that all arrangements had been made with you, and I +believed of course that you knew everything. I was also told that I must +be heavily veiled as, owing to the proximity of the early service, I +might otherwise be seen; the signing in the vestry was hurried over as +you know, and it was only when, in response to a statement of Mr. +Stanley's, I made inquiries, that I discovered the truth. You believe +me, do you not, Mr. Lambert?" + +"Of course, my dear. I must believe you since you give me your word for +it." + +"Then set my mind at rest. Tell me this marriage was not illegal." + +"I think you may be easy on that score. The licence and the signatures +were regular; all the requirements were complied with; and the +principals, or you at least, acted in good faith; but the affair is most +unfortunate." + +"You will be glad to learn that any objection which my mother might have +had to my husband has now been removed." + +"I do not know what Lady Port Arthur will think of my part in this +deplorable matter, certainly very little consideration or courtesy has +been shown me," said the poor old man, to whom the Dowager's wrath was a +very terrible thing. + +"Have no apprehensions, Mr. Lambert, my mother shall know the truth of +this matter, and where the blame rests." + +"Then you really think that Miss Fitzgerald----?" + +"I'm sure of it, Mr. Lambert. She has confessed to me, that if she did +not actually say to you that she was going to marry Lieutenant +Kingsland, she purposely allowed you to believe the same; and then +assured my husband, whom I believe to be as innocent in the matter as I +am, that your consent had been gained, and all arrangements made." + +The old parson sat down on a rustic seat beside an elaborately natural, +sheet-iron water-fall, seemingly quite crushed by the blow. But the +spirit of the church militant was strong within him, and he was filled +with righteous anger at his unmerited treatment; so taking his +companion's hand, he rose presently, saying:-- + +"Come. Let us go to your mother and tell her the truth; we owe it to her +and to ourselves." + +"To-morrow, Mr. Lambert--pray wait till to-morrow." + +The preacher's face hardened; he was in no mood for leniency. + +"We have delayed too long already," he said, and took a step forward. + +"Believe me," she replied, laying her hand on his arm, "I do not ask it +from weakness, but my husband returns to-morrow, and thanks to an +inheritance from an uncle who died to-day, comes back a rich man, able +to support a wife. When my mother knows this, she will receive our news +very differently. See," and she handed him the telegram. + +"I will wait till your husband returns to speak to your mother," he +replied, "but as for that unhappy girl--if it is not too late to turn +her steps to the right path--I will spare no pains to bring her to a +realisation of what she has done. For this, no time is like the +present--no time too soon." + +"I hope you may succeed," said Lady Isabelle, "but I fear you'll find +her much worse than you imagine. However, I do not wish to discourage +you." + +"I'm not easy to discourage in any good work, I trust, Lady Isabelle +Kingsland." + +She started, as her new name was pronounced, and laying a detaining hand +upon him, as he would have left her, said, her voice breaking:-- + +"Forgive me, Mr. Lambert. Say you forgive me." + +"My poor child," he said sadly, placing one hand on her bowed head. "My +poor child, you are too much in need of forgiveness from others for me +to withhold mine. It is yours freely; but promise me that you'll show +your appreciation of it by coming to me in all your troubles." + +She seized his other hand in both of hers, and kissing it, burst into +tears. + +"And now," he said sternly, "I will seek out that miserable girl." + +But Miss Fitzgerald, dreading the tempest, had sought the haven of her +own room. + +She was not a picture of contrite repentance as she stood by the open +window, looking out into the night. + +"Fools all!" she mused. "So I am to blame--it is all my fault!" + +An amused sneer played about her lips. + +"Ah me! After all it is our faults that make life interesting to us--or +us interesting to others," and she tossed away her half-smoked cigarette +with a shrug. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +TWO LETTERS + + +Precisely as the clock struck ten, Kent-Lauriston entered the +smoking-room to find it in sole possession of Stanley, who stood leaning +against the mantelpiece, lost in thought--a cigar, long ago gone out, +hanging listlessly between his fingers. + +"I'm afraid I'm late," said his genial adviser, glancing at the clock, +"but I was just finishing a game of cribbage with Mr. Riddle." + +"I don't envy you his society," growled the Secretary, whose temper was +not improved by recent experiences. + +"You misjudge him," replied Kent-Lauriston. "He's a very good fellow, in +more senses of the word than one--he's just given Mr. Lambert a thumping +big cheque, for the restoration of his little church." + +"And made you the recipient of the fact of his generosity?" + +"Far from it; our gossiping little parson did that, in direct violation +of a pledge of secrecy; for Riddle never wishes his good works to be +known--he's not that kind." + +"I consider him a hypocrite," replied Stanley shortly. + +"Then you do him a great injustice, my dear boy; and allow me to say, +you'll never make a good diplomat till you've arrived at a better +knowledge of human nature; it's the keystone of the profession. But, to +change the subject, how have you been spending the evening?" + +"Oh, making a fool of myself, as usual." + +"So I suppose. What particular method did you adopt this time?" + +"First, I chivied our amiable parson from pillar to post, in this very +room, till I'd forced the admission of an important fact from him, and +the practical admission of another." + +"And then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "you went and tried the effect of +your statements on the young ladies." + +"I believe you're equipped with X-rays instead of eyes, Kent-Lauriston, +for you were smoking down here and couldn't have seen me!" + +"No, but I saw the ladies--afterwards." + +"To speak to?" + +"Oh, no. One of them at least has a rooted aversion to me. I know too +much." + +"What were they doing?" + +"Pulling each other's hair out, I should judge, or its equivalent in +polite society. What did you learn from the parson?" + +"That he had not married Kingsland to Lady Isabelle; that Kingsland had +been married to somebody; and a refusal to say that that somebody was +Miss Fitzgerald, which was tantamount to an admission of the fact." + +"Exactly, and what did you say to the young ladies?" + +"I asked Miss Fitzgerald if she was Lieutenant Kingsland's wife?" + +"And she denied it?" + +"Absolutely." + +"What else?" + +"I charged Lady Isabelle with not having married Kingsland." + +"And what was her answer?" + +"I didn't wait to receive it." + +"Had you done so, she would have denied it likewise." + +"You think so?" + +"I am certain of it, and, if it's any satisfaction to you, I can tell +you that by your action you ensured Miss Fitzgerald one of the worst +quarters of an hour at her Ladyship's hands that she is likely to +experience for a very long time." + +"But Mr. Lambert assured me solemnly, that he did not perform the +ceremony between Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant." + +"He was quite right in doing so." + +"But they can't all be right!" + +"My dear fellow," said Kent-Lauriston, "it is very seldom, in this +complex age, that anyone is wholly right or wholly wrong. All these +people, except Miss Fitzgerald, know a part of the truth, and have +spoken honestly according to their lights. She alone knows it all, and, +believe me, she is much too clever to tell a lie on so important a +point. If she told you she was not married to Lieutenant Kingsland, you +may implicitly believe her." + +"Do you know that it is the truth?" + +"Yes, because I telegraphed to the man who has charge of the issue of +special licences, and have received a line from him, to the effect that +one has been issued in the last few days, for Lieutenant Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle McLane." + +"Then you convict Mr. Lambert of deception?" + +"Not at all. If he told you he had not married Lady Isabelle to the +Lieutenant, he told you what he believed to be the truth." + +"But is it possible that he could have married them without knowing it?" + +"It seems that it was possible." + +"How could he make such a mistake?" + +"A man who never makes a mistake makes little or nothing in this world." + +"And Miss Fitzgerald signed in the place of the bride, to divert +suspicion?" + +"It seems impossible to suppose that she would commit herself in that +way," said Kent-Lauriston. + +"But the register proves that she did," reported Stanley. + +"Ye-es. It rather savours of the paradox. Perhaps we'd better content +ourselves with the facts that Lady Isabelle did marry Kingsland, and +Miss Fitzgerald did not. How it was accomplished does not immediately +concern us, and, as I fear no very creditable means were used, we'd +better not try to find out what they were, especially as we've more +serious matters to consider." + +"You mean----" + +"I mean the charge unconsciously made by Madame Darcy." + +"I feared you were going to speak of that." + +"True, it is an unpleasant business; but you must remember that you owe +it to Miss Fitzgerald to ask her for a definite answer, or to give her +some explanation for declining to do so." + +"You think there's no escape from it?" + +"None that a gentleman can take." + +"What do you advise me to do?" + +"Find out where you stand in the first place." + +"How I stand?" + +"Yes. At least one serious charge has been made against the woman whom +you propose to make your wife. If true--for your own sake, for your +father's sake, you must surrender her. If false, you are equally bound, +by honour and chivalry, to disprove it." + +"How can I do this?" + +"The charge to which I refer is based on the direct evidence of certain +letters. See them, and judge for yourself." + +"That is easier said than done." + +"Here they are," replied Kent-Lauriston, handing him a little packet. + +"You have seen Madame Darcy?" + +"Yes." + +"And she has given you these letters, knowing they would be shown to +me?" + +"Yes, on my representation, that if they substantiated her charges, she +would be doing you the greatest kindness in her power." + +Stanley bowed, and opened the little packet. For a few moments there was +silence in the room, broken only by the occasional crackle of paper, as +he turned a page. Most of the dozen or so documents he read through +quickly, and laid upon the table at his side. A couple he re-read +several times. Finally he looked up, saying simply:-- + +"You've read these letters?" + +"Yes. I was given permission to do so." + +"What do you think of them?" + +"Two of them are suggestive." + +"The two most recent?" + +"Yes, they bear dates, you will observe, within the last three days." + +"And the others----?" + +"The others merely show the existence of some relationship between +Colonel Darcy and Miss Fitzgerald, which they wished kept secret. I +don't remember the exact wording. There's a letter which she writes from +London to him at his home, begging him to come to town and 'leave his +tiresome wife,' as they have 'matters of more importance' to attend to; +and again she writes that she cannot meet him at 5 P. M., 'because she +must account for her time to her "dragon,"'--alluding, I infer, to her +aunt--but that he must manage to 'meet her accidentally and take her +down to supper' at a party she is attending that night, 'so as not to +arouse suspicion.'" + +"All this proves nothing." + +"Perhaps not--but the extracts are significant. Now take the two most +recent." + +"They were written from here. How were they obtained?" + +"That doesn't concern us if they are genuine." + +"One is certainly in Miss Fitzgerald's hand." + +"The other was evidently torn from Darcy's letter-book. Read it." + +Stanley did so, with evident effort. + + "DEAREST BELLE: + + "I did not know, till after I had seen you the other + night----" + +"The night you proposed," interjected Kent-Lauriston. + +The Secretary nodded, and resumed his reading. + + "--the other night, how cleverly you got my letter out of + the Secretary's clutches. It quite retrieves your losing it + at the Hyde Park Club, and now I have lost it under the + secret door in the Hall, as you will probably have heard. If + A. R. cannot get a duplicate, which is doubtful, the door + must be opened. + + "I have entrusted you with all I hold most dear. You know + what that is. If my plans go well, it will mean a happy + future for us both. + + "Your affectionate old + "BOB." + +"Now read the other," commanded Kent-Lauriston; and, sick at heart, the +Secretary complied: + + "YOU OLD STUPID: + + "Is the report really true that you have lost that letter + under the secret door? There is no time to duplicate it, so + it must be recovered. Why didn't you write and tell me you + had lost it?----" + +"But he did," commented the reader. + +"Both letters were intercepted before delivery, I imagine," said +Kent-Lauriston, "but finish the note." + + "--Do not try to see me again," read Stanley; "it might + arouse suspicion, and you know how necessary it is for me to + play the rôle of the innocent. I am more afraid of Inez than + anyone else. I am sure she suspects there is something + between us. There is no danger in Little Diplomacy; he is + young enough to believe he knows everything, and that is a + great safeguard. I have found a trusty messenger for our + affairs in Jack Kingsland. + + "As ever, + "BELLE." + +The Secretary stopped reading; his throat was very dry. He took a glass +of Apollinaris, and then said:-- + +"These letters are not incriminating--in the way _you_ mean." + +"No, perhaps not in so many words; but you must ask yourself two +questions concerning them. Are they letters that an honourable or +refined woman would write to or receive from a married man, at any time, +and particularly when she herself was practically engaged?" + +"May I ask to what you imagine Darcy's expression, 'all I hold most +dear,' refers?" + +"Oh, his heart, or his love, or some such sentimental rubbish." + +"So I supposed; it hasn't occurred to you to take it in a more literal +sense?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, say that all he holds most dear refers to the five chests of +sovereigns." + +"You believe this?" + +"I know it to be so--and have known it all along--the fact that I tell +you confidentially, that I'm acting under secret instructions in this +matter, will, I'm sure, suffice not only to seal your lips, but to make +you understand that, for the present, you must be contented not to know +more." + +Kent-Lauriston nodded. + +"You'll see, then," continued the Secretary, "that what you supposed was +an intrigue turns out to be--shall we say--a commercial transaction." + +Kent-Lauriston shrugged his shoulders, remarking:-- + +"I'd better return the letters to Madame Darcy at once then?" + +"No, leave that to me, I shall ask her to let me keep them, if she +will; they may be useful--as evidence." + +"But, surely, any woman who could connect herself with so dishonourable +an affair, as I imagine this to be, is no fit wife for you. Give me your +word you'll break with her once and for all." + +"I've sources of information about Darcy which, as I have said before, +I'm not at liberty to reveal, but forty-eight hours may loose my tongue. +If I could tell Miss Fitzgerald what I know, she might throw him over +even now, for I still hope she's only his dupe. Give me two days to +prove her innocent; if I fail--I'll do what you please." + +Kent-Lauriston reluctantly acquiesced, and Stanley, putting the +incriminating letters carefully in an inside pocket, bade him +good-night, and left the smoking-room. In the hall he met Lady Isabelle. + +"I don't know what you'll think of me for coming to you, Mr. Stanley," +she said, "after what has passed this evening." + +"I think myself an infernal ass, for I've found out the truth of the +matter since I left you, and I think you're very good to overlook it, +and very condescending to speak to me at all." + +"Do not let us talk of that," she said. + +"Agreed," he replied. "Only permit me to say, I'd the parson's solemn +assurance that he'd not married you, and, however unadvisedly I may have +spoken, I spoke in good faith." + +"I quite understand," she returned. "But now you know the truth." + +"I do, and I'm very much ashamed of myself." + +She smiled, a trifle sadly, and changed the subject abruptly, saying:-- + +"I've come to ask you a great favour. In the face of the past I almost +hesitate to do so, but there's no one else to whom I can turn--and +so----" + +"Anything I can do----" he began. + +"I only want to ask you a question." + +"Only a question!" + +"Yet, I hesitate to ask even that--because it concerns a lady in whom +you're interested." + +"Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"Yes." + +"You need have no hesitation," he said coldly. + +"I'm sure you will not misunderstand me," she continued. + +He bowed silently. + +"After you left us, I questioned Miss Fitzgerald about the part she'd +played in my marriage." + +Stanley nodded. + +"You can understand that I was very angry. Whose feelings would not have +been outraged at discovering that they'd been so played upon? I'm sure +that my husband was as innocent of the deception as I." + +She paused a second, but the Secretary did not speak, and she continued, +afraid, perhaps, that he might say something to overthrow her theory. + +"I dare say I forgot myself--in fact I'm sure I did--and said things +that I now regret; but in the heat of the argument she taunted me with +the fact that she had it in her power to have my husband cashiered from +the navy, if she chose to tell what she knew. Is this true?" + +"Did she specify what he'd done?" asked Stanley, the horrid suspicion +that Belle was not innocent once more reasserting itself with increased +force. + +"No, but she said it was something he'd done in London, during his +present absence." + +"My God!" murmured the Secretary, as the full force and meaning of this +avowal became apparent to him, and he saw that Belle must be fully +cognisant of the plot. + +"Don't tell me it's true!" cried Lady Isabelle. + +"I'm afraid it is," he replied. + +"But that my husband could be guilty of----" + +"I didn't say that," he interjected. "He may be merely an innocent +instrument; but he might have difficulty in proving it, if the charges +were made." + +"But what are the charges?" + +"Ah! That you must not ask me." + +"You know?" + +"Perhaps, but you must be content to be sure that, had I the right to +tell you, I would do so." + +"But what is to be done?" + +"Nothing. The threat is an empty one. Miss Fitzgerald will make no +charges against your husband; I will guarantee that, and it may +transpire that the Lieutenant has done nothing worse than deliver some +cases, of the contents of which he was ignorant, to oblige a friend." + +"But if she could prove that he _did_ deliver them, he might be charged +with complicity?" + +"Exactly." + +"Can I not warn him?" + +"No, Lady Isabelle, you owe it to me to keep silence, at least for the +next few days. In telling you this, to relieve your anxiety, I have +exceeded my instructions, and placed my honour in your hands." + +"It shall be held sacred; but who is to warn my husband?" + +"I'll do so, if you wish." + +"I can never be sufficiently grateful, if you will." + +"Then we'll consider that settled," he said. + +"You've been a true friend to me," she replied, taking his hand, "and +I've ill repaid you for your kindness." + +"Don't think of that," he said, and turned away, heavy-hearted; for now +he fancied he knew the worst. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MISS FITZGERALD BURNS HER BOATS + + +"My dear," said the Secretary, as he shook hands with Madame Darcy over +the little wicket gate entwined with roses, which gave admittance to her +rustic abode, "I want to thank you for those letters." + +"To thank me?" + +"Yes. Why not?" + +"Why not? Why, I was almost ashamed to meet you face to face." + +"But why should you be?" + +"That I should have spoken of them at all, and to you." + +"But surely you cannot blame yourself for that. You thought they related +to quite a different person." + +"Now who would have supposed a man would have given me credit. But why +do I stand talking at the gate--come in, you've not perhaps had your +breakfast yet this morning?" + +"Yes, thanks, and a hearty one. Do you think I come to eat you out of +house and home?" + +"I think you come only to the gate." + +"Unfortunately, beggars must not be choosers--and I've just time for a +word. It's my busy day, as they say in the city." + +She was piqued, and showed it. + +"Do you not think I would willingly spend all day with you, if----" + +"I think," she replied, "that you're engaged to a certain young +lady--and you've told me that you're busy." + +"It's about her I wished to speak," he said, abruptly changing the +subject. "These letters have misled you." + +"You mean----" + +"I mean that they refer to the plot in which your husband and this young +lady are engaged." + +She looked at him searchingly. + +"You are speaking the truth to me. You know this to be so?" + +"On my honour. I am not trying to deceive you. I only ask you to believe +that your original suspicions were incorrect." + +"But you substitute something quite as bad." + +"Well, no--hardly that. In fact it may benefit you greatly." + +"How so?" + +"That I'm not at liberty to tell you just now; I hope I can in a day or +two. Meantime, may I ask you to keep silence about what I've said, and +trust your affairs to me--they shall not suffer in my hands." + +"Have I not trusted you, my friend?" + +"You have indeed, and I've appreciated it; but that you'll understand +better a little later--when I've been able to help you more." + +"You have done all for me; you have saved me, and I can never forget +it." + +"Nonsense, I've done nothing as yet." + +"You have given me your sympathy. Is not that something? You have been a +true friend to me." + +"For old friendship's sake--could I do less?" + +She flushed and said hurriedly. + +"My father will know how to thank you properly. When I see him----" and +she unburdened her heart to the Secretary, who gave her a willing ear. +Together they discussed her plans for the future, her return home, her +welcome; in short, a thousand and one pleasant anticipations, till +Stanley declared, regretfully, that he must go. + +"But you have stood already an hour," she murmured, "surely you will +come in and rest." + +"An hour!" he exclaimed, looking at his watch. "Impossible!" + +"No," she said. "Not impossible, I also have stood." + +He was overcome at his thoughtlessness, but she silenced his excuses by +throwing open the gate and saying: + +"Come." And he entered. + + * * * * * + +Miss Fitzgerald was seated at her ease in a West Indian chair on the +lawn. A white parasol shielded her from the sun, and a novel lay +unopened in her lap. As she leaned back looking up into the earnest +face of a man, with a supercilious smile and a veiled fire in her blue +eyes, she seemed to be at peace with herself and with the world. In +reality, she was enduring the last of three most disagreeable +encounters. + +Her first had been with her aunt, Mrs. Roberts, who, quite justly, +ascribed the occurrences which had interrupted the harmony of her +house-party to the machinations of her niece. + +"I invited you here at your own request," she had said, in a private +interview before breakfast, in the course of which much righteous wrath +was vented. "You assured me that Mr. Stanley was on the point of asking +your hand in marriage, and only needed an opportunity of doing so; which +I was the more willing to give, because I saw the extreme advisability +of such a step. His actions have belied your words, and moreover, have +made you the subject of unpleasant comment in my house, which has +greatly annoyed me. I do not wish to be unkind, but you must understand +that matters, for the rest of the time we are together, must run more +smoothly, or I shall be obliged to suggest your returning to London." + +It is hard enough to endure the faulty criticism of an elderly and +misguided person, when one is in the right; but when one is in the +wrong, and has hanging over one the probability, if not the certainty, +of coming disclosures, which will force threats to become realities, +such a state of things is unbearable, and Miss Fitzgerald partook of +her morning meal feeling that fate had been more than unkind. + +Immediately after breakfast she had been treated to an interview with +the outraged Mr. Lambert, of which a detailed account is unnecessary, +but which resulted in the unpalatable presentation of those obnoxious +criticisms known as "home truths." + +With all her faults, Miss Fitzgerald, like the parson, came of fighting +stock, and, game to the last, she began the dangerous experiment of +burning her boats behind her, by informing her hostess that she should +leave to-morrow afternoon in any event, as it was not her wish to stay +where she was unwelcome. Then, possessed by the spirit that has always +prompted heroic deeds, the determination to do or die, she sought and +found an interview with Mr. Stanley. She boldly opened the attack, by +calling that young gentleman to account for his neglect of the last +twenty-four hours. + +"I've hardly seen so much as your shadow, Jimsy, and I've been nearly +bored to death in consequence. What have you been doing with yourself?" + +"Trying to find out to whom you were married." + +"Ah! Have you succeeded?" + +"Yes, the parson has confirmed your assertions this morning." + +"Did you need his confirmation of my word?" + +Stanley said nothing, and his companion, considering the silence +dangerous, hastened to break it. + +"If I really were to marry you," she asked, "would you desert me as you +did yesterday?" + +"If you treated me as you've treated me these last few days, I should +probably desert you altogether." + +The situation was going from bad to worse, and something must be +effected or the cause was lost. + +"What have I done, Jim?" she asked piteously, taking the bull by the +horns, and allowing her eyes to fill with tears. + +"What have you done?" he said nonchalantly, with a flippancy which, in +the case of women, constituted his most dangerous weapon. "What have you +done? Oh, nothing out of the common, I suppose, only, you see, +unfortunately, we men are cursed with a certain, though defective, +standard of morals; and the amount of--well, prevarication you've +practised over this affair has shattered a number of cherished +illusions." + +"I wish you wouldn't wax so disgustingly moral, Jimsy. It's so easy to +be moral--and it bores me. Of course, I don't like saying what's not so, +any more than you do, but one must be consistent. I promised Kingsland +I'd arrange the match for him, and when that old fool of a parson put +obstacles in the way, and then assumed I was the bride,--I'll give you +my word I never told him so--why, it offered an easy solution of the +difficulty. There was nothing illegal about the marriage. I'm sure I'm +not responsible for every man who makes a fool of himself, and since +I'd undertaken the affair, I was bound, in common decency, to see it +through." + +"Do you consider 'common decency' just the word to apply to the +transaction?" + +"Don't pick up details and phrases in that way, Jimsy. They're +unimportant--but very irritating." + +"Do you think so? Details and phrases go far to make up the sum of life. +Why does Colonel Darcy still remain here?" + +"Why do you still persist in harping upon my friend's name?" + +"Because I loathe him, Belle. If you knew his true character, you'd cut +him the next time you met." + +"Ignorance is the only thing that makes life tolerable." + +"Nonsense." + +"Jim, answer me this question. If I were your wife, would you permit me +to keep up my intimacy with Colonel Darcy?" + +"No." + +"Then I must choose between you two?" + +"Do you love me so little that there can be a question of choice?" + +"You don't understand. It's easy for you to say, 'Throw him over'; the +reality is a very different matter. He's my oldest friend." + +"And I'm the man who has asked you to share his name and his honour. If +I could prove to you that Darcy was unworthy--would you give him up, for +my sake?" + +"Can you prove this?" + +"I'm not at liberty to say." + +She smiled faintly, and thought hard. She had learned in that last +speech what she most wanted to know--the measure of the Secretary's +knowledge. + +"Well?" he said, interrogatively. + +"I don't know how to answer," she replied. "My intuition says no; my +heart says--yes." + +The Secretary turned cold, as a new phase of the situation presented +itself to his view. + +"Do you love this man?" he asked. + +"Love Darcy--love him!" she cried. "I hate him more than any man in the +world, and yet----" + +"You're in his power?" + +"No!" + +"Then accept me." + +"Jim," she said earnestly, "you're asking me to decide my whole life. +Give me twenty-four hours to think it over." + +"Haven't you had sufficient time?" + +"To-morrow you shall have your answer." + +"Much may happen before to-morrow." + +"But you'll grant me this respite. I promise that to-morrow I'll +say--yes or no." + +"To-morrow I too may be able to speak more clearly; till then, promise +me you'll not see this man." + +"Can't you trust me, Jim? I trust you, and how little a woman can know +of a man's life." + +"I don't know," he said, and left her discomfited--praying to Heaven +that some power might intervene to reconcile her heart and conscience; +for this wild, wayward and desperate woman had a conscience, and so far +it had withheld her from committing an unpardonable sin. + +After lunch, as fate willed it, the Irish girl and the Dowager were left +a moment alone together. Being both inflammable substances, sparks flew, +and a conflagration ensued. + +The credit of starting the combustion must be accorded to the +Marchioness. She had observed the young lady's earnest conversation with +Stanley on the lawn in the morning, and coupling this with the +undemonstrative behaviour of that gentleman towards her daughter, had +jumped to the conclusion that Miss Fitzgerald was trying to rob her of +her rightful prize. Being possessed of this belief, and the +circumstances being exaggerated from much thinking, her wrath found +expression in the offender's presence, and she gratuitously insulted the +Irish girl; a dangerous thing to do, as she presently discovered. + +"How are you to-day?" asked the Dowager with irritating condescension. + +"Excessively trivial, thank you. An English Sunday is so serious, one +has to be trivial in self-defence." + +"It is different in your country, then?" + +"Rather." + +"You seemed nervous and absorbed, at lunch." + +"No. Simply absorbed with my luncheon. I find that eating is really +important in England. It takes one's mind off the climate." + +"I'm leaving to-morrow," continued Miss Fitzgerald, for the purpose of +breaking an awkward silence, which had already lasted several minutes. + +"I think it's the wisest thing you can do," replied the Dowager. + +Such provocation could not pass unnoticed. + +"Why?" queried her companion, outwardly calm, but with a dangerous gleam +in her eye. + +"Because if you were not leaving the house at once, I should feel it my +duty to take Lady Isabelle away--with young girls one must be careful." + +"Explain yourself, Lady Port Arthur." + +"I do not think it necessary, really; do you? Of course I can quite +understand that it's most advisable, perhaps necessary, for you to +marry; but common decency would prevent you from thrusting your +attentions on a man who----" + +"If you're alluding to Mr. Stanley, your Ladyship, I don't mind telling +you, if it'll make you feel easier, that I've about decided to refuse +him." + +"What!" + +"He proposed to me some days ago, but, as you say, one has to be +careful." + +"Impossible!" + +"As for marrying," continued her adversary, relentlessly, determined, +since Lady Isabelle's marriage must be known, to have the satisfaction +of imparting the news herself--"as for marrying--you're hardly qualified +to speak on that subject, if you will pardon my saying so, as you don't +even know the name of your daughter's husband." + +The Dowager gasped. She had no words to express her feelings. + +"You needn't get so agitated, for I shall probably leave you Mr. Stanley +to fall back upon, if this present marriage proves _illegal_. Lady +Isabelle would be provided with _some_ husband in any case." + +The Dowager gripped the handle of her sunshade until it seemed as if it +must snap, and turned purple in the face. + +"Don't tell me I lie," pursued her tormentor, "it's not good form, and +besides, if you want confirmation, look in Mr. Lambert's register at the +chapel next door, where your daughter was married two days ago." + +"Insolence!!!" gasped the Dowager. + +"I ought to know," continued Miss Fitzgerald, calmly, "as I was one of +the witnesses--you----" but she never finished her sentence, for the +Dowager had hoisted her sunshade and got under way for the church door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE TOP OF THE TOWER + + +After his disquieting interview with Miss Fitzgerald, Stanley felt the +imperative need of an entire change of subject to steady his mind. This +want, the secret of the old tower supplied. + +No time could have been better suited for his investigations. Lunch was +well over, the members of the house party were in their various rooms +for an hour at least. + +A few moments spent in measuring on the first floor in the great hall, +and the library, which ran parallel to it, proved the correctness of his +theory, that the space enclosed was smaller at the bottom than at the +top, as only six feet was unaccounted for. Evidently on this floor the +tower contained merely a staircase. + +He now carried his investigations to the second storey. The room over +the library had been assigned to Kent-Lauriston, and as the Secretary's +knock elicited no answer, he took the liberty of entering, finding, as +he supposed, that his friend had gone out. The inside measurements of +this room gave only ten feet, where they should have given twenty-five, +and brought up at a large fireplace, which had no existence in the +apartment below, and which was apparently much deeper than was really +the case. Around and behind this there was a secret chamber of +considerable dimensions, but half an hour's experiments brought the +Secretary no nearer effecting an entrance. The old blue glazed tiles of +the fireplace, and the bricks which composed its floor, were alike +immovable. There was only the roof left; if he failed there, he must +resign himself to the inevitable, and bend all his energies on trying to +open the secret door. + +At the risk of being thought prying and meddlesome, Stanley now +proceeded to search for some mode of ascent to the leads, and after many +mistakes and much wandering, he discovered at last a worm-eaten ladder. +This he climbed, at great bodily risk, and forcing a rusty scuttle, +emerged at last, safe and unperceived, on top of the house, amidst a +wilderness of peaks and undulations, which attested more to the +ingenuity of mediæval builders, than gave promise of comfort to him who +attempted to traverse it. At last, however, by dint of much scrambling, +and several hair-breadth escapes from an undignified descent to the +lawn, he reached the point at which the tower sprang from the roof. It +rose sheer above him for almost forty feet, unbroken by any window or +excrescence, and thinly covered by ivy which, while it was too scattered +to conceal any outlet, at the same time afforded no foothold for ascent. + +It was dreadfully tantalising. Once on those crumbling battlements, he +persuaded himself he should have no trouble in entering through the +roof. The missing letter was then within reach, and the young man saw +the road to rapid promotion stretch glitteringly before him; saw that +Darcy would be in his power, with all that it implied; but saw that +forty feet of frowning masonry, which separated him from his hopes, and +cursed his luck. + +A ladder would solve the problem--but for numerous reasons it was a +solution not to be thought of. Above all things, he wished his +investigations to be absolutely unsuspected. If Darcy for an instant +imagined that the truth was known, he would be off like a flash. If the +Secretary was to conquer the secret of the tower, he must do it unaided, +and he was about to turn back and descend, baffled by the hopelessly +smooth surface of the structure, when his eye caught sight of a small +iron ring in the side of the tower, about two feet above the roof of the +house. Examining closely, he saw a second ring two feet above the first, +and others at like distances up, presumably to the top, though the ivy +had in some cases concealed them. His first conjecture was that at some +time there might have been a rope ladder arranged; but that would have +called for pairs of rings at the same level, and the closest scrutiny +failed to reveal more than one. + +Perhaps, thought Stanley, it might be possible to rig some sort of a +contrivance of rope to these, by means of which he might ascend; but it +was difficult to procure the necessary material, and still more +difficult to attach it to the tower without attracting observation. He +caught hold of the ring and gave it a good jerk towards him to be sure +it was firmly enough embedded to be of some service, when, to his utter +astonishment, not the staple, but the block of stone to which it was +attached, pulled out about six inches. Here was an unexpected +_dénouement_. If the masonry was as rotten as all this, it was high +time, for the safety of the house, that it was pulled down. A moment's +examination, however, assured him that the tower was as solid as a rock. +Why then should this one stone be loose, and why could he pull it no +farther? He pushed it in again and pulled once more with all his +strength, but it came only the six inches, and then remained immovable. +He bent down and examined it closely. Then, as he perceived there was no +trace of mortar on its edges, he gave a shout of exultation, and seizing +the second ring, drew it towards him with a similar result. The stone to +which it was attached pulled slightly out. Unwittingly, he had stumbled +on to one secret of the tower. These stones formed nothing more or less +than a concealed staircase; perilous indeed, but quite possible of +ascent. Springing up on the first and second stones, he found they bore +his weight, and he was thus enabled not only to steady himself by the +rings above, but to pull them out in like manner. Having tested three or +four and pulled out six, he descended again to the roof, and returned +to his room to provide himself with certain necessaries for the trip, +among which were a small bicycle lamp and a match-box. He took off his +coat and waistcoat, and also his shoes, and set about making the attempt +in a more practical manner. For at least half the way up he would be +screened from view by the roofs, and for the remainder he must take his +chance of not being seen. Drawing a long breath, and placing his foot +firmly on the first stone, he commenced the ascent. For ten or fifteen +feet it seemed an easy matter, but as he cleared the intercepting roof +peaks, and the view opened out, he fully realised his perilous position, +and a gust of wind which swayed him on his airy perch made him feel all +the more insecure. Sternly resisting the temptation to look down, and +the no less dangerous desire to hasten his ascent, he kept his face +resolutely turned to the wall, and testing carefully each ring before +trusting himself to it, climbed slowly up and up. The way seemed +endless, and when but six feet remained, two sparrows, with a whir and +rush of wings, flew angrily round his head, at what they regarded as an +invasion of their nest, and almost caused him to lose his hold in an +attempt to drive them away. And now the battlements were just over him, +projecting awkwardly from the face of the wall, and proving much higher +than he had at first supposed. But he noticed, with relief, that +directly in the line of his ascent were a pair of projecting iron +stanchions not visible from below, but evidently intended to be used in +pulling oneself up and over the battlements; a supposition borne out by +the fact that they were placed each side of a break in the stonework, +which was ornamented with a lip or step of smooth stone, evidently +intended to afford an entrance to the roof of the tower. This lip had a +slight slant upwards, and might perhaps have served a double purpose as +a drain or broad spout. + +Fortunately Stanley's caution had not entirely deserted him, and he had +the good sense to reach up and test one of the stanchions before +trusting himself to it. It was well that he did so, for its fastenings +proved to be rotten with age, and the bolt giving way, it tore out in +his grasp, and flying from his hand fell with a loud clank on the roof, +forty feet below. The Secretary swayed out from the tower with the force +of the shock, and had not the topmost iron, to which he clung, held +firm, this narrative would have come to a sudden and a tragic ending. + +Having recovered his equipoise, he found himself face to face with a +serious if not an insurmountable obstacle. The natural entrance to the +roof was denied him; for even if the other stanchion held firm, he had +no mind to trust his entire weight to it, and without its mate it was of +little use for lifting himself up. Besides which, the lip or step, +which, by its slant towards him, would, with the aid of the stanchions, +have made access easy without them, rendered it, by reason of its angle, +the more difficult. The only practical way seemed to lean far to one +side, and seizing the rough stones of the battlement which projected +over his head, swing himself up and through one of the embrasures. The +last step would bring him breast high with them, but as they projected +nearly a foot beyond the face of the tower, he must bend his body +outward, and trust to them alone for support. If the stones of the +battlements were strong, his athletic training gave him no reason to +suppose that he would have any trouble in accomplishing the feat. Youth, +moreover, is apt to be venturous, and an aerial perch, eighty feet from +the ground, is not just the place one would choose for lengthy +consideration. + +Therefore, after reaching up and testing the masonry, as thoroughly as +he was able, he flung caution to the winds, a full assemblage of which +were whistling around him, and, making a desperate effort, clutched the +stones above him, and swung his body up and one leg over the +battlements. + +He was secure after all. Then, looking within, he received one of the +worst shocks which the events of his life had ever afforded him. There +was no roof in existence; at least, none where he had expected to find +it. He discovered that he was seated astride the rim of a circular well, +forty feet deep, whose bottom was the roof of the house. In other words, +the whole tower above the second story was a shell--a sham. A few +moments' observation was sufficient to assure him that there never had +been a roof at a higher level. An iron bar corroded with rust, round +which was wound a chain, stretched across the diameter of the well, and +had evidently furnished at one time support for a flag-staff, to further +keep up to the outside world the deception of a roof; but otherwise the +inside was perfectly smooth, even the holes where the steps were pulled +out not showing, which bore evidence to the fact that they worked in the +thickness of the wall. + +Down at the level of the roof two or three little beams of light marked +the location of certain gargoyles or antique water-spouts, which Stanley +had noticed on the outside, and marvelled that they should have been +placed in the middle instead of the top of the tower. These explained +the absence of water in the well. + +Looking down, as his eyes became accustomed to the gloom, he was able to +see something of the nature of the roof, which must enclose the secret +chamber. It was covered with dust and debris, but he was positive he +could distinguish certain little bumps or lumps, which he shrewdly +guessed to be thick diamond panes of glass, set in lead, and which, as +he conjectured, furnished light to the room beneath. Entrance to this +apartment seemed totally lacking from the roof, or else concealed by the +dust of centuries. No staircase could he discover on the inside of the +well, and he was about to relegate it to the limbo of unfathomable +mystery, when a startling discovery gave him the key to the whole +matter. It was, he saw, manifestly impossible to go down inside without +falling, after which, if not killed by the shock, he would be left to +starve at his leisure, while his friends searched the country-side for +him. But if to descend within was impossible, to descend without +presented almost as many difficulties. To go over the battlements as he +had come, was well-nigh hopeless; but if he could walk along their inner +rim for a foot or two, round the next embrasure, to the natural slanting +entrance which was directly over the first step, the descent would be, +comparatively speaking, easy. To rise from his present posture and +assume a standing position on the twelve-inch rim of a structure eighty +feet in the air requires a steady head, and though the Secretary was +possessed of this, he did not at all relish the undertaking. It had to +be done, however; but after his previous experience he determined to +take no more risks, and reaching out from his position of vantage, he +tested carefully every step of the way. At last only the slanting step +remained. Reaching far over he touched it with his hand, when, to his +horror, it practically revolved, now pointing down into the interior of +the tower, its outward end pointing up. He shuddered when he saw the +fate which the fortunate accident to the stanchion had caused him to +escape. Had he descended in the regular way and stepped upon the +slanting plate, the instant his foot passed its centre of equilibrium, +it would have revolved, and without a doubt flung him down into the +interior of the well. It was a cursed, mediæval trick, a fitting +accompaniment to the inquisitorial horrors of those ages--an English +_oubliette_. If the fall did not finish the daring invader of the +tower--the inhabitants of the secret chamber doubtless had means to +insure his end, or perhaps he was merely left to starve. + +Touching the plate once more he pushed it back to its original position, +and found that it remained stationary. As long as he kept on the outward +side he was safe, and if the Secretary observed this rule he could +easily avail himself of the plate to descend by, for the perpetrators of +the villainous arrangement had evidently not thought it necessary to +make it entirely revolve, as one who had once gone up the tower was +never expected to come down the outside again. And now, with great +caution, he wormed his way to the treacherous step, and with still +greater care placed his foot on its outer edge; it held firm, and he +ventured to plant both his feet upon it. But, alas! he has forgotten how +slippery a flag of slate, polished by two hundred years' exposure to the +elements, may become. His feet slipped from under him, and in striving +to save himself he overbalanced the stone. Instantly it revolved, and a +second later he found himself suspended over the well, with only the +strength of a despairing grasp on the edges of the slate between him and +eternity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE SECRET OF THE DOOR + + +Miss Fitzgerald's disclosures to the Marchioness, as it turned out, +rather helped than hindered those principally concerned, for Mr. Lambert +met her Ladyship at the church, and his explanations took the keen edge +off the wrath which she vented on her daughter a little later, and in +the midst of which Lieutenant Kingsland arrived, with ample assurances +of worldly prosperity, which overcame her strongest objections, and went +far to reconcile her to the inevitable. Her disappointment, however, was +keen, and her temper suffered in consequence, so that dinner, at which +the Secretary's unaccountable absence formed the chief topic of +conversation, was distinctly not a success, and the ladies retired +early, leaving the gentlemen to their own devices. + +Miss Fitzgerald claimed to join in the general hegira, but her actions +belied her words, for shortly after she was supposed to have gone to her +room, her figure, its white dinner dress concealed by a long grey cloak, +might have been seen gliding across the lawn in the direction of the +inn. + +The night was pregnant with great events, though outwardly calm and +beautiful, and the great hall in which Mr. Riddle, Kent-Lauriston, and +the Lieutenant stood smoking, after having been dismissed from the +drawing-room, was flooded with moonlight. + +"I say," remarked Kingsland irrelevantly, after a long interval broken +only by the conscientious puffing of cigarettes, "how that mediæval +prize puzzle shows up in the moonlight." + +"The secret door?" asked Kent-Lauriston. "Yes, it does. I heard the +butler making his plaint about it yesterday. It appears it's no joke to +keep those nails polished." + +"I shouldn't think it would be, and I dare say the bulk of the servants +wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. I wonder what's behind it, +anyway." + +Nobody said anything. + +"I wonder if Darcy'll ever get his letter?" asked Kent-Lauriston, +glancing at Mr. Riddle. "Anyway, it's as safe behind that portal as if +it was in the Bank of England. Safer, in fact, for he can't get it out +if he wants to." + +"I don't think there's much chance of anyone's opening it," said Mr. +Riddle. "Cleverer men than Colonel Darcy have tried to solve that +problem in the last two centuries, and failed. I imagine, however, if it +ever does come to be opened, that a certain theory will be proved +correct." + +"What is it?" asked Kingsland. + +"That the prophecy tells only half the story. To press the nails they +must be flexible, but they're firm and immovable." + +"Well?" + +"Well, it's evident that there is some catch or spring to be worked +first." + +"How do you make that out?" + +"These five nails we hear so much about are really the key to the lock, +but until the movable impediments--or, to give them their technical +name, the 'tumblers'--are so arranged as to release the key, the lock +cannot be opened." + +"It's a rum sort of key, with no keyhole," said Kingsland. + +"The key to open this lock is a mental one, rather than one of steel and +iron. In other words, a puzzle lock like this always has certain movable +parts, the movement of which constitutes the enigma." + +"Ever heard of any locks like this one?" + +"Not exactly, but the Russians, Hindoos and the Chinese have their +puzzle locks in the shape of birds or animals, and they're locked or +unlocked by pressing certain parts of their bodies. You can depend on +it, some spring must be worked first, which relieves the nails from +their tension and permits one to work the combination." + +"But no such catch or spring is visible." + +"Of course not. It would be the most carefully concealed of all the +mechanism; but some lucky fellow will stumble on it eventually, and if +he has presence of mind enough to press the nails also-- Presto! your +door will fly open." + +"And what will he find?" asked Kent-Lauriston. + +"From present appearances," replied Mr. Riddle, "a little pile of dust, +which some centuries before was a letter----" + +"I shouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a mouldering skeleton +in chains," said Kingsland. + +"Or a complicated astrological machine, such as one hears about in +Bulwer's grewsome ghost story," added Kent-Lauriston. + +"The inhabitants of this house are too unfeignedly easy-going and +comfortable to admit of such a supposition," replied Kingsland, and +turning to Kent-Lauriston, added: "What do you think is inside the +Tower?" + +"I don't know, and if I did, I shouldn't tell anyone." + +"Why not?" + +"Because if its contents are so unpleasant, that they had to shut it up +for ever, it certainly wouldn't prove a fit subject for conversation." + +"Well, anyhow," said the Lieutenant, "I trust the discoverer will be a +short man, or he'll hit his head a nasty crack, when he tries to go in." + +"Wrong again," said Mr. Riddle. "I think you'll admit that I'm medium +height for a man; but if I stood with my back to the door, my head +wouldn't hit the top of the arch." + +"Nonsense. Let's see." + +Riddle took up the position indicated, facing them. + +"You're right!" ejaculated the young officer. + +"I'm amazed! I supposed it was much lower. What do you measure?" + +"Five feet eight inches. But it is the extreme width of the portal which +makes it deceptive; it lowers it. I think, if I stretched out my arms, +straight from the shoulder, I should no more than touch the +side--see----" and he made a great cross of himself, against the black +oak. + +"What are you fumbling at?" asked Kingsland sharply. + +"My fingers hardly touch--it's a stretch. Ah! now they do." + +"You look ghastly in the moonlight; put your arms down and come away." + +"I'm very comfortable here, barring my back; those silver nails are +rather sharp," and he put his hands behind him. + +"Come away," said Kingsland, nervously, seeing something in his face he +did not like. "You look as if you'd been walled up a few months ago, by +some inquisition, and we'd just unearthed you in your niche." + +"By heavens! some of these nails are loose!" cried Riddle. + +"Nonsense!" retorted Kingsland. "You've thought so much about it, you'd +imagine anything. They're as firm as--well, nails. I tried them myself. +That door won't be opened in our lifetime, unless----" but the +Lieutenant never finished his sentence, for he had paused suddenly, in +open-mouthed astonishment. Without warning, and without a sound, the +portal, closed for centuries, swung slowly inward, carrying Riddle with +it; who, catching in vain at the sides of the door in an attempt to save +himself, fell heavily backwards down three steps into the secret +chamber. + +Seeing that he did not immediately rise, but turned over partially on +his side, Kingsland recollecting himself, sprang forward to his aid, +crying: + +"Have you hurt yourself?" + +"No, no," he replied, waving him off, and slowly rising from the floor, +covered with dust. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. "How did you ever do it?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure," replied Riddle, emerging from the portal, and +vigorously brushing himself. "As I told you, the nails, or some of them, +felt loose--I pushed them, and the next thing I knew the door revolved +and I was on the floor." + +"You're a genius!" exclaimed Kingsland. "But," peering down into the +darkness of the tower, "where's Darcy's letter?" + +"We need a little light on the subject," said Mr. Riddle. Stepping to +the fireplace, he lighted an old wrought-iron sconce, full of candles, +which stood on the broad mantelshelf, and approached the secret door. + +In the light of the candles, all could see that, except for the little +space into which he had fallen, the whole interior of the tower was +filled by a narrow stone staircase, which, in its ascent, half turned +upon itself. Of the missing document, however, there was not a trace. +The stillness in the great hall was oppressive. Even their own footsteps +on the stones seemed, to the hearers, preternaturally loud. + +Mr. Riddle raised the sconce above his head, and there burst on a sudden +a shimmering flash of a thousand prismatic colours from the head of the +staircase. He fell back a step, as did the others, and Kingsland +murmured in awe-struck tones:-- + +"What's that?" + +Riddle again raised the sconce, and again the burst of light from the +head of the stairs overwhelmed him, but this time he stood his ground. + +"What is it?" asked Kent-Lauriston. + +"I don't know." + +"Let us examine." + +"As far as I can make out, it's a flexible curtain of chain mail--hung +across the staircase." + +"I swear it moved," said the Lieutenant. + +"No, it was the light which moved," replied the discoverer. "You see," +and he swayed the sconce from side to side, making the curtain appear to +be moving silently. + +"If I take the light away," he continued, "there's nothing to be seen;" +and he removed the sconce, leaving only the black mass of the steel +curtain visible. + +"Nothing to be seen--isn't there? Look there!" whispered Kingsland, and, +following the direction of his eyes, the others saw a broad band of +blood-red light steal out of the blackness, across the steps at the +head of the staircase. + +"That room has been closed for centuries, and yet there is a light +burning," he continued hoarsely. "Shut the door, my dear fellow, and +let's get away." + +"It merely confirms another theory of mine," said Riddle, "which is, +that, as there are no windows on the outside of the tower, they must +have got their light and ventilation from the roof. I think it's fair to +suppose that they used red glass, and that the full moon is shining +through it." + +"Then you can go and prove it if you like, but if you take my advice, +you'd better leave it alone." + +"I don't like, my dear Kingsland, though I'm going, just the same. I +daresay I shall find something very nasty at the head of the stairs, but +it won't be supernatural. If I want you, I'll call you. If not, wait +till I come back." Putting down the sconce, he slipped off his dress +coat, and crossing the hall, picked up a stout hunting crop, the +property of the Lieutenant, while his two companions stood staring at +the blood-red band of light which lay across the steps, and which seemed +to their excited imagination to grow broader and deeper. + +"What do you think he'll find up there?" asked Kingsland. + +Kent-Lauriston shrugged his shoulders. + +"I don't wish to think," he replied. "But I'm certain that, to this very +day, there lie hidden away in some of our old country houses the +ghastliest secrets of mediæval times, the fruit of crimes and passions, +of which, happily, even the names have perished." + +"What's that?" said the young officer, laying his hand on his +companion's arm, and in the silence both distinctly heard the click of a +latch, and facing round at the same moment, confronted the white face of +Colonel Darcy, framed in the hall door. + +In an instant he was at their side, drawing a quick hissing breath and +exclaiming:-- + +"It's open. Where's my letter?" + +"There is no letter," said Kingsland gruffly. "But you gave us a jolly +good start, creeping in. This ghost business sets one's nerves all on +edge." + +"Who opened the door?" + +"I did," said Mr. Riddle, coming up just at that moment. + +"Ah! Then you have my letter." + +"No, I haven't seen a trace of it. It may be up aloft." + +"I believe there's some living object up aloft," said Kingsland. "If you +take my advice, you'll shut the door, and leave it and the letter in +perpetual seclusion." + +"I don't care whether it's a man or a devil!" cried Darcy, who, whatever +else may be said of him, did not know the meaning of fear. And as he +spoke, he set one foot upon the lower step. + +"Hold on!" cried Kent-Lauriston. "There's something up there, and, +what's more, it's coming down." And as he spoke, a sound was heard in +the long closed chamber, and as the listeners held their breath, +something slowly approached the steel curtain, which swung out +noiselessly as if waving in a ghostly wind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +WITHIN THE TOWER + + +Stanley's first thought as he hung suspended over the gulf, when the +plate had so treacherously revolved, was of self-preservation. And, +indeed, he had need to think, for it seemed highly probable that within +the next few minutes he might be dashed to pieces on the floor of the +secret chamber, forty feet below. To pull himself up over that slippery +stone was, he found, a sheer impossibility. To let go of his precarious +hold and drop to the bottom of the well was certain death. Yet the sharp +edges of the plate were already cutting into his hands, and it could +only be a matter of a few moments when his arms would refuse to support +any longer the weight of his body. Evidently he must find some means of +escape from these two alternatives, and that right speedily, or for him +the end of all things would be at hand. Below him the wall stretched +smooth as glass. No vine grew upon it to which he might cling, no +crevice in which he might put his foot. He cast his eye round in a wild +search for some possible means of salvation, and, as he did so, he saw +one infinitesimal chance of escape. So slight was it, that no one, in +less desperate straits, would have dared to take the risk, but he had no +choice. + +He had noticed, when taking his precarious walk along the edge of the +battlements, that an old rusty iron chain was loosely twisted round the +bar which stretched across the diameter of the well, about on a level +with where he hung suspended. It might be possible, springing into the +air, to catch the end of this chain, which terminated in a ring. He had +done that sort of thing more than once in gymnasiums, though under very +much more favourable conditions. Even if he succeeded in catching the +ring in his flight, he might only find himself in a worse position. The +chain might refuse to unwind from the bar, or the whole contrivance, +rusted by years of exposure, might snap under his weight. But even if +this were so, he reflected, he could but drop to the bottom of the well, +which he was bound to do in any event, if he stayed where he was, while +every foot that the chain unrolled before breaking was twelve inches +less for him to fall. Evidently there was not an instant to lose, for +his fingers were already getting stiff and numb with the tension they +were undergoing. So, setting his teeth, he sprang into the air, on this +last desperate venture. For one horrid second he felt the ring which his +fingers touched, slipping through his grasp. Then with one supreme +effort, he crooked his hand through it, and swung suspended by one arm. +A moment later, he had brought his other hand to his aid. But scarcely +had he steadied himself, when the bar, round which the chain was wound, +and which evidently worked in a socket, began to revolve. It was rusty +and out of gear, and as it let him down, it gave him the most frightful +series of jerks, which seemed to dislocate every bone in his body. It +would let out three or four feet of chain at lightning speed, and then, +catching in its rusty gearings, would stop with a racking jerk, +remaining still perhaps a whole minute, before it moved on again, to +repeat the operation. Moreover, as he got farther and farther down the +well, and there was a greater length of chain above him, it began to +oscillate frightfully, twirling him round in one direction till his head +swam, and then reversing the operation. All tortures must come to an +end, however, and when he was ten feet from the bottom of the well, a +corroded link snapped, and he dropped the remaining distance like a log, +bringing down thirty feet of iron chain on top of him. + +The blow which he received rendered him instantly unconscious, and it +was hours later before he came to himself. His first knowledge of the +world and things in general was a realisation that in some mysterious +way the entire firmament was divided in half by a black band, and it was +only as his brain became a little clearer that he realised that he was +lying on his back looking up at the rim of the well. He sat up, and +examined himself critically. He had evidently cut his head slightly, for +it was still bleeding. Moreover, he was black and blue from head to +foot, but he was rejoiced to find, after a careful examination, that no +bones were broken, nor had he even suffered a sprain, and in a few +moments he was able to stand upright. + +His position, however, was none the less precarious. The breaking of the +chain had ended for ever any chance of his ascending the tower, and he +must either effect an entrance through the roof or depend on the very +uncertain chance of attracting notice from without, to escape +starvation. + +Lying face down on the floor of the roof, he tried to look out of the +little holes in the mouths of the gargoyles, but could see nothing, and +from the appearance of the sky over his head, he judged that it must be +growing dark. This reminded him of his bicycle lamp, which a hasty +examination proved to be intact, and feeling that he would at least have +light for his investigations, was a great source of comfort to him. + +His next procedure was to examine the roof. Here, fate once more +befriended him, for he very quickly found a trap-door and, moreover, was +able to lift it. Looking down he could see nothing but utter darkness. +However, this did not deter him, and he hastily made his arrangements +for further investigation, first taking the precaution to light a match +and drop it into the opening. It fell, about ten or twelve feet, +evidently striking the floor and burning there a minute or two before it +went out. It revealed nothing but surrounding darkness, but it apprised +him of the fact he was most desirous to know, that the atmosphere was +not mephitical. He determined, nevertheless, to take his time about +descending, and left the trap-door wide open, so that as much fresh air +might get in as possible. + +In the interval he amused himself by taking off one of his socks and +unravelling it as best he could. Weaving a cord with the thread thus +obtained, he lowered his bicycle lantern, which he had lighted, into the +room below, swinging it gently back and forwards. Its glancing rays told +him that the apartment was entirely bare and deserted, and showed him +also a narrow wooden ladder, black with age, leading up to the trap-door +above which he stood. Drawing up the light, he took it in his hand, and +being cautious after his recent experience, reached down and tested each +round of the ladder most carefully. To his surprise it held his weight, +and a moment later he was on the floor of the secret chamber. + +The apartment had no secrets to reveal. It was absolutely bare, and +empty of anything except a broken old sconce lying in a corner. The +whole room, however, was indescribably dusty and musty, and he was very +thankful to push aside a curtain of chain mail and descend the +staircase. + +At its foot he saw lying the coveted papers. Forgetful of everything +else, he sat down upon the lowest step, and by the light of his lantern +proceeded to examine them. They more than fulfilled his utmost +expectations. There was a complete cipher and its key, a full list of +the members of the cabinet who were to pass upon the treaty, with +comments on each, and a memorandum of the amounts to be given to certain +of them, coupled with suggestions as to the attitude which Darcy should +take towards others, together with precise instructions as to the +carrying out of the plot; the whole signed by Riddle in the interests of +the firm. The evidence was complete, and Stanley gasped as he realised +the advantage of this tremendous stroke of luck. One fact which his +perusal had elicited caused him to draw a long sigh of relief. Miss +Fitzgerald's name was not mentioned in the incriminating document, and +so much did he wish to believe her innocent, that in spite of all +accumulated evidence, he felt a sense of exultation that he could still, +if worst came to worst, shield her from the effects of her own folly. He +told himself that he might, after all, prove to the satisfaction of his +own conscience that she was innocent of criminal intent. Darcy he would +have no mercy for. He must be punished for his crime, and the fact of +his being the criminal would give Inez her freedom, and then---- Ah! but +if Belle Fitzgerald was innocent--was he not in honour bound to _her_? +And at that moment he realised that he had mistaken pity for love, that +Darcy possessed the woman in the world most worth having, and that he +was unworthy of her. + +His meditations were interrupted by the sound of voices near him. +Somebody laid a hand on the other side of the door. They were tampering +with it again, and, for more reasons than one, he wanted the fact of +his having gained entrance to the tower to remain a secret. Putting the +letter in his inside pocket, he softly retraced his steps to the upper +chamber. + +To his consternation, he had scarcely reached there when the door below +was opened. How this had been effected, he did not know. He had been so +interested in the documents, that he had had no time to examine the +mechanism of the portal. At first he heard only the voices of Riddle and +Kingsland. Fearing that the conspirators only were present, and that, +being three to one, he might be overpowered, and his precious evidence +wrested from him, he endeavoured, by the agitation of the steel curtain +and the red light of his lamp, to contrive such ghostly illusions, as +should serve to deter them from investigating the upper portions of the +tower. It can be imagined therefore what a welcome relief +Kent-Lauriston's tones were to him, and the instant he knew that his +friend was below, he felt perfectly safe from an attack by force. He +therefore lost no time in descending, his footsteps producing, as we +have seen, a most startling effect on those below. + +Kent-Lauriston was the first to recognise him, and seeing at a glance +that his clothes were torn and spotted with blood, he sprang forward to +assist his friend and helped him into the hall. + +"Where's my letter, you thief?" cried Darcy. + +"You've come too late," replied the Secretary, recovering himself. +"You've come too late. The treaty will go through." + +Darcy growled an oath as the measure of the Secretary's knowledge became +known to him. + +"I know who's put you on to it," he cried. "It's that cursed Irish----!" + +"Go!" cried Stanley, in a burst of wrath at this insult to a woman. "Go, +before I knock you down, and as you value your safety, meet me here at +eleven to-morrow morning. You've held the whip hand long enough. It's my +turn now." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE SHORT WAY OUT + + +"I suppose it's hardly necessary to ask if you found Darcy's letter?" +said Kent-Lauriston to the Secretary, as they were returning to the +house about an hour later from a trip to the telegraph office, whither +Stanley had gone to send a long message in cipher to his Chief. + +"Oh, yes," he said. "I have it in my possession." + +"Does it give you all the information you required?" + +"As a bit of evidence it's overwhelmingly complete--but it gives me some +additional information which is not so pleasant," replied the Secretary, +who had needed no second glance at the document to assure himself that +it was Mr. Riddle's letter and had been once before in his possession. + +"I've no desire to pry into your affairs, either private or diplomatic, +my dear fellow; but of course I'm able to infer a good deal, and if you +felt inclined to assure me, that this made you master of the situation, +and placed Darcy completely in your power, it would make me feel very +much easier." + +"Then you may be quite easy," returned the Secretary. "I hold all the +trumps. I could have the Colonel arrested to-night, if I chose, and my +evidence is of such a nature that it will practically banish him from +his country and from mine." + +"That's very satisfactory, but let me caution you to go slow. Darcy is a +man of many expedients. I should keep something in reserve, if I were +able." + +"My instructions insist on practically that course of action." + +"I'm very glad to hear it--as you grow older, you'll discover that the +shrewdest policy in the game of life, as in the game of whist, is always +to keep in hand a card of re-entry. And you may take my word for it, +that Darcy is the pivot on which all these little conspiracies revolve. +Hold him, and you can dictate terms to both Kingsland and Miss +Fitzgerald. By the way, have you succeeded in receiving your _congé_ +yet?" + +"I haven't yet received a definite answer." + +"Answer!--haven't you made it clear to her what that answer is to be?" + +"I hope so. In fact, I'm sure she must understand." + +"Then if she doesn't refuse you, you'll be quite justified in refusing +her." + +"I can't be too hard on a woman, Kent-Lauriston." + +"But you cannot marry her." + +"Not if my suspicions are true, and that my conference with the Colonel +to-morrow will prove. Now, don't say any more about it, for I want to +go to bed, and try not to think." + +Stanley slept little that night, and the arrival of an early telegram +from his Minister was a welcome relief. It contained only a brief word +of praise, and the information that John, the messenger, would arrive by +the ten o'clock train with a letter of instructions, pending the receipt +of which he was to take no action. This necessitated an early breakfast, +as the station was some distance away. Before leaving, however, he +sealed up the precious document he had found in the secret chamber, and +entrusted it to his friend's care; begging him, should he not return, +through any foul play of the Colonel's, to see it safely delivered to +his Chief in London. + +As he drove to the train he had plenty to occupy his thoughts. The +letter had been more damaging to the cause of the plotters than he could +have hoped. There was sufficient evidence to make out a complete case, +and only the intended forbearance of the government could shield the +Colonel from well-merited disgrace and condign punishment. In this +forbearance Stanley saw, so to speak, his card of re-entry: but he did +not see that fate was going to force him to play it in the first round +of the game. It was true he was here to bring Darcy to justice for +crimes committed against the State, but he must not be judged too +harshly for desiring to take advantage of his position to force the +Colonel to do justice in quarters not political. He had had great +provocation, and the man could be relied on to keep his word only when +the penalty for breaking it was actual rather than moral. + +Filled with these thoughts and impulses, he drew up for a moment on his +way to the station at Madame Darcy's cottage, but before he could get +down from the high dog-cart she came running out to meet him. + +"You have good news," she cried, "I can see it in your face." + +"Yes," he said. "I got down, or rather fell down, inside the old tower +last night, and I have the precious packet in my possession." + +"Ah," she said. "I do not know whether I should be glad or sorry. If it +contains what I suspect, it must mean so much to me in many ways." + +"It is just for that reason that I stopped to see you," he replied. "I +wanted to set your mind at rest." + +"Then it does not contain incriminating evidence?" she asked. + +"On the contrary, it puts everyone connected with the plot completely in +my power." + +"But then----" she began. + +"But then," he continued, taking up her words, "I hope to be able to +save your husband from the fruits of his folly." + +"But is that possible?" + +"I hope so. I shall tell better after I have seen him. We are to have an +interview this morning, and all I can say now is, that you must trust +implicitly in me and believe that everything will come out all right in +the end." + +"I am so selfish that your words make me very happy," said Madame Darcy, +"when my heart should be filled with sorrow at the troubles of my +friend. This discovery must be a sad blow to you." + +"How do you mean?" he said. + +"Why, in regard to Miss Fitzgerald." + +The Secretary bit his lip. + +"It seems impossible," he said tersely, "for us to have a conversation +without introducing her name. Surely by this time you must know----" + +"I only know what you have told me," she replied. + +The Secretary started to say something and then thought better of it, +and contented himself by remarking:-- + +"My eyes have been opened a good deal in the last few days, Inez." + +She reached up and took his hand in hers. + +"My friend," she said, "I understand." + +For a moment there was silence between them, and then pulling himself +together, he explained that he was on his way to an appointment. So he +left her, smiling at him through her tears, for in these few moments +Inez De Costa had found great sorrow and great joy. + + * * * * * + +The station, a small rustic affair, at which few trains stopped, seemed +at first glance to be bare of passengers, and on accosting a porter, +the Secretary was informed that he had yet nearly fifteen minutes to +wait. + +"She's in a siding in the next station now, sir, waiting for the London +express to pass; it goes through here in about five minutes, and as soon +as the line's clear she'll be along." + +Stanley thanked him for his information, and, after spending a minute or +two with the station-master, negotiating for a match, he lighted a +cigarette and emerged on the little platform. To his surprise he found +it tenanted by a solitary figure, and that none other than Mr. Arthur +Riddle. If he had any luggage it must have been in the luggage-room, for +he was without sign of impedimenta, excepting a stout stick. He wore a +long, black travelling cloak, and his white, drawn face and the dark +circles under his eyes gave evidence of either a sleepless night or +great mental anxiety, perhaps of both. He held in his mouth an unlighted +cigar, which he was nervously chewing to pieces. Both men became aware +of each other's presence at the same instant; both unconsciously +hesitated to advance, and then both came forward. Stanley was the first +to speak. + +"I wasn't aware that you were leaving, Mr. Riddle." + +The man looked at him, with the expression of a hunted animal driven to +bay; a fear of something worse than death in his eyes. + +"How could you think I should do otherwise, after your discoveries of +last night?" + +"I think you're making a mistake. But I shan't try to prevent you. I've +no fear of losing you even in London. I could lay hands on you where I +wished." + +"My journey is much farther afield than London." + +"There are extradition laws." + +"Not where I'm going," he said. + +A shrill whistle smote the air, and the porter came hurrying out on the +platform, crying:-- + +"The express, gentlemen, the express! Stand back, please!" + +Stanley noticed that unconsciously they had drawn rather near the edge. + +"Look out!" he said to Mr. Riddle. "The express is coming!" + +"In a moment," replied that gentleman. "I've just dropped my cigar," and +indeed it was lying at his feet. + +"Hurry up, then, the train is on us! You've no time to lose!" + +"I've time enough," he replied, bending deliberately forward. + +Some grim note in his voice awoke the Secretary to his true intentions. +There was only a second's leeway, the iron monster was even then +bursting out of the railway arch at the further end of the platform, +with the roar and rush of tremendous speed. Mr. Riddle was bending far +forward, overreaching his cigar, making no attempt to get it--was---- + +Stanley flung his arms about his adversary's waist, and made a +superhuman effort to drag him back. + +"You meddling fool, let me alone!" shouted the other. + +"No!" panted the Secretary. + +"Then come too!" he cried, and rising up, he threw his arms about him, +and gathered himself to spring on to the rails in front of the train. +All seemed over, the cry of the porter rang in Stanley's ears, the +rattle of the train deafened him, the hot breath of the engine seemed +blowing in his face. Then somehow his foot caught his opponent's, and +the next instant they were falling--to death or life--he could not tell. + +A second later they lay prone on the platform. The express had passed +them, and vanished in a cloud of dust. + +In a moment the porter was assisting them to arise. + +"A narrow escape for Mr. Riddle," said the Secretary to the porter, as +he picked himself up and recovered his hat, which had rolled to one +side. "A very narrow escape from what might have been a nasty accident." + +"_Accident!_" exclaimed the porter, with a sarcasm which spoke louder +than words. + +"I said accident," replied Stanley, slipping a sovereign into the man's +hand, and looking him straight in the eyes. + +"Oh, quite right, sir. _Accident_ it was. Thank ye, sir," and the porter +shuffled off, leaving them alone. + +"I suppose you think you've been very clever," said Mr. Riddle, when +they were by themselves, "but I'll cheat you yet, never fear," and his +hand unconsciously sought a hidden pocket. + +"You need be under no apprehensions," the Secretary replied calmly. "I +shan't interfere to save your life again, or to prevent you from taking +it. I was moved to act as I did solely for the reason that I couldn't +bear to see any man throw away so priceless a possession, owing to a +misapprehension." + +"A misapprehension!" he said, startled. + +"Yes. You were desperate enough to contemplate committing suicide, +because you supposed you would inevitably be disgraced and punished." + +Riddle nodded. + +"Well, supposing that this were not the case?" + +"What do you mean?" he cried, his face lighting up with the return of +hope. + +"I mean that it's in my power to let you go free." + +The man's face fell. + +"But there are conditions," he said. + +"There are no conditions." + +"How about the Company?" + +"It will not be proceeded against, out of a desire to avoid publicity. +Both governments will be informed confidentially of the true state of +affairs, and it will be carefully watched in the future. If the Company +is circumspect, it will be safe. We merely wish to ensure the passage +of the Treaty. That is done already. Of course, considering the hands to +which you have confided it, you will probably lose your Ģ40,000." + +"I should refuse to receive it under the circumstances." + +"So I supposed. I'm expecting a messenger with important instructions +from London, so must await the arrival of the down train. If you'll take +a seat in the dog-cart, I'll join you presently." + +Mr. Riddle bowed, took a few steps in the direction desired, and then +pausing, swung round and faced the Secretary, saying:-- + +"What return can I make you for saving my life?" + +"I've only followed my instructions," he replied. "You owe me nothing. I +admit, though, that my impulse to save you arose strongly from the fact +that I believed you were fitted for better things." + +"I am, Mr. Stanley, I am. Believe me, with this exception, I've lived a +clean life. I was swept into this thing by the force of circumstances, +and in the hope of saving a rotten concern, whose downfall might have +ruined hundreds of innocent persons." + +"I believe you," said the Secretary. "Here comes the train. I shall +expect to find you in the dog-cart." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE DAY OF RECKONING + + +Stanley sat in his room. Before him lay an open letter; below in the +hall, John and the Colonel sat waiting his call. The faithful Legation +messenger being well informed that once Darcy was closeted with his +master, he was to receive the precious letter of evidence from +Kent-Lauriston, and return with all speed to London. + +But first the Secretary wished to read and re-read his Chief's +instructions. It was a clear, concise document, occupying only two +sheets of note-paper. Not a word wasted, yet all necessary information +given, it ran as follows:-- + + "Your satisfactory message received and telegraphed to the + Executive in cipher, without delay. I may inform you that it + is not the intention of the government to prosecute, if the + case presented is sufficiently strong to warrant submission + from the recalcitrant members of the cabinet. I leave it to + your discretion to arrest Darcy. Do not do so if you can + obtain his confession without it. We do not wish to proceed + against the agents, but against the principals. We will do + so, however, if you advise. The points we must prove are as + follows:-- + + "1st. Evidence of the names of members of the cabinet who + are to receive bribes. + + "2d. Evidence of the amounts to be received. + + "3d. Evidence relating to the Company offering the bribes. + + "Send proofs by John, at once, and report to me as soon as + possible. + + "As ever, + "X----" + +On a separate sheet of paper was the following:-- + + "_Private and Confidential._ + + "I have, in the foregoing, written you a letter which you + might show, if necessary, to any of the principals in this + affair, should such a course seem advisable. If you obtain + possession of the money, in round numbers, Ģ40,000, use it + as your discretion suggests. We do not care to handle it + officially. You may find it useful in obtaining evidence. + + "I have also to inform you that your most satisfactory + conduct in this affair will certainly gain you immediate + promotion, though it seems desirable that you should return + home first, and almost at once, in the capacity of witness, + if you are needed. + + "_Entre nous_, I have received a cable from Seņor De Costa, + requesting me to send his daughter, Madame Darcy, home, as + soon as suitable escort can be provided. I have replied, + nominating you for the post, an office which, I imagine, you + will not find irksome. Make this known to Madame Darcy, if + she is still in Sussex, and use your discretion in this + matter as in all other things. Do not act hastily in + anything. You have a great responsibility for one so young, + but I am confident you will discharge it to my satisfaction. + + "Cordially, + "X----" + +Stanley sat idly for a few minutes, fingering the papers before him. He +might seem to be wasting valuable time; as a matter of fact he was very +hard at work. + +Finally he arose, and, with an air of quick decision, as of one who had +made up his mind, he stepped to the opposite wall, and touched the bell. +A moment later there came a heavy step on the stairs, a knock, and +without waiting for an answer, Colonel Darcy entered the room, threw +himself into the most comfortable chair, and scrutinised keenly the +little bundle of papers, which the Secretary was in the act of putting +into an inside pocket. + +Stanley noticed the glance, and replied to the unspoken question, by +saying abruptly:-- + +"It may facilitate matters between us, if I tell you that the evidence +is no longer in my possession. It has been sent to the Legation." + +The Colonel nodded. + +"I should prefer this to be a purely business interview," continued the +young diplomat, "and to that end I will state my case and my conditions, +after which you can make any answers or comments you think best." + +Another nod from his companion was the only answer he received, so he +accordingly proceeded. + +"The Executive of my government received, some time ago, information of +a plot to defeat a treaty, now pending with Great Britain. The subject +of this treaty was an island and sand-bar, lying at the mouth of the +---- river, on which the ---- Company have erected large mills for the +manufacture of a staple product of my country. As long as we held the +island, they secured by government contracts a practical monopoly of the +article in question; by the cession of it to Great Britain their +business would be much impaired. Do I state the case clearly?" + +"I've never heard it put better," replied the Colonel, with a calmness +that was admirable. + +"Very well--we'll now proceed to the next point. The firm considered +that my government's grants were worth to them, the round sum of two +hundred thousand dollars, or forty thousand pounds." + +"In gold, sovereigns," acquiesced Darcy. + +"Yes, I've one of them in my possession." + +The Colonel nodded as usual. He evidently felt it idle to waste words in +the face of such incontrovertible evidence. + +"This amount was to be divided among a majority of the committee, who +would pass on the treaty, thus insuring its defeat. The names of the +members who would receive bribes, and the amount to be given to each, +being arranged beforehand--by you." + +Darcy's face was immovable. + +"I said by _you_." + +"I heard you." + +"You've nothing to say?" + +"The accused," said the Colonel, "is never required to convict himself." + +"You're quite within your rights; we'll let it pass. I make the +statement; you neither affirm or deny it." + +"Go on," said Darcy. + +"You then come to Sussex to receive the funds from Mr. Riddle, the most +important shareholder." + +"You're mistaken. Miss Fitzgerald received the money from Mr. Riddle," +remarked the Colonel. + +"You say nothing of your part in the transaction," commented the +Secretary, sternly. + +"I thought you wanted the truth of the matter." + +"I do--go on." + +"When the Company found, thanks to your conversation with, and +infatuation for, Miss Fitzgerald, that you had in all probability been +set to spy upon us, it was deemed better that I should play a +subordinate part," continued Darcy. "Accordingly she was selected to do +all the dirty work in this country--collect the money and forward it to +London." + +"What part did Kingsland play?" + +"None whatever, except that of carrier. I sounded him some weeks ago, +and found him too loose-tongued for our purposes. It was Belle's scheme +to let him take the treasure to town, and he actually believed the +cock-and-bull story she told him about the stereopticon slides." + +"As soon as you recovered your lost letter of instructions, you intended +to go to London, draw out the forty thousand pounds, embark for my +country, and distribute the bribes," resumed Stanley, "but, +unfortunately for you, your plans are upset entirely. I have in my +possession not only your letter of instructions, but also the name of +the bank in which the money now lies, and where it can be detained at my +orders." + +At this point the Colonel's reserve entirely broke down. + +"You hold all the trumps, damn you!" he cried. "Give me your terms and +conditions." + +"It's not the intention of my government to prosecute the corrupt +members of the cabinet for a variety of reasons, which, even with your +views on the subject of honour, you'll undoubtedly approve." + +Darcy flushed, but said nothing. + +"In the first place," continued the Secretary, "the Executive has no +desire to wash the government's dirty linen in public, and the story is +not so creditable that it should be spread abroad. All that is needed +is to insure the passage of the treaty; and it is thought, and thought +rightly, that a warning to the opposition, if the true facts are known, +and can be proved if necessary, would be quite sufficient to remove +their obstruction. Of course, the more overwhelming the proof, the more +potent the warning; and, while it's not necessary, understand that, I +should prefer your signed confession to round out my case." + +"What do you offer in return?" + +"Immunity from prosecution." + +"Is that all?" + +"_All!_ Colonel Darcy, I'd have you to know that it's left entirely to +my discretion how to proceed against you. I have it in my power to order +your arrest, with a certain term of imprisonment at hard labour." + +"Would my evidence be used publicly?" + +"I think I can assure against that in any case." + +"What assurance have I that your government will play me fair if I turn +state's evidence?" + +Stanley thought a moment, and then handed him the Minister's open +letter. + +The Colonel perused it, nodded quietly, and said:-- + +"It will do. I accept the terms. Damn it, I can't do otherwise! Give me +pen, ink, and paper. What do you want me to write?" + +"In substance what I've said to you." + +"Very well." + +"Kindly leave out all reference, by name, to Lieutenant Kingsland and +Miss Fitzgerald." + +"Ha! I suppose you still think she's an angel." + +"I know she is a woman, Colonel Darcy." + +For some time there was no sound in the room but the scratching of pen +to paper. At length, however, the Colonel raised his head from his work, +and, pushing it towards the Secretary, said laconically:-- + +"Will it do?" + +"Quite," replied Stanley, after perusing it. "Will you sign it, please? +Thanks, I'll witness." + +"There," said the Colonel, rising. "That closes our interview." + +"Not quite yet, Colonel. I've still an advantageous offer to make to +you, in reward for some further concessions of a different character. +The case for the government is closed. Our private affairs yet remain to +be settled." + +"By Gad! You're right there! They do!" + +"There is that little trifle of the forty thousand pounds. Suppose I was +to give you that amount." + +"What!!!" exclaimed his hearer, petrified with astonishment. "You mean +to say that you will give it to me?" + +"Never, Colonel, never! I shall go to the Victoria Street Branch of the +Bank of England in London, say the day after to-morrow, to warn them +about the money. If you draw it out before that time, why, it's my +misfortune. I'll be perfectly frank with you, Colonel Darcy. My +government doesn't want the handling of this coin, its disposal is left +to me. You see it's for everybody's interest to lose this large sum. +When the cabinet knows that the truth has been discovered--they know it +now, by the way--it was cabled in cipher--there's not one of them who +would touch a penny of it. The company can't receive it without giving a +receipt, which might prove damaging evidence; while neither government +can take it without becoming a party to the transaction. I'm willing to +give it to you, if you'll do two things in return. Two disagreeable +things, I admit, to a conscientious man; but they're each worth twenty +thousand pounds." + +"I'd sell my soul for that!" said he with a laugh. + +"My dear Colonel, are you sure you have it to sell?" + +"What are the conditions?" + +"First, that you consent to a divorce from Madame Darcy." + +"Humph! That's a nice thing to ask a man. Moreover, it's not worth +anything. In fact it's a clear loss. My wife's property, of which I have +the use, is worth far more than that." + +"But you don't have the use of it, Colonel." + +"Well, I should have to pay alimony--then." + +"I'll guarantee you against that. Moreover, she'd get her divorce in any +event, and then you'd have nothing." + +"You're quite right. A pretty woman, who knows how to have hysterics, +can get anything in a court of law. My wife's an expert in the latter +accomplishment, and she's good-looking enough to corrupt any jury that +was ever empanelled. I give in, it's no use playing a losing game. Now +for the second." + +"The second is purely confidential." + +"Go on." + +"I'd like to know exactly what you and Miss Fitzgerald expected to +receive for this transaction, and whether these letters," producing the +ones Madame Darcy had given him, "do not relate solely to it?" + +Darcy laughed. + +"You're paying rather a high price for that young lady's character," he +said. + +"A woman's character should be above any price, Colonel Darcy. We seem +to have differing standards of value, which does not, however, alter the +main question of whether you will accede to my conditions." + +"Certainly I will, and permit me to tell you that you're paying more +than either of them is worth." + +"That is for me to decide." + +"Quite so. Now how do you wish me to aid in my wife's divorce?" + +"A statement signed by you, to the effect that you would not contest a +suit for divorce--say on the grounds of incompatibility of temper, +coupled by your promise of non-interference, would be sufficient. As +Madame Darcy is not a Catholic, and her father is a power in his own +country, she would have no trouble, legal or religious, in using such +evidence." + +"Oh, is that all?" said the Colonel, manifestly relieved. "I supposed +you wanted statutory grounds." + +"I wish to save your wife as much pain and annoyance as possible, and it +would be well if you felt the same." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Darcy. "So that's the way the land lies, is it? A very +interesting way for a young man who is in love with one of the women, +and engaged to the other." + +"You'll please attend to business, and not discuss my affairs," broke in +the Secretary, sharply. + +"Quite right, quite right; pardon me--there, it's only a few lines, but +I think it will give my wife her freedom when she requires it," and he +handed him a paper, adding:--"Now let me go." + +"Two things you've forgotten," said Stanley. "Your promise not to appear +against your wife in her suit for divorce----" + +"That's understood!" + +"Do you give it?" + +"Yes. I promise not to appear against my wife in her suit for divorce, +or in any way to impede its progress. Does that satisfy you? You'll find +I'm a man of my word, Mr. Stanley, when I'm as well paid for it, as in +the present case." + +"Now what did you expect to receive from this transaction?" + +"Ten per cent. on the amount distributed--say four thousand pounds." + +"I see. And what did you propose to give to Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"I said I'd share it with her." + +"That is, you'd each have two thousand pounds." + +"Exactly--but she's such a mercenary, avaricious little baggage, she +struck for more; said she had the most dangerous part to perform, and by +Gad! they allotted her three-fourths." + +"Three thousand pounds. Quite a neat little sum." + +"Rather! I was only to receive one thousand pounds." + +"Now about those letters?" + +Darcy looked them over hurriedly, and remarked:-- + +"Purely commercial." + +"So I supposed. But how do you explain that sentence in your letter, in +which you refer to there being a happy future for both of you?" + +The Colonel thrust his hands in his pockets, and looked the Secretary +squarely in the face. + +"See here, Stanley," he said. "I'm not altogether a cad, and I'll be +damned if I explain any more." + +The Secretary flushed, and there was an awkward silence, which he broke +by speaking nervously. + +"That's all, I think," he continued, "except--I suppose you'll have no +trouble in getting the money?" + +Darcy laughed. + +"Give me twenty-four hours," he said. + +The Secretary nodded. + +"Well, I must be going," remarked the Colonel regretfully, as if he was +just bringing to a close a protracted, but delightful, interview. +"You've paid a high price for rather indifferent goods, young man, and +to show you that I'm dealing fair, I'll throw in a bit of advice. Drop +our Irish friend as soon as you know how. Take my word for it, she's a +thoroughly bad lot. I don't care what you're worth, she'd run through it +in five years, and then----" + +"Don't say it!" commanded the Secretary. + +"As you like, it's the truth. The money will be in the Victoria Street +Branch of the Bank of England till day after to-morrow? Yes. Thank you, +Mr. Stanley. Trust you're satisfied. I am. Good day." + +The door closed. He was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE PRICE OF KNOWLEDGE + + +"I can never thank you sufficiently for all you've done, old man," said +Stanley to Kent-Lauriston, as the latter stood beside him, a few moments +later. + +"Which means," said his friend, "that you are going to ask me to do you +another favour." + +"How well you understand human nature," replied the Secretary, smiling +sadly. "Yes, it's quite true; I want you to go to--_her_--you +understand, for me. I meant to go myself, but after what Darcy has told +me, it's impossible." + +"It's infinitely better to leave the affair in my hands. It will be +easier for both of you." + +"I'm sure of it. You once said to me, you may remember, that it required +more skill to break than to make an engagement, and I'm certain that +you'd do this with great tact, and that I should blunder. You'll make it +as easy for her as you can, I know--perhaps she'll save you any +awkwardness by breaking it off herself. From what she said yesterday, I +should think it possible." + +"I trust so." + +"Here are her letters to me--you'll take them back." + +"I will. Do you feel sure of yourself?" + +"You need have no fears on that account. I think Madame Darcy was right +when she told me once that she was certain that I'd never loved." + +"What reason did she give for that statement?" + +"Reason--that's just it, she said I'd reasoned about my love, therefore +it couldn't be real." + +"Madame Darcy is a very clever woman." + +"And a very charming one." + +"I fully agree with you, but of course she has her drawbacks." + +"You think so?" + +"Her present position is, to say the least, equivocal; and as a +divorcée----" + +"Oh, come, Kent-Lauriston, can't you let anyone alone? I never think of +those things in connection with her. She's just Madame Darcy--that's +all. She forms her own environment; one is so completely dominated by +her presence, that other circumstances connected with her don't occur to +one." + +"In other words, you do not reason." + +"Kent-Lauriston!" + +"There, I won't say it--only you admit that so far I've known you better +than you've known yourself.-- Yes?-- Well, do not forget what I once +told you before. You can never love a woman whom you cannot respect, and +no woman who respects herself would permit even a hint of a man's +affections until she was free to receive them. Any such premature +attempt would be fatal to his suit." + +"Thank you," said Stanley, "I won't forget;" and then, with a touch of +his old humour, which the responsibilities of the last few days had +nearly crushed out, he added: "You're not going to try to save me +again?" + +"No, thank you, one experience of that sort has been quite enough," +replied Kent-Lauriston, laughing. + +"Now about this present matter," continued the Secretary. "I don't want +you to think me callous or shallow, because I don't appear all broken +up; it has hit me very hard. I admit I was a fool, that I took for real +passion a sort of sentimentalism born of pity; but, nevertheless, I was +honest in my self-deception, and I assure you, even though you may laugh +at me, that could I restore her to the innocent girl I believed her to +be a few days ago; could I even be assured that she'd join this +conspiracy to help a friend, and not as a cold-blooded speculation; I'd +gladly marry her with all her faults, and give up my life to leading her +into better paths." + +"I do not laugh at you, my boy," said Kent-Lauriston. "I respect you for +it, I believe you, too; but, as I said in our first interview on this +subject, you're too good for her; and she has underrated what she is not +fitted to understand." + +"There, go now," said the Secretary. "If I talk of this any more, I +shall be unnerved, and I've need of all my self-control to-day. Go and +do the best you can. Be gentle and tender for my sake. I suppose I +ought to face the matter myself, but I can't bear to. I simply can't +look her in the face--now I know----" and he bent his head, choking back +a sob. + +His friend pressed his hand silently, and left the room. + + * * * * * + +"Just one moment, if you please, Colonel Darcy," Kent-Lauriston had +said, overtaking that officer as he was crossing the park, about an hour +after his interview with Stanley. + +"I can't stop just now, I'm in a hurry." + +"Oh, yes, you can--you can spare me a minute--a minute for an old +acquaintance, who knew you when you were only a Lieutenant, like our +friend Kingsland; a Lieutenant in Derbyshire, who had aspirations for +the hand of Lord ----'s daughter." + +"Which you frustrated, damn you! I haven't forgotten." + +"Or the evidence which led to such an unfortunate result? Affairs of +that sort are not outlawed by the lapse of years; you understand?" + +"What do you want of me? Speak! My time is of value." + +"Yes, I know--about forty thousand pounds." + +"Humph! Go on, will you. I'll tell you what you want, only be quick +about it." + +"I merely want to know the exact and real truth of Miss Fitzgerald's +connection with this bribery and corruption business." + +"I told your friend, the Secretary." + +"I know what you _told_ him, he's just retailed it to me; but you will +pardon me, if I state that, as an observer, of human nature, I don't +believe it." + +"I've said what I've said," replied the Colonel, surlily. + +"Let us see if we can't arrive at a mutual understanding," continued +Kent-Lauriston, suavely. "You wish to injure the girl and make her +marriage with my friend impossible, because you think she's betrayed +you. I wish to render the marriage impossible, because I don't care to +see this young man make a fool of himself by marrying a girl who's after +his money, and who has nothing to offer in return. Our ends are +identical, our motives only are different. Do you follow me?" + +The Colonel nodded. + +"Now," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "you've told a very clever circumstantial +story, which has ruined her in Stanley's eyes, and has stopped the +match, as we both wished. Its only flaw lies in the fact that it is not +true. If he finds this out, he'll marry her in spite of us; but he is +much less likely to find it out if I know the real state of the case, +and, as a corollary, the weak points of your narrative, and so am able +to prevent the discovery. Do you believe me?" + +"I never knew you to tell a lie--it's not in your line." + +"Quite so. Therefore, will you tell _me_ the truth?" + +"The truth, then, is that Belle didn't instigate the plot. I got her out +of a scrape some years ago, and she was grateful, and lent me a hand +with this, purely out of friendship. She doesn't expect to get a penny +in reward. It was her idea, however, of using Kingsland to forward the +stuff." + +"Kingsland knew nothing about it?" + +"Nothing at all. He thought the chests contained stereopticon slides." + +"That's the real truth then?" + +"Yes, but if you blow it to Stanley, I'll tell him your share in this +little arrangement." + +Kent-Lauriston looked at him, coldly. "You said you were in a hurry, +Colonel Darcy," he remarked. "Don't let me detain you." + + * * * * * + +"I consider it providential," said the Marchioness. + +Mrs. Roberts said nothing. It was this trait that rendered her so +admirable as a hostess and a friend. + +"Of course," continued her Ladyship, "I had long known that there was +some sentiment between my dear Isabelle and Lieutenant Kingsland, and if +I had supposed there was anything serious, they would at once have had +my blessing, and--er--a wedding in St. George's, and--everything that +religion requires. Their secret marriage was childish and +ridiculous--because it was not opposed." + +Mrs. Roberts still held her peace. + +"I say," continued the Dowager, "that it was not opposed; of course Mr. +Stanley----" + +"Ah," said her hostess, seeing that she was expected to intervene: "Mr. +Stanley--what of him?" + +"Well, you see, my dear Mrs. Roberts, he's a most excellent young man; +but he comes from a Catholic country--and--er--the influence is so +insidious, that, on consideration, I didn't really feel--that my duty as +a mother would permit me to countenance the match further." + +Mrs. Roberts said nothing, she had been ill-used in this particular, she +felt, and withheld her sympathy accordingly. + +The Dowager appreciated the position, and acted promptly. + +"Your dear niece, Miss Fitzgerald, such a charming girl," she continued, +"doubtless feels as I do. Her throwing Stanley over unreservedly was +most commendable, and reflected much credit on your influence, dear Mrs. +Roberts." + +Her hostess was mollified, and showed it. The Dowager's position +promised to turn defeat into triumph. + +"You're most kind, I'm sure," she murmured. "Belle was naturally guided +by me," and then changing a dangerous subject, she continued, "It is so +sad that Lieutenant Kingsland's honeymoon should be darkened by his +uncle's death." + +Her Ladyship dried an imaginary tear, and added:-- + +"If one believes in Providence, one must of course believe that these +things are for the best." + +"Here comes the Secretary," said Mrs. Roberts. "Does he know?" + +"I must tell him," replied the Dowager. "It's my painful duty." + +Mrs. Roberts precipitately left the room. + +"Dear Mr. Stanley," murmured the Dowager, "I was just on the point of +sending for you; you've come most opportunely. I feel I must speak to +you about my dear daughter. She is a sadly wilful girl, and I fear----" + +"Don't speak of it, your Ladyship. I know, that is, I've heard; and +permit me to offer my congratulations on your daughter's recent marriage +to Lieutenant Kingsland," he said, throwing into his voice what he +trusted might pass for a note of resignation. + +"Dear Mr. Stanley," said the Dowager, infinitely relieved, "you are so +tactful, so generous----" + +"I hope she'll be happy." + +"Oh yes--yes--we must hope so." And her Ladyship sighed deeply. "_You_, +of course, know what I wished from my heart." + +"I'm going away," he said abruptly, "this afternoon in fact. I'm +assigned on a diplomatic service, which, for the present, may take me +out of England, so you'll make my adieux to Lady Isabelle, will you +not?" + +"I--er--trust you do not contemplate doing anything--foolish?" + +"You may set your mind at rest on that score." + +"You relieve me immensely--you'll excuse me if I'm too frank. I've come +so near being a--er--mother to you, I feel a peculiar interest in your +welfare. May I venture to express the hope, that you'll not commit +yourself with that young Irish person?" + +"Your ladyship may feel quite easy-- Miss Fitzgerald and I have never +been more than friends, and in the future----" + +"Of course one must be kind; but a young man cannot be too careful. I +assure you in regard to the young woman in question, that I was told in +strict confidence--the most shocking----" + +"Pardon me," he interrupted, "but I couldn't think of violating your +strict confidence," and he passed by her out of the room. + +"That young man," said the Dowager, in summing him up to a friend, "has +tact, but lacks reserve." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE PRICE OF LOVE + + +"Have you come to insult me, Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" + +Isabelle Fitzgerald stood in a wooded recess of the park, beside a young +sapling; the one no more fair and tall and glorious with the joy of +living than the other. Kent-Lauriston was beside her, hat in hand, with +just the trace of a cynical smile about his parted lips; but serious +enough with it all, well realising the gravity of the task he had +undertaken, and pitying from his heart the fair girl who stood white and +scornful before him, her garden hat hanging from its ribbon, +unconsciously held in her hand. + +"Have you come to insult me, Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" She said it defiantly, +as if it were a gage of battle. + +"I have come to apologise to you," he replied quietly. + +"You tell me that _he_ has sent you to me. Well, I know what that means. +I _knew_ why you came to the Hall, I would have stopped you if I could. +You were my enemy, I felt it the moment I saw you. I _knew_ you would +have your way then. What chance had an unfortunate girl, whose only +hope rested in the love of the man she loved, as against one who has +made hundreds of matches, and broken hundreds of hearts? You owe me an +apology you think--it is very good of you, I appreciate it deeply," and +she made him an obeisance. + +"I've not come to apologise to you for any point that I've gained, but +for the means I must employ to gain it." + +"Really," she said, her eyes blazing. "This _is_ a condescension. Are +not any means good enough to cope with an adventuress like myself--a +young woman who is deterred by no conventions, and no maidenly reserve; +whose every art and wile is strained to lure on to their fate weak and +unsuspecting young men. Is it possible that such a person has any rights +that need be respected?" + +"Really, Miss Fitzgerald," said Kent-Lauriston, placidly, "you surprise +me. In addition to the numerous virtues, which I'm confident you +possess, I'd added in my own mind that paramount one, of cool +clear-headedness. This lady, I had told myself, is at all events +perfectly free from hysteria or nervous affections; she can discuss an +unpleasant subject, if necessary, in its practical bearings, without +flying into a fit of rage, and wandering hopelessly from the point. It +appears that I was mistaken." + +"No," she replied brusquely, "you are not; You've summed up my character +very well, but you must remember that you've nothing to gain or lose in +this matter. You're merely playing the game--directing the moves of the +pawns. The problem is interesting, amusing, if you like, but whether you +win or lose, you've nothing wagered on the result. But the pawn! Its +very existence is at stake--a false move is made, and it disappears from +the board." + +"Quite true! But the pawn has a better chance of life, if the moves are +considered calmly, than if played at random; it is then inevitably +lost." + +"You're right," she said, seating herself on a grassy bank near by: +"perfectly right. Let us talk this matter over calmly. I shan't forget +myself again." + +He seated himself beside her. + +"Now frankly," she continued, "before you saw me, or spoke to me, you'd +made up your mind to save your friend from my clutches, had you not? I +beg your pardon--doubtless, you'd disapprove of such an +expression--we'll say, you had determined to prevent him from marrying +me." + +"Frankly speaking, yes, I had." + +"But you knew nothing about me; you could know nothing about me, except +on hearsay." + +"Pardon me--I knew your late father, and I was at Colonel Belleston's, +when you ran off with his heir-apparent, and were not found till half +the country-side had been searched, and the dinner quite spoiled." + +"But Georgie Belleston was only eight, and I scarcely twelve. We had +determined, I remember, to join a circus--no, he wanted to fight +Indians; but it was childish nonsense." + +"The spirit was there, nevertheless. But in the present case I was +considering Mr. Stanley, I must confess, rather than yourself. The +world, my dear young lady, is an open market, a prosaic, mercantile +world." + +"Don't you suppose I know that?" + +"I'm willing to believe it if you wish me to do so. It will help us to +understand the commonsense proposition that marriageable young men, like +cabbages, have a market value, and that a young man like our friend, who +has a great deal to offer, should--shall I be perfectly plain, and +say--should expect a pretty handsome return for himself." + +"And you didn't think that I'd much to offer," she said, laughing. "In +other words, that you'd be selling your cabbages very cheap. Eh?" + +Kent-Lauriston said nothing, but she saw the impression she had +produced, and bit her lips in mortified rage. She wished at least to win +this man's respect, and she was showing herself to him in her very worst +light. + +"I had, as you say," she continued, "nothing to offer Mr. Stanley but my +love; but I dare say you don't believe in love, Mr. Kent-Lauriston." + +"Not believe in love? My dear young lady, it forms the basis of every +possible marriage." + +"Does it never form the _whole_ of such a union?" + +"Only too often, but these are the impossible marriages, and ninety-nine +per cent. of them prove failures, or worse." + +"I can't believe you--if one loves, nothing else counts." + +"Quite true for the time being, but God help the man or woman who +mistakes the passion aroused by a pretty face or form for the real +lasting article, and wagers his life on it." + +"You've never married; you can, therefore, talk as you please." + +"My dear Miss Fitzgerald, if I'd ever married, I should probably not +talk at all." + +"You don't regard our affair as serious?" + +"Not on Mr. Stanley's side?" + +"And on mine?" + +"That we shall see later on; but my young friend is in his salad days, +and he's not responsible, but he is almost too honest." + +"I suppose you'll say I tempted him." + +"N-o--but you let him fall." + +"However, you were at hand to rescue him. I wonder you should have +wasted your valuable time in going through the formality of consulting +me over so trivial an affair." + +"But it's not trivial. I thought it was till this morning, now I've +changed my mind. It's very serious. I've a right to save my friend from +making a fool of himself, when he only is the real sufferer; but it's a +very different question when the rights of another person are involved, +especially when that person is a woman." + +"So you've come to me?" + +"To persuade you, if possible, to relinquish those rights." + +"For his sake?" + +"No, for your own." + +"Really--that's a novel point of view to take of the matter." + +"You think so. I only want you to see the affair in its true light, to +realise that the game isn't worth the candle." + +"I think you'll find it difficult to prove that." + +"We shall see. Suppose I state the case. Here are you, a charming young +lady of good family, but no means, thrown on your own resources; in a +word, with the opportunity of marrying a--shall we say, _pliable_--young +man, of good official standing, and an undoubtedly large income and +principal; who is infatuated--thinks he's fallen in love with you, and +whom you really love. There, have I stated the case fairly?" + +"So fairly, that you'll find it difficult to prove your point." + +"Let me continue. Suppose you're married; grand ceremonial, great +_éclat_, delighted friends and relatives, handsome presents, diamonds +and all--he'd do the thing well--honeymoon, say, the Riviera--limit, +three months--what next? Where are you going to live? London? It won't +do. Property--that property you're so interested in--can't take care of +itself; the young heir of those broad plantations must go home and learn +the business. Your practical mind shows you the necessity of that. Do +you know the life of his native country? No? Your nearest neighbours +thirty miles away, and deadly dull at that; your climate a damp, sultry +fog; your amusements, sleeping in a hammock two-thirds of the day, when +the mosquitoes will let you, and your husband's society, as sole +company, the rest of the time. After two or three years, or perhaps four +or five--long enough to ruin your matchless complexion, and cause you +both to be forgotten by all your friends, except those who can't afford +to do so--you come back to London for a nice long visit--say three +months. How you will enjoy it! Let me see, what do you most like? +Horses, riding, hunting? Ever heard the Secretary's ideas on hunting?" + +She laughed nervously, and Kent-Lauriston pursued his subject. + +"Then he's so indefatigable at balls and parties; I've known him to stay +half an hour, when he's been feeling fit! His friends, too, such dear +old fogies, like your esteemed aunt, not like _your_ friends--you know +how fond he is of them. The Kingslands and Darcys of your acquaintance +would simply revel in the house of a man who never plays cards for +money, and can't tell an eighty from a ninety-eight champagne--and he'd +be master in his own house, too--you received an ultimatum yesterday. A +man who will do that to a woman to whom he isn't even quite engaged will +command his wife and see that she obeys him. You would have before you +the choice of living in an atmosphere and associating with people +entirely uncongenial to you, or living wholly apart from your husband; +either would be intolerable. Have I proved my point?" + +"You've forgotten to include in your charming sketch that I should still +have the comforts of life, and, what is more important, a house to cover +me, enough to eat and drink, and clothes to wear--things which I have +sometimes in the past found it pretty difficult to obtain." + +"True, but you'd be paying too high a price for them, much too high. +Take my word for it, again and again you'd long to be back in your +present state; yes, and in harder straits than you are now." + +"What you say to me could be equally well applied to Mr. Stanley, in +reverse." + +"Quite so; it sums up in the mere fact, that you two have nothing in +common except passion and sentimentality, very frail corner stones on +which to build a life's happiness. You're not even companionable. What +are you going to talk about for the rest of your lives? It's an +appalling prospect. I want to save you both from making a very bad +bargain." + +"I don't agree with you," she cried vehemently, springing to her feet, +"not at all; but what difference does it make? I know well enough I'm +not really to be consulted as to the issue; you'd never have had the +effrontery to speak to me as you have done, if you were not already sure +of the game. To use a commercial phrase, you've cornered the market, and +can make what terms you please. I must accede to them." + +"You entirely mistake the situation, Miss Fitzgerald," he said, calmly +rising, and facing her. "It is you who have cornered the market, and it +is I who must buy at your price." + +"Explain yourself! What do you mean?" she cried, a gleam of hope, almost +of triumph, lighting up her face. + +Kent-Lauriston was now playing a bold game. + +"I mean," he replied, "that circumstances have rendered me powerless to +prevent Mr. Stanley's marrying you, if you allow him to do so." + +"Tell me!----" she exclaimed abruptly. + +"It's for that purpose that I've sought you out." + +She nodded. She was watching him guardedly. + +"I've admitted that our young friend was in love with you. I don't say +you encouraged him, but you certainly excited his pity, a very dangerous +proceeding with a person of his nature." + +"What's all this to do with my position?" + +"A great deal," resumed Kent-Lauriston. "You see, I want you to +understand your hold over Mr. Stanley--it's really because he pities +you." The girl flushed painfully. "Excuse me if I speak things which are +unpleasant, but you most understand your weakness, and your strength. +You've nearly ruined yourself by being too clever, and now, by the +wildest stroke of luck, you're in a very strong position." + +"Would you mind speaking plainly?" + +"Certainly. In a word, the situation is just this. Within the last few +days, Mr. Stanley has made three discoveries about you, which have gone +far to destroy his sympathy for you, and make him believe that his pity +or his love, as he chooses to call it, has been misplaced. Two of these +discoveries I believe to be true; one--the worst--I know to be false. If +he discovers how shockingly you've been maligned, he'll probably forget +the past, and, in a burst of contrition at having so misjudged you, will +do what his common sense forbids--I mean, marry you." + +"You're really becoming interesting. I had underrated your abilities. +Pray be more explicit," she said, quite at her ease at these reassuring +words, and putting Kent-Lauriston down, mentally, as a fool for giving +the game away, when he need only have kept silent to have had it all in +his own hands. + +He read her thoughts and smiled quietly, for, by her expression, he +could gauge the depth of her subtlety. She was no match for him, if she +were innocent enough to believe him capable of such folly. + +"You compliment me," he returned, "but to go on--in the first place, he +learned of your connection with Lady Isabelle's marriage. It opened his +eyes somewhat." + +"She told him?" + +"She did. You forced her to do so, by your threat against her husband." + +Miss Fitzgerald bit her lip, and said nothing. + +"Lady Isabelle," continued Kent-Lauriston, "in appealing to the +Secretary to save her husband, gave him the clue he was searching for; +which resulted in his discovery of the friendly turn you had done the +Lieutenant, in making him unconsciously, shall we say, _particeps +criminis_?" + +"Ah!" + +"Have you seen Colonel Darcy to-day?" + +She paused for a moment, considering, and then decided it was better to +be straightforward, and replied: + +"Not since yesterday morning. I went to see him last evening, but found +him out." + +"I know you did." + +Miss Fitzgerald breathed a sigh of relief. It was well she had decided +not to lie to this man. + +"You're probably not aware, then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "that +Stanley succeeded in opening the secret door last night, and obtained +possession of Darcy's letter of instructions." + +The Irish girl turned very white, looking as if she were going to faint. + +"Then he knows everything," she whispered. + +"Everything," replied her tormentor. "The details of the plot he has +known for some time, being stationed here by the Legation to watch the +Colonel--but it was not till Darcy was brought to book this morning, and +in order to save himself, signed a written confession, that he really +knew the extent to which _you_ were incriminated." + +She burst into tears. Kent-Lauriston proceeded unconcernedly with his +story. + +"The Colonel's chivalry is not of such a nature as would cause him to +hesitate in shifting all the responsibility he could, on the shoulders +of a woman." + +She dried her tears at that, and her eyes fairly snapped. + +"The fact," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "that Stanley had on several +occasions tried to help you to clear yourself, and the fact that you'd +persistently--well--not done so--made matters all the worse. In short, +on these two counts alone, you had given evidence of an amount of deceit +and cold-blooded calculation that completely upset even such an optimist +as he. Still, I think he would have overlooked it, if properly +managed--if that had been the worst." + +"Can anything be worse?" + +"Yes, for this last charge against you is not true." + +"Go on." + +"You placed yourself in Darcy's power. A clever woman, a really clever +woman, my dear Miss Fitzgerald, would not have done that. It would be +easy for him to manufacture circumstantial evidence, to back any lie he +might choose to exploit, to your discredit. Say, for instance, that you +were the prime mover in this plot, and that you went into it for a +financial consideration, for three thousand pounds." + +"But Bob never would----" + +"Wouldn't he, when he was thirsting for revenge, believing that your +careless threat against Lieutenant Kingsland had ruined his hopes." + +"Did he do this?" + +"He did, and that is why I'm here this morning in Mr. Stanley's +place--commissioned to return to you your letters," and he handed her +the packet. + +"It's not true!" she cried. "Before Heaven, Mr. Kent-Lauriston, it is +not true!" + +"I know it's not true, for Darcy's confessed to me." + +"But Mr. Stanley does not know." + +"No." + +"Then he must be told." + +"If you tell him he'll fling prudence to the winds in an agony of +remorse, and you'll have won the game." + +"You mean he'll keep to his engagement?" + +"I mean he'll marry you." + +"And you dare to ask any woman to allow such a slander to live when she +can deny it?" + +"I ask you, for your own sake, for the reasons I've stated, for your +future happiness, and as an escape from certain misery--to let him go." + +"I tell you I love him." + +"Then I ask you for _his_ sake. A brilliant diplomatic career is just +opening before him, as the result of the discovery of this plot. Is his +government likely to repose confidence in him in the future, with you as +his wife--a woman who has practised treason? His father would never +receive you, and might disinherit him. Do you love this man so little +that you wish to ruin him?" + +"I tell you I love him--you do not understand." + +"I understand that you love him in one of two ways. If it's a great love +it's capable of sacrifice to prove its greatness. Show that it is so by +giving him up. If it's any other sort of love it will not stand the +strain to which you propose to subject it, and within six months after +your marriage you'll realise that you've ruined two lives, and are +yourself the chief sufferer. Come, prove that what you say is true, and +save him from himself." + +"But if I do, I do it at a fearful price. It means social ostracism." + +"Not at all. Who will know of this charge against you? Four people at +the most, and not one of them will ever speak of it. Darcy, who +originated the lie, will, for obvious reasons, keep silent. Stanley's +the soul of honour; he'd rather tear his tongue out than speak a word of +it. I've proved my discretion through several generations, and Kingsland +must be held in check by you." + +"Why do you include Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"Because, I believe, he holds the only piece of evidence which could +appear to substantiate Darcy's trumped-up lie." + +"And that is?" + +"The receipt for the forty thousand pounds _in your name_." + +"And you wish me to ask Kingsland to proclaim my own shame!" + +"I wish you to ask him to give that receipt to the Secretary." + +"Now I see why you come to me, why you did not ruthlessly throw me +over; your little plot had a weak point, and you needed my co-operation +to complete my own degradation!" + +"Miss Fitzgerald is fast becoming a diplomatist!" + +"I'm a fool!" + +"Pardon me, you are nearer wisdom than you've ever been in your life." + +"If--I--do--this," she said very slowly, "you must help me to reinstate +myself in the eyes of the world." + +"I've told you it'll not be necessary." + +"Bah! I know the world better than you do, with all your cleverness. +Mine is a practical, not a theoretical, knowledge." + +Kent-Lauriston bowed. + +"They'll talk, no matter if it be truth or not. It will be believed. I +must have a few questions answered in any event." + +"Ask them." + +"Who is Mr. Stanley to marry?" + +"Madame Darcy." + +"But----" + +"Her husband has consented to the divorce." + +"On what grounds?" + +"Incompatibility of temper, I believe." + +"So you think the Secretary will marry her?" + +"I'll take charge of that matter." + +"I know they love each other!" she exclaimed, passionately. "It was love +at first sight. Then there was a misunderstanding. Now, one more +question. This sum of forty thousand pounds?" + +"Yes, what of it?" + +"Who's to have it?" + +"Darcy." + +"What!" + +"The Secretary told him he might draw it from the bank to-morrow, as, +well--as compensation for turning State's evidence." + +She laughed a harsh, unmusical laugh. + +"You've won," she said. "I will do what you wish--for his sake." + +"I believed that you would," he replied gravely, but one eyelid raised +just a trifle. She saw it, and turned on him like a flash. + +"No!" she cried, "it isn't for that reason! I've some good in me yet, +some pride! I tell you, it's not your cleverness that has done this! I +wouldn't surrender my good name for the sake of any man in the world! I +wouldn't allow the breath of suspicion to linger in the minds of my +friends, for the love of your friend, or any other weak fool, whom I can +turn round my fingers! No! the reason I surrender is because your last +words have told me how I can right myself before all the world, save one +man; and I'll consent to sacrifice my reputation in his eyes, because I +love him. But for all that, Robert Darcy cannot divorce the woman who +bears his name." + +"Why not?" + +"Because she's not his wife." + +"Not his wife! Who is his wife, then?" + +"I am." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE PRICE OF SILENCE + + +"You are Robert Darcy's wife," he said slowly, trying to adjust his +ideas to this altered state of affairs. Then, as some comprehension of +the results which would follow this declaration dawned upon him, he +continued:-- + +"Why have you told me this?" + +"Because I need your co-operation, and you're the only man I know whom I +can trust to keep the secret." + +"I've given you no pledge to do so." + +"Quite true, and I've asked for none; but I've misread you sadly, if you +can't keep a still tongue in your head, when the advantage to all +concerned by so doing can be made clear to you." + +"Can you prove your point?" + +"Yes, even to your satisfaction." + +"I'm all attention," he said. + +"In the first place," she began, "you must understand that Colonel Darcy +and I were secretly married four years ago, in Ireland. I'll show you my +marriage certificate, to prove my words, when we return to the house. I +always carry it with me in case of an emergency." + +Kent-Lauriston nodded, and she continued:-- + +"The Colonel married me under the impression that I was an heiress. I +married him because I thought I loved him. We both discovered our +mistakes within the first few days. No one knew of the step we had +taken, so we agreed to separate. This is a practical age. As Miss +Fitzgerald I'd hosts of friends; as Mrs. Darcy, a girl who had made a +worse than foolish marriage, I should have had none. The Colonel had +expected his wife to support him; he was in no condition to support her. +His regiment was ordered to India; if he resigned, his income was gone. +We decided to keep our secret. I remained Miss Fitzgerald. He went to +India. Three years later he was invalided home. Travelling for his +health, he returned by way of South America. There he met Inez De Costa, +and won her love. She combined the two things he most craved, position +and wealth. He had heard nothing from me for many months. He allowed his +inclinations to guide his reason, and, trusting that I was dead, or had +done something foolish, he married her and returned to England. We met. +My natural impulse was to denounce him, but sober second thought showed +the futility of such a course. I'd nothing to gain; everything to lose. +He sent me money. I returned it. Do you believe that?" + +"I believe you implicitly," replied Kent-Lauriston. + +"Then he came to see me; for I think he still loved me. He came, I say, +fearfully at first, lest I should betray him. Then growing bolder, he +threw off all reserve. Believing, fool that he was, because I didn't +denounce him, that I could ever forget or forgive the wrong he'd done +me. He mistook compliance for forgetfulness, even had the audacity to +suggest that I, too, should marry. + +"Then this scheme for defeating the treaty was proposed to him. He was +willing enough to undertake it, for his second matrimonial venture had +been a pecuniary failure, thanks to the wisdom of Seņor De Costa in +tying up his daughter's property; but he lacked the brains to carry it +out, and, like the fool that he is, came to me for assistance. I had +lulled his suspicions, and he needed a confederate. He even held out +vague promises of a future for us both, as if I'd believe his attested +oath, after what had passed! I consented to help him, and would have +brought the matter to a successful issue, if it hadn't been for his +stupidity. What did I care about the success or failure of his plot? It +had put the man in my power, put him where I wanted to have him. At any +time within the last six weeks I could have forced him to publicly +recognise me, if need were." + +"What prevented you from doing this?" + +"I'd fallen in love with your friend. Yes, I admit it. It was weak, +pitiably weak. At first I played with him, then too late I understood my +own feelings." + +"But it could have come to nothing." + +"Can you suppose I didn't realise that keenly? Yet I hoped against hope +that Darcy would die; that he'd be apprehended and imprisoned, and +perish of the rigours of hard labour; anything that would set me free. +Then I saw that Stanley loved Inez De Costa. It was an added pang, but +it caused me to hesitate; because in taking my revenge, I should wreck +both their lives." + +"But you? Had you pity for Inez De Costa?" + +"Yes, incomprehensible as it may seem to you; for I'd learned to loathe +Darcy before he had committed bigamy. I never met her till that night at +the Hyde Park Club, and she asked me if I knew her husband. _Her +husband!_ I pitied her from that moment. She'd done me no wrong. Why +should I wreck her life, if it could be avoided?" + +"And now?" + +"Now you've solved the problem. Darcy won't dare to contest the suit for +divorce. He'll be glad to get rid of her, because he can't control her +money. Having the purse-strings, I can force him to recognise me as his +wife, after the divorce has been granted. I shall have an assured +position, and I can begin to pay back some of my debts," and her eyes +flashed. + +"And in all this, what is there to compel me to keep your secret?" + +"Because the marriage between Inez De Costa and Mr. Stanley might never +take place if they knew the truth. I'll keep the secret if you will. +She's in no way to blame. At first I hated her; now that I've known her, +my hate is turned to pity." + +"You're right," said Kent-Lauriston. "I'll keep your secret inviolate." + +"Now about the receipt for the forty thousand pounds." + +"Yes?" + +"I think Mr. Stanley had better see it, it'll save further awkwardness, +but I must have it back. It's my one hold over Darcy, my one chance of +righting myself." + +"There's a receipt for the amount," said Kent-Lauriston, tearing out a +leaf from his note-book, on which he wrote a few lines. "I'll be +responsible for its return to you. I can't do less." + +"Here comes Lieutenant Kingsland now," she said. "Don't say anything. +I'll manage this affair." + +"Jack!" she called, "come here a moment." + +The young officer approached. + +"Yes?" he said interrogatively. + +"You needn't hesitate to speak before Mr. Kent-Lauriston," she assured +him. "He's one of my _best_ friends. You've not forgotten the promise +which you made me, when I helped you about arranging your wedding, to do +anything I might request?" + +"No, and I'd do it if the occasion required," he replied heartily. + +"Good," she said, "the occasion is here." + +"What must I do?" + +"You hold in your possession a receipt from the Victoria Street Branch +of the Bank of England for the deposit in my name of five chests +belonging to Mr. Riddle." + +"Yes, I've been meaning to give it to you." + +"I wish you to give it to Mr. Stanley." + +"To Mr. Stanley?" + +"Yes." + +"Is that all?" + +"All, except that I charge you, on your honour, never to let him know I +asked you to do this. Tell him only that I gave you the chests, and how +you disposed of them, and place the receipt in his hands, as coming from +yourself. Not a syllable about me, mind!" + +"I'll follow your instructions literally; but how am I to have the +opportunity of doing this?" + +"Mr. Stanley will give you the opportunity, perhaps to-day. Then see +that you do it." + +"I promise." + +"Swear." + +"Well, I swear on my honour as an officer and a gentleman." + +"Good. One more word. Before to-night you may change your feelings +towards me, may feel absolved from all obligations to me; but whatever +events occur, do not forget that you have sworn to do this on your +honour as an officer and as a gentleman, without any mental reservations +whatsoever, and to do neither less nor more than this." + +"You can trust me, and if you think that anything my wife----" + +"No! no! I do trust you. Go now, and give Mr. Stanley a chance to see +you at once. You'll be serving me best so." + +He left them wondering, and, she, turning to Kent-Lauriston, said:-- + +"I tell you it is the greatest proof of my affection for him; for what +he thinks of me is worth all the criticism of the world and more. Oh, +you may scoff! I know you think him too good for me!" + +"Pardon me," interrupted Kent-Lauriston, taking off his hat, and bowing +his head over her hand, which he held, "I have misunderstood you." + + * * * * * + +It was nearly two hours later that the Secretary found time, amidst the +distractions of a hurried departure, for he had made his peace with his +hostess and was leaving for town that afternoon, to redeem his promise +to Lady Isabelle. + +"Is Lieutenant Kingsland in the house?" he asked of the servant, who +answered his summons. + +"He's in the billiard-room, sir." + +"Very well. Will you present my compliments to him, and ask him to be so +kind as to come to my room for a few minutes?" + +In less time than it takes to tell it, the young officer responded to +the summons, saying as he entered:-- + +"Here I am. Can I do anything for you?" + +"Perhaps. But I sent for you primarily for the purpose of doing you a +favour." + +"That sounds encouraging. By the way, did you know that your especial +admiration, Darcy, was planning to vacate at the earliest opportunity?" + +"Yes," replied the Secretary, drily. "I gave him leave to go, but he's +to all intents and purposes under arrest." + +"The devil!" + +"Quite so, there's the devil to pay, and I'm afraid you may have to foot +part of the bill, if you're not careful." + +"What do you mean?" cried the Lieutenant, starting uneasily. + +"I'll explain. That's why I sent for you; but you mustn't resent a +certain inquisitiveness on my part. It's only for your good." + +"Go on, go on!" + +"You went to London a few days ago, and executed a commission for +Darcy." + +"No--for Belle Fitzgerald." + +"It's the same thing." + +"I think not. There were some chests containing stereopticon slides, and +Belle asked me to put them in a bank for her." + +"The Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of England." + +"Exactly." + +"A good many slides, I imagine; rather heavy, weren't they?" + +"Gad, I should think they were. It took two porters to lift each chest." + +"I suppose you told the bank authorities what was in the chests?" + +"No, I was told there was nothing to say. I was only to surrender them, +and a sealed note, which would explain all." + +"Did they give you a receipt for it?" + +"Yes." + +"Can anybody get the chests out?" + +"No, only the person mentioned in the receipt." + +"Have you still got the receipt?" + +"Yes." + +"Very good," said the Secretary. "I see your luck has not deserted you." + +"And now," said Kingsland, "that I've answered all your questions, +perhaps you'll tell me what you mean." + +"This is what I mean," replied Stanley, handing him that first part of +his Minister's letter which he had shown to Darcy. + +The Lieutenant read it once, not understanding its purport; then again, +his brow becoming wrinkled with anxiety; and yet again, with a very +white face. + +"What is it?" he gasped. + +"It looks dangerously like treason, doesn't it?" returned the Secretary. + +"But what is this bribe?" + +"You ought to know that, as you carried it up to London, in sovereigns." + +"What--how much was it?" + +"Forty thousand pounds in gold." + +"Good heavens!" said the Lieutenant, and mopped his brow. "But I didn't +know anything about it!" + +"That doesn't prevent you from having participated in one of the most +rascally plots of your day and generation; from being a party in an +attempt to overthrow, by the most open and shameless bribery, a treaty +pending between the government you serve and mine." + +"But, if this gets out, I'll be cashiered from the navy." + +"Oh, I don't think they'd stop there," said the Secretary reassuringly. +"Not with the proof of that receipt." + +"Good Lord, I forgot that! Here, take it, will you?" + +"Certainly. Suppose we open it and see if it proves my assertion," and, +suiting the action to the word, he placed in the Lieutenant's shaking +hands a receipt of deposit in the Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of +England, by Miss Isabelle Fitzgerald, kindness of Lieutenant J. +Kingsland, of forty thousand pounds. + +"Can't you help me?" he asked. + +"It rests entirely with me." + +"Then you will?" + +"Tell me all you know. + +"But I don't know anything, except what I've told you. I give you my +word as an officer and a gentleman, that I've been let into this affair +in a most shameful manner, and that I'm entirely innocent, and ignorant +of everything connected with it." + +"I believe you, Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"And you won't prosecute?" + +"Not if you'll promise to drop this gang; they're a bad lot. Promise me +you'll cut loose from them as soon as possible, for your wife's sake." + +"I will," he said. "I will, old man. I can't thank you enough for what +you've done." + +"You've nothing to thank me for; I'm sure you are innocent, and so I +don't consider the circumstantial evidence; but you might not be as +lucky another time. I hope this will be a lesson to you. I need hardly +caution you to silence," and he appeared to peruse some papers to ease +the young officer's exit from the room. + +That evening in the privacy of the library, the Lieutenant confided the +news of his lucky escape to his wife, ending up with the question: + +"Do you think the Fitzgerald really loves him?" + +"My dear Jack," said Lady Isabelle, "a woman of that stamp does not know +what love means, she's simply scheming to marry him for his money. How +can people do such things?" + +"I'm sure I don't know, my dear," replied her spouse, yawning. The +subject was inopportune, and it bored him. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE PRICE OF A LIE + + +Stanley had made all his adieux, or at least all he wanted to make. He +was tired with the exciting events of the day, and longed for a little +peace and quiet before the exacting ordeal of a railway ride to London. +He had given up the time-table as a Chinese puzzle. "What with the +trains that go somewhere and those that don't," he protested, "I'm all +at sea!" He, therefore, sent Kent-Lauriston ahead in the trap, and +walked across the park to the station. + +That gentleman had convinced him of the propriety of restoring the order +for the forty thousand pounds to Miss Fitzgerald. He had pointed out +that she was the rightful owner of the document, and that Darcy was an +infernal rascal. The Secretary had acquiesced in his demand, and +promised, should he not see Belle before he left, an interview he much +wished to avoid, that he would mail it to her from the station. + +He had first, however, a far more pleasant commission to perform, and a +few minutes later was seated under the spreading branches of an old +apple tree with Inez Darcy. + +"I felt I must come and see you," he said. "I'm going away to-day, to +London, on important business." + +"Yes," she murmured. "You've been very good to me." + +"Some time ago," he continued, "you did me the honour to entrust your +affairs to my keeping, or, perhaps, to the keeping of the Legation." + +"To your keeping, I should prefer." + +"I fear that you may think I've been remiss, that other things have +taken my mind off them, that I've, in short, forgotten them, but it is +not so." + +"I never doubted you." + +"I hope to prove to you that you've not misplaced your confidence, in +evidence of which I bring you this," and he handed her a paper. + +"What is it?" she said. + +"A line from your husband," she started, "which gives you your freedom." + +"You mean a divorce?" + +"Yes." + +"But I do not understand." + +"He agreed to consent to your obtaining such a decree on any ground you +choose. I've decided on 'incompatibility of temper,' as being the least +embarrassing to you. He will not appear to contest the suit when it is +brought forward. This paper, signed in my presence, promises as much." + +"My husband is a bad man, he would never have surrendered unless he was +forced to do so; for he believes that by retaining the control of me, he +may yet obtain control of my property." + +"Perhaps he has seen the futility of these hopes." + +"No, no, his own self-conceit would have blinded him to the possibility +of being outwitted. You've forced this from him. How have you done so?" + +"I had hoped you would not press me for these reasons. Can't you accept +my assurance that whatever I've done, has been done in your interests +alone." + +"Don't think me ungrateful if I say no, but I've had to endure so many +mysteries, that, for once, my great desire is to be clear of them." + +"I hesitate to tell you, because it may give you pain." + +"I am used to that and can bear it." + +"Well, if you will have it. Colonel Darcy, as a result of his own +actions, was placed in my power." + +"You mean that it was your duty to have him arrested?" + +"That was left to my discretion." + +"And you forced his consent?" + +"No, I gave him a chance to purchase his freedom, and a substantial +reward, by a confession, and this----" and he touched the paper. + +"But had you a right----?" + +"I had a right to make any terms I pleased. I was given unlimited power +to impose my own conditions, and I'm sure, had my Chief known, he would +have wished you to derive any benefit possible from the transaction." + +"It's dearly bought with that man's disgrace. In the eyes of the world, +he will still be my husband." + +"There will be no disgrace." + +"I do not understand." + +"The government doesn't wish to punish Colonel Darcy; it merely wishes +for his evidence, to aid in the detection of others." + +"But his name will appear." + +"It is strictly stipulated that it shall not do so; be assured your +secret is safe." + +"And he could have sunk so low as to sell himself and those who trusted +him." + +"They were criminals." + +"It doesn't lessen his treachery." + +"Don't waste a thought on him, least of all any sentimental emotion. He +wasted little enough on you, and would have insulted you in my presence, +had I permitted it; he sold your freedom with less compunction than he +sold his honour or his friends." + +"Enough!" she cried, her eyes sparkling. "He is forgotten. We will speak +of something else. Let me use my time to better purpose, by trying to +thank you--to begin to thank you, for all you've done for me." + +"You can repay me if you like." + +"What is the payment, then, for which you ask?" + +"My Chief has received a request from your father this morning, that you +be put in charge of some responsible person, to come home to him." + +"Ah!" she said, "that is no favour, it is good news." + +"You must hear me out. Your father requested the Minister to nominate +your escort." + +"Well?" + +"He has nominated me." + +"What, are you going home?" + +"Almost at once. Will you trust yourself in my hands?" + +"Trust you! I will go with you anywhere! I will trust you always!" + +"Perhaps," he said, looking down into her eyes, as he stood before her, +"I shall ask you to fulfil those promises some day." + +"Perhaps," she replied, rising and standing by his side, "I shall then +be free to answer you," and a radiant smile lit up her face. + +They took each other's hands, and stood silent for a long time. Then he +bade her good-bye, and resumed his walk to the station. + +Midway in his path, a figure lying prone in the tall grass roused itself +into action at his coming, sprang up and stood facing him, flushed, +defiant, and on the verge of tears. + +It was the last person in the world Stanley wished to see--Belle +Fitzgerald. He had felt it was impossible to meet her again; that she +had put herself beyond the pale of his recognition; that it was not even +decent that she should face him; that he should have been left to +forget; and she, seeing all this in his face, and more--longed to throw +her good resolutions to the winds, and cry out against this great +injustice. But as they stood there, her subtle woman's instinct told her +that, even were her innocence proclaimed with the trumpet, the thought +that it had been otherwise would stand between them as an insurmountable +barrier for ever, and she hardened her heart for his sake. + +"You are going away," she said. + +"Yes," he replied, looking down at the road. She told herself +passionately, that he would look anywhere rather than at her. + +"Some of your property has come into my possession," he said. "I wish to +return it to you," and he handed her the receipt for the forty thousand +pounds. + +"I'll trust you'll see," he continued, in a strained voice, "that +Colonel Darcy has his proper share." + +"He shall have what he deserves," she replied coldly; and then she burst +out, her words tumbling one over the other, now that she had found +speech: "You ought to know, you must know, that when Colonel Darcy is +free, we shall be man and wife." + +"I'm very glad," he said, and he said it from his heart. + +There was an awkward pause, neither seemed able to speak. At length he +remarked, more to break the silence than anything:-- + +"You know, I always thought, that, in your heart, you loved Darcy, +before anyone else." + +She laughed her hard, cold laugh, saying:-- + +"You diplomats know everything." + +The Secretary bowed silently and passed on, well satisfied to close the +interview; his thoughts full of the brilliant future which was opening +before him, unconscious that behind him, face down in the grass, a woman +was sobbing her heart out. + + + + +The Dollar Library +of American Fiction + + * * * * * + +TWO GUINEAS, post free, for a SUBSCRIPTION of Twelve Volumes, or +separately in special binding at 4d. per Volume. + + * * * * * + +The American Copyright Act, during its nine years' life, has been of the +greatest benefit to American fiction, if not to American literature in +general. 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LAUT. + +THE CHRONIC LOAFER. +By NELSON LLOYD. + +HER MOUNTAIN LOVER. +By HAMLIN GARLAND. + + +The Dollar Library. +_A Monthly Series of American Fiction._ + + +LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN. +_And at all Booksellers and Bookstalls._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parlous Times, by David Dwight Wells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARLOUS TIMES *** + +***** This file should be named 34925-8.txt or 34925-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/2/34925/ + +Produced by Annie McGuire. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parlous Times + A Novel of Modern Diplomacy + +Author: David Dwight Wells + +Release Date: January 12, 2011 [EBook #34925] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARLOUS TIMES *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print archive. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h3><span class="u">The Dollar Library</span></h3> + +<h2>PARLOUS TIMES</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE DOLLAR LIBRARY</h2> + +<h2>OF AMERICAN FICTION</h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">E. Hough</span>.</h4> + +<h3>PARLOUS TIMES.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">D. D. Wells</span>.</h4> + +<h3>LORDS OF THE NORTH.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">A. C. Laut</span>.</h4> + +<h3>THE CHRONIC LOAFER.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Nelson Lloyd</span>.</h4> + +<h3>HER MOUNTAIN LOVER.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Hamlin Garland</span>.</h4> + +<h4><span class="smcap">etc. etc. etc</span>.</h4> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>LONDON: <span class="smcap">Wm. Heinemann</span>.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>PARLOUS TIMES</h1> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>A NOVEL OF MODERN DIPLOMACY</h3> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>DAVID DWIGHT WELLS</h2> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF</p> + +<p class="center">"HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT," "HIS LORDSHIP'S LEOPARD"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/ill_001.jpg" width="100" height="96" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN. 1901</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p><div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>The Conspiracy</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>Wanted—a Chaperon</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>Parlous Times</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>A Lady in Distress</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>A Gentleman in Distress</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>Afternoon Tea</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>An Irate Husband</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>Diplomatic Instructions</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>A House-warming</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>Before Dinner</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>After Dinner</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>A Morning Call</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>The Serious Side of Miss Fitzgerald's Nature</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>The Serious Side of the Secretary's Nature</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>The Secretary's Intentions</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>Man Proposes</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>Her Husband</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>The Door with the Silver Nails</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>A Midnight Message</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>The Wisdom of Age</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>The Resources of Diplomacy</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>A Little Commission</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>Forty Thousand Pounds</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>A Very Awkward Predicament</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>The Rustle of a Skirt</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>Face to Face</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>The Marriage Register</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>Two Questions</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>In which Death is a Relief</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><b>Two Letters</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI"><b>Miss Fitzgerald Burns her Boats</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII"><b>The Top of the Tower</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><b>The Secret of the Door</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXIV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV"><b>Within the Tower</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXV.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV"><b>The Short Way Out</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXVI.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI"><b>The Day of Reckoning</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXVII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII"><b>The Price of Knowledge</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXVIII.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII"><b>The Price of Love</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXXIX.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX"><b>The Price of Silence</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XL.</td><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XL"><b>The Price of a Lie</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE CONSPIRACY</h3> + +<p>"Forty thousand pounds is a pretty sum of money."</p> + +<p>"Bribery is not a pretty word."</p> + +<p>"No—there should be a better name for private transactions when the +amount involved assumes proportions of such dignity." The speaker smiled +and glanced covertly at his companion.</p> + +<p>"Darcy is our man without doubt. Can you land him? He may hold out for +the lion's share and then refuse on the ground of—honour."</p> + +<p>"Darcy and honour! That is a far call."</p> + +<p>"There is much unsuspected honesty going around."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps—but not Darcy."</p> + +<p>"But what if he refuse?"</p> + +<p>"He cannot."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"That's my secret. I force Darcy's hand for you, and in return I expect +fair recognition."</p> + +<p>"You have our promise, but it must be to-night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> There is no time to +lose. I'll go on to the house. Where will you see Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"Leave that to me. Until morning—<i>adios</i>," and he vanished among the +deep shadows and dark shrubbery.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The sun had sunk red and fiery below the edge of the waving mesa, and a +full tropical moon shed its glory over the landscape, making dark and +mysterious the waving fields of cane, which surrounded the whitewashed +courts of the palatial hacienda. The building was brilliantly lighted +within, and from it came such sounds of discordant merriment as could be +produced only by a singularly inferior native orchestra. Through one of +the long French windows which gave on to the veranda of the house, there +stepped forth the figure of a man. He stood for a moment taking long +breaths of the heavy miasmatic air, as if it were grateful and +refreshing after the stifling atmosphere of the ballroom. Had he not +worn the uniform of a British officer he would still have been +unmistakably military in appearance, standing six feet or over, a fine +specimen of an animal, and handsome to look upon. But it was a weak face +for a soldier, in spite of its bronze and scars, a weakness which was +accentuated by the traces of a recent illness. To judge from his pallor +it had been severe. The man had a pair of shifty grey eyes, which never +by any chance looked you straight in the face, and now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> expressed +ill-concealed ennui and annoyance. Not the countenance of a joyful +bridegroom certainly, and yet, he had but that moment left the side of +his wife of a few hours, the most beautiful woman in that South American +State, and the only child and sole heiress of its most famous planter, +Señor De Costa.</p> + +<p>Up to that day the progress of his suit and the many obstacles which +might intervene to prevent its successful consummation, had given a +certain zest to the game. Now that he had won, he was heartily sick and +tired of the whole affair. Seizing a moment when his wife was dancing +with one of her relations, he had stolen out on the broad veranda to be +alone, and to pull himself together in order that he might play out the +rest of what was, to him, a little comedy; and to the woman +within—well, time would show. The soft moonlight tempted him. His place +was in the ballroom, he knew, but he put one foot off the edge of the +piazza, and as it pressed the soft grass under his feet, he fell a +willing victim to the spell of the night, and strolled slowly off into +the darkness.</p> + +<p>His meditations were not, however, destined to remain uninterrupted. He +had gone scarcely thirty yards when a lithe figure rose suddenly out of +a clump of bushes, and touching him softly on the arm, whispered in +perfect English, without the faintest touch of Spanish accent:—</p> + +<p>"Hist, Señor Darcy. A word with you, and speak softly."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Who the devil are you?" demanded Colonel Darcy, instinctively feeling +for his revolver, for in this remote and not over well-governed section, +a night encounter did not always have a pleasant termination.</p> + +<p>"I mean you no harm," said the stranger, "only good."</p> + +<p>"Then why couldn't you come to the house and see me there?" demanded the +officer brusquely.</p> + +<p>"It was out of consideration for your Excellency," replied the stranger +quietly. "I had the honour to serve under your Excellency some years +ago, in England."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" said the Colonel. "You are Spanish, but——"</p> + +<p>"Of Spanish parents, Señor, but English-born. I joined the regiment at +Blankhampton. My room-mate was Sergeant Tom Mannis."</p> + +<p>Darcy drew in his breath sharply.</p> + +<p>"Your Excellency may remember he died of fever."</p> + +<p>"I never saw or heard of your friend!"</p> + +<p>"Though he was your Excellency's body-servant," suggested the stranger.</p> + +<p>Darcy bit his moustache.</p> + +<p>"When he died," continued the speaker, "he bequeathed certain papers to +me, containing evidence of a ceremony performed over a certain officer +of his regiment, then stationed in Ireland, in the month of August three +years ago."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the Colonel, "I think I see the drift<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> of your remarks, my +friend. You wish to have a little chat with me, eh?"</p> + +<p>The man nodded.</p> + +<p>"It is a pleasant night," continued Darcy, "suppose we stroll a trifle +farther from the house." He slipped his hand furtively behind him.</p> + +<p>"With pleasure," acquiesced the other. "But," he added, as they took +their first step forward, "the Señor will find only blank cartridges in +his revolver. It is a matter that I attended to personally."</p> + +<p>Darcy swore under his breath. Aloud he said, simply:—</p> + +<p>"Say what you have to say, and be quick. I shall be missed from the +ballroom."</p> + +<p>The man nodded again, and plunged abruptly into his narration.</p> + +<p>"There is an island at the mouth of the X——River, off the coast of +this country, as you have probably heard. It contains large +manufactories for the sale of a staple article, which we produce. Owing +to an amiable arrangement between the heads of the firm in England and +our Government, a monopoly of this article is secured to them, in return +for which certain officials in this country receive thousands of pesetas +a year. As your Excellency may remember, a treaty is pending between +this country and Great Britain, looking to the secession of the island +to the latter. If the treaty succeeds, the monopoly, owing to your +accursed free-trade principles, will cease, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> island and its +products be thrown open to competition."</p> + +<p>"It has been suggested by certain patriotically disposed personages, +with a desire for their country's good, that a prearranged disposition +of forty thousand pounds in gold among a majority of the members of the +Cabinet who are to pass upon the treaty some six months hence, might +result in its rejection."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Darcy, shortly, "what of that?"</p> + +<p>"The only difficulty that remains, is the transportation of the bullion +from England to our capital. Those interested in the matter have felt +that if an Englishman of undoubted integrity," there was just a +suspicion of sarcasm in the speaker's tones, "who is so highly connected +in this country that the usual customs formalities would be omitted on +his re-entry, I say, if this Englishman could see his way to bringing +over the gold, things might be satisfactorily arranged."</p> + +<p>"A very interesting little plot," said the officer. "And what would the +philanthropic Englishman receive for his services?"</p> + +<p>"He would receive at the hands of the president of the company a packet +of papers, formally the property of Sergeant Tom Mannis, of her +Britannic Majesty's —th Fusiliers, lately deceased."</p> + +<p>"And what would prevent the philanthropic but muscular Englishman from +wringing the neck of the low-down sneak who has proposed this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> plan to +him, and taking the papers out of his inside pocket?"</p> + +<p>"Because, Excellency, they are now in the safe of the manufacturing +company."</p> + +<p>"And the president of that company?"</p> + +<p>"Is a guest at your Excellency's wedding."</p> + +<p>Darcy clenched his hands nervously. He was battling silently, skilfully, +not to betray the dread which was unnerving him. The music floated out +from the house—fitful and discordant.</p> + +<p>"An Englishman," he said slowly, "never gives way to a threat, but of +course, if he could be brought to see the purely philanthropic side of +the argument, and receive—well, say, five per cent. of the bullion +carried, for his travelling expenses, he might see his way to sacrifice +his personal interests for the good of his adopted country."</p> + +<p>"Good," said the stranger. "The president will meet you the day after +to-morrow, at three o'clock in the afternoon, at the capital in the San +Carlos Club."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Darcy. "Go. Someone's coming!"</p> + +<p>The figure of the stranger faded into the darkness, and a moment later +the soft footsteps of a woman approached.</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>mia carrissima</i>," he said, taking her in his arms. "You have missed +me."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, with a little sigh of satisfied relief, as she felt his +strong embrace about her. "But why did you leave me? I do not +understand."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The air of the room oppressed me. I came out to breathe."</p> + +<p>"I did not know," she said. "I was frightened." And as she raised her +face to him, he saw that she had been crying.</p> + +<p>She might well have commanded any man's attention. Tall and slight, +lissome in every movement of her exquisitely shaped figure, barely +thirty, and very fair withal. Even the tears which sparkled on her long +lashes could not obscure the superb black eyes full of a passion which +betrayed Castilian parentage as surely as did those finely-chiselled +features, and that silky crown of hair which, unbound, must have +descended to her feet. Half Spanish, half Greek, she was a woman to be +looked upon and loved.</p> + +<p>"But, Inez, surely you trusted me?" came the suave tones of +expostulation from her husband.</p> + +<p>"Trusted you, my knight? Have I not trusted you this day with my soul, +with my whole life? You have been so near to death's door, and I have +been so near to losing you, that I fear now, every moment you are out of +my sight."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think there is any danger," he said, laughing. "I am strong +enough now, though I daresay I should never have pulled through without +such a plucky nurse."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," she said. "I can shut my eyes and see you now, how +frightfully ill and worn you were, when you came to my father's house +that night, three months ago, invalided home from India."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," he said. "It was the greatest stroke of luck in my life that I +should have lost my way and have been obliged to beg your hospitality +for the night."</p> + +<p>"And then the fever. The next morning you were delirious. For days you +knew nothing, understood nothing, yet you talked, talked, always."</p> + +<p>Colonel Darcy shifted uneasily.</p> + +<p>"One generally does that," he said. "The raving of delirium."</p> + +<p>"You said things that meant nothing usually. But one name you were +always repeating, a strange English name of a woman."</p> + +<p>"And it was?" he murmured, stroking her hair.</p> + +<p>"Belle. La Belle, I think you meant. And the other name, I do not +remember. It sounded harsh, and I did not like it."</p> + +<p>He laughed nervously.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing for you to be jealous about, <i>cara mia</i>," he said. "It +was the name of a playmate of my childhood. I had not heard or thought +of it for years. But that is the way in fever. The forgotten things, the +things of no importance come uppermost in the mind."</p> + +<p>"And then," she went on, "came that happy day when you knew us, and then +you grew stronger and better, and I realised that you would be going +away from us for ever."</p> + +<p>"Did you think?" he asked softly, "that I could ever have forgotten my +nurse?"</p> + +<p>"I had been unhappy and very lonely. I feared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> to hope for joy again, +till the day that you told me you loved me." And she hid her face on his +shoulder to hide her blushes.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said. "We must think of the present. I have a little surprise +for you. I have been going over my affairs, and I do not think it will +be necessary to take you away from home for so long a time as I had +first thought. I hope that in six months we may be able to return."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she cried. "That is indeed good news! I dread your England. It is +so far away, and so strange."</p> + +<p>"I shall try to teach you to love it. But we must be returning to the +house. Our guests will miss us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," she replied. "I meant to have told you. The president of some +great manufacturing company has arrived to pay his respects, and is +anxious to speak with you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>WANTED—A CHAPERON</h3> + +<p>Aloysius Stanley, Secretary of a South American Embassy, was not happy. +Yet he was counted one of the most fortunate young men in London. Of +good family, and large fortune, he had attained a social position, which +not a few might envy. His rooms faced the park, he belonged to the +swellest and most inane club in town, was <i>ex officio</i> a member of the +Court, and knew at least two duchesses, not perhaps intimately, but well +enough to speak to at a crush. He had been christened Aloysius, because +his father owned a large plantation in a South American Republic—no, it +was a Dictatorship then—and had named his son after the saint on whose +day he had been born, out of consideration for the religious prejudices +of the community.</p> + +<p>His name, then, was Aloysius Stanley, and this was the reason his +intimates called him "Jim." His other titles were "my dear colleague," +when his brethren in the diplomatic corps wanted anything of him, and +"Mr. Secretary" when his chief was wroth.</p> + +<p>Having shown no special aptitude for growing sugar he had been early put +into diplomacy, under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the erroneous impression that it would keep him +out of mischief.</p> + +<p>He was, on the evening on which he is first introduced to us, standing +in the immaculate glory of his dress suit, on the top step of the grand +staircase of the Hyde Park Club.</p> + +<p>His party, a very nice little party of six, had all arrived save one, +and that one was his chaperon. The two young ladies, safe in harbour of +the cloak-room, awaited her coming to flutter forth; the two gentlemen +wandered aimlessly about the now nearly deserted reception-room, for +dinner was served and most of the brilliant parties had already gone to +their respective tables.</p> + +<p>Surely she would come, he told himself; something unavoidable had +detained her. Lady Rainsford was much too conscientious to leave an +unfortunate young man in the lurch without sending at least a +substitute—yet, with it all, there was the sickening suspicion that she +might have met with a carriage accident in crowded Piccadilly; have +received, as she was on the point of starting, the news of some near +relative's death; some untoward accident or stroke of fate, which took +no count of social obligations, and would leave him in this most awful +predicament. Why had he departed from his invariable rule of asking two +married ladies—what if it did cramp him in the number of his guests? +Anything was better than this suspense! If fate was only kind to him +this once, he vowed he would never, as long as he lived, tempt her again +in this respect.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>Hark—what was that! a hansom was driving at break-neck speed up to the +ladies' entrance. Some other belated guest—Lady Rainsford had her own +carriage—no, a man—and— Good Heavens! it, was her Ladyship's—butler. +Something had happened. He needed no page to summon him—he rushed down, +two stairs at a time.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, no message," explained the flustered butler—"I come on my own +responsibility—seeing as her Ladyship had fainted dead away as she was +just a putting on her opera cloak—and knowing as she was coming to you, +sir, as soon as the doctors had been sent for, I jumps into a cab and +comes here to let you know as you couldn't expect her no-how—her not +having revived when I left—and— Thank you, sir——" as Stanley, +cutting short his volubility, pressed a half-sovereign into his hand, to +pay him for his cab fare and his trouble—adding as he did so:—</p> + +<p>"Pray request her Ladyship not to worry herself about me, I shall be +able, doubtless, to make other arrangements—and—express my deep +regrets at her indisposition." The man touched his hat and was gone, and +the Secretary slowly reascended the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Make other arrangements!" Ah, that was easier said than done. What +would his guests say when he confessed to them his awkward dilemma? Lady +Isabelle McLane would raise her eyebrows, call a cab, and go home, would +infinitely prefer to do so than to remain under the present conditions. +But Belle? Without doubt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Belle Fitzgerald would do the same—not +because she wished to, but because Lady Isabelle did. And the two +men—they would probably stay and chaff him about it the rest of the +evening. Lieutenant Kingsland always chaffed everybody—he could stand +that—but Kent-Lauriston's quiet, well-bred cynicism, would, he felt, +under the circumstances, simply drive him mad.</p> + +<p>Yet, they must be told. He must face the music, or find a chaperon, and +how could he do the latter in a maze of people whom he did not know, and +who were all engaged to their own dinner-parties? Outside the Club it +was hopeless, for there was no time to send for any lady friend, even +were such an one dressed and waiting to come at his behest. A telephone +might have saved the situation, but London is above telephones; they are +not sufficiently exclusive. No, he must meet his fate, and bear it like +a man, and none of his guests would ever forget it or forgive him, or +accept any of his invitations again.</p> + +<p>Stanley ascended the stairs with the sensations of an early Christian +martyr going to the arena—indeed, he felt that a brace of hungry lions +would be a happy release from his present predicament. As he reached the +top step, a conversation, carried on in the low but excited tones of a +man and a woman, reached his ears, which caused him to pause, partly out +of curiosity at what he heard, but more because the words carried, in +their meaning, a ray of hope to his breast.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, I will not dine with those men. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> is an insult to have +asked me to receive them, they are——", but here the man, evidently her +husband, interrupted earnestly in a low tone of voice, begging her to be +silent, but she did not heed his request.</p> + +<p>"I tell you," she continued, as he passed on to the dining-rooms, "I +will go back alone. Ugh! how I despise you!" loathing and contempt stung +in her words. "If only my father were here, he would never permit——" +She turned suddenly, and crossed the hall to the staircase, coming face +to face with the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"What— Inez? You? I did not know you were in London. But of course— I +might have known— Then that was Colonel Darcy? I have never had an +opportunity to congratulate him or—to wish you every happiness," he +added bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Don't, Jim! Don't!" There was something suspiciously like a sob in her +low voice. "That is a mockery I cannot stand—at least from you."</p> + +<p>"I fail to understand how my wishes, good or otherwise, would mean +anything to Madame Darcy."</p> + +<p>"No—you do not understand. That is just it. Oh, Jim—it has all been a +piteous, horrible mistake. They lied to me—and then you did not come +back. They said you were—oh, can't you see?"</p> + +<p>The Secretary looked at the beautiful face before him, now flushed and +distressed. How well he knew every line of that exquisite profile and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +the hair parted low and drawn back lightly from the brow.</p> + +<p>"Let me explain," he urged hotly.</p> + +<p>Madame Darcy had recovered her self-possession and drew herself up with +a gesture of proud dignity.</p> + +<p>"No—" she answered gently. "This is neither the time nor place for +explanations between us. Will you see me to my carriage—please?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't go! I need you so. Please stay and help me out of a most +embarrassing situation."</p> + +<p>"What can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see it is a most awkward predicament. My chaperon has been +taken suddenly ill at the last moment, and is unable to be present," he +began, plunging boldly into his subject. "As I am entertaining two young +ladies at dinner to-night, you will understand my unfortunate situation. +Will you honour me by accepting the vacant place at the head of my +table, as my chaperon?"</p> + +<p>Madame Darcy said nothing for a moment, but looked intently at the +Secretary.</p> + +<p>"Who form your party, Mr. Stanley?" she asked presently.</p> + +<p>"Do not call me Mr. Stanley, Inez."</p> + +<p>"It is better—at least for the present."</p> + +<p>"As you wish, Madame Darcy," he acquiesced stiffly.</p> + +<p>"I cannot explain now—but believe me it is wiser. And your party +consists of—?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle McLane, daughter of the Dowager Marchioness of Port +Arthur, Miss Fitzgerald, a niece of Lord Axminster, Lieutenant +Kingsland, of the Royal Navy, and Lionel Kent-Lauriston—well, everybody +knows him."</p> + +<p>She smiled.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "I have met him; he is most charming." In saying which +she but voiced the generally accepted verdict of society.</p> + +<p>Everyone knew Kent-Lauriston and everyone liked him. He was a type of +the most delightful class of Englishman. With all his insular prejudices +strong within him, and combining in his personality those rugged virtues +for which the name of Britain is a synonym, he had in addition that +rarest of talents, the quality of being all things to all men; for he +was possessed of great tact and sympathy flavoured with a cheerful +cynicism which hurt no one, and lent a piquancy to his conversation. It +was said of him, were he put down in any English shire, he would not +need to walk five miles to find a country house where he would be a +welcome and an honoured guest.</p> + +<p>"Then I may hope that you will do me this great kindness?" continued the +Secretary.</p> + +<p>"I accept with pleasure."</p> + +<p>"And Colonel Darcy——" he began.</p> + +<p>"My husband," she replied, not waiting for him to finish his sentence, +"cannot possibly have any objection to my dining with my country's +diplomatic representative. I will speak to him, however, and tell him +when to order my carriage,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> and she passed into the next room. Though +unperceived himself, the Secretary saw reflected in a great mirror the +scene that followed; her proud reserve as she delivered her dictum to +her husband, his gesture of impatient anger, and the look which attended +it; and finally the contempt with which she turned her back on him and +swept out of the room. A moment later she was by Stanley's side, +saying:—</p> + +<p>"Will you take me to your guests?"</p> + +<p>As she entered the reception room on the Secretary's arm, he trembled +with evident agitation. Her marvellous beauty, the wonderful charm of +her voice and manner brought to mind only too vividly a realising sense +of something he had once hoped for—of something which, of late, he had +tried to forget. Yet he was about to give a dinner to a lady whose +future relations with himself had been a subject of debate for some +months, not only in his own mind, but in the minds of his friends.</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald was the guest of the evening, and, it must be allowed, +was one of the most winsome, heart-wrecking, Irish girls that ever +delighted the gaze of a youth. She was tall, fair, and almost too slim +for perfection of form, though possessed of a lissomeness of body that +more than compensated for this lack, and she had, in addition, the +frankest pair of blue eyes, and the most gorgeous halo of golden hair, +that could well be imagined.</p> + +<p>She was possessed of a legendary family in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Ireland, and numerous sets +of relations, who, though not very closely connected, were much in +evidence in the social world of London. She had, however, no settled +abiding place, and no visible means of support. She was sparkling, +light-hearted, and perfect dare-devil, and the town rang with the +histories of her exploits. All the men were devoted to her, and as a +result, she was cordially hated by all the dowagers, because she +effectively spoiled the chances of dozens of other less vivacious but +more eligible debutantes. The remainder of the guests were brought +together rather by circumstance than by design. Kent-Lauriston had been +especially invited, because the Secretary knew him to be greatly +prejudiced against the fascinating Belle, with regard to any matrimonial +intentions she might be fostering. Miss Fitzgerald herself had suggested +the Lieutenant, and the Lieutenant had opportunely hinted that his +distant connection Lady Isabelle did not know Miss Fitzgerald, and as +they were all to meet in a country house in Sussex at the end of the +week, perhaps it would be pleasanter to become acquainted beforehand.</p> + +<p>At Madame Darcy's coming, such a feeling of relief was made manifest +that her task would have been light, had not her charm of manner served +to put all immediately at their ease. The ladies welcomed her warmly as +a solution of an embarrassing situation, and with men she was always a +favourite, so the little party lost no time in seeking their already +belated dinner.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>At first, indeed, there was a little constraint, owing to the fact that +Lady Isabelle, a type of the frigid high-class British maiden, was +disposed to assume an icy reserve towards Miss Fitzgerald, a young lady +of whom she and her mother, a dragon among dowagers, thoroughly +disapproved.</p> + +<p>The conversation was desultory, as is mostly the case at dinners, and +not till the champagne had been passed for the second time did it become +general, then it turned upon racing.</p> + +<p>"You were at Ascot, I suppose?" asked Miss Fitzgerald of Madame Darcy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," she replied, "They are very amusing—your English races."</p> + +<p>She spoke with just the slightest shade of foreign intonation, which +rendered her speech charming. "I was on half a coach with four horses."</p> + +<p>"What became of the other half?" queried the Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"That is not what you call it—it is not a pull——?" she ventured, a +little shy at their evident amusement.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you mean a drag," suggested Stanley, coming to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it," she laughed, a bewitching little laugh, clear as a +bell, adding, "I knew it was something it did not do."</p> + +<p>"I always go in the Royal Enclosure," murmured Miss Fitzgerald +languidly, turning her gaze on the Secretary, while she toyed with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +course then before her. "It's beastly dull, but then one must do the +correct thing."</p> + +<p>It was a very simple game she was playing—quite pathetic in its +simplicity—but dangerous in the presence of Lady Isabelle, in whose +veins a little of the dragon blood certainly ran, as well as a great +deal that was blue, and Miss Fitzgerald's assumption was a gage of +battle not to be disregarded.</p> + +<p>"Really. I gave up the Enclosure several years ago. It is getting so +common nowadays," said her Ladyship, growing a degree more frigid while +the Irish girl flushed.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Miss Fitzgerald enjoyed a run of luck to compensate her for the +assemblage?" suggested Kent-Lauriston drily.</p> + +<p>"No," responded that young lady. "I came a beastly cropper."</p> + +<p>"That was too bad for you," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Or somebody else," suggested the Lieutenant, and amidst a burst of +laughter Miss Fitzgerald regained her good humour.</p> + +<p>"Possibly our host had better luck," ventured Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"Oh, His Diplomacy never bets," laughed Miss Fitzgerald. "He is much too +busy hatching plots at the Legation."</p> + +<p>"I protest!" cried that gentleman. "Don't you believe them, Madame +Darcy. I'm entirely harmless."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" she said. "I thought one must never believe a diplomat."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, at the present day, and in a country like England, our duties are +very prosaic."</p> + +<p>"Come now, confess," cried Miss Fitzgerald, laughing. "Haven't you some +delightfully mysterious intrigue on hand, that you either spend your +days in concealing from your brother diplomats, or are dying to find +out, as the case may be?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he replied gravely, "but my duties and +tastes are not in the least romantic."</p> + +<p>"At least, not in the direction of diplomacy," murmured the Lieutenant, +giving the waiter a directive glance towards his empty champagne glass.</p> + +<p>"You have a beautiful country, Miss Fitzgerald," came the soft voice of +Madame Darcy, who had heard the aside, and was sorry for the young girl +at whom it was directed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Ireland, you mean. Yes, I love it."</p> + +<p>"We are mostly Irish here," laughed Lieutenant Kingsland. "One of my +ancestors carried a blackthorn, and Miss Belle Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"Belle Fitzgerald!" she said, starting and looking keenly at the Irish +girl, who turned towards her as her name was mentioned, "are you the +Belle Fitzgerald who knows my husband, Colonel Darcy—so—well——"</p> + +<p>"Your husband?" she said slowly, looking Madame Darcy straight in the +face. "Your husband? No, I have never met <i>your</i> husband. I do not know +him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lieutenant Kingsland, seeing the attention of the company diverted from +his direction, half closed his eyes, and softly drew in his breath. Just +then the orchestra made an hejira to the drawing-room, and the little +party hastened to follow in its footsteps, in search of more music, +liqueurs, coffee, cigarettes, and the most comfortable corner.</p> + +<p>"My dear Jim," expostulated his guest of honour, half an hour later, +"there is not a drop of green Chartreuse, and you know I never drink the +yellow. Do be a good boy and run over to the dining-room, and persuade +the steward to give us some."</p> + +<p>As he rose and left them, obedient to the Irish girl's request, she +leaned over to Kingsland, who was seated next her, and handing him a +square envelope, said quietly, and in a low voice:—</p> + +<p>"I want this given to Colonel Darcy before Stanley returns—his party is +still in the dining-room. Don't let our crowd see you take it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say," he expostulated, inspecting the missive which was blank and +undirected, "it's a risky thing to do, especially in the face of the +whopper you just told his wife about not knowing him."</p> + +<p>"I had to, 'Dottie'—I had indeed—she's so jealous she would tear the +eyes out of any woman who ventured to speak to him."</p> + +<p>"I won't do anything for you if you call me 'Dottie.' You know I hate +it."</p> + +<p>"Well, Jack then—dear Jack—do it to please<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> me and don't stand there +talking, Stanley may return any minute."</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll go."</p> + +<p>"And don't flourish that envelope, it's most important and—it's too +late."</p> + +<p>"The Chartreuse is coming," broke in the Secretary. "I met the steward +in the hall—a letter to be posted?" he continued, seeing the missive, +which the Lieutenant held blankly in his hand. "Give it to me, and I'll +attend to it."</p> + +<p>A sharper man might have saved the situation, but sharpness was not one +of Kingsland's attributes, and dazed by the sudden turn of affairs, he +allowed Stanley to take the letter.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's not addressed!" he exclaimed, examining the envelope which +bore no mark save the initials A. R. in blue, on the flap. "Whom is it +to go to?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied the Lieutenant, shamefacedly.</p> + +<p>"Where did it come from?"</p> + +<p>Kingsland looked about for help or an inspiration, and finding neither +fell back on the same form of words, repeating, "I don't know."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald had started up on the impulse of the moment, but sank +back in her seat as the Secretary said, slipping the missive into the +inside pocket of his dress-coat:—</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I must constitute myself a dead-letter office, and hold +this mysterious document till called for."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>PARLOUS TIMES</h3> + +<p>"We are living in parlous times," said the Chief Confidential Clerk, of +the Departmental Head of the South American Section of Her Majesty's +Foreign Office.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley, Secretary of South American Legation, bowed and said +nothing. Inwardly, he wondered just what "parlous" meant, and made a +mental note to look it up in a dictionary on the first opportunity that +offered.</p> + +<p>The Chief Confidential Clerk was the most genial of men, who always +impressed one with the feeling that, diplomatic as he might be at all +other times, this was the particular moment when he would relax his +vigilance and unburden his official heart. As a result, those who came +to unearth his secrets generally ended by telling him theirs.</p> + +<p>In this instance neither of the speakers knew anything of the subject in +hand, a treaty relating to the possession of a sand bar at the mouth of +a certain South American river. A matter said to have had its rise in a +fit of royal indigestion, in the sixteenth century. Somehow it had +never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> been settled. Each new ministry, each new revolutionary +government was "bound to see it through," and the treaty was constantly +on the verge of being "brought to an amicable conclusion," just as it +had been for nearly three hundred years.</p> + +<p>The fate of nations had, in short, drifted on that sand-bar and stuck +fast, at least the fate of one nation and the clemency of another.</p> + +<p>The Chief Confidential Clerk was not conscious that he was really +ignorant of the subject in hand—no true diplomat ever is—the young +Secretary was painfully aware of his own unenlightenment.</p> + +<p>"You are to understand," his Minister had said, "that you know nothing +concerning the status of the Treaty."</p> + +<p>"But, I do not know anything, Your Excellency," admitted the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"So much the better," replied the Minister, "for then you cannot talk +about it."</p> + +<p>The result of this state of affairs was, that at the end of half an hour +the Chief Confidential Clerk had discovered that the Secretary knew +nothing, while the Secretary had discovered—nothing.</p> + +<p>"We are living in parlous times," said the English official, "parlous +times, Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>Then his lunch arrived, and the interview closed in consequence.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said the Secretary, half to himself and half to the horse, +as he trundled clubwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> in a hansom, "I wonder if I could write out a +report of that last remark; it might mean so much—or so little."</p> + +<p>Stanley did not worry much over his failure to extract information at +the Foreign Office, because he was much more worried over deciding +whether he was really in love with Belle Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>That young lady had been the cause of much anxiety to all those friends +who had his interests at heart, and from whom he had received advice and +covert suggestions, all tending to uphold the joys of a bachelor +existence as compared with the uncertainties of married life. They had +spoken with no uncertain voice. It was he who had wavered, to-day, +believing that she was the one woman on earth for him; to-morrow, sure +that it was merely infatuation. Now his decision had been forced. He was +invited to a house-party at her aunt's, Mrs. Roberts; Belle would be +there, and if he accepted, he would, in all probability, never leave +Roberts' Hall a free man.</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald and the Secretary had seen a great deal of each other +during the season just drawing to a close. At first, as he assured +himself and his friends, it was merely "hail, fellow, well met," but +when he came to know the Irish girl better, their relations assumed a +different significance, as he gradually realised the isolated position +she occupied. Interest had changed to pity. He regretted that, for lack +of guidance, she seemed to be her own worst enemy, and feared that her +really sweet nature might be hardened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> or embittered from contact with +the world. He told himself he must decide at once whether he loved this +wilful girl, and should ask her to give him the right to protect her +from the world and from herself.</p> + +<p>Yet Stanley was keenly sensitive of the rashness of the step he +contemplated. The sweet bells of memory ring out whether land or sea +separates us. In spite of much honest effort on his part, the picture of +a beautiful face could not be banished from his mind. Now, just when he +was convincing himself that he could put the past behind him, Inez +crossed his path again.</p> + +<p>He grew bitter at the thought. "She did not trust me. She never loved me +or she could not have married that scoundrel, Darcy. It is all over +now—and Belle needs a protector."</p> + +<p>On the other hand, he realised how many reasons opposed such a course of +action. His father, his colleagues, and society, demanded something +better of him. That very social position which had put him in the way of +meeting his inamorata required of him in return that he should not make +a mesalliance, while sober common sense assured him with an irritating +persistence that the world could not be persuaded to perceive that Miss +Fitzgerald had any of the necessary qualifications for the position +which he proposed to give her. But he was young and high-spirited, and +these very limitations which society imposed, irritated him into a +desire to do something rash. He was still, however, possessed of a +substratum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> of worldly wisdom, and knowing that left to his own devices +he would certainly go to Mrs. Roberts', regardless of what might follow, +he resolved to give himself one more chance. If he could not guide +himself, he might, in this crisis, be guided by the stronger will of +another. He determined to ask advice of his friend Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>In a case of this sort, Lionel Kent-Lauriston was thoroughly in his +element, having assisted at hundreds of the little comedies and +tragedies of life, which do more to determine the future of men and +women than any great crisis.</p> + +<p>His creed may be summed up in the fact that he loved all things to be +done "decently and in order." In a word he was a connoisseur of life, +and the good things thereof. Unobtrusive, always harmonious, he knew +everyone worth knowing, went everywhere worth going. Lucky the youth who +had him for his guide, philosopher and friend. He could show him life's +pleasantest paths.</p> + +<p>Stanley was one of these favoured few. They had met soon after he came +to England, and the younger man had conceived a genuine admiration for +the older.</p> + +<p>It seems hardly necessary to say, that Kent-Lauriston, though (or +because) a bachelor, was an authority on matchmaking. He had reduced it +to a fine art. His keen eye saw the subtle distinction between the +vulgar buying and selling of a woman, with the consequent desecration of +the marriage service, and the blind love, which, hot-headed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> sacrifices +all the considerations of wisdom to the passion of the hour.</p> + +<p>"Never marry without love," he would say, "but learn to love wisely."</p> + +<p>It was to this man that the Secretary determined to make confession. +Kent-Lauriston, he was sure, did not approve of the match and would use +his strongest arguments to dissuade him from it. Stanley knew this was +the moral tonic he needed. He did not believe it would be successful, +but he determined to give it a fair trial.</p> + +<p>The Secretary reached his decision and his destination at one and the +same moment, and feeling that his good resolutions would be the better +sustained by a little nutriment, made his way to the luncheon table for +which this particular club was justly famous; indeed, few people +patronised it for anything else, situated as it was, almost within city +limits, and boasting, as its main attraction, an excellent view of the +most uninteresting portion of the Thames.</p> + +<p>Happening to look in the smoking-room, on his way upstairs, Stanley +caught sight of Lieutenant Kingsland.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" he said. "You lunching here?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," returned the other, laughing uneasily. "I'm inclined to +think not. Viscount Chilsworth asked me to meet him here to-day; but, as +he's half an hour late already——"</p> + +<p>"You think your luncheon is rather problematical?"</p> + +<p>"I was just coming to that conclusion."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Make it a certainty, then, and lunch with me."</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, you forget that I dined with you last night."</p> + +<p>"What of that? When I first came to London, I was told that an English +club was a place where one went to be alone—but I prefer company to +custom."</p> + +<p>"Yes—but there are limits to imposing on a friend's hospitality. While +I'm about it, I might as well share your breakfast and bed."</p> + +<p>"Not the latter, in any event, as long as I'm in small bachelor +quarters."</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," he began, "if you'll forgive me——"</p> + +<p>"There's one thing I won't forgive you," interrupted the Secretary, "and +that is keeping me a moment longer from my lunch, for I'm ravenously +hungry. I just want to send a telegram to Kent-Lauriston, asking him to +meet me at the club this afternoon, and then I'll be with you."</p> + +<p>Once they were settled at the table and the orders given, their +conversation turned to general subjects.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we'll all meet at the end of the week in Sussex," said the +Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Stanley, "at Mrs. Roberts'."</p> + +<p>"Is it to be a large party?"</p> + +<p>"I don't imagine so. Sort of house-warming. They've just inherited the +estate. Belle Fitzgerald,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> you and I, and the Port Arthurs— I don't +know who else."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me," exclaimed Kingsland, "I must hurry through lunch. I +promised the Marchioness I'd do a picture exhibition with her Ladyship +at three, and it's nearly two, now."</p> + +<p>"Under orders as usual, I see," said his host, and the Lieutenant +shrugged his shoulders and looked sheepish. He was weak, impecunious, +handsome and dashing, and rumour said just a bit wild, and, moreover, +was known throughout the social world of London as the tame cat of the +Dowager Marchioness of Port Arthur; a very distant relative of his, and +as the especially privileged companion of her only daughter, Lady +Isabelle McLane, on the tacit understanding that he would never so far +forget himself as to aspire to that daughter's hand.</p> + +<p>"I say," remarked that officer, who did not relish the turn which the +conversation had taken, "tell me something about your country."</p> + +<p>"Do you desire a complete geographical and political disquisition?" +asked the Secretary, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Hardly. What's it like?"</p> + +<p>"The climate and Government of my country are both tropical."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you mean intense, and subject to violent changes."</p> + +<p>The Secretary looked out of the window at the most uninteresting view of +the Thames, saying:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think we're going to have a thunderstorm."</p> + +<p>"Am I to take that remark in a political sense?" inquired the +Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I've told you," said his host abruptly, discontinuing +an inopportune subject, "that I'm a South American only by force of +circumstances. My parents were born in the States."</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow," Kingsland hastened to assure him, "I never had the +least intention of prying into your affairs, domestic or diplomatic. I +was merely wondering if the country you represent brought forth any +staple products, which would yield a profitable return to foreign +investment?"</p> + +<p>The Secretary mentioned one—which was said to be connected prominently +with the treaty which was the subject of his recent visit to the Foreign +Office—and so was naturally uppermost in his mind—"but," he added, +"that staple is practically a monopoly, controlled by a firm of +manufacturers, whose headquarters are in London, and, unless they fail, +the outside public would have little chance in the same field."</p> + +<p>"I suppose their failure is hardly likely."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that—it all depends on a treaty now pending between +your Government and mine. Frankly, if I had any money to invest, I would +not expend it in that direction."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. By the way, if your land doesn't produce good investments, +it certainly brings forth beautiful women. What wonderful beauty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> that +Madame Darcy has, who dined with us last night."</p> + +<p>"Our fathers are old friends," replied Stanley.</p> + +<p>"Ah, what a pity," said the Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"That she should not have married you, I mean, instead of that bounder +Darcy. I have heard his name more than once in official circles, and +there's precious little to be said in his favour. But his wife—ah, +there's a woman any man might be proud to marry. Such beauty, such +refinement, so much reserve. Rather a contrast to our fascinating Belle, +eh?"</p> + +<p>"I have the greatest respect for Miss Fitzgerald," said the Secretary +stiffly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but not of the marriageable quality," said the Lieutenant, +speaking <i>ex cathedra</i> as one who had also been in the fair Irish girl's +train. "Oh no, my dear fellow, a woman of Madame Darcy's type is the +woman for you. The Fitzgerald, believe me, would break a man's heart or +his bank account, in no time."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Stanley shortly, "I don't like that sort of thing."</p> + +<p>"Don't turn nasty, old chap," said Kingsland. "I'm only speaking for +your good. I'd be the last man to run down a woman. I love the whole +sex, and the little Fitzgerald is no end jolly, to play with, but to +marry—! By the way, have you heard of her latest exploit. The town's +ringing with it. She——"</p> + +<p>"Thanks, I'd rather not hear it," replied the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> Secretary, who just now +was trying to forget some phases of her nature.</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" broke in the Lieutenant—"speaking of angels—there she is +now."</p> + +<p>"What, down in this section of the city?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in a hansom cab."</p> + +<p>"An angel in a hansom!" cried the Secretary, "that's certainly a +combination worth seeing," and rising, he stepped to the window, +followed by Kingsland. The two men were just in time to see the lady in +question dash by along the Embankment, and to note that she was not +alone. Indeed, even the fleeting glimpse which they caught of her +companion was sufficiently startling to engrave his likeness indelibly +on their minds.</p> + +<p>He was an oldish man, of say sixty, clad in a nondescript grey suit of +no distinguishable style or date, surmounted by a soft felt hat of the +type which distinguished Americans are said to affect in London, while +his high cheek bones and prominent nose might have given him credit for +having Indian blood in his veins, had not his dead white skin belied the +charge. He was possessed, moreover, of huge bushy brows, beneath which a +ferret's keen eyes peeped out, and were never for an instant still.</p> + +<p>"Gad!" exclaimed the Lieutenant, "this promises to be the strangest +escapade of all."</p> + +<p>"Who the devil is he?" demanded Stanley, facing around, with almost an +accusing note in his voice.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant returned his glance squarely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, he's the man who gave her—I mean, who was talking to her last +night at the Hyde Park Club."</p> + +<p>"Last night? I don't remember seeing him."</p> + +<p>"It was when you were waltzing up and down stairs in search of a +chaperon."</p> + +<p>"Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, I'm sure," replied the Lieutenant brusquely, lighting a +cigarette, and thrusting his hands in his trousers' pockets.</p> + +<p>"But you must have some idea?"</p> + +<p>"Never saw him before last night, I assure you. Must be off now, old +chap. Late for my appointment already. Thanks awfully for the lunch. See +you at Lady Rainsford's tea this afternoon? Yes. All right. Hansom!"</p> + +<p>And he was gone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A LADY IN DISTRESS</h3> + +<p>After lunch the Secretary returned to the Legation and made out his +report to his Minister, concerning the treaty. He had looked up the word +"parlous" in the dictionary, and found that it meant, "whimsical, +tricky,"—a sinister interpretation he felt, when connected with +anything diplomatic; moreover the Foreign Office was distressingly +uninformed on the subject, another reason for suspicion. Yet, as far as +he knew—only the mere formalities of settlement remained, the +ratification by vote of his home Government—the exchange of +protocols—and behold it was accomplished—much to the credit of his +Minister and the satisfaction of all concerned. Doubtless the visit was +nothing more than a bit of routine work, and his private affairs seeming +for the time more important, he dismissed it from his mind as not worthy +of serious consideration and compiled an elaborate report of three +pages, not forgetting to mention the arrival of the Chief Clerk's lunch, +as matter which might legitimately be used to fill up space. This done, +he was about to leave the office in order to meet his appointment with +Kent-Lauriston, when John, the genial functionary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> of the Legation, +beamed upon him from the door, presenting him a visiting card, and +informing him that a lady was waiting in the ante-room.</p> + +<p>"An' she's that 'ansome, sir, it would do your eyes good to see 'er."</p> + +<p>The Secretary answered somewhat testily that his eyes were in excellent +condition as it was, and that the lady did not deserve to be seen at all +for coming so much after office-hours, and delaying him just as he was +about to keep an appointment—then his eyes happened to fall on the card +and his tone changed at once.</p> + +<p>"Madame Darcy!" he exclaimed. "Why, what can have brought her to see +me!—John, show the lady in at once, and—say my time is quite at her +service."</p> + +<p>A glance at his fair chaperon of the night before, as she entered the +room, told him that she was in great trouble, and he sprang forward to +take both her hands in his, with a warmth of greeting which he would +have found it hard to justify, except on an occasion of such evident +sorrow.</p> + +<p>"Inez—Madame Darcy," he said, leading her to his most comfortable +arm-chair—"this is indeed a pleasure—but do not tell me that you are +in distress."</p> + +<p>"I am in very great trouble."</p> + +<p>"Anything that I can do to serve you—I need hardly say," he murmured, +and paused, fascinated by this picture of lovely grief.</p> + +<p>"I was prompted to come to you," she replied,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> "by your kindness of last +evening, for I knew you had seen and understood, and were still my +friend, and also my national representative in a foreign land, to ask +your aid for a poor country-woman who is in danger of being deprived of +her freedom, if not of her reason."</p> + +<p>"But surely you are not speaking of yourself!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of myself."</p> + +<p>The young diplomat said nothing for a moment or two, he was arranging +his ideas—adjusting them to this new and interesting phase of his +experience with Madame Darcy.</p> + +<p>As a Secretary of Legation is generally the father confessor of his +compatriots—he had ceased to be surprised at anything. People may +deceive their physician, their lawyer, or the partner of their joys and +sorrows; but to their country's representative in a strange land they +unburden their hearts.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," he said finally, breaking the silence, "just what your +trouble is."</p> + +<p>"I need sympathy and help."</p> + +<p>"The first you have already," he replied with a special reserve in his +manner, for he felt somehow that it was hardly fair that she should +bring herself to his notice again, when he had almost made up his mind +to marry a lady of whom all his friends disapproved. Indeed, in the last +few minutes the force of Kingsland's remarks had made themselves felt +very strongly, and he especially exerted himself to be brusque, feeling +in an odd kind of way that he owed it to Miss Fitzgerald.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> So putting on +his most official tone he added, "to help you, Madame Darcy, I must +understand your case clearly."</p> + +<p>"Don't call me by that name—give me my own—as you once did. My +husband's a brute."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, undoubtedly; but unfortunately that does not change your +name."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind shutting the door?" she replied somewhat irrelevantly. +They were, as has been said, in the Secretary's private office, a dreary +room, its furniture, three chairs, a desk and a bookcase full of +forbidding legal volumes, its walls littered with maps, and its one +window looking out on the unloveliness of a London business street.</p> + +<p>As he returned to his seat, after executing her request, she began +abruptly:—</p> + +<p>"You're not a South American."</p> + +<p>"No, my father was a Northerner, but, as you know, he owned large sugar +plantations in your country, and if training and sympathy can make me a +South American, I am one."</p> + +<p>"You're a Protestant."</p> + +<p>"Yes, so are you."</p> + +<p>"It is my mother's faith, and though I was brought up in a convent at +New Orleans, I've not forsaken it. I feel easier in speaking to you on +that account."</p> + +<p>"You may rest assured, my dear, that what you say to me will go no +farther. 'Tis my business to keep secrets."</p> + +<p>"Two years ago," she began abruptly, plunging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> into her story, "after +our—after you left home, an Englishman, a soldier returning from the +East incapacitated by a fever, and travelling for his health, craved a +night's rest at my father's house. As you know, in a country like ours, +where decent inns are few and far between, travellers are always +welcome. It was the hot season, we pressed him to stay for a day or two, +he accepted, and a return of the fever made him our guest for months. He +needed constant nursing—I—I was the only white woman on the +plantation."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Stanley. "You nursed him, he recovered, was grateful, paid +you homage."</p> + +<p>"Remember I was brought up in a convent. I was so alone and so unhappy. +He told me you had married. I believed him—trusted him.</p> + +<p>"Quite so. His name was Darcy. He is a liar."</p> + +<p>"He is—my husband."</p> + +<p>"A gentleman—I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"The world accords him that title," she replied coldly.</p> + +<p>"I understand— He's a man of means?"</p> + +<p>"He has nothing but his pay."</p> + +<p>"And you—but that question is unnecessary. Señor De Costa's name and +estates are well known—and you are his only child."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you're right," she burst out. "It's my money, my cursed money! Why +do men call it a blessing! Oh, if I could trust him, I'd give him every +penny of it. But I cannot, it's the one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> hold I have on him, and because +I will not beggar myself to supply means for his extravagances he +dares——"</p> + +<p>"Not personal violence, surely?"</p> + +<p>"To put me away somewhere—in a retreat, he calls it. That means a +madhouse."</p> + +<p>"My dear Madame Darcy!"</p> + +<p>"Call me Inez De Costa, I will <i>not</i> have that name of Darcy, I hate +it."</p> + +<p>"My dear Inez, then; your fears are groundless; they can't put sane +people in madhouses any longer in England, except in cheap fiction—it's +against the law."</p> + +<p>"It's very easy for you to sit there and talk of law. You, who are +protected by your office, but for me, for a poor woman whose liberty is +threatened!"</p> + +<p>"I assure you that you're in no such danger as you apprehend."</p> + +<p>"But if I were put away, you would help me?"</p> + +<p>"You shall suffer no injustice that we can prevent. You may return home +and rest easy on that score."</p> + +<p>"I shall never return to that man."</p> + +<p>"Why not return to your father?"</p> + +<p>"Would that I could!" she exclaimed, her eyes brimming with tears. "But +how can I, with no money and no friends?"</p> + +<p>"I thought you said——" began the Secretary, but his interruption was +lost in the flow of her eloquence.</p> + +<p>"I've not a penny. I can cash no cheque that's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> not made to his order, +and to come to you I must degrade myself by borrowing a sovereign from +my maid. I've travelled third-class!"</p> + +<p>The Secretary smiled at the ante-climax, saying:</p> + +<p>"Many people of large means travel third-class habitually."</p> + +<p>"But not a De Costa," she broke in, and then continued her narration +with renewed ardour.</p> + +<p>"I've no roof to shelter me to-night. No where to go. No clothes except +what I wear. No money but those few shillings; but I would rather starve +and die in the streets than go back to him. I'm rich. I've powerful +friends. You can't have the heart to turn away from me. Have you +forgotten the old friendship? You must do something—something to save +me——" and in the passion, of her southern nature she threw herself at +his feet, and burst into an agony of tears.</p> + +<p>Stanley assisted her to rise, got her a glass of water, and had cause, +for the second time in that interview, to thank his stars that love had +already shot another shaft, because if it were not for Belle, his +official position, and the fact that the Señora had one husband +already—well—it was a relief to be forced to tell her that legations +were not charitable institutions, and that much as he might desire to +aid her, neither he nor his colleagues could interfere in her private +affairs.</p> + +<p>"Then you refuse to assist me—you leave me to my fate!" she cried, +starting up, a red flush of anger mantling her cheek.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not at all," he hastened to say. "On the contrary, I'm going to help +you all I know how. I can't interfere myself, but I can refer you to a +friend of mine, whom you can thoroughly trust, and who's in a position +to aid you in the matter."</p> + +<p>"And his name?"</p> + +<p>"His name is Peter Sanks, the lawyer of the Legation, a gentleman, truly +as well as technically. A countryman of yours who has practised both +here and at home, and who always feels a keen interest in the affairs of +his compatriots. He has chambers in the Middle Temple. I'll give you his +address on my card."</p> + +<p>"You're most kind— I'll throw myself without delay on the clemency of +this Señor——"</p> + +<p>"Sanks."</p> + +<p>"<i>Madre de Dios!</i> What a name!"</p> + +<p>"I dare say he was Don Pedro Sanchez at home, but that would hardly go +here. I've written him a line on my visiting card, requesting him to do +everything he can for you, and, of course, I need hardly say to you, as +a friend, not as an official, that my time and service are entirely +devoted to your interests. There is nothing that I possess which you may +not command."</p> + +<p>"And for me, you do this?" she asked, looking up wistfully in his face.</p> + +<p>He took her two little hands in his, and bending over, kissed the tips +of their fingers.</p> + +<p>"I cannot express the gratitude," she began.</p> + +<p>"Don't," he said, cutting short her profuse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> thanks. "It's nothing, I +assure you. Here is my card to Sanks. Better go to him at once, or you +may miss him. It's nearly three o'clock." And feeling that it was unsafe +to trust himself longer in her presence, he touched the bell, saying to +the confidential clerk who answered it:—</p> + +<p>"The door, John."</p> + +<p>A moment later she was gone, leaving only the subtle perfume of her +presence in the room. Stanley threw himself moodily into the nearest +chair. It was too bad that this bewitching woman should be married to a +brute. It was too bad that he couldn't do more to help her, and it +was—yes, it really was too bad, that she should have come again into +his life just at the present moment. She was so exactly like what he had +fancied the ideal woman he was to marry ought to be. But she wasn't a +bit like Belle, and the reflection was decidedly disturbing. And now, he +supposed, she would get a divorce, and—oh, pshaw! it wasn't his affair +anyway, and he was late for his appointment with Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>He rang his office bell sharply, picking up his hat and gloves as he did +so, and saying to the messenger who answered his summons:—</p> + +<p>"Give this report to his Excellency, John, and let me have some visiting +cards, will you—— No, no, not any official ones. Some with my private +address on."</p> + +<p>"Very sorry Sir, but they're all out. I ordered some more day before +yesterday, Sir. They should have come by now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Just my luck, why didn't you attend to them earlier?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't there one on your desk, Sir. I'm sure I saw one lying there this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, so there was." And he turned hastily back, only to exclaim +after a moment's hopeless rummaging:—</p> + +<p>"Confound it! I must have given it to Señora De Costa!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A GENTLEMAN IN DISTRESS</h3> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston was prompt to his appointment, and it took but a few +moments to establish the Secretary and himself in a private room with a +plentiful supply of cigarettes, and two whiskeys and sodas.</p> + +<p>Stanley was nervous and showed it. Kent-Lauriston adjusted his monocle, +tugged at his long sandy moustache, and surveyed his companion from head +to foot.</p> + +<p>"Not feeling fit?" he queried. "Suffering from political ennui?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my health is all right, as far as that goes——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I see," this last remark meditatively. Then he added. "Some deuced +little scrape?"</p> + +<p>Stanley nodded.</p> + +<p>"Woman?"</p> + +<p>"It concerns a lady—perhaps two."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston frowned, and tugged his moustache a trifle harder, to +imply that he now understood the affair to be of a more complex order, +requiring the aid of skilful diplomacy, in place of the simple +directness of five-pound notes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Want my advice, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," admitted Stanley, "and so I'd better make a clean breast of the +matter."</p> + +<p>"Decidedly."</p> + +<p>"The fact is, I want to marry—or rather, don't want to marry—no, +that's not it either— I want to marry the girl bad enough, but I think +I'd better not. It would be what the world—what you might call, a +foolish match."</p> + +<p>"Deucedly hard hit, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"You see," continued the Secretary, ignoring his friend's question, "I +know I oughtn't to marry her, but left to myself, I'd do it, and I need +a jolly good rowing—only you mustn't be disrespectful to the lady—I—I +couldn't stand that."</p> + +<p>"I think I know her name."</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald. You dined with her at the Hyde Park Club last +evening."</p> + +<p>"Daughter of old Fitzgerald of the —th Hussars——"</p> + +<p>"I—I believe that was her father's regiment, but now she lives——"</p> + +<p>"Lives!" interjected Kent-Lauriston. "No, she doesn't live—visits round +with her relatives—old Irish ancestry—ruined castles and no +rents—washy blue eyes and hair, at present, golden."</p> + +<p>"She is one of the most beautiful Irish girls I've ever seen," cried +Stanley. "In repose her face is spirituelle. She is a cousin of Lord +Westmoorland."</p> + +<p>"Fourteenth cousin—twice removed."</p> + +<p>"I don't know her degree of relationship."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"She's splendid vitality and courage," said the Secretary, desirous of +turning the conversation, which threatened to drift into dangerous +channels. "She's dashing, thoroughly dashing."</p> + +<p>"Gad, I'm with you there! I've seldom seen a better horse-woman. I've +watched her more than once in the hunting field put her gee at hedges +and ditches that many a Master of Hounds would have fought shy of,—and +clear 'em, too."</p> + +<p>Stanley smiled, delighted to hear a word of commendation from a quarter +where he least expected it, but Kent-Lauriston's next remark was less +gratifying.</p> + +<p>"Little rapid, isn't she? Trifle fond of fizz-water and cigarettes?"</p> + +<p>"She's the spirits of youth," said the Secretary, a trifle coldly.</p> + +<p>"Let me see," mused his adviser. "How about that Hunt Ball at +Leamington?"</p> + +<p>"I wasn't there, and I must ask you to remember that you're talking of a +lady."</p> + +<p>"Um, pity!" said his friend ambiguously, and added, "How far have you +put your foot in it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I haven't asked her to marry me."</p> + +<p>"Ah. Order me another whiskey and soda, please," and Kent-Lauriston sat +puffing a cigarette, and tugging at his moustache till the beverage +came. Then he drank it thoughtfully, not saying a word; a silence that +was full of meaning to Stanley, who flushed and began to fidget uneasily +about the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>Having finished the last drop, and disposed of his cigarette, his +adviser looked up and said shortly:—</p> + +<p>"How did this begin?"</p> + +<p>"I met her some months ago—but only got to know her intimately at the +races."</p> + +<p>"Derby?"</p> + +<p>"No, Ascot."</p> + +<p>"Royal Enclosure, of course."</p> + +<p>"Royal Enclosure, of course. She was visiting her aunt."</p> + +<p>"I know. That type of girl has dozens of aunts."</p> + +<p>"Her uncle brought her down and introduced us. He left her a moment to +go to the Paddock and never came back."</p> + +<p>"Um, left you to do the honours."</p> + +<p>"Exactly so, and I did them. Saw the crowd, saw the gees, had lunch—you +know the programme."</p> + +<p>"Only too well. Do any betting?"</p> + +<p>"A little."</p> + +<p>"Thought it was against your principles. You told me so once."</p> + +<p>"I—I didn't bet—that is——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see. She did."</p> + +<p>"Rather—a good round sum."</p> + +<p>"You knew the amount?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the fact is—she'd given her uncle her pocket-book, and he got +lost."</p> + +<p>"Clever uncle; so you paid the reckoning."</p> + +<p>"She said she knew the winning horse."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We always do know the winners."</p> + +<p>"This was an exception to prove the rule."</p> + +<p>"So you put down—and she never paid up."</p> + +<p>"Youth is forgetful, and of course—you can't dun a lady."</p> + +<p>"No—you can't dun a <i>lady</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Look here!" cried Stanley. "I won't stand that sort of thing!"</p> + +<p>"Beg your pardon, I was thinking aloud, beastly bad habit, purely +reminiscent, I assure you. Go on."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course I saw something of her after that. Aunt invited me to +call, also to dine."</p> + +<p>"What about that trip down the Thames?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I'd arranged my party for that before I met Belle—I mean Miss +Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"Oh, call her Belle, I know you do."</p> + +<p>"And she happened to mention, quite accidentally, that one of her +unaccomplished ideals was a trip down the Thames. I fear she's +shockingly cramped for money you know, so as I happened to have a vacant +place——"</p> + +<p>"You naturally invited her— I wonder how she found out there was a +vacant place," mused Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow," reiterated Stanley. "I tell you she didn't even know I +was getting it up. Of course if she had, she'd never have spoken of it. +Miss Fitzgerald is far above touting for an invitation."</p> + +<p>"Of course. Well you must have advanced considerably in your +acquaintance during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> trip. Had her quite to yourself, as it were, +since I suppose she knew none of the party."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but she did. She knew Lieutenant Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"To be sure. He was the man who wagered her a dozen dozen pairs of +gloves that she wouldn't swim her horse across the Serpentine in Hyde +Park."</p> + +<p>"And she won, by Jove! I can tell you she has pluck."</p> + +<p>"And they were both arrested in consequence. I think the Lieutenant owed +her some reparation, and I must say a trip down the Thames was most <i>à +propos</i>."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Kent-Lauriston, if you're insinuating that Kingsland put her +up to——"</p> + +<p>"Far from it, my boy, how could I insinuate anything so unlikely? Well, +what other unattainable luxuries did you bestow?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more to speak of—why, yes. Do you know the poor little thing +had never seen Irving, or been inside the Lyceum?"</p> + +<p>"So you gave the 'poor little thing' a box party, and a champagne supper +at the Savoy afterwards, I'll be bound, and yet surely it was at the +Lyceum that——"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing, I was becoming reminiscent once more; it's a bad habit. +Let's have the rest of it."</p> + +<p>"There isn't much more to tell. I've ridden with her sometimes in the +Park. Given her a dinner at the Wellington, a few teas at the Hyde<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Park +Club. I think that's all—flowers perhaps, nothing in the least +compromising."</p> + +<p>"Compromising! Why, it's enough to have married you to three English +girls."</p> + +<p>"She's Irish."</p> + +<p>"I beg her pardon," and Kent-Lauriston bowed in mock humility.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of my case, honestly?"</p> + +<p>"Honestly, I think she means to have you, and if I was a betting man, +I'd lay the odds on her chances of winning."</p> + +<p>"Confound you!" broke in Stanley. "You've such a beastly way of taking +the words out of a man's mouth and twisting them round to mean something +else. Here I started in to tell you of my acquaintance with Miss +Fitzgerald, and by the time I've finished you've made it appear as if +her actions had been those of an adventuress, a keen, unprincipled, +up-to-date Becky Sharp. Why, you've hardly left her a shred of +character. I swear you wrong her, she's not what you've made me make her +out,—not at all like that."</p> + +<p>"What is she like then?"</p> + +<p>"She is a poor girl without resources or near relations, thrown on the +world in that most anomalous of positions, shabby gentility; who has to +endure no end of petty insults; insults, covert, if not open, from men +like you, who ought to know better. I tell you she's good and straight, +straight as a die; brave, fearless, plucky—isn't the word for it. A +little headstrong, perhaps, and careless of what the world may say, but +whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> has she had to teach her better? There's no harm in her though. Of +that I'm sure. And underneath an exterior of what may seem flippancy, +her heart rings true; but you're so prejudiced you'll never admit it."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," replied his friend, lighting another cigarette, "I'm +perfectly willing to agree to nearly all that you have just said in her +favour—all that is of vital importance, at least. I know something of +this young lady's career, and I'm prepared to say I don't believe there +is anything bad in her. She has to live by her wits, and they must be +sharp in consequence; and having to carve out her own destiny instead of +having a mother to do so for her, she has become self-reliant, and to +some extent careless of the impression she makes, which has given her a +reputation for indiscretion which she really does not deserve. She's +certainly charming, and undeniably dashing, though whether it arises +from bravery or foolhardiness, I'm not prepared to say; but one thing I +can state most emphatically—you're not the man to marry her."</p> + +<p>"And why not, pray?"</p> + +<p>"Because you're too good for her."</p> + +<p>"That's a matter of opinion."</p> + +<p>"No—matter of fact."</p> + +<p>Stanley flushed angrily—but Kent-Lauriston continued:</p> + +<p>"No need to fly into a passion; what I say is perfectly true. The only +way for Belle Fitzgerald to marry, be happy, and develop the best that +is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> in her, is to have a husband whose methods—forceful or +otherwise—she can understand and appreciate. You are too good for her. +Her struggle with life has been a hard one, she has seen the seamy side +of human nature, and it has taught her to estimate all men at their +worst. She'd consider your virtue, weakness. You could never take her to +South America and the ancestral plantation; it would bore her to +extinction. She'd require to live in London or keep open house in the +country, and she'd gather about her the set she goes with now. Her +companions, her manner of life, you think unworthy of her; already they +grate on your finer sensibilities, blinded as you are; believe me, +they'd grate much more when she bore your name. No, the only man who +could marry her, be happy, make her happy, and keep his good name +untarnished in the future, would be one who knows her world better than +she does herself; who has a past that even she would shudder at; who has +no ideals, no aspirations, just manly vigour and brute force; who could +guide her with a hand of steel in a glove of velvet, and pull her up +short at the danger line, because he knows what lies beyond, and she +knows that he knows. She'd tire of you in six months; she would not dare +to tire of the other man."</p> + +<p>"I think you wrong her," said Stanley wearily. "Indeed, your own +criticism of her might be applied to yourself. Your knowledge of the +world has caused you unconsciously to misjudge a nature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> you cannot +understand. Yet I know that my friends would all voice your +sentiments—that they'd all be disappointed in the match."</p> + +<p>"Exactly so—and they'd be in the right—excuse me for being blunt, but +with your wealth and social position you would be simply throwing +yourself away."</p> + +<p>"I know all that—but—I'm so sorry for her."</p> + +<p>"You could serve her better as her friend than as her husband. She must +live your life or you must live hers—in either case, one of you would +be unhappy."</p> + +<p>"I half believe you're right. Confound it! I know you're right, and +yet—how am I to get out of it with honour?"</p> + +<p>"Don't have any false sentimentality about that, my boy. Believe me, she +understands the situation much better than you do. So far you have been +chums; if you stop there, she is too much a woman of the world to lay it +up against you. You've given her much pleasure during the past season +and she appreciates it; but she's quite enough of a philosopher to +accept cheerfully the half-loaf."</p> + +<p>"But I can't be just a friend."</p> + +<p>"Not now, perhaps, but you can a few months later, when other things +have supervened."</p> + +<p>"If I see her again—it's all over."</p> + +<p>"Don't see her then."</p> + +<p>"That is just the point. She's going to stay with an aunt in Sussex."</p> + +<p>"Another aunt?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Roberts, and I am invited to go down to the house-party +to-morrow, and have accepted, and shall come back engaged."</p> + +<p>"Send your excuses, by all means, write to-day."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose it's for the best, but you know I hate to do it. Somehow +I can't think all you imply of her."</p> + +<p>"My dear boy," said Kent-Lauriston, "I may be doing the lady gross +injustice and keeping you out of a very good thing, but even in that +case you must not go to Sussex. For heaven's sake, man, take time to +consider! It's too important a matter to be decided in a hurry. If she +cares for you and is worthy of you, she'll give you every fair +opportunity of asking her the fateful question and a reasonable amount +of time to think it over. Take a fortnight for calm reflection; it's +very little to allow for what may be a life's happiness or misery. +Meanwhile try and keep your mind off it. Run over to Paris with me. If +at the end of our trip you still feel the same towards her, I won't +stand in your way, I promise you. Come, is that a fair offer?"</p> + +<p>"Most kind," said Stanley, "and to show you my appreciation of all the +trouble you've taken, I'll send my regrets to Mrs. Roberts by the first +post."</p> + +<p>"Good boy!" said his mentor, sententiously.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about Paris, as to whether I can get leave, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, you have already arranged your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> leave for the house-party, +I'll be bound. Dine with me here to-morrow night at eight, and we'll +talk it over."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, I will. I must be going now, I have to look in at a tea or +two."</p> + +<p>"Not to meet our charming enchantress?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, trust me, I'll play fair," and he was gone.</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston puffed meditatively at his cigarette, now that he was +alone, and tugged hard at his moustache.</p> + +<p>"The little Fitzgerald a pattern of all the virtues, eh?" he said, half +to himself, and half to the departing Secretary, and added, under his +breath:</p> + +<p>"Gad! How she would rook him! Never been to the Lyceum or down the +Thames! May she be forgiven!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>AFTERNOON TEA</h3> + +<p>The Secretary had stated that he had several calls to make, but they +resolved themselves into one, the fact being that the day was +disagreeable and the prospect of riding vast distances in hansom cabs, +interspersed with short intervals of tea, not alluring. He therefore +decided to confine his attentions to one hostess, and selected his +missing chaperon, Lady Rainsford, whose indisposition had come so near +wrecking his little dinner. Her Ladyship had much to commend her. Her +house was central and large, one knew one would meet friends there, and +there were plenty of nooks and corners for tête-à-têtes, while, as her +circle was most select, and she received frequently, there was a fair +chance that her rooms would not be crowded.</p> + +<p>Stanley found his hostess quite recovered, and standing by the side of a +bright fire in a diminutive fireplace, for the rain had made the day a +bit chilly.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary," she cried, as he entered. "I was +beginning to think you'd not forgiven me for leaving you in the lurch +last night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't speak of it, I beg," he said, hastening to deprecate her +apologies. "I should have called to enquire the first thing this +morning."</p> + +<p>"You should most certainly, and I ought to tax you with base desertion," +she went on.</p> + +<p>"That would be impossible, but I'm a victim of stern necessity. Society +demands all my spare time, and I'm forced, as one always is in London, +to neglect my friends for my acquaintances."</p> + +<p>"You deserve a thorough rating, and if it were not for my duties as +hostess, I'd give it to you here and now."</p> + +<p>"I claim the protection of your hearth," he rejoined, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Oh! But it's such a tiny hearth," she remonstrated.</p> + +<p>"And I," he added, "am such an insignificant personage."</p> + +<p>"I won't have you run yourself down in that way. I believe you are a +great social lion. Come, confess, how many teas have you been to in the +last seven days?"</p> + +<p>"Fifty-six."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! How do you men stand it, and having something to eat and +a cup of tea at every place?"</p> + +<p>"Shall I enlighten you as to the professional secrets of the habitual +tea-goer? We don't."</p> + +<p>"But surely you can't always refuse."</p> + +<p>"I never refuse. I always accept the cup—and put it down somewhere."</p> + +<p>"For another guest to knock over. You're a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> hardened reprobate, but this +time you shall not escape. You know Miss Campbell, who is pouring tea +for me this afternoon? No? Then I'll introduce you. Miss Campbell, this +is Secretary Stanley, a member of the Diplomatic Corps, who has just +confessed to me that he habitually eludes the trustful hostess and the +proffered tea. You'll give him a cup and see that he drinks it before he +leaves the room," and the vivacious little woman departed, leaving him +no alternative but to accept his fate meekly.</p> + +<p>"How do you like your tea?" inquired Miss Campbell, a young lady deft of +hand, but with few ideas.</p> + +<p>"Lemon and no sugar."</p> + +<p>"How nasty! But then, I forgot you never really drink it, Lady Rainsford +says. But this time——"</p> + +<p>"This time," he replied, "I'm a lamb led to the slaughter."</p> + +<p>Miss Campbell said, "Really?" Then there followed an awkward silence.</p> + +<p>Looking around for some means of escape, he saw a face in the crowd, +that caused him to start, so utterly unexpected and out of place did it +seem, considering what he had heard that afternoon. It was the face of +Colonel Darcy.</p> + +<p>He did not think the man knew him, and for obvious reasons he did not +care to be introduced; so he turned again to Miss Campbell, who, seeing +no alternative, rose to the occasion and continued the conversation by +remarking:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Is it true that you go to such an enormous number of teas? What do you +find to talk about?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't find much. I talk about the same thing at every tea. If you +meet other people it makes no difference."</p> + +<p>"How clever of you!"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary it's simply dulness, and because I'm lazy—I——" but +he left his sentence unfinished, for Miss Campbell's attention was +palpably wavering, and her glance spoke of approaching deliverance. He +looked over his shoulder to see Darcy advancing with Lieutenant +Kingsland.</p> + +<p>The two officers had met in the crush a few minutes before, and the +Colonel had lost no time in taking Kingsland to task for his stupidity +of the past night.</p> + +<p>"I'm no end sorry," the Lieutenant said, in very apologetic tones.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't give me my letter," growled the Colonel.</p> + +<p>"I know I'm an awful duffer," assented Kingsland, "but when he came up +behind me and asked questions about it, I was so staggered I let him +take it right out of my hands. It wasn't addressed, you know, and I +naturally couldn't say who gave it to me."</p> + +<p>"I should hope not indeed."</p> + +<p>"Well, what shall I do—ask him for it?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, leave it alone; you've blundered enough. You all meet at a +country house to-morrow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, trust its recovery to her; she'll get it, if he has it with him. +If he leaves it behind in London so much the easier for me."</p> + +<p>"But I thought you were coming down——"</p> + +<p>"You think a great deal too much, and your actions are——"</p> + +<p>"Sh!" whispered the Lieutenant, laying his hand on Darcy's arm. "He's +looking our way, he'll hear us."</p> + +<p>Stanley had not caught a word of the previous conversation, but a +whisper sometimes carries much farther than the ordinary tones of the +voice, and he heard the caution and saw the gesture which accompanied +it, very distinctly.</p> + +<p>The Colonel and the Lieutenant were close upon him by this time, and +Stanley, who had no wish to be recognised, began to move off, and +disappeared in the crowd, determined to make the best of his way to the +door. He was terribly bored.</p> + +<p>He was not destined to escape quite so easily, however, for Lady +Isabelle McLane sighted him in transit, and in a moment more had drawn +him into a protecting corner with two seats, and settled down to a +serious conversation.</p> + +<p>"I hear you're going down to the Roberts'," she said; "I'm invited too."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm all the more sorry that I'm not to be there," he replied.</p> + +<p>"You surprise me; I supposed your acceptance was of some standing. I +hope there's nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> wrong, that your chief hasn't forgotten his +position, and turned fractious?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, my chief behaves very well," Stanley hastened to assure her, +"but the fact is—I, well, I don't find it convenient."</p> + +<p>"Or, in other words, you've some reason for not wanting to go."</p> + +<p>He assented, having learned by long and bitter experience, that when a +woman makes up her mind to exert her faculties of instinct, it is easier +by far to acquiesce at once in any conclusion to which she may have +jumped, however erroneous.</p> + +<p>"Will you be shocked if I say I'm glad of it?"</p> + +<p>The Secretary shrugged his shoulders; he thought he knew what was +coming.</p> + +<p>"It certainly isn't complimentary to me," he replied; "but you've always +exercised the prerogative of a friend to tell disagreeable truths."</p> + +<p>"Now, that's very unkind, Mr. Stanley. I'm sure I only do it for your +good."</p> + +<p>"My dear Lady Isabelle, if you'll allow a man who is older than your +charming self, and who has seen more of the world than I hope you'll +ever do——"</p> + +<p>"To tell a disagreeable truth?" she queried, filling out the sentence, +as pique prompted her.</p> + +<p>"To make a suggestion."</p> + +<p>"It's the same thing. Go on."</p> + +<p>"It's merely this. That you'll never achieve a great social success till +you've realised that the well-being of your friends is your least +important consideration."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dear me, Mr. Secretary, I had no idea you were so tender in regard to +Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"Who said anything about Miss Fitzgerald?"</p> + +<p>"I did. I don't suppose you knew she was to be at Roberts' Hall."</p> + +<p>"Certainly I know it. That is the very reason why I'm not going."</p> + +<p>"I'm unfeignedly rejoiced. I've watched your progress in London with +much interest, and believe me, Miss Fitzgerald is a stumbling-block in +your path."</p> + +<p>"All my friends, all the people who have my good at heart," he replied a +trifle testily, "seem to think it their duty to warn me against Miss +Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"I should hate to see you become entangled."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's not even the shadow of a +chance of such an event coming to pass. Miss Fitzgerald and I are both +philosophers in our way. We attend to the serious business of society +when we are apart, and indulge in a little mild and harmless flirtation +when we occasionally meet, quite understanding that it means nothing, +and is merely a means of relaxation, to keep our hands in, as it were."</p> + +<p>"You say that so glibly, that I'm sure you must have said it before. +It's flippant, and, besides that, it's not strictly true."</p> + +<p>"Really!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, excuse me if I've said anything rude, but this is a very, very +serious matter, according to my way of thinking! and I do wish you'd +consent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> be serious about it just for once, won't you, to please me?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, if you wish it, and I'm amazingly honoured that you should +have spent so much of your valuable time over my poor affairs."</p> + +<p>"That isn't a promising beginning," she said reflectively, "for a man +who has agreed to be serious; but really now, you must know that I'm +distressed about you. Your attentions to this lady are the talk of +London."</p> + +<p>"I've told you," he replied, "that I've refused this invitation to the +house-party. Isn't that a sufficient answer, and won't it set your mind +at rest?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es. Would you object if I asked just one more question? If you think +it horribly impertinent you're just to refuse to answer it."</p> + +<p>"Ask away."</p> + +<p>"Had you, before refusing, previously accepted this invitation of Mrs. +Roberts?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, a trifle sheepishly.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, so much," she said, "I quite understand now."</p> + +<p>"Then may we talk on some more congenial subject?"</p> + +<p>"No, you must take me back to Mamma."</p> + +<p>"What, was I only taken aside to be lectured?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," she hastened to assure him, naïvely—it was her first +season—"but we have been chatting already fifteen minutes, and that's +long enough."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" he said regretfully, "I thought I'd left Mrs. Grundy at the +tea-table."</p> + +<p>"You are so careless yourself that you forget that others have to be +careful. Here comes Lieutenant Kingsland to my rescue. You would not +believe it, Lieutenant," she continued, as that officer approached them, +"this gentleman considers himself abused because I will not talk to him +all the afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with him," said Kingsland, "not that I have ever had that +felicity; it's one of my most cherished ambitions."</p> + +<p>"You're as bad as he is; take me to Mamma, at once."</p> + +<p>"I'll take you to have some tea. Won't that do as well?" and they moved +away.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the Secretary met the Dowager Marchioness of Port +Arthur, who bore down on him at once.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley, have you seen my daughter?" she demanded. "I'm waiting to +go home, and I can't find her anywhere."</p> + +<p>"The last I saw of her she was with Lieutenant Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you <i>have</i> seen her this afternoon, then."</p> + +<p>This last remark seemed tempered with a little disapproval.</p> + +<p>"I had the pleasure of fifteen minutes' chat with her," continued the +Secretary imperturbably. The Marchioness raised her eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"At least she said it was fifteen minutes"—he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> hastened to explain—"it +didn't seem as long to me; then Lieutenant Kingsland arrived."</p> + +<p>"I knew his mother," she said, "he comes of one of the best families in +the land."</p> + +<p>Most young men would have been crushed by the evident implication, but +Stanley rose buoyantly to the occasion.</p> + +<p>"He proposed——" he began.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness started.</p> + +<p>"To get her a cup of tea," continued the Secretary, placidly finishing +his sentence.</p> + +<p>"You may escort me to the tea-table," she replied, frigidly, and added: +"We leave town to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," said her companion, as they edged their way through the +crowd. "I'm invited myself."</p> + +<p>"I should think you would find it difficult to attend to the duties of +your office, if you make a practice of accepting so many invitations."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I haven't accepted," he returned cheerfully.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness was manifestly relieved.</p> + +<p>They had by this time reached the tea-table. Lady Isabelle was nowhere +in sight.</p> + +<p>"I do not see my daughter," said her mother severely. "You told me she +was here."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, I told you that Lieutenant Kingsland offered to get her a +cup of tea."</p> + +<p>"Well."</p> + +<p>"But they went in the opposite direction."</p> + +<p>"I won't detain you any longer, Mr. Stanley."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> The Dowager's tone was +frigid. "If my daughter is in Lieutenant Kingsland's charge, I feel +quite safe about her. She could not be in better hands."</p> + +<p>The Secretary bowed and went on his way rejoicing, and his way, in this +instance, led him to his lodgings.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why she is so down on me and so chummy with Kingsland," he +thought. "If she'd seen him on my launch on the Thames, she might think +twice before entrusting her daughter to his charge. Well, it's none of +my business, any more than my affairs are the business of Lady +Isabelle."</p> + +<p>He was just a little annoyed at the persistency with which his friends +joined in crying down a woman, who, whatever her faults might be, +possessed infinite fascination, and was, he honestly believed, not half +so bad as she was painted. He told himself that he must seek the first +opportunity that circumstances gave him at Mrs. Roberts' house-party, to +have a serious talk with Miss Fitzgerald and warn her, as gently as he +could, of what was being said about her. Then he recollected with a +start, that he had decided not to go, that he had promised to write a +refusal and—no, that he had <i>not</i> written. He would do so at once. His +latch-key was in his hand.</p> + +<p>He opened the door. There was his valet, Randell, standing in the hall, +but with a look on his face which caused Stanley to question him as to +its meaning, before he did anything else.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Puzzled? I am a bit puzzled. That's a fact, sir," Randell replied to +his question. "And it's about that lady," indicating the Secretary's +sitting-room with a jerk of his thumb.</p> + +<p>"What lady?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the lady as come here half an hour ago, with her luggage, and said +she was going to stay."</p> + +<p>"Randell, are you drunk or dreaming? I know of no lady," cried Stanley, +amazed.</p> + +<p>"Well, you can see for yourself, sir," replied the valet, throwing open +the door.</p> + +<p>The Secretary stepped in, and confronted—Madame Darcy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>AN IRATE HUSBAND</h3> + +<p>"Madame Darcy!" he exclaimed, too astonished not to betray in some +measure his emotions. Then following the direction of her eyes, and +noting the interrogatory glance, which she threw at Randell, he signed +to his valet to leave them together.</p> + +<p>"To what have I the honour——" he began abruptly, his voice showing +some trace of the irritation he was not quite able to suppress. Surely, +he thought, Inez De Costa, large as the liberty of her youth might have +been, must know that in England, worse still in London, a lady cannot +visit a bachelor's apartments alone, without running great danger of +having her actions misconstrued.</p> + +<p>She, with true feminine intuition, was none the less keen to realise the +awkwardness of the situation, and to suffer more acutely because of the +inconvenience to which she was putting him.</p> + +<p>"A thousand pardons for this unwarrantable intrusion," she interrupted, +"on one who has already loaded me with favours. It is the result of a +stupid—a deplorable blunder—for which I shall never forgive myself. +But once it had been committed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> it seemed better that I should stay and +explain. What letter could ever have made suitable apology—have made +clear beyond all doubt, as I must make it clear, that until I had passed +your threshold I had no suspicion that these were your lodgings, and not +the Legation."</p> + +<p>Stanley bowed, he could not but believe her, every anguished glance of +her eyes, every earnest tone of her impassioned voice, carried +conviction. But how had this strange mischance come about.</p> + +<p>"You've seen Sanks?" he asked, breaking the silence.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is it," she exclaimed, thankful for the outlet he had +suggested. "That good Señor Sanks, he was so kind, he said I had a case, +and could be protected from—him. He has written a letter, I forget what +he called it, some legal name, requiring my husband to surrender my +goods, my money, and I have written him also to send them to your care +at the Legation, as he told me. Then I drive here with what I have— I +had nothing when I started, but he advanced me a sum," she flushed, "to +buy what was needful till my trunks come. He advised me to stay at some +private hotel, known only to you and to himself, till my husband has +declared his attitude in the case. I make my purchases, I drive, as I +suppose, to the Legation, my luggage is unloaded and carried in. I ask +if Señor Stanley, if you are here, they say you will be shortly, I +dismiss my cab, I enter, then I find it is not the Legation—it is your +private apartments."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>She paused, awaiting his sentence of displeasure—but his tone was +rather that of thoughtful wonder.</p> + +<p>"How could Sanks have made the mistake in my address? He knew, must have +known, them, both."</p> + +<p>"It was my fault, all mine," she broke in hastily. "It was undecided +where I should have my things sent. I filled in the address myself, from +your card."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's it," said Stanley, beginning to see light. "I remember now, +I gave you my private card by mistake for my official one. You've +nothing to distress yourself about, Inez, this is my blunder, and it is +I who must beg your pardon."</p> + +<p>"Ah, we will not beg each other's pardon then. It is a foolishness +between friends," she returned, with just that little foreign touch +which rendered her so irresistible.</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you," he replied heartily. "We've other and more +important things to consider."</p> + +<p>"But what to do?" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Well, you must take Sanks' advice, and go to some quiet, private +Hotel,—say X——'s. I know them and will introduce you, send you over +with Randell: it's better than going with you myself. You'll find it +most comfortable."</p> + +<p>She shivered and shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"But of course," he hastened to add, "you'll stay and dine with me +first."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But Jim!" she said, rising.</p> + +<p>"But why not?" he persisted. "It's a beastly night. You're here. It +makes little difference whether you stay an hour or two, or the thirty +minutes you have already remained. I'll send you over early in the +evening."</p> + +<p>"But the household——"</p> + +<p>"They'd know in any event. The fact is the important thing to them, the +details do not matter. Your staying here for dinner in a prosaic manner, +as if there was no reason why you shouldn't, would do more to stop +tongues from wagging, than your sudden disappearance after a mysterious +visit. Believe me, I should not urge this if it were more or less than +common sense."</p> + +<p>"But your engagements?"</p> + +<p>"I should have dined alone in any case."</p> + +<p>She stood uncertain whether to go or to remain, one hand upon the table. +Then she smiled at him, though there were tears in her eyes, saying;—</p> + +<p>"I will stay— I will trust to your judgment. Whom have I to trust but +you?"</p> + +<p>"Good!" he cried, an air of quick decision taking possession of him, now +her consent had been given; "my landlady will put a room at your +disposal should you wish to remove the stains of travel before dinner. +You'll find her kindly, if inexperienced. I'll go and explain the +situation to her and to my valet." And he stepped towards the door.</p> + +<p>"Explain?"</p> + +<p>"Explain by all means, my dear. In this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> country it is the greatest of +all mistakes to try to deceive your servants, especially where +circumstances give the slightest scope for misconstruction."</p> + +<p>"I thought servants were our worst scandal-mongers."</p> + +<p>"True, they're only human. But put a well-trained servant on his honour +by giving him your confidence, and he's far less likely to betray you, +than if you try to blind him to an obvious truth."</p> + +<p>She laughed, and he left her to arrange for his impromptu dinner.</p> + +<p>When they sat down to table, half an hour later, she was more +self-possessed than he had ever before seen her, and chatted away quite +gaily on indifferent topics, each taking great care to avoid the one +subject which neither could forget.</p> + +<p>With the fruit and wine, the valet, who performed the double office of +body servant and butler, left them to themselves, having first received +careful directions from Stanley in regard to escorting madame to her +hotel, half an hour hence.</p> + +<p>Once they were alone the reserve, which the servant's presence had +called into play, was no longer exerted, and she spoke freely of her own +troubles.</p> + +<p>"You've no idea," she said, "what a misery my winter in England has +been. I shall never look back on it without feeling that this is the +most cruel place on earth."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't judge the whole country from your own unfortunate +experience," the Secretary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> hastened to interpose. "I've never found +more true culture and refinement than I've met with here."</p> + +<p>"Ah," she replied, "but when the Englishman is a brute——! Since I came +to this country, I've never written a word to my father that has not +been read and—approved!" There was a wealth of scorn in her tones. "Not +a word of my sorrows, of the indignities, the insults he had heaped upon +me. Any attempt to post a letter on my own account, or to send it by a +servant, has resulted in failure, and in the ignominy of having it +opened, and destroyed in my presence. My income lies there in the bank. +His brother is the banker. I had the choice of drawing cheques to my +husband's order, or not drawing them at all."</p> + +<p>"Were you then deprived of money? Surely, to keep up outside +appearances, and I judge your husband would have desired that, you must +have had an allowance?"</p> + +<p>"I had unlimited credit in the town," she replied. "I could buy what I +pleased and charge it, but not a shilling did I have wherewith to pay. +It was my maid, my good Marie, who, when he threatened me with +detention, gave me her little all, her savings, and told me to run +away—ah, that was bitter! But I knew she meant no disrespect—I +accepted it—she shall be repaid a hundred-fold."</p> + +<p>"I think you need have no fears of not being restored to all your rights +and privileges," he said, "and then?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then I will be free."</p> + +<p>"You mean you will procure a separation?"</p> + +<p>"A divorce."</p> + +<p>"But surely your husband——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he has not even constancy to commend him; he does not even conceal +his preferences. He is always receiving letters from some woman—some +old friend, he tells me—calling him to London for an hour, or a day, as +the case may be, and no matter what plans I may have made, he goes."</p> + +<p>"You know her name?"</p> + +<p>"She signs her Christian name only—no wonder—but I have her letters +and I'll find her out."</p> + +<p>"And when you've found her, what then? Will you plead with her?"</p> + +<p>"I?" she cried. "I, a De Costa, degrade myself by pleading with a woman +of that class!"</p> + +<p>The Secretary shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I think every woman," he said, "has some good in her, low as she may +be, some spark of longing for better things, some element of +self-respect that never quite dies out."</p> + +<p>"You're right," she admitted. "A man is by nature a brute. A woman, even +at her worst, is not quite that. Some extra spark of divinity seems to +have been given her in compensation for her weakness."</p> + +<p>"I believe no woman is wholly bad," said the Secretary. "The worst women +of history have, at some moments in their lives, been very near +redemption."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I believe that is so," she replied.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to hear you say that. If you can still find charity in +your heart for your own sex, surely I may believe, even in the face of +my friends' hostile criticism."</p> + +<p>"And is there a woman, whom you—shall we say, 'respect' enough to +believe in—no matter what is said of her?"</p> + +<p>"There is," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Then be sure she has some virtues worthy of that respect. I can +picture," she went on, "the woman whom you should marry. You must be, to +her, an ideal, and she must live her life in terms of you. Gentle and +refined, and knowing more of your home than of the world."</p> + +<p>The Secretary sighed.</p> + +<p>"These are the women," he said, "that we dream of, not that we marry."</p> + +<p>"There are many such in the world," she returned. "Is not the woman you +are defending one of them?"</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "not like that."</p> + +<p>"Then she is not worthy of you, she will grate upon you. Does she ever +do so?"</p> + +<p>"I love her," he said simply.</p> + +<p>"Then you will marry her. I'm so glad!" she returned, offering him her +hand.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I don't think so," he replied. "I can't tell how I should +act."</p> + +<p>"Then you do not love her. Love is blind, it does not reason."</p> + +<p>"I love her," he repeated, seeking to justify<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> himself. "Certainly I +love her, but one should, in this day and generation, love wisely."</p> + +<p>"One should love," she replied, "and that is all, neither wisely nor +unwisely—love has no limits. You do not love her—you must not marry +her—you will be unhappy if you do. I believe she grates on you, you'll +never find the good that is in her. That power has been given to some +other man."</p> + +<p>Stanley raised his hand in protestation, but at that moment, Randell +appeared in the doorway, equipped to take Madame De Costa to her hotel, +and their private conversation was at an end.</p> + +<p>She made her adieux very prettily, not saying too much in the valet's +presence, but enough to show how truly deep was her appreciation of the +Secretary's kindness, and left him wishing, wondering. He found time +before retiring to re-read all Belle's letters for the first time +critically, and seriously caught himself wondering if one could really +love a woman who wrote slang and whose spelling was not always above +suspicion. Subsequently, he remembered, having dismissed Randell for the +night, that he had never written that letter to Mrs. Roberts.</p> + +<p>It was certainly an unfortunate oversight, but it was too late now; he +would telegraph his regrets in the morning, and he fell asleep while +making up his mind that he was very glad he had decided not to go.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He arose refreshed and altogether philosophic,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> relegated Madame De +Costa to past diplomatic experiences, and in the light of that youthful +folly which wears the guise of wisdom, told himself, as he walked across +the Green Park to his office, that he was glad the incident was over. +But nevertheless, while he thought of the fair Señora many times during +the morning, the existence of Miss Fitzgerald, or of her aunt, never +occurred to him till force of circumstances brought it to his mind.</p> + +<p>Force of circumstances, in this instance, found actual embodiment in the +person of Randell, who put in an appearance at the Legation about noon. +The valet had never been there before in his life, and his appearance in +Stanley's office was assurance in itself that something most unusual +must have happened. The instant he set eyes on him, the Secretary was +prepared for a fire or the death of a relative—at least.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>"A gentleman 'as called to see you, sir, at the house."</p> + +<p>"You didn't come all the way down here to tell me that!" he exclaimed, +immensely relieved.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. You see, sir, it was some particular gentleman."</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"Colonel Darcy, sir."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!"</p> + +<p>"And very excited, sir."</p> + +<p>"Naturally; but how did he know that Madame De Costa—Mrs. Darcy, I +mean. That is, why didn't he come to the Legation?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You see, sir, as he told me the story——" and Randell paused uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Well, out with it, man: what did he tell you?"</p> + +<p>"That the lady had written him—which he got this morning, that she had +placed herself in your care, and all her belongings were to be sent to +your address."</p> + +<p>"What, my private address?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Quite correct, sir. He showed it to me in her letter."</p> + +<p>"It's all because I gave her my private card by mistake," and Mr. +Stanley cursed a number of people and things under his breath.</p> + +<p>"He asked plenty of questions, which I didn't answer, more than I was in +duty bound. But when he learned as you was a bachelor, sir, and the lady +had been at your rooms last evening, he was that upset——"</p> + +<p>The Secretary tilted his office chair back on its hind legs and gave +vent to a long, low, meditative whistle.</p> + +<p>"I explained to him that there was nothing to be displeased about; but +he wouldn't have none of it and said——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, what did he say?"</p> + +<p>"He said a good many things, some of which I wouldn't repeat, sir, not +being respectful; but he asked for your official address, which I +wouldn't give him, and said as he'd call you out—and spoke of bringing +suit—and called you—wel-l, most everything, sir."</p> + +<p>"You need not particularise, Randell."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Except to my mind, he didn't seem really very much displeased +over the matter."</p> + +<p>Stanley grunted significantly. He thought he understood. Darcy could +have wished for nothing better.</p> + +<p>"I took the liberty, sir," continued the valet, serenely, "to bring your +bag, ready packed, and your travelling rug and umbrella, thinking as you +might be leaving town to-day, sir."</p> + +<p>"Confound you, Randell, I believe you think me guilty after all."</p> + +<p>"I thought as you were going to Mrs. Roberts' to-day, sir. You spoke of +it to me a week ago, and had forgotten to give directions about your +things, sir."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Stanley meditatively, and rang his bell. "John," he +continued to the functionary who appeared, "did I send Mrs. Roberts of +Roberts' Hall, Sussex, a telegram this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Well, please wire her at once that I'll arrive this afternoon. Leave in +an hour. Is his Excellency disengaged?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, that will do," and as John departed he added to Randell: "You +might go ahead and reserve a corner seat in a first-class carriage for +me. Facing the engine. Liverpool Street—you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where is Colonel Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"Waiting at your rooms for an answer."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Stanley, "that gives me time to explain things to the Chief. +If Colonel Darcy is there when you return after seeing me off, tell him +I don't know anything about his wife, and if that isn't good enough he +can call on his Excellency. Say I'm away in the country for an +indefinite time."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"You don't know where."</p> + +<p>"Quite right, sir," and Randell departed for the station.</p> + +<p>"Quite right!" groaned Stanley as he sought the Sanctum Sanctorum of the +Legation. "I only wish it were!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>DIPLOMATIC INSTRUCTIONS</h3> + +<p>Mr. Stanley's Chief was a grey, weazened little man, who had achieved +distinction in diplomacy and in his country's councils, largely on +account of his infinite capacity for holding his tongue. As a result he +let fall little and learned much. His reticence, however, was not the +reserve of impotence, but the reserve of power.</p> + +<p>On this occasion he was busy at his great desk, which occupied the +centre of the room, and merely glancing up at his Secretary's entrance, +he resumed the piece of work on which he was engaged. Ten minutes later +he put down his pen and gave his waiting subordinate an encouraging +smile. It was his official permission to speak.</p> + +<p>"I regret to say that I have got into a little scrape, sir, concerning +which will you give me leave to clear myself?"</p> + +<p>"Leave of absence or my approval, Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Both, your Excellency."</p> + +<p>The Minister leaned back in his chair, rested his elbows on the arms, +and bringing the first fingers of each hand together, held them at the +level of his face and gazed attentively at their point of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> contact. It +was a favourite attitude which the Secretary understood, and he at once +gave a concise account of all the circumstances concerning Madame Darcy.</p> + +<p>The Minister heard him out in perfect silence, and after taking a moment +or two to ponder over his words, remarked quietly:</p> + +<p>"It's a small world, Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>"You mean the fact that Señor De Costa and my father were friends before +they quarrelled, and that his daughter——"</p> + +<p>"No, I do not mean that."</p> + +<p>The Secretary thought it better policy not to ask what he did mean, +though he much wished to know; and silence again reigned.</p> + +<p>Presently the Minister sat up to his desk and ran his hand through the +mass of papers upon it; finally unearthing one in particular, which he +submitted to a careful scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"Your report of your visit to the Foreign Office yesterday," he said—"a +very important communication, Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>If his Chief had a disagreeable trait, and he was on the whole an +exceedingly amiable man, it was an assumed seriousness of speech and +demeanour, which he intended for sarcasm, and which invariably misled +his victims to their ultimate discomfiture.</p> + +<p>Stanley, who was aware of this trait and not very proud of the report in +question, hastened to disclaim any inherent excellence it might be +supposed to contain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's nothing in it, your Excellency, except that remark about +'parlous times.'"</p> + +<p>"Which was just the thing I was most anxious to hear. It proves that the +Foreign Office regards the accomplishment of the treaty as by no means +certain."</p> + +<p>Stanley, with difficulty, checked an exclamation of surprise, but he had +learned to respect his Chief's little fads, and succeeded.</p> + +<p>The Minister cleared his throat, an indication that this was one of the +rare occasions on which he was about to speak at length, and on which he +desired absolute attention and immunity from comment—and proceeded:</p> + +<p>"For three hundred years a treaty has been pending between Great Britain +and our own country, concerning the possession of an island lying at the +mouth of the river X——. At first Spanish distrust of English +aggression and, at a later period, the frequent changes of government to +which our unfortunate country has been subjected, have prevented the +successful termination of the negotiations.</p> + +<p>"Matters have never been more favourable for its settlement than at the +present time, and the immediate cession of the island to Great Britain, +in return for a most satisfactory indemnity. For the last few weeks, +however, we have noted an increasing opposition on the part of certain +members of our own Ministry, to the acceptance of the English +propositions, the cause of which has now been discovered. An influential +manufacturing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> concern, officered and financed by certain unscrupulous +persons in this country, owns large mills on the island in question, for +the production of an article of which they would be assured a monopoly, +did the territory still remain in our hands, but which would be open to +competition did it come into the possession of Great Britain. The +company, in order to obtain a continuance of the monopoly, have raised +£40,000 for distribution among a majority of the committee, who are to +pass upon the treaty, thus practically insuring the failure of the +negotiations.</p> + +<p>"While there is no reasonable doubt that this unfortunate state of +affairs exists, we have not been able to obtain actual proofs of the +same, and it is very necessary to do so, in order that the Executive +should be able, when the treaty comes up for consideration, six weeks +hence, to inform the intending offenders that their intrigue is known. +It is not the intention of our government to create any scandal in this +matter, it being quite sufficient to insure the passage of the treaty, +that the Executive should hold proof of the Minister's guilt, and be in +a position to back up the threat of exposure and punishment.</p> + +<p>"Now it is known that the English agent intrusted with the financial +part of this disgraceful scheme, the man who is to take the money to be +used in bribery and corruption from this country to ours, is the worst +type of an adventurer, a thorough-going scoundrel, and clever enough to +make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> a fortune in some honest way. His name is Colonel Robert Darcy."</p> + +<p>The Secretary so far forgot himself as to draw in his breath sharply, +and his Chief looked at him with a disapproving frown, and then +continued:</p> + +<p>"This is why I said that the world was small when you told me of your +connection with this man. For the past few weeks I have had him +carefully watched, and I have learned that he is to go down to Sussex +almost at once, to receive the money for this dishonourable purpose from +one of the heads of the firm, a silent partner, whose identity we have +not yet discovered. This money is to be paid in gold, and after +receiving it, and his private instructions, Darcy will return at once to +London and sail for the scene of his mission. I cannot watch his course +in Sussex personally, and I do not think it wise to risk publicity by +putting the affair in the hands of the police. Before you told me of +your association with this man and his wife, I had some thoughts of +giving you the conduct of this important and delicate matter, now——"</p> + +<p>"Now!" burst out the Secretary, unable in his chagrin longer to contain +himself, "I have by my stupid blundering rendered myself unfit for the +place, and lost a splendid chance!"</p> + +<p>The Minister was visibly annoyed.</p> + +<p>"I was about to say, sir, when you interrupted me (a very bad habit of +yours, Mr. Stanley), that you had unconsciously so perfectly adapted +yourself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> to fill the position, that you have made it impossible for me +to give it to anybody else."</p> + +<p>Stanley gasped; he could not help it.</p> + +<p>"A diplomat should never express anything," remarked his Chief severely, +and continued his statement.</p> + +<p>"The greatest triumph of art could never have placed you in the position +you now occupy as a result of a fortuitous combination of events. You +can go right to the ground where Darcy must operate, and any one of a +dozen people can tell him that you have perfectly natural and innocent +reasons for being there. Being only human and apparently very angry, +he'll certainly seek you out, and you may depend on it that I'll see +that he has definite information as to where you have gone and with whom +you are staying. All you'll have to do is to associate yourself with +him; he'll give you ample opportunity for doing so, and to keep your +eyes open.</p> + +<p>"I need hardly point out that, should you, during the next fortnight, be +able to obtain in any way the required evidence, you would not only +merit my approval but would put yourself in the sure way of promotion, +and that for the best of all reasons, as one who has done a signal +service to your country.</p> + +<p>"Now, just a word of warning. Do not communicate with me unless it is +absolutely necessary. Do not try to find out anything about Darcy; do +not try to see him. Do not so much as breathe the treaty to anyone. +Simply be yourself. He's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> bound to suspect you at first, and it will +only be as time passes and he becomes convinced from your manner of +life—that you are young, inexperienced and wholly unfit to be trusted +with a diplomatic secret—that he'll put himself off his guard. Then +will be your opportunity. Seize it if possible. That's all; now go. No +thanks, please; I trust you will deserve mine when you return. I'll +manage everything for you here, and the Legation pays your +expenses—your leave is for an indefinite period."</p> + +<p>Stanley bowed silently, his heart was too full to speak, and he turned +to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" came his Chief's voice. "You ought to know that Darcy has a +confederate. One of the two is a masterhand, probably the Colonel; but +see if you can find out the other; I've not been able to do so."</p> + +<p>Stanley started, a vivid remembrance flashing through his mind of +Kingsland's significant caution to Darcy at the tea. "Sh'. He's looking +our way! He'll hear us."</p> + +<p>The Ambassador noticed the involuntary movement of his subordinate, and +a grim smile played about his lips.</p> + +<p>"Deportment, Mr. Secretary, deportment," he said. "A diplomat should +always appear at his ease. So; that is better. You can go."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A HOUSE-WARMING</h3> + +<p>Much has been written of the blessed state of them that go a +house-partying in England, and certain it is that no pleasanter pastime +has been devised by civilised man, and that in no other country in the +world has it been brought to a like degree of perfection.</p> + +<p>Two great canons govern these functions, which it would be exceedingly +well did the hostesses of all lands "mark, learn and inwardly digest." +The first is that all guests are on speaking terms of intimacy with each +other from the time they arrive till they depart. My Lady may not know +you next time you meet her in Bond Street, and the Countess perchance +will have forgotten to put your name on her visiting list for the +remainder of this or any other season, but during the blessed interval +of your sojourn at that hospitable Hall in Berks, you knew them both, +and they were very gracious and charming. The second rule is none the +less framed for your comfort and convenience, and it reads: "Thou shalt +be in all things thine own master."</p> + +<p>Most admirable of rules. The amusements of the place, and most English +country places are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> framed for some particular amusement, are put +unreservedly at your disposal. Are you on the Thames? Boats and boatmen +are at your beck and call. Are you North in the shooting season? A +keeper waits your orders. Do you hunt? Grooms and horses are yours to +command. But none of these things are you ever compelled to do. Should +you fear the water, though you are on an island, no one will ever +suggest to you the possibility of leaving it. While your ecclesiastical +host, Bishop though he be, would never take it for granted that you were +predisposed to week-day services and charity bazaars.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts was a perfect hostess, and there was no doubt that her +house would shortly be a favourite on many lists.</p> + +<p>I say, "would be," advisedly, for she had quite recently come into the +possession of her own, which had been another's; a distant cousin, in +short, the last of his branch of the family, who had the good sense to +drink himself to death, shortly before the opening of this narrative, +and leave his fine old Elizabethan manor house to his very charming +relative, an action which did him no credit, because the estate was +entailed, and he could not help it.</p> + +<p>Roberts Hall had more than one attraction: indeed, it was blessed with +an unusual number of delightful adjuncts for a country place, which does +not pretend to be a demesne. For one thing, a number of miles intervened +between the lodge gates and the Hall, and that, in England, is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> a great +consideration. As long as one has plenty of land, the manner of one's +habitation is of little account, while in America houses must be as +large or larger than one can afford, and if when they are built they +cover most of our land, we are none the worse off in our neighbour's +estimation.</p> + +<p>The estate, moreover, could boast of many fallow fields, and more than +one avenue of fine old oaks, while it had a deer park of which many a +larger place might have been proud. There was also a private chapel, for +the use of the family and tenantry, boasting a great square family pew, +fenced round on two sides with queer little leaden-paned windows, giving +a view of the enclosure which contained the family monuments. It was +farther enriched by a pretentious piece of carving in high relief, +vigorously coloured, representing the resurrection, wherein generations +of defunct Roberts were depicted popping up, with no clothes on, out of +a pea-green field, much after the manner of the gopher of the prairie.</p> + +<p>The gardens were extensive, including two artificial ponds, which for +age and solidity might have been constructed from the beginning, +tenanted by a number of swans, all very proud and controversial, and +surrounded by an eight-foot hedge of holly which was a crimson glory in +winter.</p> + +<p>But if the place was fascinating without, it was still more so within. +It had a long low entrance hall with a tesselated pavement, panelled to +the ceiling with the blackest of oak, and boasting a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> rail screen of the +same material dividing the apartment, which many a church might have +envied. There was moreover a library filled with a priceless collection +of old volumes, chiefly perused, for some fifty years past, by the +rodents of the establishment.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts was in the great hall when Stanley arrived, and so received +him in person. She was a most vivacious little woman, to whom a long +sojourn on the Continent, coupled with a diplomatic marriage, had given +the touch of cosmopolitanism, which was all that had been needed to make +her perfect.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully glad to see you, though you are the last comer," she said +cordially. "The Marchioness and Lady Isabelle, under the escort of +Lieutenant Kingsland, reached here in time for lunch, and Miss +Fitzgerald came a few hours later, while Mr. Riddle has just driven +over."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Riddle," asked the Secretary, "who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Arthur Riddle, don't you know him? He is one of our county magnates +and a near neighbour. I hope you'll all like each other, but you must +realise that you have come to the veriest sort of pot-luck. I haven't +begun to get settled yet, or know where anything is."</p> + +<p>"You speak as if you were a visitor," he said, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I feel so. I'm constantly getting lost in this rambling old +house, and having to be rescued by the butler."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Have you really never been here before?"</p> + +<p>"It's my first appearance. It was quite impossible to visit here during +the lifetime of the late owner. Why, I don't even know the traditions of +the place, and it positively teems with them. I shall organise you all +into an exploring party, with free permission to rummage from garret to +cellar."</p> + +<p>"I suppose there's plenty to discover?"</p> + +<p>"Discover! My dear Mr. Secretary, this place is fairly alive with +ghosts, and sliding panels, and revolving pictures; and there's a great +tiled, underground passage leading off from the kitchens into the +country somewhere, which everyone is afraid to explore, and which the +last incumbent had nailed up because it made him nervous."</p> + +<p>"I hope you've reserved a nice cork-screwy staircase with a mouldering +skeleton at the top, for my especial discovery and delectation."</p> + +<p>"First come, first served," she replied; "but there's something in this +very hall that's worthy of your mettle, the greatest prize puzzle a +hostess ever possessed, only I shan't forgive you if you solve it, for +it's one of the standard attractions of the house, and has amused guests +innumerable."</p> + +<p>"Trot it out forthwith. I'm all impatience."</p> + +<p>"I shall do nothing of the kind unless you treat it with more respect. +An oaken door, studded with silver nails, that has not condescended to +open itself for at least two centuries, cannot be 'trotted out'!"</p> + +<p>"I beg its humble pardon," said the Secretary,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> approaching the door and +putting his shoulder against it. "It's as steady as a rock."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. Nothing but dynamite or the proper combination could ever move +it the fraction of an inch."</p> + +<p>Stanley regarded it as it stood framed in its low Saxon portal, a +magnificent piece of black oak, sprinkled from top to bottom with at +least a hundred huge, silver-headed nails, driven in without any +apparent design. Another peculiarity was that neither lock, hinges, nor +keyhole were visible.</p> + +<p>"Does it lead anywhere?" he asked, greatly interested.</p> + +<p>"To an unexplored tower," she replied. "To which this appears to be the +only entrance; at least it has no windows."</p> + +<p>"How interesting. I wonder how they ever got it open."</p> + +<p>"Tradition says that this is the original of our modern combination +lock. No human strength can move it; but once exert the slightest +pressure on the proper combination of those silver nails, five I +believe, one for every digit, and the portal swings open of itself."</p> + +<p>"And discloses, what?"</p> + +<p>"Open it and see," she answered.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure the house won't tumble down if I do, or that you'll never +smile again—or that some unpleasant ancestral prognostication isn't +only awaiting the opening of that door to fall due and take effect?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can't insure you," she replied, "and I wish you wouldn't talk such +nonsense," and she shivered slightly.</p> + +<p>"You surely don't believe, in the nineteenth century——" he began; but +she interrupted him, saying almost petulantly:</p> + +<p>"You'd grow to believe anything if you lived in a place like this. On +the whole, I think you'd better leave the door alone," she added, as he +began to finger the nails thoughtfully, "you're too clever, you might +succeed."</p> + +<p>"If I do," he assured her, "I'll promise to keep my discoveries to +myself."</p> + +<p>"You'd better confine your attentions to the library; it's much more +worthy of your consideration," she replied, evidently wishing to change +the subject.</p> + +<p>"With pleasure," acquiesced Stanley, following her lead. "And what am I +to discover there?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. Now I come to think of it, it's already pre-empted."</p> + +<p>"Who are our literary lights?"</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle McLane and Lieutenant Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"I should never have suspected it of either of them," he replied, +manifestly surprised, for Kingsland's literary tastes, as evidenced on +the Thames, had not been of an elevated nature; and Lady Isabelle was +too conventional and well-ordered a person to care to read much or +widely.</p> + +<p>"Nor should I," agreed his hostess; "but they remain glued to the +bookcases, and to see them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> going into raptures over an undecipherable +black letter volume, adorned with illustrations that no self-respecting +householder would admit to his family circle, is, considering the young +lady's antecedents at least, rather amusing. They've the room entirely +to themselves."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Stanley, and they both laughed.</p> + +<p>"But the Marchioness is certain that it is literary enthusiasm," she +assured him.</p> + +<p>"My dear Mrs. Roberts," said the Secretary, "that is merely the wisdom +of age." And they laughed again.</p> + +<p>"And now," he added, "if you'll permit, I'll begin my tour of +exploration, by finding where my belongings are bestowed."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, a footman was at his side, and his hostess, nodding +cheerfully to him, left him to his own devices.</p> + +<p>Stanley's room was charming, and he was so busy examining its +curiosities that the sound of the dressing-bell awoke him to the +realities of the situation with a start of surprise that he could have +unconsciously idled away so much time.</p> + +<p>But then there was a fireplace, almost as large as a modern bedroom, +ornamented with blue tiles of scriptural design, blatantly Dutch and +orthodox; and the great logs resting on fire-dogs, that happened to be +lions, which caused most of the guests to break the tenth commandment in +thought, and neglect to break it in deed, only because they were +unsuited both by weight and design for surreptitious packing in bags or +boxes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Also there was the wall paper, rejoicing in squares of camels, +and groves of palm trees, amidst which surroundings fully a hundred +Solomons received a hundred blushing Queens of Sheba. Moreover, there +was a huge four-poster into which you ascended by a flight of steps, and +from the depths of whose feather-beds you were only rescued the +following morning by the muscular exertions of your valet, which, as +Kingsland aptly remarked at dinner, was a tremendous cinch for the +family ghosts, as they could haunt you all night long if they liked, +without your ever being able to retaliate.</p> + +<p>Altogether, it is doubtful if Stanley would ever have remembered to +dress for dinner, had not his meditations been interrupted by a series +of astonishing sounds in the hall, which seemed to betoken the movements +of great weights with strenuous exertions. Just at that moment the valet +entered with his freshly brushed dress clothes, and a question as to the +cause of the disturbance elicited the fact that:</p> + +<p>"They was Mr. Riddle's chests, sir," and though it wasn't his place to +say it, "he's a mighty queer old gentleman, gives magic lantern shows +and entertainments free for charity, sir."</p> + +<p>"From his luggage, I should imagine he was supporting an opera troupe."</p> + +<p>"They was labelled 'stereopticon,' sir, but they was that heavy——"</p> + +<p>"Thanks," broke in the Secretary. "That's quite sufficient."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>He never approved of encouraging gossip, and was not interested in the +description of the benevolent county magnate—still less in the weight +of his chests—yet he smiled quietly to himself as he dressed for +dinner.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>BEFORE DINNER</h3> + +<p>The Lieutenant and Miss Fitzgerald were in the billiard-room, and the +former was putting in the half-hour which must elapse before dinner by +teaching the latter the science of bank-shots.</p> + +<p>"I say," queried her instructor, in one of the pauses of the game, "do +you know that little diplomatic affair of yours has turned up again? I +saw it driving in from the station, half an hour ago.</p> + +<p>"Jimsy Stanley, I suppose you mean?"</p> + +<p>"The same,—and look here, you won't turn crusty, if I ask you a +point-blank question?"</p> + +<p>"No, Dottie."</p> + +<p>"Don't call me that, you know I hate it."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it your naval sobriquet?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind if it is."</p> + +<p>"But I do mind, and I shall call you what I please, for it suits you +perfectly. Well, then, Dottie, I don't mind your asking me anything, if +it's for a purpose, and not for idle curiosity."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's for a purpose fast enough."</p> + +<p>"Go ahead, then. I'll try and bank that ball into the side-pocket, while +you are thinking it out."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It doesn't need thinking out. It's just this: Do you mean business with +Little Diplomacy?"</p> + +<p>"What affair is that of yours?" she asked, pausing in the act of +chalking her cue.</p> + +<p>"None, thank goodness; but I'd like to do a pal a good turn, and so——"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"If you'll accept a bit of advice."</p> + +<p>"Out with it."</p> + +<p>"Don't lose any time, if you do mean business. He's being warned against +you."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you clever enough to know the result of that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if the advice comes from a woman—but supposing it's from a man?"</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"Kent-Lauriston."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald so far forgot herself as to whistle.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Gainsborough told me. He said he overheard an awful long confab between +them at the St. James, two days ago, and Diplomacy said he'd write a +letter to our hostess, sending his regrets."</p> + +<p>"No such letter has been received."</p> + +<p>"Probably he changed his mind,—but——"</p> + +<p>"Then he'll make a clean breast of it to me, but I'm much obliged just +the same, and I won't forget it."</p> + +<p>"I'll see he owns up to it."</p> + +<p>"You won't do anything of the sort, you'll bungle it, and there's an end +of things."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Have I generally bungled your affairs with Little Diplomacy?"</p> + +<p>"No. You were a trump about that launch party. Now I mustn't keep you +from her Ladyship—run along, and remember if I can be of any help—just +call on me."</p> + +<p>"You can be—and I want you to——"</p> + +<p>She broke in with a merry laugh.</p> + +<p>"I knew it."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because Lieutenant Kingsland doesn't generally put himself out to +oblige his friends, unless he expects them to make return with +interest."</p> + +<p>The gentleman in question looked sheepish and shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Come now," she continued briskly. "Let me hear it, and don't go +blundering about for an explanation; the facts are sufficient. I've been +alone with you long enough. I don't wish to set myself up as a rival to +Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"It's about her I want your help."</p> + +<p>"Of course, I know that. Go on."</p> + +<p>"You don't ask if I mean business."</p> + +<p>"I don't need to. I know the amount in consols which she received from +her grandmother."</p> + +<p>"Don't be so damned mercenary!"</p> + +<p>"Why not say a thing as well as mean it? Let's be honest for once in a +way. Besides, you're not to swear at me, Lieutenant Kingsland—please +remember I'm not married to you."</p> + +<p>"No. By Gad! I wish you were."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you don't. I haven't silver enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> to cross the palm of my +hand. But to come to business. Doesn't your affair progress swimmingly?"</p> + +<p>"Why, it has so far—as long as the Dowager fancied there was danger +from Little Diplomacy's quarter, I was used as a foil. Now that she +learned about your claims she breathes again, and gives me the cold +shoulder in consequence."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you haven't been wasting your time?"</p> + +<p>"Rather not."</p> + +<p>"It's all right then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so; but the old lady'll never allow it."</p> + +<p>"Marry without consulting her."</p> + +<p>"That's what I mean to do."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Why, here. Haven't we got the parson and the church attached? What +could be more convenient?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, if the Marchioness doesn't suspect?"</p> + +<p>"But I'm afraid that she does."</p> + +<p>"What—not that——"</p> + +<p>"Only that my intentions are serious."</p> + +<p>"Transfer them to me then—temporarily."</p> + +<p>"Won't do. Devotion to Lady Isabelle is the tack. Why won't you lend me +your little affair?"</p> + +<p>"What, Jimsy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I fancy the old lady has a mistaken idea that he's +poverty-stricken. Of course, I know that can't be the case if you——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do not finish that sentence, Lieutenant Kingsland; I'm quite willing to +oblige you—by mentioning to the Dowager the amount of Mr. Stanley's +income—if I know it."</p> + +<p>"She'll accept your word for it, even if you don't, and once her +attention is turned to him, I'll have a clear field."</p> + +<p>"Is that the help you wanted?"</p> + +<p>"No, I want you to square the parson."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see; that's a more difficult matter. When do you wish to command +his services?"</p> + +<p>"If I need 'em at all it'll be in about three days. To-day's +Thursday—say Sunday."</p> + +<p>"I'll do what I can."</p> + +<p>"You're a brick. Oh, by the way, I spoke to Darcy about that letter you +gave me at the Hyde Park Club."</p> + +<p>"And he told you to keep a still tongue in your head and leave it to +me."</p> + +<p>"How did you know that?"</p> + +<p>"It's good advice," she continued, ignoring his question, "and I'll give +you some more. If I make any suggestion after dinner, advocate it +warmly—put it through."</p> + +<p>"You mean to get that letter to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I must get it to-night."</p> + +<p>"But suppose he's left it in London?"</p> + +<p>"Then I must find it out this evening, and take steps to procure it +there."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't have his rooms searched?"</p> + +<p>"I must have that letter—that's all," she replied. "You don't know what +it means to me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about it. But why not ask him for it?"</p> + +<p>"Tell him it was mine, and that I sent it to Darcy," she exclaimed, +incredulously.</p> + +<p>"I say," he ventured to expostulate—"you know I am no milksop—but +don't you think that you and the Colonel are getting a trifle thick? +He's a married man, you know, and——"</p> + +<p>She flushed angrily, and then controlling herself, said quietly:</p> + +<p>"Oblige me by going to the drawing-room at once, Lieutenant Kingsland. +We've been here too long already."</p> + +<p>He bit his lip, looked at her, laughed shamefacedly, and thrusting his +hands into his trousers' pockets, went out.</p> + +<p>Having given him time to make his escape, she slowly followed his +footsteps.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Stanley dreaded meeting his friends, as a man does who stands convicted +of having done something foolish, and while he was wondering whom he had +better encounter first, Lady Isabelle settled the question for him by +meeting him in the great hall.</p> + +<p>"This is indeed unexpected," she said. "After what you told me at Lady +Rainsford's tea, it's naturally the last place where I should have +thought of seeing you."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose our hostess considered it necessary to mention that I +was coming, after all."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I believe that she did say something at luncheon about receiving a +telegram from you; but as you had assured me that you were not to be +here, and as I was much engaged——"</p> + +<p>"In literary pursuits with Lieutenant Kingsland," he said, finishing her +sentence for her, at which termination her Ladyship flushed, and the +Secretary felt that in the first round at least he had given as good as +he had received.</p> + +<p>"But I want you to understand the reason of my coming," he said, leading +her to a seat in a little alcove. "I feel that I owe you some +explanation."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why you should," she replied coldly. "I'm sure you have a +perfect right to do one thing and say another without consulting me."</p> + +<p>Lady Isabelle was nettled, for she felt he had trifled with the serious +side of her nature. She had offered him good advice which he had +pretended to accept, and straightway her back was turned, he had +unblushingly belied his words.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said humbly. "I shouldn't have presumed to +suppose that you could have felt any real interest in my affairs."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I do," she replied, somewhat mollified. "A deep interest, the +interest of a friend."</p> + +<p>She made it a point to qualify any statement that might be open to +possible misconstruction.</p> + +<p>"I see I shall have to throw myself on your mercy, and tell you the +whole truth," said Stanley,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> which he proceeded not to do. "I intended +to write a letter."</p> + +<p>"It isn't necessary. I would accept your word——"</p> + +<p>"But you'd still have a lingering suspicion of me in your heart. As I +was saying—I intended to write to Mrs. Roberts, declining her +invitation, and forgot to do so till this morning, and then I made a +virtue of necessity, and as it was too late to refuse, telegraphed my +hour of arrival."</p> + +<p>Had the light been a little stronger, he would have noted the quiet +smile which played about Lady Isabelle's face, though her silence was, +in itself, suggestive of the fact that she did not believe him.</p> + +<p>"I probably shan't stay more than a few days, long enough to do the +proper thing, you know."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen your friend?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald? On my word, I haven't laid eyes on her. The fact is, +I've quite decided to follow your advice. You must be my guardian +angel."</p> + +<p>Her Ladyship looked dubious at this, though the rôle of guardian angel +to an attractive young man has ever been dear to the feminine heart. +However that may be, her ultimate decision was perforce relegated to +another interview, by the appearance before them of the subject of their +conversation—Miss Belle Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>This much discussed lady was dressed in the apparent simplicity which +tells of art. Her costume, the very finest of white muslins, suggested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +the lithe movements of the body it encased, with every motion she made, +and her simple bodice was of the fashion of thirty years ago, a fashion +which always inspired wonder that the clothes stayed on, and awe at the +ingenuity with which that miracle must have been accomplished. A broad +frill of the same material, caught with a knot of white ribbon at her +breast, framed her dazzling throat and neck, and a yellow sash, whose +end nearly touched the floor, encircled her waist; a sash whose colour +just matched the tint of that glorious hair, which, astonishing to +relate, hung loose down her back, and was surmounted by a very tiny +white bow, which was evidently a concession to the demands of +conventionality, as it could have been of no possible use in retaining +her tresses. That Miss Fitzgerald was able not only to adopt this style, +but to carry it off with unqualified success, and the approval of all +unprejudiced observers, was its own justification.</p> + +<p>"I always wear my hair like this in the country," she had said at lunch. +"It is so much easier, and I'm really not old enough to paste it over my +forehead and go in for a bun behind"—this with a glance at Lady +Isabelle, which caused the Dowager Marchioness to exclaim, quite +audibly, that it was scandalous for that young person—she was sure she +had forgotten her name—to wear her hair as if she wasn't yet eighteen. +Lady Isabelle, it may be remarked, could lay no claim to anything under +twenty.</p> + +<p>But certainly in this case, the end justified the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> deed, and Miss +Fitzgerald, rejuvenated, was one of the most simple, blithesome and gay +young maidens that the sun shone on.</p> + +<p>Possibly this was the reason that she never saw or comprehended the +meaning of Lady Isabelle's uplifted eyebrows and steely glare, as she +drew up before the couple and violated the first rule of fair and open +warfare by interrupting their tête-à-tête.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jimsy," she said, using a form of address that the rack would +never have wrung from his companion, "How are you? Feeling fit?"</p> + +<p>He smiled uneasily, and, for the sake of saying something, since her +Ladyship preserved an ominous silence, remarked:</p> + +<p>"There's no need of putting that question to you."</p> + +<p>"Rather not. Once I'm in the country, I'm as frisky as a young colt," +she rattled on. "I'm going to have such fun with you and Kingsland, and +I expect to be, as usual, quite spoiled. Now, how are you going to +begin?"</p> + +<p>"Really," he faltered, rising in an access of agitation, for Lady +Isabelle's expression was fearful to behold.</p> + +<p>"You shall run along with me to Mrs. Roberts," she continued, not giving +him an opportunity to flounder, "and tell her that she must send us down +to dinner together. Because you're a diplomat and will have a post of +honour, and the butler has given me the tip that we're to have just one +round of '80 champagne before the dessert,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> and you know we really must +have the first of the bottle, there is sure to be sediment farther +down."</p> + +<p>"You must excuse me, but you see— Lady Isabelle," and he indicated that +stony personage.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg Lady Isabelle's pardon—it was so dark I didn't see her!" she +cried in a fit of demure shyness, and added—"If I have said anything +indiscreet, do explain it, there's a dear, good Jimsy."</p> + +<p>"It's not necessary," came the icy tones of his companion. "I shouldn't +think of keeping you, Mr. Stanley, from such congenial society."</p> + +<p>"At least, let me escort you to the drawing-room."</p> + +<p>"Don't trouble yourself, I beg. I dare say I shall find some people +there who are contented to wait till their proper precedence has been +allotted to them," and she turned away.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," the irrepressible Belle called after her. "I just sent +Kingsland up there. He's been showing me bank notes in the +billiard-room. I thought I'd never get rid of him."</p> + +<p>If her Ladyship heard this information she betrayed no sign of the fact, +and Miss Fitzgerald returned to more congenial fields.</p> + +<p>"You behaved disgracefully," said Stanley, as they went in search of +Mrs. Roberts, "and I shall have to spend most of this evening in trying +to make my peace with Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"Poor, proper Jimsy! Was he shocked? But I really couldn't help it, you +know—she's such a funny old thing."</p> + +<p>The Secretary wisely changed the subject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>When they discovered Mrs. Roberts she assured them that their proposed +arrangement at table suited her exactly, but could not forbear +whispering in her niece's ear:</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think you'd have thought it necessary to ask. Of course, +I'd arranged it that way."</p> + +<p>To which Miss Belle whispered in return:</p> + +<p>"Don't be stupid!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>AFTER DINNER</h3> + +<p>When the Secretary entered the drawing-room he received a distinct shock +of surprise.</p> + +<p>The one person in the party unknown to him was Mr. Riddle. Yet those +high cheek-bones, that prominent nose between the deep-set, restless +eyes, peering out under their shaggy eyebrows, were strangely familiar. +He had seen them once before when they and their owner occupied a cab +together with his fair dinner partner. He was on the point of saying so +to her, but restrained himself, he hardly knew why, in deference, +perhaps, to his diplomatic training, which forbade him ever to say +anything unnecessary.</p> + +<p>Fate placed him next to the Dowager Marchioness, who was manifestly +displeased at his presence, and lost no time in making him feel +thoroughly uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"I had always supposed," she began, before he was fairly seated at the +table, "that at this season of the year there was a great deal of +activity in the diplomatic world."</p> + +<p>"There is," answered Stanley hastily, scenting danger, and anxious to +turn the conversation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> from his own affairs. "Most countries have a +little leisure, and, like Satan, expend the time in making and finding +mischief."</p> + +<p>"That is, of course, a matter of which I am no judge, Mr. Stanley, but I +should have supposed, under the circumstances, you would naturally be +much occupied."</p> + +<p>"We are," he replied, a trifle flippantly. Flippancy, he had noticed, +was the one thing that drove the Marchioness to the verge of +desperation. "My Minister and my colleagues are working like +draught-horses."</p> + +<p>"While you——" began her Ladyship.</p> + +<p>"I'm working also—hard," and he turned himself and the conversation to +the fair Miss Fitzgerald, while the Dowager said things in a loud tone +of voice about youthful diplomacy to Mr. Lambert, the local incumbent, +who had taken her down to dinner.</p> + +<p>The Secretary was no more fortunate with his dinner partner. Not that +she rated him; far from it; but she was evidently making conversation, +and he could not help feeling that the cordial good fellowship which had +hitherto existed between them was now lacking, and that a restraint had +taken its place, which, to say the least, did not promote their mutual +ease. But there, he would have a talk with her when opportunity offered, +and they would understand each other and be as good friends as ever; +nothing more. He knew himself now. He was sure she had never been so +foolish as to suppose for an instant that their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> intimacy could mean +anything further. She would probably laugh at him if he proposed to +her—which he would not do, of course—but all the same he must make +some sort of an explanation, and—what was she saying?—he had not +spoken for a whole course—what must she be thinking of him? He pulled +himself together, and rattled on, till his hostess gave the signal for +the ladies to leave the table.</p> + +<p>The interval for rest, refreshment, and tobacco promised to be somewhat +wearisome, for Kingsland seemed moody and abstracted, and Riddle and the +Reverend Reginald Lambert offered, to Stanley's mind, little hope of +amusement.</p> + +<p>The good pastor was a bit of an archæologist, an enthusiast on the +subject of early ecclesiastical architecture, and the nominal duties of +his living left him much spare time for the exploitation of this +harmless fad. He was possessed of considerable manual dexterity and a +certain nicety in the manipulation of whatever he undertook, whether it +were the restoration of parchments or the handling of leaden coffins, +but apart from his hobby he was as prosy as the most typical member of +his calling.</p> + +<p>As the Secretary could not tell a nave from a chapter house, a very few +minutes served to exhaust his interest in the good old gentleman, and he +turned to Mr. Riddle in sheer desperation. Stanley had conceived a +dislike for the stranger from the first moment he had heard he was a +fellow-guest, either from his reputation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> for beneficence or his +mysterious acquaintance with Miss Fitzgerald. He had at once put him +down as a hypocrite, and his attitude towards him was reserved in +consequence. This sort of man, he told himself, takes a pride in his +good deeds, and can be most easily approached on that subject. +Accordingly he drew up his chair and opened the conversation with some +allusion to the chests of stereopticon fittings.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they're bulky," replied Mr. Riddle, "and I was almost ashamed to +bring them with me— I trust they've not annoyed you."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, I was hoping we might be favoured with a view of their +contents."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," he said, his face lighting up with a frank smile, which +appealed to the Secretary in spite of his prejudices. "I never inflict +my fads on my friends. I'd promised to send them on to a man in London, +and, as I was coming in this direction, brought them part way myself. +You see, the average porter cannot understand that a thing may be heavy +and yet fragile—if a chest weighs a great deal—and you'd be surprised +how heavy a case of slides can be—he bangs it about regardless of +labels and warnings; so I generally try to keep an eye on them, or put +them in the charge of some trusty friend."</p> + +<p>"You are much interested in these things?"</p> + +<p>"The slides? Oh, yes,—collecting them becomes quite absorbing, and now +these clever scientists of ours are able to photograph directly on them, +it increases our field immensely."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course the good you can do with them must be their chief charm to +you——" began the Secretary, sententiously.</p> + +<p>The answer surprised him.</p> + +<p>"Not at all. On the contrary, my charities, if they <i>are</i> charities, are +of a very selfish sort. I suppose you've some kind of amusement which +you turn to in your hours for relaxation? Golf, tennis, hunting, what +not. These little entertainments are—mine. I thoroughly enjoy them. The +fact is, I'm passionately fond of children, and not having any of my +own, I've adopted everybody else's for the time being. But it's selfish, +purely selfish. Some benighted idiots call me a philanthropist—I'd like +to have them come pressing their claims for lazy heathen in my bank +parlour, they'd find out what sort of business man I was." And this +queer specimen doubled up his fists, and broke into a roar of laughter, +which was too hearty to have been assumed. "I'll tell you what it is," +he continued, "if it wasn't for our good dominie there, I'd admit to you +that I hate a real professional philanthropist—ten to one he's a +humbug."</p> + +<p>The parson held up his hands, and Stanley laughed nervously—the man was +actually voicing his own thoughts.</p> + +<p>"As for charity— Bah! Charity begins at home. It doesn't go racing over +the country with magic lantern shows—that's real downright, selfish +egotism."</p> + +<p>Then, evidently feeling that the conversation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> had proceeded far enough +in this direction, he broke off suddenly, remarking:</p> + +<p>"They tell me that you're a diplomat."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Secretary. "Perhaps you know my chief?"</p> + +<p>"I've not that honour. Indeed I've never had any dealings with your +countrymen but once, and then I'd reason to regret it."</p> + +<p>"Really? I'm sorry to hear that."</p> + +<p>"It was with a large manufacturing company," he continued, and mentioned +the name of the concern which had such a sinister reputation in regard +to the treaty.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the Secretary, at once alert for any information he might +pick up. "You mustn't judge my countrymen by that concern—anyway I +understand that it's really owned in England."</p> + +<p>"Ah, is it so? I can't say how that may be, I'm sure; but I know they +kept so closely to the letter of their contracts with my bank, that it +almost crossed the border line from strict business to sharp dealing."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you should have been annoyed, but I know nothing about it. +We—my father, is interested in sugar, and that, as you see, wouldn't +bring us into any connection with their line of business."</p> + +<p>"No, of course not. Do you happen to know who <i>are</i> the heads of the +firm in this country?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't any idea," the Secretary answered, very tersely. "I fancy +they're in the nature of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> silent partners. But I dare say they might be +known in business circles."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the matter doesn't interest me—except as I've mentioned. It was +recalled to my mind by some notice of a treaty I saw the other day in +the papers—which I should fancy would rather cripple their resources, +if it went through."</p> + +<p>The Secretary held his peace, and silence falling upon the room, the +Reverend Reginald deposited the butt of his cigar tenderly in the +ash-tray, and blew his nose lustily, as a preparatory signal for a +retreat to the upper regions. The others obeyed the hint, and a moment +later were on their way to the drawing-room.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald's resentment towards the Lieutenant had been +short-lived, and she was quite ready to aid and abet him to the extent +of her power, the more so as his success would upset the most cherished +plans of the Marchioness, who was, for the time being, the Irish girl's +pet detestation. Accordingly she took up her station near that matron, +who descended on her forthwith.</p> + +<p>"I suppose, my dear," said the Dowager, with an assumption of friendly +interest that was even more terrible to behold than the coldness of her +wrath, "I <i>can</i> only suppose, from what I could not help observing at +table this evening, that you are soon to be a subject of +congratulations."</p> + +<p>"Really I don't understand."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course, I shouldn't think of forcing your confidence, but when an +engagement is unannounced there's a degree of uncertainty."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I think you're mistaken," said Miss Fitzgerald, lifting her +liquid blue eyes to the Dowager's face, with an expression of innocence, +which was the perfection of art. "I'm much too young to think of such +things—besides, who'd have me, with no dower except my beauty, such as +it is, which, as your Ladyship knows, is not lasting."</p> + +<p>The Marchioness fairly snorted with rage. She had been a Court belle in +her time.</p> + +<p>"Some country parson, perhaps," continued Miss Fitzgerald reflectively; +"but then I fear I should not make a good parson's wife."</p> + +<p>"I should doubt it," assented the Dowager with asperity.</p> + +<p>"No millionaires would think of me for a moment."</p> + +<p>"I did not know there were any such here."</p> + +<p>"What, not Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Why, to be sure. He's worth millions they say. Stanley & Son, South +American sugar. Anyone in the city would confirm my statements, but you +don't know the city of course— Lieutenant Kingsland could tell you more +about him if you cared to hear it," and she moved away as the gentlemen +entered the room, and running up to Stanley, exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"You've been an interminable length of time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> over your cigars. Men are +so selfish and I'm simply dying for a game of hearts."</p> + +<p>"You play it so much I should think you would tire of it," he said, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Tut! tut! naughty man! This is serious business. Sixpence a heart, and +you mustn't win, for I'm quite impoverished. You'll be one of the party, +Jack," she continued, turning to Kingsland, who had just come up.</p> + +<p>"Nothing I should like better. I always approve of assisting the +undeserving," replied the Lieutenant, and added: "I'll get Lady Isabelle +to join us." A very valuable piece of assistance, as her Ladyship would +hardly have done so on Miss Fitzgerald's unsupported invitation; and +since it was manifestly an affair of the young people, this deflection +might have ruined all.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant's request, however, had due weight, and she graciously +consented to join the party, which was further augmented by Mr. Riddle, +who declared that "young people" meant anyone who felt young, and so he +did not intend to be excluded.</p> + +<p>The cards were accordingly shuffled, but during the deal, Belle +discovered that though she had a pencil, no paper for scoring was +anywhere obtainable.</p> + +<p>"Oh, any old scrap will do," she said. "Surely some of you gentlemen +have an old envelope on which we can keep tally. Jack? Mr. Riddle?"</p> + +<p>Both gentlemen professed to an utter absence of any available material.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You, Jim—then?" she queried, turning to the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"I don't generally carry my correspondence round in my evening clothes," +he protested, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Idiot!" she retorted, with an affected depth of scorn. "How can you +tell unless you've looked?"</p> + +<p>"Oh well," he replied, "to please you——" and thrust his hand into the +pocket of his coat. "Why," he exclaimed, "here is something! I declare, +it's that mysterious letter which I intercepted at the Hyde Park Club +night before last. Let me see, Kingsland, I think it dropped from the +ceiling into your hands."</p> + +<p>"The letter belongs to me," came the keen voice of Mr. Riddle.</p> + +<p>"To you!" said Stanley, in genuine surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I gave it to Lieutenant Kingsland at the Hyde Park Club."</p> + +<p>"But surely," contended the Secretary, "Lieutenant Kingsland told me, +only that morning, that he didn't know who you were."</p> + +<p>Silence fell on the little company. The Lieutenant flushed and moved +uneasily in his seat, and Miss Fitzgerald leaned forward with a strained +look in her face, while the keen, restless eye of Mr. Riddle swept round +the table, taking in all present at a glance.</p> + +<p>Then he spoke, with quick decision.</p> + +<p>"Quite true. I did not till to-day have the pleasure of <i>knowing</i> +Lieutenant Kingsland. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> saw him leaving the room at the club, however, +and though he was a stranger, ventured, as I was unable to leave my +party, to ask him to do me the favour to post a letter for me, handing +him two-pence for the stamp. I had, it seems, very carelessly forgotten +to address it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," broke in the Lieutenant, catching his breath. "You remember I +told you I didn't know who had given it to me."</p> + +<p>"You will notice," continued Mr. Riddle, "that the envelope is sealed +with the initials A. R. inclosed in scroll work. Here"—detaching it +from his watch chain—"is the seal with which the impression was made."</p> + +<p>A cursory glance assured Stanley that it was the same.</p> + +<p>"If you doubt my statement," continued Mr. Riddle affably, "we can +procure some wax and make a duplicate——"</p> + +<p>The Secretary hastened to disclaim any such intention. Why should he +doubt this gentleman's word? Kingsland corroborated his story, and the +letter was no concern of his, anyway. Indeed, as he said, in handing it +over to its owner, he felt that he owed him an apology for his +unwarrantable interference in the matter.</p> + +<p>At this point Miss Fitzgerald resumed the conversation.</p> + +<p>"There!" she cried. "You and your stupid letter have lost me the deal, +for I don't know where I left off. Take the cards and deal for me— I'll +run downstairs and get a clean sheet of paper,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> and come in on the next +hand," and suiting the action to the word, she pushed the pack over to +Stanley, and ran from the room.</p> + +<p>A moment later the game was in progress. Mr. Riddle was the life and +soul of the party, and his irresistible mirth and good humour put every +one at his ease.</p> + +<p>The impoverished, it is perhaps needless to say, were duly remunerated; +and the Secretary, after a round of whiskies and sodas, retired to his +room, feeling that the evening had been a triumphant success, and +reflecting ruefully that he was yet very young, for a little brief +authority had made him suspicious of everybody. Had he not put down Mr. +Riddle as a hypocrite, when that gentleman was one of the most open, +whole-hearted and mirthful personages in existence? As for the letter it +was an unfortunate incident, very successfully brought to a close. +Something was wrong with Belle, however. She had left him with a shrug +and laugh, saying: "Oh, there is no real gambling in a mere game of +cards. Try life!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>A MORNING CALL</h3> + +<p>The Dowager was being created for the day. Created seems the only term +applicable to the process, for Lily, Marchioness of Port Arthur, as +finished by her Maker and her maid, were two entirely distinct and +separate articles. Stimson alone was initiated in these mysteries. Even +Lady Isabelle had never been allowed to see her mother as she really +was, and no one exactly knew how she was put together, though several +tradesmen in Bond Street might have been able to make shrewd guesses at +her component parts.</p> + +<p>The Dowager never appeared in public until lunch time. She had, she told +her friends, earned the right to this little luxury now that the +struggle of life was nearly over. Doubtless her Ladyship knew best what +she had done to deserve such an indulgence. But, be that as it may, her +daily retirement gave her a much coveted opportunity for attending to +matters in the private life of other people, and one of these affairs +claimed her attention after the Secretary's arrival at Roberts' Hall.</p> + +<p>Stimson had finished her morning's budget;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> that is, she had retailed to +her Ladyship all those things about which the Dowager declared +pathetically she had not the slightest desire to know, but which, had +the maid omitted to mention them, would have cost her her place.</p> + +<p>"And so, as I was saying, my Lady," Stimson concluded her recital, "Mr. +Stalbridge, the butler, he tells me as there was a strange lady come to +Coombe Farm yesterday, a foreigner like."</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Stimson, why you worry me with these trivialities," said +the Dowager, "in which I can have no possible interest. You say she was +a foreigner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my lady. A Spaniard, Mr. Stalbridge thought, and her name——"</p> + +<p>"You needn't trouble me to tell me her name, Stimson."</p> + +<p>"No, my Lady. I shouldn't presume, my Lady. But, of course, when I heard +as it was Madame Darcy, I couldn't help thinking——"</p> + +<p>"I do not employ you to think, Stimson. I understand you to say that the +lady's name was Madame Darcy? Surely my daughter met a Madame Darcy the +other night, somewhere?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my Lady, at Mr. Stanley's dinner."</p> + +<p>"It is quite immaterial to me where Lady Isabelle met this person. But, +as you say, it <i>was</i> at Mr. Stanley's dinner. So I infer she must be a +friend of his."</p> + +<p>"She's not staying at the Hall, my Lady."</p> + +<p>"No," said the Marchioness. "I shouldn't have supposed she would stay at +the Hall. Stimson,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> you may get me my bonnet and a light shawl."</p> + +<p>"But I thought your Ladyship said as how you was not well enough to go +out this morning."</p> + +<p>"I said, Stimson, that you could get me my bonnet and a light shawl. +Perhaps a little air will do me good."</p> + +<p>"If your Ladyship was thinking of taking a little stroll, it's very +pretty towards the Coombe Farm, not ten minutes' walk across the Park to +the left of the house."</p> + +<p>"As you very well know, Stimson," her mistress remarked with asperity, +"I am too nearly tottering on the brink of the grave to venture out of +the garden. Perhaps there is a side-door by which I can leave the house +and be alone. I shouldn't have the strength to talk to anybody."</p> + +<p>"No, your Ladyship. I'll show you the way, and if Mrs. Roberts should +send to inquire for your Ladyship's health——"</p> + +<p>"Say I have been obliged to lie down by a headache, and shall not appear +till lunch."</p> + +<p>"But if anyone saw your Ladyship——"</p> + +<p>"In that case," snapped the Marchioness, "I should be obliged to dismiss +you as being untruthful."</p> + +<p>In a good cause the Dowager was only too apt to overtax her strength, +and this was probably the reason why, half an hour later, she was +obliged to sink down on a wooden bench outside the door of Coombe Farm +and request the privilege of resting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> herself for a few minutes. The +farmer's wife, who, like most people of her class, took a vast interest +in the guests at the Hall, knew intuitively that she was a Marchioness, +and having ducked almost to the dust, rushed into the house to get her +Ladyship a glass of fresh milk and impart the astounding intelligence to +her lodger. A moment later Madame Darcy appeared upon the scene.</p> + +<p>"I am going to take the liberty of introducing myself, as I have the +pleasure of knowing your daughter," she said.</p> + +<p>Her Ladyship was affable in the extreme.</p> + +<p>"This is, indeed, a pleasure, Madame Darcy," she murmured. "Dear +Isabelle was so impressed with you the other night that she has done +nothing but talk of you since; but, of course, I could not have supposed +my walk would have had such a charming termination. Is not your coming +into the country rather unexpected?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Madame Darcy. "It is what you in this country call a +whim, is it not? I am not yet quite sure of your language."</p> + +<p>The Marchioness smiled indulgently.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "that's quite right. It is very clever of you."</p> + +<p>"I do not like your London," pursued the stranger. "It suffocates me, +and I wish to run away into the country."</p> + +<p>"And how did you know of this charming spot?" said her Ladyship, still +angling on general principles.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have heard it mentioned."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + +<p>"By Mr. Stanley, perhaps?" suggested the Dowager. "You knew he was to be +here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," rejoined Madame Darcy, judging it better to be frank. "But I +came here to be quite alone. I need rest and quiet."</p> + +<p>"I see," said the Marchioness, who was quite bewildered. "But you and +Mr. Stanley are very old friends, are you not?"</p> + +<p>"Our fathers were. We have not met often recently."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, of course," said the Marchioness. "Mr. Stanley told me. He's +such a nice young fellow. We often see him at our house. I take quite an +interest in him. And how pleasantly he is situated, too. Diplomacy is +such a delightful profession. But then"—and here she sighed +gently—"like other delightful things in this world it must require a +very long purse."</p> + +<p>If Madame Darcy had had any knowledge of English manners and customs, +the Dowager's method of attack would have put her on her guard at once. +But being totally unversed in the ways of British matrimonial diplomacy, +she took the Marchioness' remarks to mean nothing more than an +expression of kindly interest in the young man's welfare, and did not +hesitate to inform her that the Secretary was amply able to afford any +position he chose to take.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said the Dowager. "His father's greatly interested in sugar, +I believe. Or is it salt? I am very ignorant about these matters. Which +do you grow in your country?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Madame Darcy repressed a smile and informed her guest that Mr. Stanley's +father grew sugar, and was one of the most wealthy planters in that +section of the world.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must be going now," said the Marchioness. "I have had such a +pleasant little chat, and I shall certainly ask Mrs. Roberts to call on +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pray don't," returned Madame Darcy. "That is—excuse me, I did not +mean to be rude—but I have come down here for absolute rest, and do not +feel in the mood for any gaiety."</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," said the Dowager, "and will respect your feelings. +Indeed, I will not mention having met you at all, and then no one need +be the wiser. No, thanks. I shall be quite able to go by myself. Perhaps +we may meet again in London. You must ask Mr. Stanley to bring you to +call on me. Such a nice young fellow! He ought to be married to keep him +out of mischief." And the Marchioness returned to her room to complete +her headache.</p> + +<p>Scarcely fifteen minutes had elapsed since the Dowager's departure, +when, just by accident, Stanley strolled by, and lifting his eyes caught +sight of Madame Darcy's face at the cottage window.</p> + +<p>"What!" he exclaimed. "You here!" and stood silent a moment as a wave of +feeling rushed over him, the first pleasure of seeing her sad sweet face +being swept away by consternation at the thought of how she had played +into her husband's hands by following him to this place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>She read what was in his mind, saying, with that charming accent which +appealed to him so strongly:</p> + +<p>"You should not express your thoughts so clearly in your face. You are +thinking—but it is not of me—it is of yourself—in this part of the +world men think only of themselves—in my country they think of us." And +she gave a sigh.</p> + +<p>"You are, what you English call 'put out' at my coming—you think it +will compromise you—strange country where the men consider that they +will be compromised. You do not think of me, not one little bit—eh? I +am right?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so," he said. "You see, nowadays, chivalry doesn't exist far +north or south of the equator."</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I carry my own climate, my own atmosphere," she said.</p> + +<p>The Secretary bowed.</p> + +<p>"No? You are not convinced? I had thought better of you."</p> + +<p>"You see," he said, feeling it wiser to be blunt, feeling that he must, +if possible, bring this wayward, entrancing, fantastic creature within +the limits of practical common sense. "You see, your precious husband +has been making trumped-up charges against me, on your account, which +are highly unpleasant."</p> + +<p>"He is a beast!"</p> + +<p>"Quite so, but as far as circumstantial evidence goes, he has some cause +on his side. Your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> arrival at my private apartments in London was most +unfortunate; but your following me here was simply the worst sort of +foolishness."</p> + +<p>The Secretary was aggrieved and showed it; but the result of his plaint +was most unexpected.</p> + +<p>His fair companion sprang to her feet and gave him a flashing glance, +that startled him out of the fancied security of his egotism.</p> + +<p>"I come here to follow you! How dare you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to be rude, really; but I +naturally inferred——"</p> + +<p>"No!" she cried. "Why should I come for you?— Bah! I come for <i>her</i>!"</p> + +<p>"For whom?"</p> + +<p>"For <i>her</i>," she cried, pointing towards the Hall.</p> + +<p>"For her?" inquired Stanley, somewhat dazed by this unexpected change of +base. "But who is she?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. I do not care; but she writes to my husband—she makes +appointments with him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the nameless friend."</p> + +<p>"Now you understand why I have come?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I see. Still I think it lays you open to misconstruction. You had +better return to London. I suppose you know you were followed to my +house?"</p> + +<p>She snapped her fingers airily.</p> + +<p>"I care just that for being followed. What of it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My dear Inez, you forget that you're not in our native country. We +can't fight duels galore in this part of the world, and cut the throats +of inconvenient witnesses. People will talk; there are the newspapers; +and—the dowagers; and the nonconformist conscience to be considered. +You don't know what you are letting me—I mean yourself, in for."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, I must confirm my suspicions. I must see your—what you +call it—your visitors' book—which they have in great houses— I must +compare the handwriting of the guests with the handwriting of these +letters. When I have proved my case I will return to London—not one +moment before. You are my friend, you will help me."</p> + +<p>"Of course I will help you; but I assure you there is no one in the +house who could be suspected for a moment."</p> + +<p>"At least, you will help me to prove myself wrong?" and she shot at him +one of those unsettling glances.</p> + +<p>"Of course—with all my heart—and then you'll go back to London and +take Mr. Sanks' advice, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"You are very anxious to have me go," she said, piqued.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" he assured her hastily. "Far from it; but can't you see—that +it is for your sake that I urge it. Supposing anyone saw us now; what +would they think, what could they think—an early morning rendezvous."</p> + +<p>"They would say that you were making a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> report to me of your progress in +discovering the plot against the treaty between England and our +country."</p> + +<p>He looked at her dumbfounded and said nothing. Indeed there was nothing +he could say without risking some imprudent disclosure.</p> + +<p>"Ah," she cried, laughing merrily at his discomfiture. "You see, you +diplomats do not know everything. It is true I only write supervised +letters home, but that does not prevent my receiving letters from my +country first hand, and my father has written much about this treaty. It +seems they are going to try and bribe the Senators to defeat it, with +money raised here, and some cowardly scoundrel has been engaged as +go-between."</p> + +<p>Stanley stood looking at her in horrified astonishment. Was it possible +that if she knew so much she did not know that she was condemning her +own husband? But her next words proved to him that such must be the +case.</p> + +<p>"My father writes me," she continued, "that on proving the identity of +this go-between, the success or failure of the plot depends, and so far, +the government have been at a loss to identify him."</p> + +<p>The Secretary, who held the key to the situation, could see excellent +reasons why the Executive had kept Señor De Costa in the dark; what +Madame was saying was evidently what everybody knew. Of the truth she +had not the remotest inkling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well," she cried gaily, "why don't you speak?"</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to say," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Diplomatic to the end, I see," she retorted. "But you can't expect to +share my confidences unless you give me yours. Now tell me, have you +discovered any of the conspirators yet?"</p> + +<p>"I can truthfully say," he replied, "that as far as I know, there is +nobody at Roberts' Hall connected with the conspiracy to which you +allude."</p> + +<p>"So you've come down here at the busiest season of your year on +indefinite leave just to pay a country-house visit."</p> + +<p>"How did you know that?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Randell," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!" he cried, "you haven't been to my rooms again."</p> + +<p>"Naturally not," she returned coldly. "Your servant brought a pair of +gloves to my hotel, which I left at your rooms."</p> + +<p>The Secretary bit his lips and changed the conversation, and made a +mental note of the fact that if Randell was becoming talkative, he would +have to go.</p> + +<p>"You asked me," he said, "if I had discovered one of the agents of this +mysterious treaty of which you seem to know so much. Perhaps you will +tell me if you have?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she cried. "I thought I should break down your reserve."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well," he said sheepishly, "what have you to say?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," she replied. "I only exchange confidences for confidences. +Tell me whom you suspect, and I will tell you whom I know."</p> + +<p>"What you ask is impossible," he replied, feeling that he could never +wound her by admitting his suspicions of her husband.</p> + +<p>"So be it," she said gaily, giving him her hand, and added, "Come and +see me again when you can spare a little time from your detective work."</p> + +<p>The Secretary saw she was laughing at him, and took his leave +discomfited. Madame Darcy watched him go, and sighed gently as she +turned to re-enter the house. She also had felt that she would not have +dared to wound him by mentioning her suspicions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE SERIOUS SIDE OF MISS FITZGERALD'S NATURE</h3> + +<p>It may have been contrition for her shortcomings which induced Miss +Fitzgerald to offer her services to the Reverend Reginald Lambert to +assist in decorating the altar of the little church for the ensuing +Sunday, and it may not. At any rate, she did offer them, and they were +gratefully accepted.</p> + +<p>She was dressed in a garb which would have befitted a postulant for a +religious order, and her sweet seriousness, and altogether becoming +demeanour, charmed the Reverend Reginald.</p> + +<p>The old parson was, it is needless to say, a thorough nonentity, and the +skilful attentions of his fair assistant were the more appreciated, +because the more rare.</p> + +<p>"It's very kind of you, my dear," he said, "to give so much of your time +to helping an old man."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I don't give up half enough. I think we should give +ourselves to the serious side of life at least for a little while every +week, don't you? We are so apt to devote ourselves to frivolities."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm very glad to hear you say that. Young people are none too serious +nowadays; but I'm sure you're too strong a nature to be wholly +frivolous."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not, but I often do things I don't care for, to keep myself +from thinking. My life hasn't been all a bed of roses, Mr. Lambert."</p> + +<p>"You surprise me," he said, sitting down in the front pew to get a +better view of their united arrangement of potted plants. "That's very +pretty, my dear. Now come and sit by me, and tell me all about it, and +if an old man's advice——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I <i>do</i> so want advice," she said. "You can't realise what the life +I lead means to a girl—my parents are both dead, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, poor child. I remember; Mrs. Roberts told me. How sad!"</p> + +<p>"I've no settled home— I knock about. I try my best, I do indeed, Mr. +Lambert; but with no one to advise me—no older woman than myself who +really cares—it is at times very hard."</p> + +<p>"But you've relatives—Mrs. Roberts."</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, they're very kind, and all that; but a young girl needs +far more than what she could ask of a remote relative. She needs +watchful care, constant protection. You've had a daughter, Mr. Lambert."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, I know. My dear Mary was a model girl, Miss Fitzgerald; a +good child is a great blessing. I see your position."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you do. Try as one may, a young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> girl has not that experience +which comes with age, her best efforts are sometimes misinterpreted— +I've suffered keenly myself."</p> + +<p>"My poor child," said the old rector, patting her hand in a fatherly +manner. "My poor child! You yourself see the need of a guiding hand."</p> + +<p>"I do, I do. Having no one to fight life's battle for me, I've become of +necessity self-reliant."</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course."</p> + +<p>"It has been misinterpreted, misunderstood. I've been called—hard; +worse— I've been thought——" Her voice broke.</p> + +<p>"My dear child," said the old man, "you'll forgive my speaking plainly, +but you should be married. You need a husband. Someone who will take the +responsibility from you."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald breathed a contented little sigh, and her bowed head +leaned, oh, so lightly, against his shoulder!</p> + +<p>"I hoped you would say that," she murmured.</p> + +<p>"Is there someone—then—someone you love? You rejoice me exceedingly."</p> + +<p>Resuming a more erect posture, she said earnestly:</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Mr. Lambert, would you ever consent to perform a +marriage—quietly—very quietly—say, with the knowledge of only the +contracting parties and witnesses?"</p> + +<p>"If there were good and sufficient reasons. Of course, if the young +lady's parents were living, I should wish to be assured of their consent +first."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh!" murmured Miss Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>"But, in your own case, if you really wished it, though it seems +unnecessary, I could make some such arrangement as you suggest, because +no one would be affected but yourself, though if a large estate or title +was involved it would be a very different matter."</p> + +<p>His companion thought long and deeply; then, looking up at him, she +said:</p> + +<p>"Would you, would you, dear Mr. Lambert, accept my word for it that +silence is necessary?"</p> + +<p>"I—yes. I suppose so. But, Mrs. Roberts?"</p> + +<p>"I can assure you that Mrs. Roberts approves of my marrying; but——" +and she laid her finger on her lips.</p> + +<p>"Well, as you please; but remember the responsibility rests with you; +then there would have to be witnesses."</p> + +<p>"I could promise that Lady Isabelle McLane would be present, and the +best man would be the other."</p> + +<p>"Quite so—but—when would you wish the ceremony to take place?"</p> + +<p>"Say Sunday."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear young lady—there are the fifteen days required by +law—unless, of course, you have a special licence."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there <i>is</i> a special licence."</p> + +<p>"Of course in that case everything is easy—but do nothing rash. +Marriage is a most solemn covenant, and I should strongly advise that +you speak to Mrs. Roberts. Indeed, I hardly know if I——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have your word, Mr. Lambert. I'll come to you to-morrow, may I? and +you'll talk to me earnestly, very earnestly, about it all. It will be +decided then—and if I should wish it before early service Sunday +morning, you would help me, I know. But remember, it's a secret, and oh, +you're so kind!" And taking his hand, she kissed it.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear," stammered the old man, quite flustered by this +unexpected mark of affection, "you haven't even told me the gentleman's +name."</p> + +<p>Bending over, she whispered softly, "Lieutenant Kingsland," and fled out +of the church.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the light of the events of the morning, Miss Fitzgerald was naturally +desirous of becoming better acquainted with the appearance of a special +licence, and in the seclusion of the billiard-room, Lieutenant Kingsland +was able to gratify her curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Quite an expensive luxury, I've been given to understand," she said +reflectively, regarding the parchment.</p> + +<p>"Yes," admitted Kingsland regretfully, "it means a special messenger to +the Archbishop, wherever he may happen to be. He never's by any chance +at 'Lambeth' when you want him, and fees all along the line."</p> + +<p>"A matter of forty pounds, I've been told."</p> + +<p>"Well, call it thirty. I know the crowd."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have suspected you of being ecclesiastical."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's a long story, and not to the point. Now, what have you done?"</p> + +<p>"Considering that you were thoughtful enough to procure that licence, +I've done everything."</p> + +<p>"Bravo! When can the ceremony take place?"</p> + +<p>"Before early service Sunday morning, say a quarter to eight."</p> + +<p>"The sooner the better. I'm a thousand times obliged. You're a little +brick, and I shall never forget it."</p> + +<p>"I shall ask for a return some day," she said.</p> + +<p>"And you shall have it, no matter what. Is there nothing more?"</p> + +<p>"Only this. You know Mr. Lambert is somewhat aged, very blind—don't +forget that—and a trifle deaf; so, though I assure you I never said so, +I'm quite sure he is under the impression that you're going to +marry—me."</p> + +<p>"But I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lambert informed me that in the case of a person of importance, or +one whose parents were living, he couldn't perform the ceremony +privately—that is, as privately as you would wish; but as regarded +myself, an orphan—you see?"</p> + +<p>"But the name?"</p> + +<p>"Are we not both Isabelles? Besides, he is old, and deaf, and nearly +blind, and the bride and I will both be closely veiled, under the +circumstances. If we should appear to have signed our names in the wrong +places in the registry—why, it's a stupid blunder that any one might +make on such a trying occasion."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But how account for Lady Isabelle's presence?"</p> + +<p>"He asked me concerning the witnesses, and I promised that her Ladyship +would be there. As for the other?"</p> + +<p>"My best man will serve."</p> + +<p>"Who is he?"</p> + +<p>Kingsland laughed.</p> + +<p>"Wait and see," he said. "He's an old friend of yours. Anything else?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, two things. Keep a still tongue in your head, and have the bride +there to the minute."</p> + +<p>"I promise. Belle, you're the best friend a man ever had."</p> + +<p>"Not at all. I'm only doing you a service—for a service in return."</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I'm sure; but any woman who lives the life I do is sure, +some day, to want a friend who is sufficiently in her debt—to—well, do +anything that may be needful. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"Done!" he cried, and wrung her hand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, by the way," she added, "I've given the Marchioness her tip, and I +don't imagine Jimsy's life will be worth living in consequence."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you help to make it a little more bearable—for instance?" +insinuated the Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"It takes two to make a bargain of that sort," she returned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said, laughing. "I'll see that Little Diplomacy gets a +steer in your direction," and he started to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"No; I forbid you to do anything of the sort," she called after him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE SERIOUS SIDE OF THE SECRETARY'S NATURE</h3> + +<p>In virtue of his good resolution to point out to Miss Fitzgerald the +error of her ways, the Secretary had been nerving himself to an +interview with her on this delicate question, and as result, when he +found himself alone with Lieutenant Kingsland in the smoking-room after +dinner that evening, both were silent. Each had something to think +about, yet each was thinking about the same thing. The Secretary +abstractedly wondering how he was to commence the awkward interview +which was staring him in the face; while the young officer, relying on +the axiom that "a woman never says what she means," was pondering over +the best way in which to go to work upon his companion, in order to +induce him to open his heart to the lady in question.</p> + +<p>"I say, Stanley," he remarked, "do you know Bob Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"Darcy? No, I don't think so."</p> + +<p>"Why, he's the chap whose wife chaperoned your little dinner that night +at the Hyde Park Club, when Lady Rainsford failed you."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know him. Do you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I—oh, very slightly—I assure you—never exchanged more than half a +dozen words with him in my life."</p> + +<p>"I thought you seemed pretty well acquainted at Lady Rainsford's tea."</p> + +<p>"I"—faltered the young man—"I think you're mistaken."</p> + +<p>Stanley smiled quietly, as the nature of the conversation he had +overheard came back to his mind—he was getting on.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," he remarked, "that your friend doesn't attract me. What +did you wish to say about him?"</p> + +<p>"Only that he's awfully gone on Belle Fitzgerald, means business, and +all that—lucky dog—I think he'll win hands down," and Lieutenant +Kingsland heaved a sigh.</p> + +<p>"But he's married, surely?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I believe he is—but it hasn't been an unqualified success. I +understand there's a divorce in the air, and after that—of course——"</p> + +<p>"He's treated his wife like a brute!" spluttered Stanley.</p> + +<p>"Don't know, I'm sure. He's a jolly good fellow at the club. Any way, +he'd put a job with Belle to do the platonic under Mrs. Roberts' +protecting roof for a week or two, when what does our hostess do but cut +up rusty about his marital infelicities, and refuse to invite him. +Rather a sell on the little Fitzgerald, eh?"</p> + +<p>"I'll be obliged to you if you'll mention Miss Fitzgerald more +respectfully in my presence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> She's a lady for whom I have the highest +consideration, and who would, I'm sure, if she knew what I know of +Colonel Darcy, cut him off from her list of acquaintances immediately. I +hope you'll not feel called upon to speak of this more than is +necessary," and he rose stiffly and left the room.</p> + +<p>Kingsland rolled over on the divan, on which he was sprawled out, and +indulged in a fit of hearty laughter.</p> + +<p>"Gad! how he rose to the bait!" he roared. "I supposed Darcy was too old +a story to tempt anyone with; but the world's after all a very small +place." And this, curiously enough, was precisely the reflection which +the Secretary made ruefully to himself, as he sought the captivating +Belle.</p> + +<p>As can be understood in the light of that interview in the smoking-room, +the two gentlemen were late in arriving upstairs, and when Stanley did +put in an appearance, Miss Fitzgerald required all her courage to dare +to claim him as her exclusive property and carry him off to the +comparative seclusion of the conservatory, for black care sat heavy on +his brow, and her interview promised to be anything but agreeable. +However, she was nothing if not courageous, and opened the attack at +once, on the ground that the defensive is always the weakest position.</p> + +<p>"What an old bear you are to-night, Jimsy. I couldn't get a word out of +you at dinner, and now you look as glum as if you'd lost your last +friend."</p> + +<p>"I've been talking to Lieutenant Kingsland," he said bluntly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dear me, if it always has as bad an effect I must contrive to keep you +two apart in the future."</p> + +<p>"He's been telling me about your relations with Darcy. Confound it, +Belle!—it's too bad of you! Why, he's a beastly cad. I wouldn't have +him in my house, and to think that the woman I—well, any woman I +respect as much as I do you—should be on intimate terms with a man like +that, makes my blood boil. Great Heavens, have some consideration for +your friends, if you haven't for yourself! Think of what will be said of +you; think——"</p> + +<p>"Don't do the heroic, Jimsy, it doesn't become you," she interrupted. +"Give me a cigarette, and see if you can't talk this matter over without +going all to tatters."</p> + +<p>"You smoke too much. I don't approve of ladies smoking. It seems so +common."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense. It's uncommon not to. I'm dying for a whiff, and one never +gets a chance in that crowd of old fogies. Thank you—now what's all +this disturbance about Colonel Darcy? I declare, I almost believe you +are becoming an old fogy yourself."</p> + +<p>"I didn't even know you knew him— Darcy, I mean— I object to him +strongly."</p> + +<p>"Really, Mr. Stanley, I don't run my acquaintances on the lines of your +choosing."</p> + +<p>"Of course not; but I may claim the privilege of a friend."</p> + +<p>"To make yourself uncommonly disagreeable; I suppose you may—and I was +feeling so amiable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> too—just in the mood for an old-time chat. But it +can't be helped. Colonel Darcy's an old friend, and was very kind to me +at a time when I needed friends and hadn't many. I don't know what he +has done or not done, and I don't care. I learned that he was to be in +this neighbourhood shortly on business, and, wishing to make some return +for his past kindness, I proposed to my aunt to invite him here, and +she, who's a woman after your own heart, refused—because, forsooth, he +didn't get on well with his wife—as if his wife mattered to me— I +certainly didn't want to invite her."</p> + +<p>"I assure you," burst out the Secretary, "that she's a most charming +woman, and that her husband has treated her like the cad and brute he +is."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Stanley. I didn't know you were posing as the +knight-errant of hysterical wives."</p> + +<p>"I'm not; but I can't stand by and see a lovely and innocent woman +injured."</p> + +<p>"I presume I'm not to defend my friend?" she asked, her small foot +tapping the tiled floor in anger.</p> + +<p>"You would not wish to do so if you knew his true character."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to prolong this interview, Mr. Stanley. I must remind you +that there are limits even to the rights of friendship, and you have +overstepped them."</p> + +<p>"I fear I've forgotten myself, that I've been too vehement. I humbly beg +your pardon. I won't trespass again, believe me. I only spoke for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> your +good—indeed, I wanted to have a serious talk with you about yourself; +but the spirit in which you receive my suggestions makes it impossible."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't say that," she replied, more quietly than she had hitherto +spoken. "But you can surely understand that my friendship would be of +little use to any man if I stood quietly by and let him be denounced +without a word of resentment on my part. Are there other of my friends +of whom you do not approve?"</p> + +<p>"It's partly that, but rather the—you'll pardon me—the things that are +said about you, Belle. People—my friends—men as well as women—have +said things in my presence—that I did not like to hear. Things that +show how easy it is for a careless, easy-going nature like yours to be +misinterpreted; in short——"</p> + +<p>"In short, they told you I was fast, I suppose, a sordid, scheming, +money-making wretch. Is that correct?"</p> + +<p>"Really, Belle!"</p> + +<p>"Is that correct? Answer me."</p> + +<p>"Well, they certainly wouldn't have used such words in my presence."</p> + +<p>"But they meant that—or something like it?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid they did."</p> + +<p>Her face, white enough before, flushed red, as she demanded:</p> + +<p>"And you! What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't remember— I refused to listen; but I made up my mind to +speak to you— I thought you ought to know."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You"—she cried, turning on him in a fury—"you, my friend, as you +call yourself, had no answer to make, did nothing, except to decide to +lecture me about what you should have known to be a lie! Let me tell +you, Mr. Stanley, you'd have done better to defend me—knowing, as you +must know, the slights, the buffets, the insults I've had to endure, +because I'm unprotected, and men can dare——"</p> + +<p>"I assure you I did. I didn't believe it of you for an instant."</p> + +<p>"You believed it enough to question me as to the truth of these +accusations. It's easy to preach prudence when you've nothing to gain or +lose; but were you a woman, thrown on the world and on her own +resources, you'd find it a different, a very different, thing, and you'd +expect help and encouragement from friends who are stronger and more +fortunate than you—not this!" and she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald!— Belle!" he cried, striving to take her hand, "I +wouldn't have pained you in this way for worlds! Believe me, I'm your +friend, your true friend!"</p> + +<p>"I've friends enough of your sort," she sobbed, "too many."</p> + +<p>"But at least let me explain."</p> + +<p>"Don't say any more, please—you've said enough. Good night, you must +excuse me. I—I'm not myself," and touching her handkerchief to her +eyes, with a great effort she controlled herself and left the +conservatory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE SECRETARY'S INTENTIONS</h3> + +<p>Roberts' Hall preserved the good old English custom concerning +breakfast—which means that a rambling meal extended from eight to +eleven in the morning—at which the butler served you with tea, or +coffee and rolls, and you served yourself to the rest, from the cold +cuts on the sideboard to the hot viands in copper vessels warmed by +alcohol lamps. The cold cuts you had always with you, also the orange +marmalade; as for the eggs and bacon, devilled kidneys, etc., their +state was dependent on the taste of the guests who had preceded you, and +your own ability as an early riser. You came down when you pleased, and +ate your meal in solitary state or in any company that might happen to +be present, which, if it proved to be congenial, made a very jolly, +informal repast, and if it didn't,—well, that was fate, and you had to +submit to it. Fate may be kind or it may not, sometimes it sets out to +play ponderous practical jokes, which may include something nearly akin +to a grim reality in the future for the persons involved.</p> + +<p>This was probably the reason why Stanley, on his advent into the +breakfast-room, found it tenanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> by only one person, and that one, +Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>At the sight of her, the Secretary felt decidedly sheepish, because Miss +Fitzgerald's tears and some subsequent hours of sleepless meditation +thereon had convinced him that he was morally, if not actually, capable +of all the weakness for which her Ladyship had upbraided him. He told +himself that he owed a duty to the fair Belle, that he must save her +from herself at all costs, even if it involved the sacrifice of his own +future, that he had misjudged her cruelly, and that he was very, very +sorry for her, and that, because he was conscience-stricken, he was +certainly in love. Indeed he kept assuring himself with feverish +insistence, that this must be the real article.</p> + +<p>To Lady Isabelle, on the contrary, Stanley's deficiencies were almost +lost sight of, in view of the disturbing suspicion that that young +gentleman might be led to suppose that her well-meant interference in +his affairs had proceeded from an undue regard for himself. A suspicion +but a few hours old, and dating from an interview with the Marchioness, +who, for some unknown reason, had suddenly assumed a totally different +attitude towards the Secretary, and even tried to entrap her daughter +into admitting that his attentions might mean something. This made Lady +Isabelle most anxious to impress him with the fact that their friendship +was purely platonic. Accordingly, to his intense surprise, she was +exceedingly gracious, and chatted away all through breakfast in a +charmingly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> easy, if somewhat feverish, manner, even condescending so +far as to say something pleasant about Miss Fitzgerald. Under this +treatment Stanley simply glowed, and opened out as much as he dared in +the presence of the butler and two expressionless footmen, upon that +lady's charms. He was a very young diplomat, as the reader will have +noticed ere this, or he would not have continued to praise one lady to +another; least of all at breakfast time, an hour when the temper of +mortals is by no means certain. But in the pleasure of his subject he +did not notice the scorn that was suggested by the curl of his +vis-à-vis' lip.</p> + +<p>"I do wish," he said in conclusion, "that you'd take a stroll with me +this afternoon; the deer park is quite worth seeing, I understand, and +besides there are lots of things I want to talk to you about."</p> + +<p>It was during this proposition that Lieutenant Kingsland, preceded by +the Dowager, entered the breakfast-room.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say," blurted out that officer, "I think we've got an appointment +after lunch, haven't we?"</p> + +<p>"I think not, Lieutenant Kingsland," replied Lady Isabelle, foreseeing +the crisis, and realising the necessity of immediate action. Then +turning to Stanley, she added:—</p> + +<p>"Thanks, I should enjoy a good walk hugely, and I love deer. It was very +kind of you to suggest it. What time shall we start?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Say three o'clock," said the Secretary, immensely rejoiced at his +restoration to favour.</p> + +<p>"Three, let it be then, if mamma approves."</p> + +<p>It was only too evident that mamma did approve; she nodded and smiled, +and said that exercise was a splendid thing for young people; till +Stanley became frightened at her excessive geniality, and Kingsland +looked black as a thunder-cloud.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant was not, however, so easily baffled, and jumped to the +conclusion that half of Lady Isabelle was better than no Lady Isabelle +at all.</p> + +<p>"Three's not company, I know," he said, laughing with attempted gaiety, +"but I'm no end fond of deer myself."</p> + +<p>"I was about to ask you, Lieutenant Kingsland," interrupted the Dowager, +coming promptly to the rescue, "to execute a few commissions for me this +afternoon, at Tunbridge Wells. I'm sure our hostess will put a dog-cart +at your service, and it's not above fifteen miles."</p> + +<p>"Charmed, I'm sure," replied the Lieutenant—but he did not look it. +However, he had his reward, for Lady Isabelle had just finished her +breakfast, and Kingsland declared he had already had his, which was not +true, so they disappeared together and left the Dowager to enjoy her +repast in the company of the Secretary, to whom she was so extremely +affable, that, had it not been for his instructions, he would have had +serious thoughts of leaving for London, before he was appropriated body +and soul.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What have you been telling my mother about Mr. Stanley?" asked Lady +Isabelle of the Lieutenant, in the seclusion of the library. "I know you +had a long conference with her last night—and something must have +happened."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know, unless it was that he's a millionaire, and made +his money, or had it made for him, in some beastly commercial +way—sugar, I think."</p> + +<p>Lady Isabelle gave him one look, and remarked with a depth of scorn +which even the unfortunate Secretary had not evoked:—</p> + +<p>"Oh, you idiot!"</p> + +<p>Kingsland was immersed in literature the entire morning in company with +Lady Isabelle, who doubtless found the Lieutenant's companionship a +great comfort, under the circumstances, since now that she knew the +reason of her mother's attitude towards the Secretary, she was as +anxious to avoid the walk with him, as she had previously been willing +to take it.</p> + +<p>Kingsland, however, bore up bravely, for his trip to the Wells gave him +an opportunity to settle several little matters of business, which the +Dowager, had she known of them, would hardly have approved. Moreover, +Belle saw him off, saying as he mounted the dog-cart:—</p> + +<p>"Don't be upset by Lady Isabelle's defection this afternoon, Jack; the +most trustworthy little mare will sometimes jib, just before taking a +desperate leap."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When two people start out on a long walk together, each with the firm +intention of doing his duty by the other, the result is apt to be far +from pleasant; but in this case both had so much to talk about that for +the first hour of their walk they said nothing, and their arrival at the +deer-park was a distinct relief, since it furnished a new and harmless +subject for discussion. And, indeed, the pretty animals warranted more +than a passing word. They were seen in numbers, peeping out of a fringe +of woodland across the width of an uncultivated field, and they were in +that delightful state of semi-tameness, when a longing for the bits of +bread, with which Stanley and Lady Isabelle were well supplied, battled +equally with an impulse, born of natural training, to flee the proximity +of the human race.</p> + +<p>But there was not much going in the line of food, and so gradually, step +by step, the most daring of the herd ventured into the open, and slowly +approached the visitors, who were wise enough to throw tempting bits +about twelve feet away from them. Watchful to note the slightest +movement of a muscle, the bread was at length secured, and the herd +scampered away in a panic of fear, only to return for more, thrown +nearer the feet of their friends. So it was at last, with advances of +six feet and retreats of as many yards, at the crackling of a bush or a +change in the wind, that the most adventurous consented, standing as far +aloof as possible, and stretching their necks to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> the last degree of +tension, to take the bread from the visitors' hands.</p> + +<p>But finally even the charms of the deer were exhausted, and as they +turned about and began slowly to stroll homeward across the park, Lady +Isabelle abruptly broached the subject which both of them had nearest at +heart.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," she began, "that I'm very prone to order the lives of my +friends, from my own point of view."</p> + +<p>"My life, for instance?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley," she said, "I shan't be really happy till I have +apologised for the way I spoke at Lady Rainsford's tea. I'd no right to +do so, and I'm sure my judgment was hasty and ill-advised. I've been +trusting to my eyes and ears rather than to the reports of other people, +and I'm sure I've been mistaken. Do you know how Miss Fitzgerald spent +part of yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"I have not seen her to speak with to-day."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll tell you. She was helping poor old Mr. Lambert trim the +church for to-morrow. I think it was very nice of her."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid your commendation has come a trifle late. The fact is, I +took it upon myself to counsel the young lady in question against a +friend of hers—a Colonel Darcy."</p> + +<p>"Not Colonel Robert Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"The same."</p> + +<p>"Do you know him?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, but I know how he treats his wife, and his own character is none +too good."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's curious," she said, a trifle sadly, "but I'm in just your position +in regard to a dear friend of mine, and concerning the same man."</p> + +<p>"Concerning Colonel Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And his intimacy with Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"How did you know?"</p> + +<p>"'He that hath eyes to see——'" quoted the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"They never even knew each other till a short time ago, but in the last +few weeks they've been constantly together. I can't understand it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley thought he could, but forbore to say so.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I distrust Colonel Darcy, but I do," she continued, +"and his sudden intimacy with Jack—Lieutenant Kingsland—makes me +apprehensive. Do you think——"</p> + +<p>"I think your friend is of too pliable a nature to be in the hands of so +unscrupulous a rascal."</p> + +<p>She sighed, and then feeling perhaps that she had said too much, +hastened to revert to their original subject, saying:</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me there's a misunderstanding between you and Miss +Fitzgerald. I'm so sorry. I wouldn't for the world—that is, I almost +feel as if I'd been to blame."</p> + +<p>"You're not the only one of my friends who has misjudged her— I've done +so myself—utterly."</p> + +<p>"But surely this little difference will not be lasting—I hoped——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Would you wish me to marry Miss Fitzgerald, Lady Isabelle?"</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps I won't say that—but I should certainly not wish +anything I might have said to prevent you from so doing. Of course, my +only reason for interfering was prompted by a wish for your happiness."</p> + +<p>"Do you think you understand what that comprises?"</p> + +<p>"That's just the point I wanted to make clear," she said hastily, +determined that he must understand, even at the expense of a slight +indiscretion on her part, which she felt would be far preferable to the +slightest misunderstanding of their relative positions, in view of any +future action of her mother's.</p> + +<p>"You see," she continued, "to put it frankly, what could I possibly know +of the requirements which, in a woman, would go to make you happy. Of +course, you and I are friends, great friends; but just that state of +affairs, as far as we're concerned, makes any judgment of mine useless +concerning the kind of woman you could love."</p> + +<p>Stanley, who could scarcely help drawing his own inferences, was piqued +that she should have felt it necessary to batter a self-evident fact +into his brain in such a bald manner.</p> + +<p>"I wish," he said, "that her Ladyship, your mother, was possessed of the +same lucid views on kindred subjects."</p> + +<p>"Poor mamma," murmured his companion, "she's a trifle conventional; but, +of course, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> you're not in sympathy with her, you can easily avoid +her."</p> + +<p>There, the cat was out of the bag at last, and both felt easier in +consequence. Stanley threw himself into the breach at once, and took the +burden of the conversation.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure," he said, "I don't believe that half of the people in the +world can tell for the life of them why they fall in love with a certain +person and not with another. As we're talking confidentially, I don't +mind telling you that I've decided that I'm in love with Miss +Fitzgerald, and that the best thing I can do is to tell her so as soon +as possible, though I'm afraid there is little chance of her having me."</p> + +<p>"I can honestly say," rejoined his companion, "that, if that is how the +case stands, I do hope you'll be successful."</p> + +<p>Having arrived at this amicable and highly satisfactory conclusion, they +realised that in the earnestness of their discussion they had not +noticed the lapse of time.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, it must be getting late. I trust we're not far from the Hall," +said Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth, I don't know just where we are," he replied.</p> + +<p>They were standing in a thick plantation at the time, through which +meandered the little path they were following.</p> + +<p>"There's rising ground ahead, however," he continued, "and, I think, a +clearing."</p> + +<p>This proved to be the case, and when they had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> gained the little knoll +they saw, nearly in front of them, across a slight valley, bordered on +either side by wide stretches of fields and pasture-land, the Hall.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't look to be half a mile distant, but I doubt the wisdom of +trying a short cut," he said, "We'd much better keep to our path."</p> + +<p>Their prudence had its own reward, for they had not been walking five +minutes before they encountered a peasant, who, with more good nature +than brevity, directed their steps in a way that was too plainly not a +short cut. However, there was nothing for it now but to push on, and +though they walked rapidly, it was a long time before they reached the +Hall.</p> + +<p>Unkind fate prompted them on their arrival to venture into the +drawing-room in search of a belated cup of tea, and, to their dismay, +they found the apartment, which should have been deserted at this hour, +tenanted solely by the Dowager, who had evidently been awaiting their +return.</p> + +<p>She was much too formally polite to make them feel at their ease, and +with a word dismissed her daughter, on the plea of removing her wraps, +thus leaving the Secretary to his fate.</p> + +<p>Once they were alone, her Ladyship surveyed the young man deliberately +through her lorgnettes, and when she had made him sufficiently nervous, +remarked in a chilling tone that she trusted her daughter had caught no +cold from walking so late in the park.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Secretary acquiesced, and then the Marchioness opened the attack in +earnest.</p> + +<p>"We—my daughter—has had the pleasure of seeing a great deal of you +lately, Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>"Er, yes," he replied, scenting danger. "Of course it's been a great +pleasure to me."</p> + +<p>"Still," she continued, "it is not usual for a young lady, unchaperoned, +to walk in the park with a gentleman at this hour; a gentleman who is, +shall we say, a mere acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"The matter was one of necessity," he replied shortly. "We lost our +way."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts has driven me over her grounds repeatedly, and it appears +to me to be quite impossible for anyone to really lose his way."</p> + +<p>"Deference to your Ladyship's opinion prevents me from saying more."</p> + +<p>"It is certainly not pleasant," resumed the Dowager, ignoring his last +remark, "to continue this conversation, and, were my late husband +living, I should naturally have left the matter to him; as it is, my +duty as a mother and my desire for dear Isabelle's welfare bids me——"</p> + +<p>"Really, your Ladyship, am I to understand you to imply——"</p> + +<p>"I can only say that I have heard your name associated with my +daughter's in a manner—that was not—quite as I could wish. Dear Lady +Wintern, a woman most interested in the good of her friends, spoke to me +herself, and of course you, as a man of honour and a gentleman——"</p> + +<p>"As a man of honour and a gentleman, I deeply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> regret that anything in +my conduct should have led to a misconception in regard to my relations +with Lady Isabelle, and in the future——"</p> + +<p>"In the future, Mr. Stanley, you will of course see little or nothing of +my daughter—unless——"</p> + +<p>She paused, and for a moment neither spoke. Then the Secretary, who, +whatever else may be said of him, was not a coward, seeing what was +impending, determined to face the situation and have it over as soon as +possible.</p> + +<p>"Am I to understand," he inquired, "that you're asking me my +intentions?"</p> + +<p>Her Ladyship raised her eyebrows. If the French shoulder is expressive, +the English eye-brow, feminine, speaks volumes.</p> + +<p>"You do not make the situation easy for me," she replied. "Of course I +speak only for myself. What my daughter may feel——"</p> + +<p>"You don't suppose," he exclaimed, "that Lady Isabelle really +thinks——"</p> + +<p>"I <i>know</i>, Mr. Stanley, that my daughter thinks nothing and does nothing +that would not be proper in a young lady of her position."</p> + +<p>"Then I've only to apologise," he said, rising, "for what you force me +to believe is my fault, however unintentional." And, bowing gravely to +her, he quietly left the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>MAN PROPOSES</h3> + +<p>As he dressed for dinner that evening, Stanley was still smarting with +irritation at the undeserved attack which had just been made upon him by +the Marchioness, and which through no fault of his own placed him in an +exceedingly unpleasant and awkward position towards her daughter. The +sooner he proposed to Miss Fitzgerald, and their engagement was +announced, the better for all parties concerned. So seeking to justify +himself by force of circumstances, he threw prudence to the winds and +determined to speak that very night.</p> + +<p>If, however, his private affairs had progressed rapidly to a crisis, the +official interests which, he assured himself, were the real cause of his +presence here, had not progressed at all, and he seemed no nearer the +solution of the mystery, and the apprehension of the conspirators, than +when he arrived.</p> + +<p>True, Lady Isabelle's confession concerning Kingsland only served to +strengthen his own conviction that the Lieutenant was Darcy's +confederate; but Darcy himself, the prime mover of the plot, had not as +yet put in an appearance, and till he arrived there was nothing to be +done but to watch and wait.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later the Secretary had joined the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> party in the +drawing-room just as dinner was announced, and to his utter +consternation his hostess whispered to him:</p> + +<p>"I am sending you down with Lady Isabelle. I hear you and she are great +chums."</p> + +<p>"Great chums!" Stanley was tempted to plead sudden indisposition, and +have his dinner in his room. Then a remembrance of his recent interview +caused a wave of adverse feeling to sweep over him. Yes, he would take +down Lady Isabelle. Was he to be badgered out of his dinner because a +designing old woman could not leave well enough alone?</p> + +<p>He could not indeed resist casting a look of amused triumph at the +Dowager as he passed her with her daughter on his arm, but his +conscience pricked him nevertheless, for he felt that his presence must +be distasteful to his fair companion. That she really cared for him at +all he could not bring himself to believe in the light of their +conversation on the walk. Still, her frankness might have been assumed +through pique at unreturned affection, and with a desire born of pride, +to blind him to the true state of her feelings. The more he thought of +this the more uneasy he became, and he could not help noticing that she +was much more pale than he had as yet seen her, and seemed singularly +abstracted. Moreover, he was certain that she was incurring her mother's +displeasure, which would be to her a grave matter. He tried to make such +atonement as lay in his power to make her feel at ease and to divert her +mind. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> told her his best stories, gave her his most brilliant +conversation, but in vain. His endeavours fell hopelessly flat, and at +last, after a dreadful pause, they spoke that which was in their hearts.</p> + +<p>"Do you think it was nice of you to take me in to dinner?" she asked in +that quiet conversational tone with which so many secrets have been told +at dinners without arresting the attention of others.</p> + +<p>"Really," he said, "I'd no option. Our hostess——"</p> + +<p>"You managed to avoid it last night."</p> + +<p>Stanley flushed.</p> + +<p>"Do you mind so much?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; but mamma."</p> + +<p>"She didn't show me much consideration the last time we met."</p> + +<p>"I was very sorry for you," she replied, "but as it had to come I +thought I was better out of the way."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that you deliberately left me to my fate?"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't be too hard on mamma. She wouldn't have thought she was +doing right if she had not spoken."</p> + +<p>"But," he continued relentlessly, "you——"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I——?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, supposing I had—succumbed."</p> + +<p>She paused a minute, and then looked shyly up at him.</p> + +<p>"In that case," she began, when Mrs. Roberts rose, and gave the signal +for the ladies to retire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>Stanley cursed the convention, yet perhaps it was fortunate, as the +Dowager had been growing dangerously red and puffy in the face, owing to +the fact that the two young people had, unconsciously, drawn closer +together in the excitement of those unfinished words.</p> + +<p>The cigars seemed interminable; but at last they were over, and the +gentlemen were at liberty to seek the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>There is generally a moment of indecision when the men come up from +dinner. The ladies have appropriated the most comfortable and naturally +the most isolated chairs, and their lords and masters huddle like sheep +in the doorway, uncertain where to flee for refuge and the most +desirable companion. The Secretary had studied this peculiarity of his +sex, and had learned to choose his goal beforehand. One glance showed +him that Lady Isabelle was absent; either she had retired, her mother +was quite capable of ordering her off to bed to keep her out of harm's +way, or else she was in the conservatory. He trusted that this last +supposition was correct, and disappeared among the palms, when the +Marchioness' attention was directed elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"And in that case?" he said, as he stood beside her, recalling her last +words at the table. "In that case?"</p> + +<p>"In that case," she replied, flushing slightly, "I should probably have +said something I might have regretted, had not Mrs. Roberts come to my +rescue."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And now?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be stupid, Mr. Stanley. Surely you know that any well-brought-up +girl would always obey her mother—and—and you ought to see that this +conversation is impossible."</p> + +<p>"It's certainly unique."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we had better change the subject?"</p> + +<p>"By all means, if you wish it, after I've asked you one more question. I +trust you won't think me rude to persist, but—do you care for me, Lady +Isabelle?"</p> + +<p>"As a friend, yes."</p> + +<p>"But in no other way?"</p> + +<p>"In no other way."</p> + +<p>"You're quite sure?"</p> + +<p>"Quite, and I'm very sorry you asked me the question. I tried hard to +prevent you."</p> + +<p>"You've succeeded admirably," he said, laughing. "I was afraid you did +care."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand, and she took it, saying with a little constraint +in her manner:</p> + +<p>"You're certainly frank."</p> + +<p>He was pleased to see that she was only piqued; the speech had been +unfortunate; but Lady Isabelle had plenty of common sense, and she +realised that his naïve confession had cleared the atmosphere, and made +social intercourse possible.</p> + +<p>He made another attempt to interest her in general conversation, this +time succeeding admirably. And so an hour slipped by unnoticed, until +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> stern voice of the Dowager recalled them to the realities of life.</p> + +<p>"Isabelle," she said coldly, "you are surely forgetting your duty to our +hostess, and to me also, it seems."</p> + +<p>"I'm coming, mamma," she replied, and left him with a quiet +"Good-night."</p> + +<p>Stanley felt immensely relieved. That was over; Lady Isabelle and he +understood each other now, and his path was clear for—was it to be +matrimony after all? He told himself he was a weak fool—that Miss +Fitzgerald cared nothing for him; would not take him after last night; +that he was under no real obligation and that he was a sentimental +idiot—yet, he must see her—for his own sake—to justify +himself—to—— He resolutely shut his eyes to the future, and went in +search of the lady in question.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, Belle and he were alone in the most favourable place +in the house for a tête-à-tête, a curious old corner, the two sides of +which were converted into a capacious seat to which there was but one +approach, screened by a heavy curtain on one side and a suit of armour +on the other—safe from all observers.</p> + +<p>"What a quaint old house this is!" he said. "We might almost suppose we +were back in the sixteenth century."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied dreamily. "We're out of place in these surroundings."</p> + +<p>She was in a strange mood this evening, sad and thoughtful, yet lacking +the repose which should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> have accompanied reverie. It was the only time +that the Secretary had ever seen her nervous or <i>distraite</i>.</p> + +<p>"What have you been doing all day?" he asked, hoping to lead the +conversation to some more cheerful subject.</p> + +<p>"Trying to forget myself," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Surely it would be a pleasure to remember yourself, I should think."</p> + +<p>"Should you? I fear not."</p> + +<p>"Your ears must have burned this afternoon," he continued, unheeding her +comment. "Pleasant things were being said about you."</p> + +<p>"Did you say them?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I said them, I always do; but I was referring to someone +else—to Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"People only patronise me, when they think me unworthy of reproof."</p> + +<p>"How can you say that!" he exclaimed. "I——" but she silenced him with +a gesture.</p> + +<p>"You've said it. That's why. I've never had one friend with whom there +did not come a day, that he or she threw me over and cast my failings in +my face. I'd believed it was different with you, I believed you trusted +me; that you'd have trusted me through good and evil report—but no, +you're like the rest. Society points its finger at me, and you accept +its verdict, and you're right. You, secure in your social position, +powerful, influential, you shall determine what is right and what is +wrong, and I,—I must accept it without a murmur—I'm only a woman +without a friend."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No! no! no!" he cried vehemently. "You wrong me, you do not understand. +No one can respect a woman more than I respect you. It's of some of your +friends that I disapprove."</p> + +<p>"A man is known by the company he keeps—how much more a woman. I'm like +my friends—and you—you"—and for the moment she forgot to be meek and +suffering, and her eyes blazed with passion—"you are the Pharisee of +the nineteenth century, the hem of whose robe we outcasts are unworthy +to touch!"</p> + +<p>"How can you!" he cried, springing to his feet. "How can you do me so +much wrong? It's not that you're like your friends. It is the fear that +you may become so that moves me to speak as I do. But since you've seen +fit to suspect me, you must allow me to justify myself. I know the +affairs of this Colonel Darcy; know them as few others could, by virtue +of my diplomatic position, and I assure you he has wronged and brutally +treated one of the most beautiful and sweet-natured women I have ever +seen. Treated her so badly that she was forced to flee to our Legation +for assistance and protection. Imagine my feelings when you tell me that +this man is your friend—when I hear your name coupled with his in the +idle gossip of the smoking-room."</p> + +<p>"I only know that Colonel Darcy was kind to me once upon a time," she +replied, interrupting the flow of his eloquence.</p> + +<p>"But what's that to do with this?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A man who can be kind to a woman in distress cannot be wholly bad."</p> + +<p>"Why do you defend him?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind why. Don't let us talk any more about it," she said wearily. +"You cannot deny that you think worse of me for defending him; you can't +take back your words of last night. I've been thinking it over +carefully, and I've make up my mind. I'm of no use to anyone. I make my +friends ashamed of me— I'm misunderstood and misjudged. It's the way of +the world, but it's hard. My spirit's broken. I no longer have the wish +to continue the battle. I'm going away."</p> + +<p>"Going away! When?" he cried, in amazement.</p> + +<p>"At once."</p> + +<p>"And where?'</p> + +<p>"I don't know; somewhere where I'm not known, where I've no friends to +be annoyed at having to claim me as an acquaintance. Somewhere where +people will take me for what I am, not for what I have been, for whom I +know, for what I have done or left undone. Oh, I'm so tired, so sick of +it all," and she bowed her head and wept.</p> + +<p>The effect of all this on Stanley can hardly be over-stated. He +supported her, he soothed her, he told her all that was in his heart, or +all he thought was there. She should not go away alone; he would go with +her; he had shockingly misjudged her; it should be his life task to +make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> her forget that, to proclaim to all the world how great a heritage +he had received in her love. They would triumph over all obstacles. He +would show the world what a true, noble woman she really was; he would +prove it in the best way possible by marrying her, if she would have +him, if she would so far honour him. His heart was at her feet. She +would be quite right in spurning it, but he besought her to be merciful, +to give him his answer, and let that answer be consent.</p> + +<p>And the lady, who, under these ministrations and protestations, had +gradually recovered her self-control, ceased her passionate sobbing, +rested her head contentedly on his shoulder, and allowed him, with but +feeble resistance, to encircle her waist with a protecting arm—in +short, everything seemed prepared for her success, when the curtain was +pushed aside and there stood before them the figure of a man, which +caused them both to spring to their feet, in time, as they fondly hoped, +to escape detection; the Secretary with a smothered exclamation of rage; +the lady, as she recognised the intruder, with a startled cry of:</p> + +<p>"Colonel Darcy!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>HER HUSBAND</h3> + +<p>Even an unobserving man—and Colonel Robert Darcy was not that—could +hardly have helped seeing that his presence was unwelcome, and that he +had interrupted an important interview.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said, "I fear I've intruded."</p> + +<p>The Secretary said nothing, and Miss Fitzgerald came to the rescue by +declaring that she was very glad to see him, and that she had no idea he +would be in Sussex so soon.</p> + +<p>"The fact is, I particularly wanted to see you," he replied bluntly.</p> + +<p>Thereupon Mr. Stanley did that most unpardonable thing in good +society—lost his temper and gave evidence of the fact; a piece of +egotism often noticeable in young men during their first years of social +life, before a severe course of snubbing has taught them of how little +relative importance they really are.</p> + +<p>"Three's an impossible number for a tête-à-tête," he said stiffly, "so +if you'll excuse me," and he started to leave her side.</p> + +<p>Up to this point Belle had been in some doubt as to how she ought to +act; but when the Secretary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> took the initiative, it at once gave her +her cue, and she was quick to save the situation.</p> + +<p>"There are no secrets between friends," she said hastily, "and you're +both friends of mine, so I shall expect you to be friends of each +other's."</p> + +<p>"This is Colonel Robert Darcy, Jimsy—we call him Bob for short," she +rattled on, laughing nervously. "And now, Bob, why have you arrived so +unexpectedly in Sussex?"</p> + +<p>"I think you've forgotten to introduce me to Colonel Darcy, Miss +Fitzgerald," suggested Stanley.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, I believe I have," replied that lady, calmly. "Bob, this is +Jimsy; Jimsy, this is Bob—that'll do for the present. I'll tell you the +rest of his names, titles and appurtenances when I've more time and less +to talk about. So now we are friends and have no secrets from each +other, therefore out with yours."</p> + +<p>Darcy laughed.</p> + +<p>"You see, Jimsy," continued Miss Fitzgerald, turning to the Secretary, +"though I'm young and ignorant, men have always come to me for advice, +or, perhaps, for the use of my intuition."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I trust Colonel Darcy will profit by it; but even our +well-established friendship gives me no right to play third party to his +confidences, and as I promised Kingsland a game of pool——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, but you mustn't go; really you mustn't," expostulated the Colonel, +"or you'll make me feel I've intruded."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + +<p>Stanley felt that it was not his fault if that officer did not already +possess those sentiments, and was about to stand to his decision, when +Miss Fitzgerald pulled him down beside her, saying:</p> + +<p>"Don't talk nonsense, Jimsy. I'm dying to hear Bob's secrets, and he's +been here five minutes already, and we haven't allowed him to get a word +in edgewise."</p> + +<p>Thus admonished, the Secretary had no choice but to be an unwilling +listener.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know why I should dignify my affairs by the name of +secrets," began Darcy, with ill-attempted nonchalance, "or why I should +be reticent about speaking of them, either. It's more than the Press +will be in the next few days," and he laughed harshly.</p> + +<p>"My dear Bob!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, with a horror that was meant +to be assumed, but nevertheless had a touch of reality about it. "My +dear Bob! I knew you were bad, but don't tell me you're as bad as all +that!"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so," he replied. Then turning to Stanley, continued, "I +suppose you've not the misfortune to be married?"</p> + +<p>"I'm a single man," replied the Secretary, who, under the circumstances, +felt that a mere statement of fact was infinitely better than an +expressed opinion.</p> + +<p>"Then of course you can't conceive the pleasures of anticipation which +the prospect of the divorce court arouses in the mind of a husband."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can imagine that the point of view would largely depend on his own +status in the case."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to tell me, Bob," cried Miss Fitzgerald, "that she's +been foolish enough——!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm the accused in the present indictment. But, fortunately for me, +women are by nature inconsistent."</p> + +<p>"Why do you say that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Why? Because, having run away from my house and secured legal +assistance in London to bring suit against me—well, on statutory +grounds, she has, as a proof of her injuries, seen fit to take up her +residence at the bachelor quarters of her Secretary of Legation."</p> + +<p>"What! Is she there now?" cried Miss Fitzgerald, her eyes flashing, as +she turned them full on Stanley.</p> + +<p>That gentleman, who had foreseen this <i>dénouement</i> from the first, half +rose to his feet with a view of crushing his defamer, but the Colonel's +next statement so staggered him that he sunk back in his seat.</p> + +<p>"No," replied that officer, in answer to Miss Fitzgerald's question. +"No. London life didn't seem to agree with them, so they've made a +little expedition into Sussex together; in fact, they're both here, or +hereabouts."</p> + +<p>"What do you say?" cried Belle, quite dazed by this astounding +declaration.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's quite true. She actually had the effrontery to write me +requesting that I send her belongings to his chambers. Of course I got +no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> satisfaction in London, for my young man, with a discretion far +beyond his years, promptly left for parts unknown. I didn't search for +him, I watched her. I knew I could trust her to put me on the scent, if +not to lead me to the quarry. She's quite fulfilled my expectations. +When she left town my detective was on hand, followed her to Liverpool +Street, watched her while she took her ticket, secured a place in +another part of the same train, located her in a farmhouse on this +estate, and, as I suspected, found that among the guests at the Hall was +my co-respondent, Mr. Secretary Aloysius Stanley."</p> + +<p>The speaker paused, and absolute silence reigned between them; but he +did not seem to notice the tense muscles of the man or the flushed +anxiety of the woman.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's the story," he said shortly. "Not a pretty one, either, is +it; but of course I shall have to see it through, and, as a first step, +I must ask the assistance of you both in meeting this little cad of a +diplomat. After I've settled with him, I shall leave her quite free +to——"</p> + +<p>"Stop!" cried the Secretary. "Don't say that, Colonel Darcy. Don't you +dare to say it!"</p> + +<p>"What the devil— I——" began Darcy, completely astonished at the turn +affairs had taken.</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald," continued his companion, "neglected to introduce me +formally, but I will rectify that error. My name is Aloysius Stanley, +and I'm the Secretary of Legation to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> you've presumed to allude in +language for which I shall demand an explanation."</p> + +<p>"We'll settle our difficulties at some more appropriate time, sir," +replied the Colonel, with repressed anger patent in every tone.</p> + +<p>"We'll settle them here and now— I demand a retraction of what you've +just said, or intimated, in regard to my relations with your wife."</p> + +<p>"I'll give you the only satisfaction you have a right to expect, and I +to demand, when and where you please."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen! gentlemen!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, fearful of what their +anger might lead to. "Pray remember that you're in the presence of a +lady."</p> + +<p>"You need have no fear," said Stanley, in reply to her request, "<i>I</i> +shall not forget <i>myself</i>." Then turning to Darcy, he continued:</p> + +<p>"Did not my profession, which is essentially one of peace, prevent me +from taking any notice of your absurd challenge, I should still refuse +to involve myself in a matter with which I've no concern, merely because +you've been enough of a cad to slander your wife in the presence of a +third person."</p> + +<p>"If I ever meet you outside!" began the Colonel, purple with rage—but +the Secretary continued his remarks, oblivious of the interruption.</p> + +<p>"There is one thing, however, that I shall do," he said. "Unless you +leave this house immediately, I shall inform my hostess, who has +already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> refused to include your name in her party, of what I know of +you, and then put you out."</p> + +<p>"Do go, Bob!" cried Belle. "Do, to please me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, to please you," said Darcy, sulkily, "I suppose I must. But where +I'm to go for a night's lodging, in this God-forsaken place, is quite a +problem."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's a good inn just outside the Lodge gates. I know the +proprietor of it," said Miss Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll give me a line to him," he suggested, "as you're turning +me out, and I've no luggage to insure my respectability."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," she replied, "if you've a pencil, and will excuse the back +of an old envelope."</p> + +<p>The Colonel nodded, and she took an undirected envelope, which seemed to +be carrying more than it could conveniently hold, from the pocket of her +dress, and hastily scribbled a line on it with the pencil he gave her, +handing them both to him nervously.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," suggested the Secretary coldly, who had watched this +transaction with growing irritation, "it would be as well to remove the +contents of your letter, Miss Fitzgerald. You should be careful to whom +you entrust your correspondence."</p> + +<p>She faced him, and looked at him steadily, with those great blue eyes of +hers, while she said, with measured force and deliberation:</p> + +<p>"I should be quite willing to trust the contents of any of my letters to +Colonel Darcy's care."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Colonel had, meantime, been nervously twisting the envelope round +his fingers, and Stanley caught sight of a well-known monogram composed +of the initials A. R. It was the letter he had taken from Kingsland, and +restored to Mr. Riddle. How came it in Belle's hands—the seal still +unbroken, and why was it given to Darcy? His suspicions, so long lulled +by careful artifice, were at once aroused, and he threw the Colonel a +glance, the meaning of which was not lost on the woman. Suddenly, her +whole manner changing, she became nervous and excitable, once more +saying to Darcy:</p> + +<p>"Now, go, Bob; go at once, for all our sakes."</p> + +<p>He growled a surly reply, and before the Secretary was aware of his +intentions, had left the room.</p> + +<p>Stanley stood for a moment, dazed; uncertain whether to follow or +remain, his breast full of conflicting emotions; bewilderment at the +vast field of possibilities opened by the Colonel's receipt of the +letter; rage at his cowardly imputations, and dismay at the consequences +of the strong circumstantial evidence which Madame Darcy had unwittingly +manufactured against him; and at the effect which the Colonel's charges +might produce on Miss Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>He was prepared for hysterics, recriminations, stern questions, scorn, +anger, and endless tears; but totally unprepared for the ringing burst +of laughter which greeted him as soon as the Colonel had left the room; +cold, cynical laughter, from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> the girl he had just asked to be his wife, +who threw herself on the couch, her eyes flashing and her whole face +twitching with anger or merriment, he was not certain which.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear—oh dear!" she cried, when she could at last control her voice, +"this is too funny! too dreadfully funny!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything amusing about it," he said bluntly. He was angry +and sore, and this ill-timed merriment irritated him.</p> + +<p>"Don't you? Then you must have lost your sense of humour. This young +man," she continued, pointing at him, as if she were exhibiting him to a +crowd. "This good young man, who preaches me sermons on +self-respect—who is concerned for my good name—who thinks I've been +too careless of my reputation, who is cut to the heart because I do not +live up to the ideal to which he considers a woman should attain, who +has just done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage—not because he +loves me—oh dear, no—but because he feels it his duty to save me from +myself. This practical young man, who combines pleasure with duty, by +conducting an <i>affaire du cœur</i>, in a neighbouring farmhouse, with my +friend's wife, but whose morality is so outraged at the man who is +courteous enough to permit that wife to get the divorce, that he can't +bear to be in the same room with him. This superlatively excellent young +man, who had almost persuaded me that I was wrong in my estimate of +human nature, turns out to be the worst of the lot, a whitened sepulchre +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> lying and hypocrisy and deceit—or perhaps I should sum it all up +and say—a model of diplomacy. Isn't it funny—isn't it cruelly, +wickedly humorous? Do you wonder I laugh?"</p> + +<p>"If you can believe this of me, Miss Fitzgerald——" began the +Secretary, who had flushed, and then turned as white as a sheet.</p> + +<p>"One story's good till another is told, my dear Jimsy; but I was wrong +to have laughed. I quite understand, believe me, the painfulness of your +position."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's not true——" he began.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't try to improve the situation. You can't"—she continued, +rising and towering before him in the majesty of her wrath. "I'd really +come to believe that there was one among the hundreds of worthless, +vicious, mercenary human beings I know, who called themselves men, who +was what he claimed to be; who really believed in the old fallacies of +right and duty, and moral cleanliness, and lived up to them; who really +kept the ten commandments in thought as well as in act, a strong rock of +defence to whom I might cling in time of trouble; but he's a fraud like +all the rest, and the man I made a hero turns out to be of clay!"</p> + +<p>She paused, and the Secretary, controlling himself, replied coldly:</p> + +<p>"After what you've said, it's of course worse than useless for me to +repeat the question I asked you just before Colonel Darcy intruded his +presence upon us. It had better remain unanswered."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No," she said. "I don't think so. It needs an answer, and you shall +have it—but not yet. I've been a little fool, and have been punished +for my folly; but I don't know any reason why I should make you suffer. +You're only as you were made. You can't help it, I dare say."</p> + +<p>"You surely can't think of marrying me, believing what you do."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. While I thought you were an angel, I was afraid of you. I +thought I should have to be constantly living up to you and listening to +sermons;— Thank Heavens you can never preach to me again. Even you +wouldn't have the face to do it now. But since I've found out that +you're only very human, I really don't know but what I might grow to +love you. I'll think it over. There," she continued, "don't look so +sheepish. I may decide not to take you after all, but until then +consider yourself on approval. Don't say anything more, you'd only bore +me. I want to be by myself and get my face straight, if I can," and +crossing the room she broke out again into peals of ringing, unmusical +laughter.</p> + +<p>"This is intolerable!" he cried, but he addressed thin air,—he was +alone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE DOOR WITH THE SILVER NAILS</h3> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"<span class="smcap">St. James' Club</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"<span class="smcap">Piccadilly, W</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Stanley</span>,</p> + +<p>"I am sending this letter to you at Roberts' Hall, because I +am certain that you are there.</p> + +<p>"I can fancy you drawing a long face, and admitting to +yourself that you are certainly in for a sermon from that +old bore, Kent-Lauriston, but you are entirely mistaken. I +shall neither expostulate with nor upbraid you, for you have +done exactly what I expected you would do. Nevertheless I +mean to save you from yourself, to which end I trust you are +not as yet entangled, as it is less easy gracefully to break +than make an engagement.</p> + +<p>"The fact is, my dear Mr. Secretary, I do not consider you, +under the present circumstances, a responsible creature. The +fascinating Miss Fitzgerald has, I can well imagine, driven +all other considerations into the background.</p> + +<p>"I should probably have let you go to your fate, unchecked +by any letter of mine, did I not feel that I had been +morally negligent. You came to put your case in my hands, +and proved so sweetly rational that, for the last time I +swear, I trusted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> in human nature, and left you to your own +devices, instead of watching your every movement until the +danger was past.</p> + +<p>"Of course I have heard the little scandal about your +escapade with Colonel D——'s wife. All London is ringing +with it, thanks to her husband.</p> + +<p>"What you most want is change of scene and occupation, to +distract you from your present cares. There is only one way +to drown care without drowning oneself—and that is by work. +So unless I find you grinding away at the Legation to-morrow +noon, I shall invite myself to be one of Mrs. Roberts' +house-party, and we shall see what may be effected even in +the face of overwhelming odds. Give me a fair field and no +favour, and I pledge my word to win you to yourself.</p> + +<p>"In any event command my humble services.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"Yours as ever,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"<span class="smcap">Kent-Lauriston</span>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Friday evening."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The Secretary dropped back on the comfortable divan that occupied a +recess in one corner of the smoking-room, and gazed vacantly at the +letter as it lay in his lap; then he gave a great sigh, and reached for +a fresh cigarette. In his own estimation, matters could not be worse, +but unfortunately he was not in a position to heed his friend's advice +and bolt for London the first thing in the morning—indeed his +recognition of Darcy's letter, the possible significance of which he was +at last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> beginning to realise, imperatively demanded his presence and +attention.</p> + +<p>Besides, he was now accountable to others. To Belle in the first +place—and to Colonel Darcy in the second. For the latter he cared not a +whit. It was true that circumstantial evidence had made rather a strong +case against him—but the Secretary was sure the Colonel did not really +believe the charge he had preferred against his wife to be true, and +that he had merely seen, in the unfortunate combination of +circumstances, a chance of strengthening his own position.</p> + +<p>But while Stanley had little concern for the Colonel's status, he felt a +great deal for his own. Fate had treated him badly, very badly, and he +owed it to Belle and to Madame Darcy, and to his own good name, to right +himself as speedily as possible.</p> + +<p>The figure he would cut in Madame Darcy's eyes was bad enough in all +conscience. He supposed she would never speak to him again, and, for +some reason which he was at a loss to explain satisfactorily to himself, +this prospect made him feel uncommonly blue. He even felt no resentment +against her, though her innocent rashness had been the font of all his +misfortunes. Somehow it seemed an honour to be associated with her, even +to his own undoing. And that by any efforts in her behalf, he should +have unwittingly injured her, nearly drove him to despair, with chagrin +and regret.</p> + +<p>But if his position in the eyes of Madame Darcy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> and of himself was most +awkward, the position he held in Miss Fitzgerald's estimation was, he +told himself again and again, simply unbearable. That it was possible +for any good woman to believe—and she certainly did believe—the things +that were said about him, and yet find it in her heart to even consider +matrimony with such an unscrupulous cad as he must appear to her, +revolted him. It was not nice; he was sure Lady Isabelle would never +have done so.</p> + +<p>Perhaps she did not care, that was worst of all; that she did not care +for him, for his good name, his honour, his reputation, only for—the +thought was intolerable—he started up and drank off a strong peg of +whiskey; he felt that he needed a bracer. In the hopes of distracting +his thoughts, he once more took up and re-read Kent-Lauriston's letter, +which had arrived before dinner and lain forgotten during the excitement +of the evening; and which he had found waiting to greet him, when, at +the close of that dreadful interview, he had stolen away to his room +without bidding anybody good-night. He remembered that he had hesitated +to open it, knowing as he did that it contained a remonstrance against +committing a folly, which he had already committed. He had determined to +read it calmly, but it awakened within him a scathing self-examination +most unsettling in its result.</p> + +<p>He recognised it as the dictum of an astute man of the world, a +"<i>connoisseur des grandes passions</i>" one who knew the symptoms with +unfailing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> accuracy. In short, the Secretary did not for a moment doubt +the truth of what his friend had written; but he was equally certain +that it did not apply to his own case.</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald had by no means driven all other thoughts from his mind. +Indeed, he realised that she had, during the last few days, held a +relatively small place in his thoughts. He was not miserable when he was +absent from her—he had enjoyed his talk with Madame Darcy and his walk +with Lady Isabelle immensely. He had not even decided that he should ask +Belle to marry him till the eleventh hour, and was not that decision +due, after all, to the pity which, we are told, is akin to love, but +which by itself forms such an unsatisfactory substitute? Would his +friend have any trouble in winning him to himself, as he expressed it? +Was he supremely happy? Was he not rather, in his heart of hearts, +wishing himself well out of the whole affair? The words of Madame Darcy +came back to him, doubly enforced by these contradictory data.</p> + +<p>"You do not love her. Love is blind. Love does not reason."</p> + +<p>Had it come to this, then—was he such a weak fool that he did not know +his own mind; that he had proposed to a woman who existed only in his +imagination; who so little resembled the real one that he had no wish to +assimilate the two; that he was already regretting the step before it +was half taken? What hope did that hold out for a happy future? He was +thoroughly disgusted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> with himself. In a fit of mortified rage, he +crumpled up the letter in his hand, and threw himself down among the +cushions of the divan. As he lay there Kingsland entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Why," he said, "I thought you had retired."</p> + +<p>This was, indeed, the truth, but the restlessness induced by +Kent-Lauriston's note had made the confinement of his chamber seem +intolerable, and a rapid survey of the rooms downstairs assured him that +the Dowager and Miss Fitzgerald were in full possession; a combination +which, under the circumstances, he did not care to face. These facts, +however, were hardly to be adduced to a third party, and the Secretary, +turning to the resources of diplomacy, reminded the Lieutenant that they +had had an appointment for a game of pool, which one of them, at least, +had not seen fit to keep.</p> + +<p>"Shall we have it now?" suggested Kingsland.</p> + +<p>"No," answered Stanley. "I'm not feeling fit."</p> + +<p>"Try a drink, then."</p> + +<p>"I've just had one."</p> + +<p>"Drinking alone? That's a bad sign. What are you so blue about?"</p> + +<p>"I'm wondering," said Stanley, "how a man can ever be fool enough to +fall in love, or get married."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the Lieutenant, "so she's refused you, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"Belle Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the Secretary, shortly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Lieutenant thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets and paced +the room in silence, whistling softly to himself. Finally he remarked:</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sorry, old chap, but I've been more lucky."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the Secretary. "Lady Isabelle, I suppose."</p> + +<p>Kingland nodded.</p> + +<p>"Does mamma approve?" inquired Stanley.</p> + +<p>The young officer shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to postpone entering into that matter," he said, "till after +the ceremony."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the Secretary shortly. "An elopement. Well, I don't know that +I can conscientiously offer my congratulations—to Lady Isabelle, at +least, but I dare say you'll find it worth while."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be so nasty, just because you've been disappointed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't that; but, as you say, I've no reason to express an +opinion. It isn't the first time a young man's eloped with a lady of +means."</p> + +<p>"Well," snapped the Lieutenant in reply, "it's a shade above eloping +with somebody else's wife who happens to have a large bank account."</p> + +<p>Stanley sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p>"If that cad of a Darcy," he cried, "has been saying——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you needn't assume the high moral rôle," said Kingsland. "I've just +had the story first hand from him."</p> + +<p>"It isn't the first time he's told it to-night," snapped the Secretary.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What! You don't mean to the fair Belle?"</p> + +<p>Stanley nodded, and Kingsland threw himself on the sofa in a paroxysm of +laughter.</p> + +<p>"But how did you come to see Darcy?" demanded the young diplomat, +ignoring his friend's ill-timed merriment. "I ordered him out of the +house."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the Lieutenant, "so he told me. But he's lost a valuable +letter in the hall."</p> + +<p>"The hall? Why, there doesn't seem to be much chance of losing anything +there. There are no draperies and very little furniture."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's a queer business," admitted the officer. "But while the +Colonel was telling me about your little escapade, he dropped a letter +which he had taken from its envelope, and just at that moment the butler +came in. He started to pick up the letter for the Colonel, but Darcy +jumped forward, and so between them it was pushed under the crack of +that old oak door studded with silver nails."</p> + +<p>"A letter!" cried the Secretary. "Did you notice what it looked like?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Kingsland incautiously, "except that it had an address +scrawled across one side in pencil."</p> + +<p>Stanley waited to hear no more. Fate seemed playing into his hands at +last, and springing to the door he threw it open, and saw to his intense +astonishment the figure of Colonel Darcy grovelling on the floor of the +hall.</p> + +<p>"I thought I told you to leave this house,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> Colonel Darcy," said +Stanley, striving to be calm, but his voice quivering with suppressed +emotion.</p> + +<p>"So you did," replied his adversary, rising slowly to his feet, very red +in the face and somewhat short of breath.</p> + +<p>"Then why haven't you gone? Do you wish me to speak to Mrs. Roberts?"</p> + +<p>"I intended to obey your request, out of respect to Miss Fitzgerald. But +the fact is, I have lost an important letter."</p> + +<p>"So Kingsland tells me, though it seems almost impossible."</p> + +<p>"Truth, sir, is often stranger than fiction," replied the Colonel +angrily, "as our own relations with each other have already proved. But, +as you have given me the lie once this evening, you can, if you see fit, +prove the truth of my statement by referring it to the butler."</p> + +<p>"I gave you the lie, as you express it, Colonel Darcy," replied the +Secretary, "because my own knowledge assured me, that your charges were +untrue. In this case, however, I am quite ready to fully accept your +statement. But it's a pure waste of time to attempt to recover your +letter. For two hundred years they've tried to open that portal, and to +this day it remains closed."</p> + +<p>"The butler told me some such cock-and-bull story—but of course——"</p> + +<p>"It's quite true."</p> + +<p>"But I must have my letter. I must have it, I tell you—surely someone +knows the secret."</p> + +<p>"There's a legend current to the effect that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> pressure of five of +these silver nails, one by each of the five fingers, will suffice to +open the door. But to my way of thinking it's likely to remain closed +for two centuries to come."</p> + +<p>"Curse it!" cried the Colonel, throwing himself against the portal in a +frenzy. "It has neither handle nor keyhole, and it's as firm as iron! +What am I to do?"</p> + +<p>"If it's absolutely necessary to recover this document, I'll tell Mrs. +Roberts. Though I should doubt if she'd consent to ruin an interesting +heirloom for the sake of a gentleman against whom she already entertains +a prejudice."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't think of it. Impossible to put Mrs. Roberts to so much +inconvenience; I shouldn't consider it for a moment! Let the cursed +letter remain where it is!" replied the Colonel, evidently very much +upset by this proposition.</p> + +<p>"As I'd supposed, Colonel Darcy, you would prefer that the document +should remain where it is, rather than it should pass, even temporarily, +into any other hands than yours. Might I inquire if it's the one you +received from Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"It is, of course, quite useless to attempt to deceive a diplomat," +replied his companion, with a touch of temper which was not lost on +Stanley, who answered composedly:</p> + +<p>"I think you may be reasonably assured that your letter will never be +found till you and it have long been dust, and till not only its +importance, but its very meaning, have become unintelligible. You may +consider it irrevocably lost, and so, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> there's no further excuse for +your remaining, Colonel Darcy, I'll wish you—good-night," and the +Secretary threw open the great hall door.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Mr. Stanley," replied the unwelcome guest, with a frown of +anger as he passed over the threshold. "Good-night—but not +good-bye—remember we've still a score to settle."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>A MIDNIGHT MESSAGE</h3> + +<p>Stanley closed the great front door, turned the key, shot the bolts, and +lighting his bedroom candle, slowly and thoughtfully betook himself to +his chamber.</p> + +<p>Kingsland's knowledge of the mysterious letter only served to increase +the Secretary's suspicions of that young officer's complicity with +Darcy, while the letter itself presented such a bewildering variety of +contradictory possibilities, that his mind was dazed. A further +consideration of his past experiences in this matter did not make him +feel any the easier, and for the first time, under the spur of doubt and +mistrust, he recalled Kingsland's story of the reception of the missive, +and subjected it to a critical analysis. Mr. Riddle had said, and the +Lieutenant had confirmed, that the letter had been handed by the former +to the latter at the Hyde Park Club, and that the Lieutenant was then +"leaving the room." Yet the Secretary, now he came to think of it, was +sure Mr. Riddle had not been of the company at or after dinner, and that +Kingsland had not left the drawing-room or attempted to do so. Moreover, +if Riddle had given him the money for the stamp, why had he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> not +mentioned the fact at the time? The letter was evidently of importance, +and intended for Darcy, a man of whose every action, he had the greatest +distrust. Yet the important missive, after being lost for three days, +was given by its owner to Miss Fitzgerald, who thought so little of it, +that she used the envelope to scribble an address on, before giving it +to the Colonel, who now had lost it under the secret door.</p> + +<p>It was certainly a mystery to which he was unable to offer any solution, +but which, nevertheless, caused him a vague uneasiness. He drew up an +arm-chair beside the table, and lighting his lamp, prepared to seek +distraction in a book.</p> + +<p>The Secretary had scarcely settled to his reading, however, when he was +startled by a sharp click against his window. At first he thought +nothing of it, but at a repetition of the noise, plainly produced by a +pebble thrown up against the glass, he opened the casement and looked +out.</p> + +<p>The night was very dark, and he could see nothing; but out of the +blackness below him came a voice, which he thought he recognised, +calling his name softly.</p> + +<p>"Why, John!" he cried, scarcely believing it could be the Legation +factotum. "What on earth are you doing here at this time of night?"</p> + +<p>"Special message from 'is h'Excellency, sir," came in the familiar +cockney of the messenger, with the added caution, "don't speak so loud, +please—it's that private—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>Stanley nodded, quite oblivious of the fact that he was invisible, and +added in lowered tones:</p> + +<p>"Go round to the front, and I'll come down and let you in."</p> + +<p>He cautiously made his way downstairs, pausing at every creaking board +in fear that he had awakened the household, and traversing the long +hall, opened the great front door, and admitted the shivering John; for +the night was cool, and several hours of watching and waiting had +chilled the messenger thoroughly.</p> + +<p>"How long have you been out there?"</p> + +<p>"Since ten, sir."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! and it's past midnight! Come up to my room, and I'll give +you some whiskey."</p> + +<p>"Thank ye, sir. I shan't mind a drop—it's that cold, but I'll take off +me boots first."</p> + +<p>"Take off your boots!"</p> + +<p>"'Is h'Excellency was most par-ti'cler, sir, as no one but you should +know as I was 'ere."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see. Very well. Leave them at the foot of the stairs. You'll find +these flags rather cold for stocking-feet."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later John was installed in the Secretary's bedroom, and +his inner man was being warmed and refreshed with a copious dram of +whiskey—while Stanley, seated at his table, was breaking the seals of +the despatch which the messenger had brought him.</p> + +<p>"It's most secret, sir."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. How did you know which was my room?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The lady of the 'ouse, sir, employs the hinnkeeper's daughter to 'elp +the 'ousekeeper day times—and so——"</p> + +<p>"I see; very clever, John. Eh! what's this?" and bending forward to the +light he read the now opened dispatch. It was short and to the point.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dear Mr. Stanley," wrote the Minister. "This is to inform +you that we have discovered the silent partner in the firm, +who is the chief instrument in putting up the money to +defeat the treaty. His name is Arthur Riddle. He is a guest +of your hostess, and should be watched. Darcy left for +Sussex this afternoon, presumably for your neighbourhood. +Kindly report progress, if any, sending letter by John, who +should return at once.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"Yours, etc.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"X——."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>As the full force of this communication became apparent to the +unfortunate Secretary, he sunk back in his chair, groaning in an agony +of mortification.</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear, sir!" cried John, who had been meditatively regarding the +bottom of his empty glass. "You don't mean to tell me as they've got +away."</p> + +<p>The messenger, it may be remarked, not being supposed, technically, to +know any official secrets, knew more than most of his superiors.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't that, it's a thousand times worse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> than that! I'm such an +infernal fool! John, I've had those instructions in my possession."</p> + +<p>"You have!" cried the messenger, much excited.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Had them for three days in the inside pocket of my dress-suit, and +being the greatest idiot in the diplomatic service, I never even +suspected what they were, and gave them back to the man who wrote them."</p> + +<p>"What, Riddle?"</p> + +<p>Stanley groaned, and bowed his head.</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear," said John, gravely, "I'm afraid it's a bad business, sir." +And noticing that the Secretary was absorbed in his own woes, he judged +it a favourable opportunity to replenish his glass, which he +thoughtfully consumed, while the unfortunate diplomat poured out to the +old messenger, who was distinctly the <i>deus ex machina</i> of his Legation, +and who had helped him out of many a tight place in the past, the story +of the letter. How he had received it, how he had been induced to give +it up, and finally how it reached its present destination.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said despairingly, in conclusion, "what do you think, John?"</p> + +<p>"Hit's hall the woman, sir. Take my word for hit, hit's hall the woman," +replied that functionary, with dignity.</p> + +<p>"What, Miss Fitzgerald?"</p> + +<p>John nodded, with the solemnity befitting so weighty a dictum.</p> + +<p>"You old idiot!" cried Stanley. "It's nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> of the sort. Miss +Fitzgerald's share in this matter was merely a coincidence."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you tell me has it was she suggested your taking han hold letter +to keep score hon, knowing well you 'ad <i>the letter</i> in your hinside +pocket hall the time?"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exclaimed the Secretary. "How could she have known anything +about it? She had never laid eyes on the letter till I produced it."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley," returned the messenger, with a dignity against which the +two glasses he had consumed struggled unsuccessfully, "h'I've fostered +young gentlemen, an' got h'em hout hof scrapes, an' taught h'em their +ha, b, c's of diplomacy, afore you was weaned, han' I knows whereof h'I +speaks, h'I tells yer, hit's the woman!"</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd get me out of this scrape. I'd be your friend for life."</p> + +<p>"That's heasy enough. You <i>must</i> get the letter."</p> + +<p>"But how—I tell you——"</p> + +<p>"Get it," reiterated the messenger, whose potations had made him +optimistic. "Blow this bally hold barn into the next county, hif need +be, but open that door and get it."</p> + +<p>The Secretary looked despairingly at the despatch, and tossing it to +John, said:</p> + +<p>"And what am I to answer to this?"</p> + +<p>"H'I'll answer it, hif you'll let me come to the table."</p> + +<p>"You!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes—and you can copy and sign it. Hit won't be the first private note +h'I've hanswered, or the first despatch h'I've written, heither," and +with this rebuke he composed the following:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 28em;">"To</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">"His Excellency,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"The Honourable,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"———</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>:—</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to acknowledge your Excellency's private +despatch of the 20th inst., and to inform you in reply that +the person mentioned in it is now a guest in this house, +also that I have discovered the present location of the +papers desired, and hope soon to be able to place them in +your hands.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">"I am, Sir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"Your obedient servant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"———.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Sunday, 12.45 <span class="smcap">a. m</span>."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The Secretary read and approved, and in a few moments had produced a +copy of the same, which was duly signed and sealed.</p> + +<p>"And now," he said, "you must be off. There's a train to London about +six."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Hit's a very cold night, sir."</p> + +<p>"No, you've had enough, and you need to keep your wits about you," and +he led the way downstairs.</p> + +<p>"John," he said, as he let the faithful servitor out, "I believe you're +right in what you said."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Habout the woman, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not. I tell you the lady knows nothing whatever of the +matter; pray disabuse your mind of that absurd idea, once and for all. I +mean about the letter."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"I've got to get it again, John. Send me the best book you can find on +combination locks. I <i>will</i> get it! Impossibilities don't count!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Good-night, sir, and remember, hit's the woman!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>THE WISDOM OF AGE</h3> + +<p>The Secretary passed one of the worst nights of his life. His pride, +self-esteem, and youthful estimation of his abilities as a diplomat had +received a crushing blow. He told himself that he was not fit to copy +letters in an office, much less to undertake delicate negotiations in +which the honour of his country was involved. The conspirators had known +him for what he was, a conceited young ass, and had egregiously fooled +him to the top of his bent. They had regained the document without half +trying; even Kingsland, whose intellect he had looked down on, had +completely taken him in. It seemed as if he must die of shame when it +became known. He would be disgraced and turned out of the service with +ridicule. Then of his despair was born that resolution to <i>do</i>, which +sets all obstacles at naught, and succeeds because it declares the +possibility of the impossible.</p> + +<p>He must retrieve himself, he must regain that letter, and hereafter his +self-reproaches were mingled with every scheme leading to its recovery, +that his brain could concoct.</p> + +<p>He was downstairs soon after seven.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>Entering the great hall, he found Lady Isabelle in sole possession, but +equipped to go out.</p> + +<p>"Whither so early?" he said.</p> + +<p>"I'm going away—that is—out."</p> + +<p>"Away?" he queried, as he saw her eyes fill with tears, and noted that +she was closely veiled "Can I serve you?"</p> + +<p>"No—yes," she replied, uncertain how to answer him. "Could I ask you to +do me a very great favour?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly."</p> + +<p>"But it's something you won't like to do."</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle," he said quietly, "we've been very good friends, and I +may tell you that I've a suspicion of what you intend to do this +morning. Won't you trust me, and allow me to help you in any way in my +power?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I will, because I'm sure +you mean what you say, and I'm in desperate straits. You remember the +answer I gave to a question of yours last evening?"</p> + +<p>"That you did not care for me—yes."</p> + +<p>"I might have added," she said shyly, casting down her eyes, "that I +cared for someone else."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you're making a wise choice, Lady Isabelle?" he asked, +feeling that he ought not to allow this state of affairs to continue +when he was almost certain that the young officer was practically a +criminal, whom it might be his duty to have arrested any day, yet +prevented by his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> instructions from preferring any charges against him +to Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>"Don't, please," she said. "You misjudge him."</p> + +<p>"I hope I do."</p> + +<p>"You do not understand. How should you? Have you ever seen him in his +uniform? He is a picture, and you know," sinking her voice, "his family +dates from the Conquest."</p> + +<p>The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. He'd had enough of warning people +for their own good, so he contented himself with remarking that a +disregard for the Decalogue seemed compatible with an unbroken descent +from the Norman robber.</p> + +<p>"Now you're cynical," she cried, "but I shan't argue with you, for I +love him, and we're to be married this morning in the chapel. Everything +has been arranged, and in fifteen minutes I shall be his wife."</p> + +<p>"That's very interesting," said Stanley. "But where do I come in?"</p> + +<p>"I need your help."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see. I suppose that if I'd any real interest in your welfare, I +ought to refuse, but as you'd do as you please in any event, I'm quite +at your service."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. Mamma will be here presently. She's announced her intention of +attending early service, and if she does——"</p> + +<p>"She might interrupt another, and that would be awkward."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dreadfully. She does not wish me to marry Lieutenant Kingsland—I think +she would rather I married you."</p> + +<p>"Is she so bitter? Well, make your own mind easy, I won't ask her."</p> + +<p>"But you must."</p> + +<p>"What!!!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing short of a proposal would deter her from going to service."</p> + +<p>"But, I thought you——!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll promise to be unavailable by the time you've finished,— Sh! +she's coming. Remember your promise to help me, and wish me luck."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart," he cried, as she vanished through the door, and the +Dowager entered the hall.</p> + +<p>Stanley wished the old lady good-morning which she received with +chilling condescension, and neither of them spoke for some moments; a +precious gain of time, during which her Ladyship put on her gloves, +rearranged her cloak, unrolled and re-rolled her sunshade, paced the +long hall, alternated glimpses out of the windows by glances up the +great stairway, and betrayed every sign of impatient waiting for a tardy +companion. The Secretary stood watching her and counting the minutes, +which seemed to pass unusually slowly.</p> + +<p>Finally the Dowager's patience got the better of her reserve; she faced +round and demanded if he had seen her daughter.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, very deliberately. "I believe she was in the hall +when I came down."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Believe. Do you not know, Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly caught a glimpse of her," he admitted.</p> + +<p>"But she's not here now."</p> + +<p>The Secretary made a careful inspection, from his point of vantage on +the hearthstone, of every cobweb and corner of the great apartment, and +in the end found himself forced to agree with the Marchioness' +statement.</p> + +<p>"Where has she gone, then?" was her next question.</p> + +<p>"Really," he replied, "it is not your daughter's custom to keep me +posted as to her movements."</p> + +<p>"But you've eyes, haven't you?" she retorted, testily. "At least you +know how she left this hall."</p> + +<p>The Secretary sighed as he saw the end of his little manœuvre.</p> + +<p>"She went out at the front door," he said.</p> + +<p>"Why couldn't you have told me that to begin with?"</p> + +<p>"You didn't ask me."</p> + +<p>"Don't be so distressingly literal. I'm late for the service as it is. +My daughter has probably misunderstood our arrangements, and is waiting +for me at the church." And the Marchioness showed unmistakable signs of +preparing to leave.</p> + +<p>Even allowing a most liberal leeway to the maundering old parson, +Stanley knew he could not yet have reached that passage beginning, "All +ye that are married," and ending in "amazement,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> for which there is a +canonical time-allowance of at least five minutes; it therefore behoved +him to play his last trump.</p> + +<p>The Dowager, like a hen preening her feathers, had given the last +touches to her garments, and was already half-way to the door, when the +Secretary, stepping forward, arrested her progress by remarking:</p> + +<p>"I feel that I owe you some explanation of what occurred last night, +Lady Port-Arthur."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's as well that you should explain," she replied, pausing at +the door, "though I should have supposed it would have been unnecessary +after our last interview."</p> + +<p>"I've not forgotten it."</p> + +<p>"You appeared to have done so last evening."</p> + +<p>"Really, you know," he said, piqued by her rudeness, "I couldn't refuse +to escort your daughter down to dinner when my hostess requested me to +do so."</p> + +<p>"If Mrs. Roberts so honoured you as to permit you to take in Lady +Isabelle, naturally——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the way I should have put it."</p> + +<p>"I do not pretend to say how you should have expressed yourself, but I +wish to point out that your place at dinner was no excuse for your place +afterwards."</p> + +<p>"Oh, in the conservatory. Well, you see, the fact is, I was telling Lady +Isabelle——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Stanley. What were you telling my daughter?"</p> + +<p>He glanced at the clock. Seven minutes had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> elapsed since the Dowager +entered the hall. He hoped they would shorten the service.</p> + +<p>"I was asking her a question," he continued.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>The Dowager was far below zero.</p> + +<p>"I asked her if she cared for me."</p> + +<p>"And she naturally referred you to her mother."</p> + +<p>"She told me a few minutes ago that you were coming here," he replied, +noticing that his companion's mercury was rapidly rising.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad," continued the Marchioness, "that you've taken so early an +opportunity to explain what I could only consider as very singular +conduct. For dear Isabelle's sake I'll consent to overlook what has +occurred in the past, and if you can make suitable provision——"</p> + +<p>Five minutes only remained before the time of early service. He thought +his income large enough to fill the interval, and interrupted with:</p> + +<p>"The woman I marry would have——," and then he told the Dowager all +about it, in sterling and decimal currency.</p> + +<p>"I think," said that lady, with a sigh of relief at the end of his +narration, which, it may be remarked, took the best part of half an +hour, "I think dear Isabelle's happiness should outweigh any social +disparity, and that we may consider her as good as married."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, remembering that the church bells had stopped ringing +some fifteen minutes before. "Yes, your Ladyship, I think we may."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A few minutes later Stanley found himself in one of the secluded +stretches of the park, breathing in the fresh keen morning air with a +new sense of delight, after the inherent stuffiness of the Dowager.</p> + +<p>He trusted that Lady Isabelle would break the news to her mother at +once, and get it over before he returned; but even then he had an +unpleasant interview before him. As an accepted suitor the Marchioness +would owe him an apology, which he could not avoid accepting. He hoped +he could do the heart-broken and disappointed lover, whose feelings were +tempered by the calm repression of high gentility. It was the rôle he +had figured for himself, and he thought it excellent.</p> + +<p>All his ideas, however, were centred on the problem of recovering the +lost document; some means of entry to that secret tower there must be, +and he must find it. He could not, of course, be certain that the paper +contained Darcy's instructions; but it was admittedly important, and its +loss had done him an injury which could only be atoned for by its +recovery.</p> + +<p>A light footfall interrupted his meditations, and looking up, he saw, +standing before him, half screened by the bushes which she was holding +back, to give her free access to the main path which he was pursuing, +the graceful figure and sad, sweet face of Madame Darcy.</p> + +<p>A shade of annoyance passed over his brow as he remembered the scene of +the night before, and his companion was quick to interpret his mood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +"Ah, Mr. Stanley," she said, "you've seen my husband."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he admitted. "He came up to the Hall last night."</p> + +<p>"I hope he didn't make himself a nuisance," she said.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm afraid he did rather," he returned, and added, "but it's +nothing," for he felt that it would be impossible for him to tell her +what had really occurred.</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I only bring you trouble."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," he hastened to assure her, "far from it. These little +talks with you are a positive rest and refreshment to me. I hate this +playing the spy."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it won't do for me to ask how you're progressing, and what +you've found out?"</p> + +<p>"I've found out that I've made an awful fool of myself," he said. "Mr. +Riddle——"</p> + +<p>"I could have told you who Mr. Riddle was yesterday," she said.</p> + +<p>The Secretary shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that would have been of little use."</p> + +<p>"Be very careful," she warned him. "There are others besides Mr. Riddle +whom you have to look out for."</p> + +<p>Could it be possible, he asked himself, that she suspected her husband? +Aloud, he said:</p> + +<p>"Whom do you mean?"</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> "It's not for me to belie my own sex," she +retorted, "but——"</p> + +<p>"You mean there is a woman in the case?"</p> + +<p>She nodded.</p> + +<p>The Secretary drew himself up very stiffly.</p> + +<p>"It's an impossibility that we will not discuss," he said. "Your +prejudices mislead you."</p> + +<p>Yet, in spite of his apparent calmness, he was greatly disturbed, for +this was the second time that day that doubt had been cast upon Miss +Fitzgerald.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>THE RESOURCES OF DIPLOMACY</h3> + +<p>Determined to drive these unjust suspicions from his mind, the Secretary +turned the conversation into other channels, and spent a most delightful +hour in the park with Madame Darcy, in which they came to understand +each other marvellously well. Prompted by that subtle instinct which +invariably suggests to the feminine mind the proper course with a man +she cares to impress, she relegated her own woes to the uncertain +future, and led the conversation into reminiscences of their common +country. So time fled by unnoticed, till Stanley had arrived at the +dangerous point of wondering why fate had not ordained his life +differently before she had married that brute, or he had—no, no, he did +not mean that! He was a very lucky dog, and Belle was much too good for +him—and, in short, he must go back to the Hall.</p> + +<p>To this, however, his fair companion strongly objected. She was lonely, +she wished to be diverted. His time was his own. Considering that he was +partially engaged to two ladies, the Secretary felt this statement +admitted of qualifications. Besides, they were at the entrance of the +farmhouse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> where she was staying—it was a most ideal spot—he must step +in and see it.</p> + +<p>But his reasons were of a more solid nature, and he laughingly confided +to her that his wish to depart arose not from a desire to avoid her +society, but from the fact that he had, as yet, had no breakfast.</p> + +<p>"But it is my own case," she cried with a ringing laugh. "I'm starving, +actually starving—it is a most droll coincidence."</p> + +<p>Stanley assured her he would not detain her a moment longer, but this +was equally repugnant to his hostess' views of hospitality. She declared +that a breakfast for one was a breakfast for two; if not, more should be +ordered. Her appetite was that of a bird; the repast was humble, but it +was a sin to go without sampling the housewife's eggs and cream—there +were none so good at the Hall, she was sure.</p> + +<p>The Secretary told her that he could not dream of staying, and found +himself within five minutes ensconced at Madame Darcy's table.</p> + +<p>No liquids, other than fresh milk and pure spring water were served at +this repast, yet Stanley arose fully assured that they were the most +intoxicating beverages he had ever tasted, and betook himself Hall-wards +towards noon, through a maze of black eyes, and dazzling flashes of +beauty, his brain vibrating with a voice, whose tones were the poetry of +sound.</p> + +<p>A vision of the Dowager Marchioness of Port Arthur, placidly seated on +the lawn, under a green<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> umbrella, with a book in her lap, and evidently +on the borderland of sleeping and waking, brought him to earth once +more.</p> + +<p>It would be better to interrupt her matutinal slumbers, and get one of +his two dreaded interviews over. She looked rather too composed, he +thought, for a disappointed mother, and he was sure she would be that, +did she know the truth. He coughed discreetly, and approached, slowly +enough to permit her Ladyship to quite recover her senses, before he +arrived by her side.</p> + +<p>It would not do to appear too downcast before being informed of the +hopelessness of his suit, so putting on his best society manner, and +reflecting that an adversary disconcerted is an adversary at a +disadvantage, he asked, as if it were quite the most ordinary of +questions:</p> + +<p>"How beautiful are your feet—Lady Port Arthur?"</p> + +<p>"Dear me, young man!" exclaimed her Ladyship, now thoroughly awake, +"they've always been considered beautiful; but why should you ask?"</p> + +<p>"My reference was scriptural, purely scriptural, I assure you— I was +referring to the feet of the messengers upon the mountains, who bring +good tidings. You'll find it in Isaiah. Are you one of them?"</p> + +<p>"There are no mountains in Sussex, and the rising generation knows +entirely too much," snapped out the Dowager. "As for you— I've +conferred with my daughter——"</p> + +<p>She <i>has</i> told her, thought the Secretary, preparing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> to draw down his +mouth to the requisite expression of woe.</p> + +<p>"—And it gives me great happiness to tell you——" she continued, +beaming on Stanley in spite of his flippancy, at which that gentleman +drew down his mouth in good earnest, as he realised that she was still +undeceived.</p> + +<p>"—It gives me great happiness to tell you, that I believe your suit +will have a favourable termination. She has promised to consider it."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the Secretary; and then, recollecting himself, added:</p> + +<p>"It's very good of her, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>If he had the opportunity, after lunch, he mentally determined to give +Lady Isabelle a piece of his mind.</p> + +<p>"It's an honest soul," continued her Ladyship, not noticing the +interruption, "which refuses the promptings of her heart. Her hesitancy +is quite natural, I assure you, and most becoming. When his Lordship +asked the honour of my hand——" The Dowager sighed at the sweetness of +reminiscence, and again took up the thread of her discourse.</p> + +<p>"My daughter told me that she could not, without reflection, be certain +of the state of her affections. Make allowance for her, Mr. Stanley, she +is very young. Believe me, I should not speak as I do, were it not for +the fact that I have known the world well—in my youthful days—though +this you would scarcely believe, I dare say—I was one of the +acknowledged leaders of the court."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your Ladyship's wit and beauty are a bye-word in all good society, and +one has only to see you, to realise that they have been enhanced by the +added grace of years," murmured the Secretary, doing his prettiest.</p> + +<p>"You're a deceitful diplomat, and I don't believe you," said the +Dowager, giggling and pretending to be very angry, but vastly pleased, +none the less; and, giving him a flabby pat with one of her expansive +hands, she continued:</p> + +<p>"You must not be downhearted, however; leave everything to me."</p> + +<p>The Secretary assured her that he felt quite safe to trust his heart in +the keeping of one who had held the custody of so many, and was rewarded +for his flattery by a further proof of the Dowager's confidence.</p> + +<p>"Take my advice, dear James——" she began; but Stanley felt this was a +step too far, and hastened to put himself on the defensive.</p> + +<p>"That is not my name, Lady Port Arthur," he said, quietly.</p> + +<p>"But surely," she continued, pressing her point, "your friends call you +by a disrespectful contraction of it.</p> + +<p>"Jim?" he asked, laughing. "Oh, that's because my Christian name is +quite unfitted for ordinary usage—it's only brought out on state +occasions."</p> + +<p>"May I inquire what it is?"</p> + +<p>"Aloysius."</p> + +<p>"Dear me, no, I don't think I could call you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> that; but as I was saying, +if you take my advice you'll see as little as possible of Isabelle +to-day. Leave her to herself; it's far wiser."</p> + +<p>The Secretary felt decidedly relieved.</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you," he replied. "You may depend on my following +your advice to the letter," and he turned towards the house.</p> + +<p>"One point more," she said, detaining him with a gesture, "I strongly +disapprove of secret engagements. I don't wish the insinuations made +against my daughter that one hears about that impudent young minx, Miss +Fitzgerald.— Why, they actually hinted that she was engaged to you!"</p> + +<p>"Dear me! Did they?" murmured Stanley.</p> + +<p>"If there is the happy issue that we both wish, I should desire that our +friends here, if not society in general, should know it immediately."</p> + +<p>"My dear lady," said the Secretary impressively, "the moment that your +daughter tells you definitely that she accepts my offer of marriage, you +may announce it to the whole world; till that time, however, I must +insist, that for her sake as well as mine, you be most discreet," and he +bowed himself from her presence.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness sank back in her chair with a sigh of placid +contentment. Her work in life was, she believed, on the eve of +successful accomplishment, and that most agonising period to a +mother—the time from her daughter's coming out to that young lady's +engagement—was safely over. On the whole her child had behaved +unusually well; but of late she had suffered some inquietude of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> spirit, +owing to the attentions of Kingsland, whom she, in common with all +mothers of the social world, listed as belonging to the most dangerous +and formidable class of youths that a girl, who has any pretensions to +being a <i>partie</i>, can encounter.</p> + +<p>In the case of the Lieutenant, however, Lady Port Arthur flattered +herself that she had nipped matters in the bud, by the best of all cures +for a romantic, impossible lover, <i>i.e.</i> a prospective husband. True, +Mr. Stanley was not of noble family, she feared his people might even be +called commercial; but he was eminently safe, and possessed of a +substantial income wherewith to support the glories of the noble name of +Port Arthur. In short, he was an admirable solution of the difficulty.</p> + +<p>The Marchioness felt she was justified in taking forty winks, and did +so.</p> + +<p>Luncheon rather amused the Secretary than otherwise. He obeyed the +Dowager's instructions to the letter, sat as far from Lady Isabelle as +possible, and by the caprice of fate, found himself next to Miss +Fitzgerald, who, with admirable foresight, treated him exactly as if +nothing had happened, and that being half engaged to a man was the +normal state of her existence. This put Stanley quite at his ease, and +even Belle's fictitious claim on his services for the afternoon, based +on her unsupported declaration that he had asked her to drive with him +in the pony cart at four, a proposition he would never have dreamed of +making,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> was accepted by him as a matter of course. A proceeding which +elicited an expansive smile from the Dowager, who considered it a +deep-laid diplomatic plot, in furtherance of her suggested plan of +campaign.</p> + +<p>The Secretary's attention was, however, mainly directed to Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle, who sat side by side at table, and who acted, in his +opinion like a pair of fools, till it seemed as if everyone present must +guess the true state of affairs. As a matter of fact, no one did, and +Stanley, seeing this, was once more reassured; for he did not wish to +play his little part to more of an audience than was absolutely +necessary.</p> + +<p>Mr. Riddle, towards whom the Secretary, in view of the night's +disclosures, felt even a stronger antipathy, was in high spirits, until +he was silenced by Mrs. Roberts, who assured the company that she had +caught him in the act of aiding and abetting the cottager's children to +make mud pies in the public highway.</p> + +<p>"I really couldn't help it," he said, excusing himself shamefacedly, +"the dear little things were pining for some one to play with, and we +did have such fun—and got so grubby;" and there was such a genuine ring +of honest pleasure in his tones, that Stanley again found cause to +wonder which was the true man.</p> + +<p>Something like an hour later, the Secretary emerged on the driveway, to +find the pony cart and Belle, got up in faultless style; and as he +looked on the technical mistress of his heart, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> seemed so +exceedingly fair and gracious, that his morbid imaginings vanished away +like smoke, under the spell of her presence.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you'll be very angry with me," she said, apologetically; +"but when I proposed our drive this afternoon, I'd quite forgotten a +promise I made to Mr. Lambert to go and see a poor, sick, old woman, a +parishioner of his."</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose the drive is off?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, if you'll be a dear, good, self-sacrificing Jimsy, and do +what you're told."</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"Just jump into the cart and take it round to the north gate—it's a +couple of miles I know—but I'll walk straight across the fields, make +my visit, and be at our rendezvous almost as soon as you are. I'll +promise not to keep you waiting over ten minutes at the longest. Will +you do it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, if I may solace myself with a cigar while I wait."</p> + +<p>"Two, if you like; but you won't have time to smoke them. Now off you +go," and waving her hand to him, she watched him disappear round the +corner of the house.</p> + +<p>Once he was out of sight, Miss Fitzgerald lost no time in producing, +from the mysterious recesses of her pocket, a telegram, the delivery of +which she had intercepted, which she surveyed long and critically.</p> + +<p>A telegram is generally regarded as best serving its purpose when most +promptly delivered; but in the case of this message, Miss Fitzgerald +evidently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> felt it would improve by keeping, for it had arrived during +the morning, and was now some hours old. The time had come, however, +when it should be delivered to its proper owner, and she accordingly +went in search of Lieutenant Kingsland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>A LITTLE COMMISSION</h3> + +<p>Lady Isabelle and Lieutenant Kingsland sat on the lawn before the old +manor house in the soft glow of an English afternoon, contemplating the +inevitable. In this case the inevitable was represented by the Dowager, +who was enjoying a peaceful nap not fifty feet away. Only fifty feet of +faultlessly-kept turf separated them from the vials of a mother's wrath; +and in spite of their supreme happiness of the morning, they felt the +presence of this gathering storm which must now be faced—as soon as the +Marchioness awoke—for to wake her would put her in a bad temper, and +her rage promised to be violent enough without any external irritants.</p> + +<p>But it happened that while the Dowager slumbered, Miss Fitzgerald, +slipping around the corner of the house, appeared in the background, and +signalling to the Lieutenant to come to her, where they could talk +without awakening the Marchioness, gave him his telegram. He read its +contents once, twice, and a third time, word by word, gave a sigh of +unutterable relief, and then laughed joyously.</p> + +<p>"Good news, apparently," commented Miss Fitzgerald.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The best," he replied. "A crusty old relative, who is no good to +anybody, lies dying in the north of England, and for some unknown reason +has made me his heir— I must leave at once to see him out of this world +in proper style—but it means I'm a rich man."</p> + +<p>"I'm ever so glad. Must you start to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I shall go up to London this afternoon, and on to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You'll spend the night in town, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I must go to my bank and draw some funds for my journey."</p> + +<p>"Then you can do me a favour."</p> + +<p>"A thousand, if you want them, after what you've done for me."</p> + +<p>"Will you oblige me by taking charge of several chests of Mr. Riddle's +stereopticon views; they're heavy, but fragile and very valuable, and +I've promised him I'd find some one to take them up to town for him, and +put them in safe keeping. Where do you bank?"</p> + +<p>"Bank of England, Victoria Street branch."</p> + +<p>"Will you leave it in their charge subject to my order?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. How many cases?"</p> + +<p>"Five, and they're rather heavy."</p> + +<p>"All right. Have the chests put in the luggage cart, and I'll look out +for them. Now I must tell my—why, it's Kent-Lauriston!" and to their +mutual astonishment, they beheld that gentleman standing close beside +them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good afternoon," he said. "You didn't expect to see me? I wired Mrs. +Roberts."</p> + +<p>"I know my aunt will be delighted," said Miss Fitzgerald. "Won't you +come into the house?" and she led the way, calling back to the +Lieutenant: "I'll see they're ready. Thank you so much."</p> + +<p>Once in the hall, she wasted no time over the unexpected, and to her +unwelcome, guest, but, consigning him to the butler, sped away to give +directions as to the disposition of the chests, and was soon scurrying +across the park to join the patient Secretary, who had had ample +opportunity to smoke his two cigars.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant had in the meantime shown his despatch to Lady Isabelle, +whose face at once assumed an expression very much in contrast to that +of her liege lord's; her brows contracted in a frown, and tears sprang +to her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jack!" she cried. "You won't leave me now— I can't spare you. Your +poor uncle Benjamin!"</p> + +<p>"But you don't understand!" he cried. "You don't see what it means! The +Steward writes that I'll inherit his property, and that I should come +and protect my interests."</p> + +<p>"But he's not dead yet—only very ill," she argued, seeing the +possibilities ahead—yet hoping against hope to win her husband from his +better judgment.</p> + +<p>"It's the same thing—they wouldn't have telegraphed for me if it wasn't +the end."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But it's so far off—nearly to the Scottish border."</p> + +<p>"That's all the more reason for hurrying. I must take the first train +for London."</p> + +<p>"And leave me!"</p> + +<p>"My darling, you must be brave, you must be sensible. If I inherit my +uncle's property, I shall be a rich man, and your mother's scruples will +be removed. It's vital that I should lose no chances—it means +everything to us."</p> + +<p>"But is there any danger of your doing so—doesn't the telegram +expressly state that he means to make you his heir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, but there are other relatives as near as I. They'll all be +there, and if they suspect I'm chosen, will try and get him, at the +last, to turn against me."</p> + +<p>"But why should you be chosen?"</p> + +<p>"Pure cussedness, I think, coupled with the fact that I've never +troubled myself to be even civil to him. His other relatives have spent +their time in fawning about him, and he has seen through it, and led +them a lively dance in consequence. He lived in a beastly old hole of a +place—dull as the water in his own moat. I was sent there as a boy, and +when he tried to cane me for stealing his fruit, I pelted him with +apples. Since I've been old enough to consult my own inclinations, I +have entirely ignored him. I never supposed he'd leave me a penny, and I +wouldn't have let him lead me a dog's life for it, if I had. Now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> that +he has done so to spite the rest, I shall protect my own interests, +never fear."</p> + +<p>"But you'll tell mamma before you go?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly not," replied the Lieutenant, glad of any valid excuse +for putting off what promised to be a rather trying interview. "I should +have to go at once in any event, and I certainly couldn't leave you to +face your mother's wrath alone; besides, now I come to think of it, your +late father was one of uncle's pet detestations, politically, and if a +rumour of my secret marriage were to reach him before the end, it would +be all up with my prospects, and you can easily see what splendid +capital it would be for his precious relatives."</p> + +<p>"But mamma might be trusted?" queried Lady Isabelle, feeling that she +was venturing on untenable ground.</p> + +<p>"Those who don't know won't tell; besides, my position will be much +stronger as the heir in possession than the heir prospective. Now I must +be off to make my excuses to Mrs. Roberts, and to pack up my belongings, +or some of them, for I don't expect to be gone more than two or three +days at the most, and till then everything depends on keeping the +secret."</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Stanley," she expostulated.</p> + +<p>"Oh, pshaw! I forgot him."</p> + +<p>"But we mustn't forget him. You know we promised him that we would tell +at once."</p> + +<p>"Circumstances alter cases. You must arrange it between you somehow. You +can stave off the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> evil day with your mother. Say you need time to think +it over."</p> + +<p>"You don't know mamma as well as I do, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Then refuse absolutely."</p> + +<p>"She'd take me away at once, abroad perhaps. She's made up her mind to +this match."</p> + +<p>"You must hold it off and on, that is all there is about it. Let her +think you are going to consent, but that you mustn't be hurried."</p> + +<p>"But think of Mr. Stanley's position. How would you feel in his place?"</p> + +<p>"Now, what's the use of arguing suppositious cases when I'm pressed for +time? Stanley has accepted the position, and he must make the best of +it."</p> + +<p>"But if he's afraid Miss Fitzgerald may learn of his proposal to me, and +misunderstand."</p> + +<p>"Not much danger of that, as she saw you married this morning."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Stanley doesn't know that Miss Fitzgerald was present at our +wedding. Now, if I could tell him so——"</p> + +<p>"Um!" murmured the Lieutenant thoughtfully. "On the whole, I don't think +I would. It wouldn't be quite fair to Belle."</p> + +<p>"To Miss Fitzgerald?"</p> + +<p>"To Miss Fitzgerald. At least you must gain her consent first."</p> + +<p>"But why should she object?"</p> + +<p>"Well, to speak quite frankly, her own position in the matter was open +to question. You see, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> had some difficulty in arranging the private +marriage, and, out of friendship to me, she did and said certain things +of which an over-conscientious person, like our friend the Secretary, +might disapprove."</p> + +<p>"Jack!" she cried, frightened. "Tell me the truth. Swear to me that our +marriage was a true marriage—was legal."</p> + +<p>"I swear it, my darling. Hadn't you the special licence to prove it? My +remarks only referred to the means she used to induce the parson to keep +his mouth shut. Not discreditable at all, you understand, and some day, +when I'm at liberty to explain it, you'll see—but we owe it to her to +keep quiet about the whole affair."</p> + +<p>"I don't like it, dear—it doesn't sound honest."</p> + +<p>"Well, I can't help it. It is all fair and square as far as you are +concerned, and if you like you may tell Miss Fitzgerald all about +Stanley's position, so that he can't injure himself in her eyes. But to +him you must say nothing without her consent—absolutely nothing."</p> + +<p>"But this does not settle the matter of the engagement."</p> + +<p>"You must manage that as best you can. Stanley can't really be engaged +to you, because you are a married woman; and Belle can't be jealous if +she knows the truth."</p> + +<p>"But poor Mr. Stanley—consider his feelings—how needlessly you are +making him suffer. He'll think that Miss Fitzgerald will never forgive +him."</p> + +<p>"And a good thing, too, for he's treated her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> very badly; he deserves to +be made uncomfortable."</p> + +<p>"What has he done?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind. It's not a story for polite society. But he'll deserve all +he gets, take my word for it. Now run along to the library and see if +you can find our place in that old black letter book of the 'Lives of +the Saints.' It'll be positively necessary for me to look up a reference +or two before starting, to fortify myself for my journey;" and so saying +he entered the house, feeling that in giving Belle the whip hand over +the Secretary, he had more than compensated her for all she had done for +him. But Lieutenant Kingsland was destined to find out that a +whip—especially one with so long a lash—is apt to be a dangerous +instrument in unqualified hands, and may even include the giver in its +whistling sting.</p> + +<p>Something over an hour later, the Lieutenant having been duly fortified, +and dispatched on his journey, Lady Isabelle found herself closeted with +her mother in the midst of a most trying scene. The Dowager had placed +before her the manifest advantages of a union with the young diplomat, +and her daughter, incautiously following her husband's short-sighted +advice, had not only seemed to acquiesce in favour of the suit, but had +even overdone the part, in the hopes of thereby inducing such amiability +in her mother, as would lead her to be lenient concerning the final +decision. The result of this was that Lady Isabelle had not, +figuratively speaking, left herself a leg to stand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> on, and having +admitted all her mother's arguments with a complaisance which could only +argue their ultimate acceptance, came to a standstill the moment a +definite answer was demanded. She agreed to all her mother said, but +could not of herself say yes—or no.</p> + +<p>Lady Port Arthur could only attribute her daughter's hesitation to one +of two reasons, either maidenly modesty which prevented her acceding to +her requests—"A most becoming motive, my dear"—the Dowager assured +her—"and one that does you infinite credit, but which, in this +instance, must give way to my superior wisdom, or else——." Here the +Marchioness expressed herself with a heat and bitterness which it would +be hardly fair to put on record for cool and sober reading; referring to +an "inherited obstinacy," which she assured her daughter had come direct +from the late Lord Port Arthur, and had led to a certain amount of +friction in her marital life, and concluding by remarking that—"this +(obstinacy) I have determined to nip in the bud, and crush out with a +stern hand."</p> + +<p>She therefore requested an immediate answer. Lady Isabelle, not being of +a strong nature, nor daring to brave her mother's wrath by a direct +refusal, and feeling the impossibility of assent, replied that she had +nothing further to say. This equivocal position proved to be most +disastrous—for it left her mother free to lay down the law, which she +proceeded to do.</p> + +<p>"If," she said, "your refusal to answer is due<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> to a foolish access of +modesty, I shall reply in the affirmative for you, and Mr. Stanley will +see the propriety of your attitude, and will, I am sure, excuse its +apparent childishness. If, on the other hand, your motive is due to +obstinacy, I consider myself privileged to interfere in order to save +you from the results of your own foolishness, and I shall still accept +for you. Should you so far forget yourself as to oppose my wishes, I +shall feel that seclusion and rigorous measures will be necessary—we +will leave to-morrow for a six months' course of mud baths in Northern +Bavaria, which will be highly beneficial to me, and will give you ample +time for reflection on the sins of undutifulness and obstinate pride."</p> + +<p>The Dowager paused to watch the effect of her threat. It was all she +could have desired.</p> + +<p>Lady Isabelle knew Snollenbad by reputation; knew that it was a stuffy, +dull, German, provincial town; loathed mud baths; longed for the +gaieties of the world as a girl longs who has only had one season; and, +worst of all, realised that the settlement of estates and the +limitations of leave would make it a six months' exile from her husband. +She hesitated, and the Dowager, relying on the proverb, felt that she +had won.</p> + +<p>"Give me half an hour to consider," she asked.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to consider," replied her mother. "You know what my +course of action will be; the future will depend on yours; but you had +better retire to your room and think matters over;" and she dismissed +her with a gesture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>In spite of her words, however, the Dowager did not feel perfectly +secure, and determined to clinch matters in a manner which, had her +daughter suspected it, would have moved even that vacillating nature to +rebellion. As it was, Lady Isabelle contemplated a confession to Stanley +on his return from the drive, in direct disobedience to her husband's +commands; which, at the eleventh hour, would have sealed her mother's +lips by apprising her of the truth. But fate ordained otherwise, and the +Secretary and Miss Fitzgerald were disgracefully late; giving them +barely time to rush to their rooms, hurry into evening clothes, and +appear in the drawing-room, flushed and breathless as the butler +announced dinner.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>FORTY THOUSAND POUNDS</h3> + +<p>As the Secretary sat in the governess' cart finishing his second cigar, +he reflected that if he had any strength of character he would never +have lent his aid in countenancing a secret marriage between one of his +best friends, and a man, who, he believed, could be proved guilty of +something very nearly approaching treason to the Sovereign whose uniform +he wore; nor, for that matter, would he be waiting for a girl who had +insulted him by her suspicions of the evening before, and who had capped +the climax by taking the refusal of him at her own valuation.</p> + +<p>However, his reflections were cut short by the appearance of Miss +Fitzgerald herself, who had not hurried so much as to be flushed or out +of breath, and who had arrived with the fixed intention of keeping the +Secretary away from the Hall during the entire afternoon.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully sorry to have kept you waiting so long," she said, mounting +to the seat which faced him, he driving under her direction. "But you +shall have your reward—for I've two bits of good news for you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's encouraging," he replied, praying inwardly that one of them was +the announcement of Lady Isabelle's marriage.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, your friend Mr. Kent-Lauriston has arrived."</p> + +<p>The Secretary's face did not express any excess of joy.</p> + +<p>"Won't you be glad to see him?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he replied.</p> + +<p>"He's an old friend of yours?"</p> + +<p>"My oldest in England."</p> + +<p>"How nice that he's here!" she said, a slight frown clouding her brows. +"His coming will mean so much to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Secretary meditatively, "I don't know how much," and +there was silence between them for a while.</p> + +<p>"And your second piece of news?" he asked suddenly, recollecting +himself.</p> + +<p>"Is, that your pet detestation is going away."</p> + +<p>"You refer to Colonel Darcy?"</p> + +<p>She nodded.</p> + +<p>"Away from here?"</p> + +<p>"Away from England."</p> + +<p>"Really."</p> + +<p>"You know so much about him, I thought you might have heard of it."</p> + +<p>"Where is he going?"</p> + +<p>"Abroad somewhere."</p> + +<p>"Does he take his wife with him?"</p> + +<p>She laughed light-heartedly, as though relieved from some oppression.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, I fancy not—in fact I think it is rather to escape her."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he said, and relapsed into silence. Then suddenly reverting to his +original train of thought, which Darcy's name suggested, he spoke +abruptly:—</p> + +<p>"Why did you ask me to drive with you this afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"Because I wanted to talk to you—no, I didn't— I wanted you to talk to +me."</p> + +<p>"About last night?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"But it's impossible—if you can believe——!" he cried hotly.</p> + +<p>"What Bob said, about you and his wife?" she interjected. "I don't, but +it made me very angry just the same. You see, up to last night, you had +been an ideal to me. Then suddenly you proposed to change all our +relations; and just at that moment Bob came in and made those charges, +which, though untrue, showed me how very human you would have to be to +me if I accepted you, and I was bitter and lost my head."</p> + +<p>"But if you didn't believe them, why did you refuse to give me a +definite answer?"</p> + +<p>"Because you'd brought me face to face with new conditions. I wanted to +readjust myself to them."</p> + +<p>"But if you love me—— Do you love me?" he said earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Jim," she replied, with a quiet seriousness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> that carried +conviction to him, "I do love you."</p> + +<p>"Really, love me?"</p> + +<p>"Really, more than I have loved any man—ever."</p> + +<p>"But then, how can you doubt?" and he turned impulsively towards her.</p> + +<p>"You'd better keep both hands on the reins—the pony is only just +broken. As I was saying—I love you—in my way—but that's not all, it's +merely the beginning. If I only had to meet you for the rest of our +lives at afternoon tea and dinner, and we had on our best clothes and +our company manners, there would be no question—but you see there are +breakfasts and luncheons to be considered. Suppose after our honeymoon +was over I was to discover that you wanted to live at West Hempstead, or +dined habitually at the National Liberal Club, or wore ready-made +suits—it might wreck my life's happiness."</p> + +<p>Her sincerity had disappeared, and her change in manner grated on him. +He was certain she did not mean what she was saying, but he forced a +laugh in replying:—</p> + +<p>"Diplomats are not allowed to belong to political clubs, in the first +place," he said, "and I've been told that well-cut clothes may be met +with even at the N. L. C. Besides, if you loved me, it wouldn't really +matter."</p> + +<p>"Ah! But it might, and that's just the point. Either I love <i>you</i>, the +real, imperfect, human <i>you</i>—and nothing else counts—or else I love +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> Secretary of the —— Legation, in a frock coat or a dress suit, +and everything does count. I've got to determine which. My feminine +intuition will tell me that in an instant some day, and then I can +answer you."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope that your feminine intuition will make up its mind to act +quickly then, for I must be getting back to London in a few days."</p> + +<p>"Why?" she cried. "What have you to do?"</p> + +<p>What indeed, when the canny old messenger the night before had told him +that this beautiful girl was the main spring of the conspiracy he was +here to crush? He did not believe that, but the whole conversation had +revolted him—it was not decent somehow to discuss the most serious +things of life flippantly. His face showed his feelings.</p> + +<p>She was quick to take the cue.</p> + +<p>"I doubt if you really know yourself," she continued. "Suppose Madame +Darcy were unmarried— I have sometimes thought——"</p> + +<p>"Suppose the impossible," he interrupted. "Suppose you should decide to +drop her husband——"</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she said, ignoring his petulant outburst, "if you would mind +my asking you a very frank question?"</p> + +<p>"About the Colonel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. You see I've been thinking a good deal of what you said the other +night, but of course one can't throw over old friends without good +cause—merely for marital infelicity—there are always two sides to +those stories, you know. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> was wondering if there was anything +else—anything about him which you knew and I wouldn't be likely to— +I've sometimes thought—that perhaps——" she paused and looked +inquiringly at him.</p> + +<p>The Secretary longed to tell her the truth; but remembering his Chief's +instructions, and chastened by his late reverse, hardened his heart.</p> + +<p>"As for that," he replied guardedly, "he doesn't bear an altogether +savoury reputation, I've understood, but as my personal knowledge of his +affairs dated with his wife's visit to me two or three days ago—my +information is comparatively recent."</p> + +<p>She smiled contentedly, and changed the subject, by suggesting that they +should get out and walk. A long hill was before them, and since from the +construction of governess carts the tendency of an up-grade is to put +all the weight at the rear, it seemed advisable to descend.</p> + +<p>"To give the pony a fighting chance," as the Secretary suggested.</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald complained that it was hot, and, barring the fact of +cruelty to animals, a nuisance to have to climb the hill; saying which, +she took off her hat, giving an unobstructed view of her hair.</p> + +<p>If there is any excuse for the fact that the Secretary forgot his good +resolutions, it must lie in the heart of the reader, who perhaps has +been young some time himself, and had the exquisite pleasure of driving +during a long, perfect English afternoon, through glorious wooded lanes, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> all the picturesque antiquity which England alone knows, with a +winsome Irish girl, with a peaches-and-cream complexion, a ravishing +laugh, bewitching blue eyes, and golden hair loose upon her shoulders, +which a madcap wind whipped in his face.</p> + +<p>"I think it's glorious," said Stanley, reverting to the landscape, a +little later, when the conversation had turned to less serious topics, +"There's no country like England—but it's comparable to the little girl +of the nursery rhyme—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 21em;">"When it is good, it is very very good,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 21em;">And when it is bad, it is horrid."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to see you appreciate it at its true worth. Isn't this scene +perfect—but think of it in a November fog," she said.</p> + +<p>"Think of those people wasting their afternoon on the lawn at the Hall, +drinking bitter tea and eating heavy cake."</p> + +<p>"I dare say some of them are above those things," replied Belle.</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant?" queried the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant," she acquiesced. "I wonder if there +is really anything serious in that affair?"</p> + +<p>She said this to probe Stanley, and, as a result, she put him on his +guard.</p> + +<p>"What do you think?" he asked cautiously. "I imagine the Dowager could +never be induced to approve of it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Marchioness!" cried Belle scornfully, as, having reached the summit +of the hill with a long, downward slope before them, they remounted into +the cart. "She doesn't count."</p> + +<p>"Oh, doesn't she?" said the Secretary. "She counts a great deal, as"—he +added half to himself—"I ought to know."</p> + +<p>They had already turned homewards and were rattling down the hill, and +at that moment they swung at top speed round a corner, to come upon a +wrecked luggage cart, which blocked the whole road. Without hesitation, +Stanley pulled the pony up on its haunches, bringing them to a stop with +a tremendous jerk, within three feet of the obstacle; nearly throwing +them out, and driving, for the time being, all thoughts of their +interrupted conversation from the Secretary's head.</p> + +<p>"Why, Tim!" he said, recognising the driver as one of Mrs. Roberts' +servants. "You've had a spill!"</p> + +<p>"Axle broke, sir. That's what it is, and if it hadn't been as the +carrier"—indicating a second cart on the further side—"had happened to +come up just now, I don't know as Mister Kingsland would have got his +luggage."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant—Kingsland—is he going away?"</p> + +<p>"Why, didn't you know that, sir? Called sudden on the death of his +uncle—Miss Fitzgerald there—she——"</p> + +<p>"Don't spend all the afternoon gossiping, Tim," broke in that young +lady, sharply—"but attend to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> your work. Drive round somehow, can't +you?"—she continued, addressing the Secretary—"or we shall be late for +dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you see it's impossible? Besides I want to help Tim."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, turn round and we'll drive back—some other way. Tim and the +carrier can help themselves," she cried petulantly.</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that," drawled the driver. "Them chests are powful +heavy—for all the Lieutenant said they contained glass picture +slides—it's more like lead."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Riddle's slides, eh?" said Stanley, jumping down, despite his fair +companion's remonstrances. "Then we mustn't let Lieutenant Kingsland go +without them;" and he seized the handle of one of the boxes, and pulling +it off the partially overturned cart, dragged it along the road, while +Miss Fitzgerald sat holding the pony, and biting her lips in +ill-disguised vexation.</p> + +<p>"Gad! They are heavy!" admitted the Secretary, as, with the carrier's +help, he swung it into the cart, and returned for another.</p> + +<p>Four were transported safely, but in lifting the fifth chest, whose +cover seemed a trifle loose, Stanley turned his foot on a round stone, +and losing his grip on the handle, the chest fell to the ground bottom +side up.</p> + +<p>"No great harm done, we'll hope," he said, righting it, and helping the +carrier to lift it beside the others.</p> + +<p>"Why, bless me," ejaculated that official, "if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> there ain't a bran new +sovereign lying in the dust!"</p> + +<p>The Secretary regarded it critically, and plunging his hands into his +trousers pockets, fished out a lot of loose change, which he examined +carefully, saying:</p> + +<p>"I must have dropped it in bending over; thank you for finding it. +There's a shilling for your trouble." And straightening up, he realised +that Miss Fitzgerald was regarding him intently.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the wreck was sufficiently cleared for them to resume +their homeward way.</p> + +<p>The remainder of the afternoon was not a success, including, as it did, +a drive home in the teeth of a wind which had suddenly sprung up; which, +finding them hot and dusty, left them at their destination cold and +cross, and utterly fagged out; Stanley with a twinge of rheumatism, +devoutly hoping that Lady Isabelle had got it over, and Miss Fitzgerald +with a splitting headache, realising that she had lost a move in the +game.</p> + +<p>They both looked forward to dinner as a salve for all evils, though when +they entered the drawing-room just in time to go down, they were +naturally surprised, Miss Fitzgerald at being committed to the charge of +Kent-Lauriston, and the Secretary to Lady Isabelle—for the latter of +which arrangements the Dowager was directly responsible—indeed, she had +held an interview with her hostess a few minutes before, which had left +that lady very much excited.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were seated at table, he noticed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> that he was separated +from Miss Fitzgerald as far as might be, so he lost no time in putting +Lady Isabelle at her ease by engaging her in conversation. Knowing what +he did, he felt that to give her a chance to talk about her husband +would be most acceptable to her, and probably useful to him; so, noting +his absence, he told her of accidentally hearing of his departure.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," he said, "that as he was carrying so much of value, he'll +stop in London before going north?"</p> + +<p>"Of value," she said. "I do not understand."</p> + +<p>"Why, five cases of stereopticon slides for Mr. Riddle. I helped the +carrier to reload them, and very heavy they were."</p> + +<p>"He said nothing to me of it," she replied; "but he certainly is going +to stop in London one night."</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd known, I'd have asked him to cash a cheque for me. It's so +hard to do that sort of thing in the country, and I imagine we bank at +the same place."</p> + +<p>"He banks at the Victoria Street branch of the Bank of England. I'm sure +he would have been glad to have done it for you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, but it really doesn't matter," replied Stanley, who, having +thus learned the probable destination of Mr. Riddle's chests of +sovereigns was contented to change the subject, saying: "I do hope that +the Lieutenant unburdened his soul to your mother before he left."</p> + +<p>She then told him all the events of the afternoon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> even the interview +with her mother, the whole in a conversational tone of voice. The +Secretary sat dazed as the magnitude of what he had let himself in for +dawned upon him; and her Ladyship's eager explanations and apologies, +which presently died down to a whisper, as there came a lull in the +conversation, fell unheeded on his ears. Suddenly he became intuitively +aware that everyone was looking at him—no, at them. His hostess was +making a feeble attempt to smile at him from far down the table—he felt +a horrible premonition of coming catastrophe; he looked at Lady +Isabelle, she was white to the lips.</p> + +<p>"My friends," came Mrs. Roberts' voice, trembling a little, "Lady Port +Arthur has just told me some interesting news, with the request that I +would transmit it to you all; so I am going to ask you to drink your +first glass of champagne this evening in honour of the engagement of +Lady Isabelle McLane and Mr. Aloysius Stanley."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>A VERY AWKWARD PREDICAMENT</h3> + +<p>Had Mrs. Roberts' interests not led her in another direction, she must +have felt no small gratification at the effect which her speech +produced. It was a great <i>coup</i> for any hostess, and of tremendous +force, because absolutely unexpected.</p> + +<p>A number of guests had been invited for this particular evening to swell +the party, making a dinner of sixteen, and it was delightful to witness +the manner in which they took the announcement. The men received it in +silence, while the women broke instantly into a confused, joyous cackled +exclamation, surprise and curiosity.</p> + +<p>The Dowager was the person who probably derived the most satisfaction +from the scene, for her work was over and she could survey it calmly; +but Stanley, though the table and the guests whirled before his eyes, +caught some lightning glimpses of various expressions, which he was +destined never to forget.</p> + +<p>He saw the Marchioness' satisfied smile, which said as plainly as words +could: "There, what did I tell you? You see how successfully I have +brought about this affair." He caught the glance of sympathy which his +hostess shot at Miss Fitzgerald,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> and he caught the glance of vindictive +rage which that young lady bestowed upon him, though he did not see the +smile which followed it.</p> + +<p>It needed no one to tell Miss Fitzgerald that she held the whip now, or +to teach her how to use it. Her lover should smart for this.</p> + +<p>One other glimpse the Secretary caught in that moment—a disgusted shrug +of the shoulders from Kent-Lauriston, and this latter hurt him the most +keenly of all. He wondered how all these people could be so stupid as +not to see the ghastly mistake they were making, the awful position in +which they were placing them both; and then he understood that Lady +Isabelle's pallor and his own flushed face might as easily be traced to +natural embarrassment as to utter confusion. What a shocking +complication—but if it was so bad for him, what must it be for her? +Thank Heavens, he was not to blame for it—he had only done what she had +asked him. What would people say when they learned the truth? What would +Inez think—what—Good Heavens! Why were all the men rising from their +seats? He must rise too—to drink his health. He felt fairly dazed from +agitation. They drained their glasses, he drank with them. The champagne +served to steady him; he was himself once more, ready to do battle for +his honour and hers. What was that they were saying—some idiot at the +far end of the table was crying "Speech—Speech!" Stanley made a mental +note that, despite laws against duelling, he'd run him through before +breakfast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> to-morrow morning, or know the reason why. Now all the others +were taking it up, every one was crying: "Speech! Speech! Speech!" Good +Heavens, what could he say! Would it not be better to stand up and tell +the truth of this miserable matter? One look at the bent head of Lady +Isabelle, and her nervous fingers clutching the tablecloth, determined +his course of action—he could not expose her to the criticism of this +table of scandal-mongers. She sat there, almost fainting, hanging on his +every word; chivalry, honour, manliness, left but one course open—he +must sacrifice himself to save her. The future would decide itself—his +duty lay clear before him. He saw that he must speak—and that he must +by his words deceive the company, and yet not compromise either her or +himself. He raised his hand to command attention; the rest sat down—it +gave him thirty seconds for reflection, an infinitesimal amount of time +in which to take action, but ample space in which to take thought: then +he spoke:—</p> + +<p>"My friends:—</p> + +<p>"You have just done us the honour to drink a toast to our united +happiness. I thank you for your kind intention. Those who are already +married have, by drinking this toast, very gracefully assured me of my +own future happiness, and those who are single have given me the +opportunity to express a hearty wish that it may some day be my +privilege to drink a similar toast to them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>Had Mr. Stanley never given other evidence of his fitness for a +diplomatic career, this speech alone would have conclusively furnished +it. He resumed his seat, and the look of gratitude which his companion +gave him was sufficient reward.</p> + +<p>How that dinner passed off the Secretary never knew. It was a horrible +nightmare, and it seemed interminable; but it did come to an end at +last, and he repaired to the smoking-room where even a worse purgatory +awaited him. Kent-Lauriston distinctly avoided him, the rest evidently +regarded him as their lawful prey. His over-taxed nerves were beginning +to give way. He laughed hysterically, threw his cigar into the +fireplace, and, begging to be excused, left the room. A burst of +laughter followed him. He knew what it meant—every action of his must +henceforth be misinterpreted.</p> + +<p>His appearance in the drawing-room was the signal for a preparatory +giggle, and then an, only too apparent, ignoring of his presence, +accompanied by meaning glances towards the conservatory. He took the +hint, and went in that direction, to find Lady Isabelle weeping her eyes +out on a divan.</p> + +<p>"There's no use crying over spilt milk," he said to her, cheerfully; +"but you must admit it's a deuce of a mess."</p> + +<p>"How can I ever sufficiently thank you, Mr. Stanley?" she exclaimed, +looking up at him in undisguised admiration. "You were splendid."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, not at all—but I'll admit your mother's announcement rather +staggered me."</p> + +<p>"I tried to prepare you."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you didn't succeed," he replied coldly, for he felt that he +had been ill-used.</p> + +<p>"I assure you," she said, "if I'd had the remotest idea of what mamma +intended doing, I would have faced all possibilities and told her the +truth, rather than have exposed you to what has occurred. I can never, +never forgive myself for it."</p> + +<p>"It was really more my fault than yours. I gave your mother permission +to announce our engagement whenever you gave your consent."</p> + +<p>"I never gave it!" she cried.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he continued, "I never supposed that your mother would so +far forget herself as to force you."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't be too hard on mamma."</p> + +<p>"Under the circumstances you could hardly expect me to be lenient; I +think we'd better agree to change the subject."</p> + +<p>She bowed silently.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing, however, that you can do to help me," he continued.</p> + +<p>Lady Isabelle shivered as she saw the approach of the dreaded request, +and asked:</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p> + +<p>"You can go to Miss Fitzgerald and tell her the truth. No statement of +mine, unsupported by you, would have any credence in her ears after what +has passed. You're the only person whose word can right me in her +estimation."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley," she replied slowly, and with evident exertion, "I cannot +tell you the pain, the chagrin, which it gives me to refuse your +request."</p> + +<p>"You won't do it!" he cried, utterly amazed.</p> + +<p>"I can't do it."</p> + +<p>"But do you realise the position in which you place me with Miss +Fitzgerald?" he protested, unwilling to believe his ears.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly—only too keenly," she replied. "The knowledge that I've +wronged you in her estimation is the bitterest part of the whole matter. +I feel it much more than my own position in the affair."</p> + +<p>"And knowing this you can still refuse to interfere in my behalf, when a +word from you would set all right."</p> + +<p>"I deeply regret it, Mr. Stanley, but I must."</p> + +<p>He stood looking at her for a moment in the deepest scorn. Had he +sacrificed himself for a woman like this?</p> + +<p>"Don't think too hardly of me," she pleaded; "believe me, I have +reasons."</p> + +<p>"I've only this to say, Lady Isabelle," he replied coldly. "Until you +absolve me from the unfortunate position in which your foolishness and +weakness have placed me, my good name, my honour, and my future +prospects are in your hands. Your conscience should tell you how far you +have the right to trifle with them," and turning on his heel he left the +conservatory.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the Secretary, Lady Isabelle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> lost no time in +seeking out Miss Fitzgerald, who had retired to her chamber.</p> + +<p>To pursue a woman who believes that you have cruelly wronged her was a +bold undertaking, but if she could not assure the Secretary that she +would right him in his lady's eyes, her duty, under the circumstances, +was all the more imperative to do so without delay; so summoning all her +courage to her aid, she ascended to Miss Fitzgerald's chamber, and +knocked timidly; so timidly, indeed, that at first she was not heard, +and was compelled to knock again.</p> + +<p>"Come in," called Belle.</p> + +<p>Her Ladyship partially opened the door.</p> + +<p>"It's I," she said.</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, in unfeigned surprise, +rising to receive her visitor. "You're the last person I expected to +see!"</p> + +<p>"I must beg your pardon for intruding upon your privacy, but I felt I +must come to you the first moment that I was able."</p> + +<p>"Really?"</p> + +<p>"I owe you an explanation, Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>Belle looked at her proudly and coldly, with the air of an insulted +queen. It was not often she had the chance to triumph over a lady of +title, and she enjoyed it thoroughly.</p> + +<p>"You owe me more than an explanation," she said, and indicating a chair +for her guest, they both sat down.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you're aware that Mr. Stanley cannot be engaged to me," Lady +Isabelle began,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> after some hesitation, in which Belle gave her no help, +for she knew this interview was her real punishment.</p> + +<p>"I should hardly have supposed so," replied Miss Fitzgerald, and lapsed +into silence.</p> + +<p>"I"—Lady Isabelle began, covered with confusion—"I—the fact is—I +asked him to propose to me."</p> + +<p>"You asked him to propose to you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder you are surprised; but the facts of the case are these. +My mother asked Mr. Stanley his intentions last evening. Being engaged +to you, he naturally had none."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley is not engaged to me."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, I thought——"</p> + +<p>"He has proposed to me, I admit; but I must say his conduct doesn't +prejudice me in his favour."</p> + +<p>"But you mustn't allow this to injure him, Miss Fitzgerald. Really you +must not."</p> + +<p>"A man who could accept a lady who had so far forgotten herself as to +propose to him——"</p> + +<p>"Pray let me state my case before judging me," pleaded her Ladyship, +ready to sink through the floor with mortification.</p> + +<p>"Proceed, Lady Isabelle," said her tormentor.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley told me of his interview with my mother, who, I knew, was +very anxious to make a match between us. This morning I discovered that +she intended to go to early service. You know what that would have +involved."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald nodded.</p> + +<p>"I tried every means to deter her, but in vain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> Then, as a last +resort—I admit it was very wrong to do so—I asked Mr. Stanley to +intercept my mother on her way to the church, and make her a proposal +for my hand, as I knew this was the only way to detain her, telling him +that I was about to be married, and that I would tell her the truth +to-day."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald drew a sharp breath.</p> + +<p>"Then he knows that you're a married woman?"</p> + +<p>"He knew that I was to be, before the ceremony."</p> + +<p>The Irish girl gave a contented little sigh, and murmured to +herself—"So he did know after all."</p> + +<p>Then waking up to the immediate present, she continued, with exaggerated +courtesy:—</p> + +<p>"Your Ladyship has not, I think, finished your story. You promised Mr. +Stanley that you would tell your mother the truth—but you have not done +so."</p> + +<p>"No, I have not, and for the following reasons. My husband, as you know, +received a telegram apprising him of the fact that a relative, who was +dying, intended leaving him a large fortune, and required his immediate +presence. He forbade me to speak till he came back, and insisted that I +must hold out the prospect of my engagement with Mr. Stanley as a bait +to keep my mother here till he could return to me. She, however, pressed +me for an answer, and on my refusing to commit myself either way, took +matters into her own hands, as we have seen. I assure you entirely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +without the knowledge of Mr. Stanley or myself."</p> + +<p>"I see. You feel it necessary to continue this bogus engagement, for the +present."</p> + +<p>"I'm between two fires, Miss Fitzgerald: obedience to my husband's +commands, and the reparation I owe to you."</p> + +<p>"What does Jimsy say?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley has, of course, behaved like a gentleman, and left the +matter for me to decide. I'm in a most dreadful position, either way I +must wrong some one."</p> + +<p>"I'll spare your conscience, Lady Isabelle. I shan't require you to +break your engagement with the Secretary."</p> + +<p>"But you'll forgive him, will you not? It was not his fault, really."</p> + +<p>"You seem to forget that I've not accepted him as yet."</p> + +<p>"But you'll not let this prejudice your ultimate decision. Promise me +that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll promise—for I don't think there's anything proved against +him in this matter, except that he's weak, and I did not need you to +tell me that."</p> + +<p>"He's a very large heart, Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"He has," assented that lady. "Of which I've had ample evidence in the +last few days."</p> + +<p>"You've been so gracious to me in this matter," continued Lady Isabelle, +"that unsuitable as the occasion is, I'm going to venture to ask you a +favour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And what is that, your Ladyship?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley doesn't know that you're aware of my marriage, and for some +reason which I don't understand, my husband forbade me to tell him of +the fact unless I had your permission; so he fancies that he's put +himself in a worse position than is really the case. Do allow me to +tell him the truth. Poor fellow, he's so unhappy."</p> + +<p>"No," replied Miss Fitzgerald, a gleam of triumph lighting up her face, +as she realised the power which Kingsland had placed in her hands. "Your +husband is quite right; there are excellent reasons why he should not be +told; besides he deserves to be miserable, he's treated me very badly."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said Lady Isabelle, stiffly, rising to go, "I've nothing +more to say."</p> + +<p>"Quite right, Lady Isabelle, and may I give you a parting word of +caution? When your husband, Lieutenant Kingsland, advises a course of +action, follow it blindly."</p> + +<p>"Really, Miss Fitzgerald!" exclaimed her Ladyship, bridling up at the +Irish girl's remark.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Lady Isabelle," murmured Belle in her silkiest tones, +opening the door, and laughing softly to herself, as her visitor rustled +away in the distance. Then she leaned over the staircase and listened. +No sound met her ears, but her eyes beheld the disconsolate figure of +the Secretary, standing alone in the hall below. She tripped noiselessly +down, and, arriving within a few paces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> of him unnoticed, drew herself +up haughtily, and said, in her most chilling tones:—</p> + +<p>"Will you kindly permit me to pass, Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Belle—Miss Fitzgerald," he cried. "I must have a few words with you— +I must explain."</p> + +<p>"It's not necessary, Mr. Stanley. I've already heard a detailed account +of the affair from Lady Isabelle's mother."</p> + +<p>On the verity of the statement we will not attempt to pass judgment; +suffice it to say, that it simply staggered the young diplomat.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "I—it's not true, believe me, it's not +true."</p> + +<p>"Do I understand you to insinuate that the Marchioness has +prevaricated?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, of course not; but it's all a mistake. I can explain—really."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley, answer me one question. Did you or did you not give the +Marchioness to understand, in your interview with her this morning, that +you wished to marry her daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes—I suppose I did—but, then, you see——"</p> + +<p>"That is quite sufficient. Good-night."</p> + +<p>"If you'd only let me explain!"</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Mr. Stanley," she repeated icily, and swept past him into +the drawing-room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE RUSTLE OF A SKIRT</h3> + +<p>"You graceless young dog!" cried Kent-Lauriston, falling upon Stanley in +a half-feigned, half-real burst of anger, as he entered the smoking-room +after his encounter with Belle. "Do you know you've caused me to refuse +invitations by the score, and dragged me down to this God-forsaken +place, at the most impossible season of the year, on false pretences?"</p> + +<p>"False pretences! How so?"</p> + +<p>"Why? You shameless Lothario! Why? Because what's left of my conscience +smote me for leaving a lamb amidst a pack of wolves, and wouldn't let me +rest; nearly destroyed my digestion, I give you my word. I came down to +pluck your innocence alive from the burning, and I've been a fool for my +pains. Why, confound you, I not only find you <i>épris</i> with Madame Darcy, +but engaged to both the Fitzgerald and Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"My dear Kent-Lauriston, pray soothe your ruffled feelings; your logic +is excellent, but your premises are one and all false."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"I say there's nothing between Madame Darcy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> and myself, and that I'm +neither engaged to Miss Fitzgerald nor Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear Stanley, I've heard——"</p> + +<p>"But, my dear Kent-Lauriston, you've heard wrongly."</p> + +<p>"What—isn't Madame Darcy here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And haven't you seen her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And walked with her early in the morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And breakfasted with her, <i>tête-à-tête</i> at a farmhouse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And hasn't her husband challenged you to a duel on her account?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And didn't he, moreover, catch you in the act of proposing to Miss +Fitzgerald?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And haven't you asked the Marchioness for Lady Isabelle's hand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And in the face of all this—you attempt to deny——"</p> + +<p>"In the face of all this—circumstantial evidence—I'm quite prepared to +deny everything. Would you like to hear the <i>facts</i> of the case?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!"</p> + +<p>As will have been inferred, the two men had the smoking-room entirely to +themselves, and the best part of an hour passed before the Secretary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +had finished his account of events with which the reader is familiar.</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston heard him out with great interest, and after drawing a +long breath, at the close of his recital, remarked:—</p> + +<p>"I think I shall be fully repaid for any inconvenience to which I've put +myself on your account. This whole affair is most interesting, and, +believe me, there's more in it than appears on the surface."</p> + +<p>"I feel the same way myself," replied the Secretary; "but let us hear +your views on the subject."</p> + +<p>"First," replied his friend, "you must assure me of how you yourself +stand. Are you still in your unregenerate state, or have you yet begun +to see the fruits of your folly?"</p> + +<p>The young diplomat was silent for a long time, but finally he said, +looking up into Kent-Lauriston's face with an almost appealing glance:</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you would think me awfully caddish if I told you the truth +about it."</p> + +<p>"About the state of your affections for Miss Fitzgerald, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Of course, I shouldn't think you justified in making a public +declaration of a change of sentiment, because it might seem to reflect +on the lady, but in my case it's very different. Having spoken so +frankly and freely on the subject already, I might almost say that you +owe it to me to continue to do so. Certainly I've given you no cause<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +for reticence by anything I've done, and, as certainly, you must confide +fully in me if you wish my help in the future."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, the truth is," he blurted out, "that you were right and I +was wrong, and I've found it out too late."</p> + +<p>"I thought as much."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not going back on my word. If I've made a mistake, I must +suffer for it; and if Miss Fitzgerald accepts my proposal, which she now +has under consideration, I shall live up to my part of the agreement; +and if I can prevent it, she shall never suspect that I would have +matters otherwise. If she should refuse me, however——"</p> + +<p>"You'd make a fool of yourself just the same," continued Kent-Lauriston, +"by jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire, and marrying Madame +Darcy the instant she obtained her divorce."</p> + +<p>"Kent-Lauriston," Stanley exclaimed, "you know a d——d sight too much!"</p> + +<p>The Englishman laughed softly, and then resumed the thread of his +discourse.</p> + +<p>"Now that I understand your position——" he began.</p> + +<p>"Do you understand it?"</p> + +<p>"Better than you do yourself, I fancy; let me see if I can state it. +You've proposed to Miss Fitzgerald, and she has taken the question of +marrying you into consideration; since which time you have come to the +conclusion, for reasons which we will not specify out of consideration +for your feelings, that, if she refuses, or could be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> induced to refuse +you, you'd accept the decision without an appeal. Am I correct?"</p> + +<p>The Secretary nodded gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Under the circumstances, do you give me permission to do what I can to +effect your release?"</p> + +<p>"Do what you please."</p> + +<p>"I'll do my best. Now what induced you to propose to her against your +better judgment? Did she lead you on?"</p> + +<p>"No, certainly not—if you suppose——!"</p> + +<p>"Well, something must have started you up."</p> + +<p>"Charges were made against her. I thought it my duty to tell her what +had been said——"</p> + +<p>"How did she receive it?"</p> + +<p>"She accused me of being a false friend, of not having defended her."</p> + +<p>"And you proposed—when—that day?"</p> + +<p>"No, the next night."</p> + +<p>"I see, the next night; because you thought it your duty to protect +her."</p> + +<p>"Confound you. You read me like a book."</p> + +<p>"An open page is easy reading. Now who made the charges?"</p> + +<p>"Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"I thought so. Whom did they concern?"</p> + +<p>"Darcy."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. And at the very moment that you were asking her to give you +the right to protect her from men of Darcy's stamp—he turns up and +proves you the worst of the lot."</p> + +<p>"And she— I wonder she didn't refuse me out of hand."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wonder she didn't accept you—but let that pass. All I wish to point +out to you is this:—Kingsland drove you by the charges he made against +Darcy to propose to Miss Fitzgerald. What was his motive for doing so?"</p> + +<p>"Friendship for Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"Would that be likely to induce him to make serious charges against +her?"</p> + +<p>"Friendship for me."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! I know the man. He did it because it paid him to do it."</p> + +<p>"How was that possible?"</p> + +<p>"I can suggest one motive. The removal of the obstacles preventing Lady +Isabelle's secret marriage. Now who could have effected this? Not Lady +Isabelle, she never had the audacity to carry out such a scheme; not +Kingsland, he hasn't brains enough; our hostess is above suspicion; in +fact there's only one person who could have conceived and carried out +the plan to its successful conclusion—namely, Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"What grounds have you for proving it?"</p> + +<p>"Was she with the parson at all, before the ceremony?"</p> + +<p>"I knew you'd ask that question!"</p> + +<p>"Then she was."</p> + +<p>"Twice, on the days just preceding—to my knowledge."</p> + +<p>"That's sufficient."</p> + +<p>"Not for me."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll tell you where we can find the missing link of evidence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"In the marriage register of the church. Find the names of the +witnesses, and you'll find the people who have carried it through. If +you'll kindly leave it in my hands, I'll verify my statements to-morrow +morning. I'd prefer that you did not do it yourself."</p> + +<p>"As you please. But even admitting you're right, it doesn't give the +cause for the motive."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, it does—Miss Fitzgerald's intervention in this matter was the +price of Kingsland's egging you on to propose."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"I'll lay you a thousand to one on it."</p> + +<p>Stanley shrugged his shoulders, saying:—</p> + +<p>"But your own arguments defeat you, my dear fellow. If Miss Fitzgerald +was such a calculating person, why should she put herself out, and run +the risk of compromising herself, merely to induce the Lieutenant to +play upon my jealousy, when, as you've already shown, and I've admitted, +I was so weak as to make such strategy unnecessary."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that was not the only favour Miss Fitzgerald looked for, and +the Lieutenant's hands——"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well, taking five chests for her to London."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the Secretary, much relieved, "I know all about that. I quite +assure you it has nothing to do with Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"But I heard her asking Kingsland to take them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> up for her this +afternoon, and to put them in his bank."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Kent-Lauriston, your dislike for poor Belle must have got +the better of your common sense. You certainly misinterpreted what she +said. Those chests belong to Mr. Riddle."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston changed the subject.</p> + +<p>"What is Colonel Darcy here for?"</p> + +<p>"He says, to watch his wife."</p> + +<p>"What is she here for?"</p> + +<p>"She says she has letters written to her husband by some member of this +household, which have aroused her suspicions."</p> + +<p>"That sounds more promising. Who is this person?"</p> + +<p>"A woman of course—but she only knows her Christian name."</p> + +<p>"And that is?"</p> + +<p>"She will not tell me."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Kent-Lauriston drily.</p> + +<p>"I've sources of information about Darcy, which I'm not at liberty to +give you," resumed Stanley, "but you're not on the right track, believe +me."</p> + +<p>"Time will prove the correctness of some of my theories, at least," +replied his mentor, "and I shall be better able to talk when I've seen +the marriage register. Now let's have something to drink, and go to +bed;" and he pressed the bell.</p> + +<p>An interval having elapsed without an answer, he rang again, but no +servant appeared.</p> + +<p>"It must be later than I thought. We'll have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> to shift for ourselves. +There'll be something going in the billiard-room."</p> + +<p>"Hark!" said Stanley. "There's somebody in the hall; it's probably the +butler shutting up for the night."</p> + +<p>They both listened, and a peculiar, shuffling, scraping sound became +audible.</p> + +<p>"That's a curious noise," said the Secretary. "Let's see what it means," +and, suiting the action to the word, he threw open the smoking-room +door.</p> + +<p>The light in the hall was turned out, and the sombre black oak panelling +made the great apartment seem darker than it really was. Absolute +stillness reigned. It was, to all appearance, empty.</p> + +<p>"Must have been rats," said the Secretary. "Everyone seems to have +retired."</p> + +<p>"Have they?" said Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"Listen!"</p> + +<p>And both could have sworn that they heard, far up the hall, the dying +rustle of a skirt. But there were some things that Stanley had no wish +to know, and he set his face and his steps towards the stairs, +continuing:—</p> + +<p>"As I was saying, we are the only people up.</p> + +<p>"Then we'd better go to bed."</p> + +<p>"By all means."</p> + +<p>"Shall I turn out the electric lights in the smoking-room?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we're evidently the last."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> + +<p>A moment later they stood on the upper landing about to separate for the +night.</p> + +<p>"The woman was behind that screen at the foot of the stairs," said +Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," replied the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, my dear Stanley."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, old man. You possess a rare talent."</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"You know when not to ask questions."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>FACE TO FACE</h3> + +<p>When Kent-Lauriston had disappeared in his bedroom, and closed the door, +the Secretary, extinguishing his own candle, turned on his heel, and +walked slowly back to the head of the stairs. It was easy to preserve an +unruffled demeanour before his friend, but he was far from being as calm +as he appeared.</p> + +<p>All was not right in the house, he knew. Some mischief was afoot, and he +meant to find out what it was, even though he dared not admit to himself +some of the possibilities which it suggested.</p> + +<p>He softly descended the stairs. Everything was silent. He moved the +screen; the space behind it was vacant. Suddenly, his eye fell upon the +smoking-room door, and he drew in his breath softly. There was a line of +light showing under the crack. Yet he could have sworn that +Kent-Lauriston had turned off the switch, and while he stood hesitating +as to what it was best to do, a soft breath of wind upon his cheek +caused him to make another discovery. The great front door was open. He +stepped softly down the hall, and going out under the porte-cochère, +cast his eyes over the driveway. No one was in sight. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> was about to +return to the house when he heard light steps coming down the hall. +Drawing back into the shadow to escape observation, he waited. Someone +was evidently leaving the house. A moment later, a hand was lightly laid +upon the door, and it was closed behind him, before he could realise +what was happening. He was shut out into the night.</p> + +<p>His first impulse was to ring sharply for assistance. Second thoughts +showed him the foolishness of such an attempt. It would be merely +apprising the intruders of his presence, and long before a servant could +be aroused and the bell could be answered, they would have made their +escape.</p> + +<p>The Secretary judged that shutting him out was unintentional. The +persons, whoever they were, had hidden somewhere, till he had gone +upstairs, had then slipped into the smoking-room, probably to arrange +their plans, and coming out while he was on the lawn, and seeing the +door ajar, had closed it, quite unconscious that by so doing they were +putting their pursuer in a very awkward predicament.</p> + +<p>However, the Secretary told himself that there was nothing to prevent +him from seeing what was going on in the hall, and he hastened to make +his way round to the side of the house where there were several large +windows opening into that apartment. He had picked his way across +several flower-beds, and was just turning the corner to approach the +house when he was startled by seeing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> a dark figure loom up beside him, +and feeling a hand lightly laid on his shoulder, and a whispered word of +caution to be silent. Almost involuntarily, however, he exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"Inez! You here, and at this hour."</p> + +<p>"Sh!" she said, "There are listeners. I, like you, am watching."</p> + +<p>"Who are you watching?" he asked, softly.</p> + +<p>"My husband."</p> + +<p>"Your husband?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied. "Why has he entered this house secretly every night +since he has been here?"</p> + +<p>"You amaze me," said the Secretary. "How has it been possible for him to +get in?"</p> + +<p>"He has been aided by someone who opens the door for him."</p> + +<p>"A man?"</p> + +<p>"No, a woman."</p> + +<p>The Secretary whistled softly.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "we'll probe this mystery to the bottom. I, too, have +heard suspicious noises in the passages to-night, and, coming down, +after I had retired, to find out what they were, I was shut out from +within, though I don't think they were aware of my presence. We must go +round on the outside and see what we can through the windows."</p> + +<p>"You can't," she said. "The approaches are protected by an iron fence +with spikes."</p> + +<p>"But surely there's a gate?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it's always padlocked."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll have a look at it, any way," he replied; and they approached and +examined it closely.</p> + +<p>The Secretary rattled the lock cautiously and found it old and shaky.</p> + +<p>"I think I could smash this with a couple of bits of flint," he said, +"and if I have a new lock put on at my own expense, my hostess will, +under the circumstances, probably forgive me." And suiting the action to +the word, he managed, by a few judicious blows, with two bits of stone, +picked up from the driveway, to bend the hasp of the lock sufficiently +to release it.</p> + +<p>There being no further impediment to their progress they hastened +through the gardens, and a moment later were standing outside one of the +great hall windows whose lower panes were on a level with their faces. +They could distinctly see three people, but their glances were riveted +on a circle of light farther up the hall, a circle that shifted and +danced over the surface of the secret door, flashing on the heads of the +silver nails; a circle that was made by the lens of a small bull's-eye +lantern, held in the grasp of a crouching figure whose back was turned +towards them. By his side were two others, apparently a man and a woman, +who seemed to be directing him at his work. For several minutes the +little group presented their backs to the spectators, but at an +incautious step of the Secretary's, which caused a dry twig to crackle, +they all turned sharply round, the owner of the lantern throwing its +rays full on the window<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> outside which they were standing. The watchers +drew back, in time evidently to escape detection, for the absence of +footsteps and the recurrence, after a moment, of the curious sounds +which Stanley had noticed from the smoking-room, assured him that they +had once more returned to their work. The lantern, however, though it +had failed to discover them, had, for a brief second, illumined the +faces of the intruders, and both the Secretary and Madame Darcy +recognised the trio. The man at work on the door was the Colonel; his +assistants were Mr. Riddle and Miss Fitzgerald. The Secretary's worst +suspicions were confirmed, and a smothered sob at his side told him that +the discovery had inflicted no less keen a pang on his companion. She +slipped down in a little heap on the ground, and he dropped on his knees +beside her, whispering such consolation as he could without running the +risk of being overheard.</p> + +<p>"I knew it must be so," she said, "and yet I hoped against hope that he +was not guilty of this last infamy."</p> + +<p>Suddenly another thought seemed to have occurred to her.</p> + +<p>"You knew," she said. "You must have known, and yet you did not tell +me."</p> + +<p>"My dear Inez," he said. "How could I, when my suspicions were directed +against your own husband?"</p> + +<p>"But why do I think of myself?" she said. "I am nothing. But it is +you—you, that my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> heart bleeds for. I, too, concealed my suspicions for +your sake."</p> + +<p>"And you can think of me," he said, "at a time like this?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," she replied. "Yours is the greater sorrow. I knew that my +husband was bad—worthless—capable of anything. My eyes are only +proving what my reason told me must be so. But with you, it is so much +harder. This is the woman you loved, and, whom loving, you must have +made your ideal. And now to find that she is—this." And she pressed his +hand silently.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk about it," said the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"You don't quite understand."</p> + +<p>"But what is to be done?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, unless they show signs of success, and that I do not think +likely. If the secret of the door has withstood the ingenuity of +generations in the past, it is likely to do so in the future, unless +they tried to force it, and that I think they'd hardly dare to do."</p> + +<p>"Listen," she said. And the Secretary heard a noise of creaking, +straining wood.</p> + +<p>"They are trying to force it!" he cried, springing up and looking +through the window. And she, following his lead, saw that Darcy was +working with might and main with some burglar's tool after the nature of +a lever. But though the old oaken door groaned in protest at such +treatment, it never gave an inch, and the Colonel, removing his +instrument, made a gesture of despair, and stood wiping the sweat from +his brow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What does this all mean?" said Madame Darcy, as they slipped down again +into their place of concealment.</p> + +<p>"It means," said the Secretary shortly, "that your husband's secret +instructions are behind that door, and from his eagerness to get them I +should say that they contain a cipher of something that cannot be +duplicated in the time at his command."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand," she said.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you must know the truth," he replied, "he's to take over the +specie needed to defeat the treaty, and to get there in time he must +sail from England in a few days."</p> + +<p>She nodded mournfully.</p> + +<p>"I supposed it was something like that," she said. "I knew Mr. Riddle +had brought the gold. It is here."</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "it's in the Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of +England, in London."</p> + +<p>"How was it sent up?"</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Kingsland took it."</p> + +<p>"Is he a member of the conspiracy?"</p> + +<p>"It appears so—but I am not certain. He may be an innocent dupe," +replied the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"And you let the specie go?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said. "When I discovered where they were sending the chests I +helped them. It's safer in the Bank than knocking round here, and I can +prevent its being drawn out any time I wish."</p> + +<p>"By the arrest of the conspirators?" she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope that it won't be necessary to arrest anybody," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Then you have some plan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But I'm afraid you mustn't ask me what that is. Nor must you write +a word of all this to your father. But I promise you that if it's +possible I'll save your husband from open disgrace, and I think it will +be."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, thank you," she murmured. "You are indeed my friend," and +her hand again sought his, and he quivered under her touch.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" she said. "They're moving."</p> + +<p>He raised himself cautiously, and looked through the window. The attempt +for that night had evidently been given up. The three conspirators shook +hands, and Miss Fitzgerald and Mr. Riddle stole softly upstairs, leaving +Darcy to put his tools in a bag and let himself out. This he proceeded +to do in a leisurely manner. Once his companions were out of sight, he +again took out the lever, and made one more attempt to open the secret +door, bending all his force to the task. Madame Darcy and the Secretary +watched him breathlessly, but he was again unsuccessful, and with a +disgusted shrug of his shoulders he relinquished the attempt.</p> + +<p>His attacks on the door had, however, evidently marred the wood, and he +produced from his receptacle a bottle of varnish and a brush, with which +he proceeded to repair the traces of the damage. The Secretary's eyes, +wandering from the Colonel, suddenly lighted on the figure of his +friend,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> Kent-Lauriston, who had evidently been awakened by the +returning footsteps of Darcy's companions as they sought their bedrooms, +and who was now stealing downstairs to intercept the intruder.</p> + +<p>Before Stanley could restrain his friend, Kent-Lauriston had softly +approached the recumbent figure, so softly, indeed, that the Colonel, +who was intent on trying to repair the door, did not hear him, and was +aware of his presence only when a stout arm encircled his neck, throwing +him backwards on the floor, where he lay, with his captor's knee upon +his chest.</p> + +<p>Stanley felt the need of being present also, and exerting his strength +on the sash, found, to his great satisfaction, that the butler had +neglected to bolt the window. With a quiet good-night to Madame Darcy, +who slipped away in the darkness, he swung himself over the sill, and +landing on his feet in the hall, joined the group, nodding to his friend +as he did so.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my fine fellow. Burgling, were you?" said Kent-Lauriston to his +captive.</p> + +<p>"You're mistaken," said the Secretary, stepping quietly up. "This is not +a thief; it's only Colonel Darcy, engaged, if I mistake not, in an +attempt to recover his lost property."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," returned Kent-Lauriston, releasing his prostrate +foe; and turning to Stanley, he continued: "Lacking the fineness of +perception bred of diplomatic training, I must confess I didn't see the +subtle distinction."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> + +<p>Darcy rose deliberately, growling a surly something, which might have +been equally well an apology or an oath, and snapped to the shutter of +his dark lantern.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we shan't need that light now, thank you," said Stanley, turning +on the central lamp.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked the Colonel, gruffly.</p> + +<p>The diplomat was on his best behaviour.</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry," he said. "Of course, we did not know you were a caller. +The ladies have retired, and I'm sure you don't want to see us; we won't +detain you."</p> + +<p>"I——" began Darcy, clenching his fist.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll make your excuses to Mrs. Roberts," pursued the Secretary. +"Don't trouble about that."</p> + +<p>"I'll be damned if I'll tolerate this interference," burst out the +Colonel.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you'll be the first, and will also endure the second, my dear +sir," continued Stanley in his most suave tones. "So we'll say no more +about it. The <i>front</i> door is easy to open, Colonel Darcy, as of course +you know. Good-night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE MARRIAGE REGISTER</h3> + +<p>On the morning which succeeded Stanley's midnight vigil, the Reverend +Reginald Lambert was early at the little chapel, which was his great +pride in life. The good old gentleman was never so happy as when he +could induce any of the visitors at the Hall to give him an hour of +their time to listen to his dissertations on the ecclesiastical history +of the building; to examine its fragments of "dog-tooth," and discuss +the meaning of that one "foliated capital," in a structure otherwise +severely Saxon. He was even writing a little book on all these things; a +volume which he fondly hoped might some day be given to the world. This +morning, however, he must have been engaged on some work of special +interest, in which he was so absorbed that time flew by unnoticed till +his task was finished. He was just preparing to return to his rectory, +when he received an unexpected visit from a lady, who requested +permission to examine the marriage register.</p> + +<p>The lady was a stranger to him, and was evidently of foreign extraction. +She asked to see an old volume of the records, and took the occasion, +when his back was turned, to hastily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> glance at the last matrimonial +entry, for the marriage register lay open on the table, comparing the +same with a line of handwriting which she had with her, and evincing +surprise as well as satisfaction at the knowledge she derived therefrom.</p> + +<p>A moment later, when the old man returned, she was, to all appearances, +absorbed in the contemplation of an extremely repellent gargoyle.</p> + +<p>The entry she desired was not to be found, was probably in some +neighbouring parish, she suggested—a fact which the narrator thinks +unlikely. She nevertheless passed a profitable hour, allowing the good +parson to show her every nook and corner of his precious possession, and +displaying an intelligent interest, which was as rare as it was +gratifying.</p> + +<p>But the morning had not yet revealed all its treasures to Mr. Lambert. +Scarcely had the strange lady's footsteps died away, when another +visitor, a new arrival at the Hall, put in an appearance; and avowed +himself such an ardent enthusiast in all matters ancient and +ecclesiastical, and, moreover, substantiated his pretensions to such a +degree, that the old parson declared afterwards he had never had such a +morning of perfect enjoyment in his life. Kent-Lauriston, for it was +none other, exerted himself to interest his <i>cicerone</i>, and succeeded +admirably. He possessed that rare gift of developing any topic that +might be suggested by the person to whom he was talking, of making it +his own, and at the same time causing his companion to believe that he +was contributing, in no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> small part, to the brilliancy of the +conversation. So, more than an hour slipped by, and Kent-Lauriston found +ample opportunity to consult the marriage register unobserved, and to be +much surprised at what he saw there—moreover he learned many things +besides the subject of Norman decoration and Saxon construction—among +the more important of which was the visit of the foreign lady, who +wanted to look up old volumes of the records.</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to be invited to dine at the Hall this evening," said +Mr. Lambert, in parting with Kent-Lauriston. "I shall look forward to +the pleasure of continuing our conversation."</p> + +<p>His visitor bowed, and left him.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said of most of the members of the house party that they +passed the morning as usefully or happily as Kent-Lauriston. In the +Secretary's mind the problem was uppermost, of how to be alone from +breakfast to lunch. He was aided in the accomplishment of his intent by +the connivance of the three ladies whom he was most anxious to avoid. +The Dowager sent him a little note saying that she always spent the +morning in her room, and that her dear Isabelle would be quite free in +consequence. The "dear Isabelle" informed Stanley publicly, that she +should spend the morning in the library, and intimated privately, that +it would be well if he was supposedly with her, and in reality any where +else; while Miss Fitzgerald remarked, that she intended spending the +morning in the park, as she wished to be alone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> As a result of these +obvious suggestions, the Secretary followed Lady Isabella into the +library, in full sight of the party at large, and crossing the room, +stepped out of one of the long, low windows on to the lawn, and by means +of a side staircase quietly gained his own apartment, where he spent the +morning in reading and meditation. His reading was confined to a +comprehensive volume on "Locks, Ancient and Modern," by Price, received +that morning from John. His meditations, on the other hand, were on an +entirely different subject.</p> + +<p>The events of the night before, aided by Kent-Lauriston's suggestive +comments, had brought him face to face with a question to which he had +hitherto avoided giving an answer. <i>Was Miss Fitzgerald a party to the +conspiracy to defeat the treaty?</i> He put it to himself in so many words.</p> + +<p>Repugnant as was the task, the Secretary felt that he must, in the +interests of his country, put sentiment aside and face the facts.</p> + +<p>It was not to be supposed because he had made the mistake of taking pity +for love, in the case of the lady, that he was any the less indifferent +to her fate. He still considered himself bound to her, should she ask +the redemption of his promise; he had championed her purity and +innocence in the face of all opposition; and it was inexpressibly +shocking to him to find himself forced to consider even the possibility +of her being connected with such a nefarious transaction.</p> + +<p>Yet he felt it only just to face the evidence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> against her, and seek to +the best of his ability to rebut it.</p> + +<p>What reasons were there for supposing her to be connected with the plot +to defeat the treaty? He placed them in order of their occurrence.</p> + +<p>1. He had seen her driving with Mr. Riddle on the day after his dinner.</p> + +<p>2. She had denied her acquaintance with Darcy, in his presence, to that +gentleman's wife, though she had since been proven to be very intimate +with him.</p> + +<p>3. She had proposed a game of cards, and suggested Stanley's using an +old letter to score on, which proposal and suggestion had led to the +restoration of the secret instructions to Mr. Riddle.</p> + +<p>4. Kent-Lauriston said she had asked Kingsland to take the chests +containing the money to London.</p> + +<p>5. She had been in the hall late the night before, assisting Darcy to +break open the door.</p> + +<p>This was all the evidence against her. Did it prove that she was a +partner to the plot?</p> + +<p>No, he told himself. It did not.</p> + +<p>Did it prove that she was a dupe of these men? An innocent instrument in +the furtherance of their vile conspiracy?</p> + +<p>He was forced to admit the possibility of this, though he told himself +he knew her too well to believe for an instant that she had any +knowledge of the plot itself, or the desperate game her friends were +playing. It now became his duty to save<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> the Irish girl from the +consequences of her own folly; to open her eyes to the true character of +her friends. He could only do this by proving their complicity. The +destruction of the plot, and her salvation alike, hung on the recovery +of that lost letter, for in the light of the events of the past night, +it seemed fair to assume that this paper had an important bearing on the +conspiracy, and was necessary to its success.</p> + +<p>The money had been sent, the time was short, but Darcy still remained. +Why did he do so, unless it was to attempt a recovery of the document? +It must, then, be of vital importance.</p> + +<p>Having arrived at these conclusions, Stanley found himself committed to +one of two courses of action: either to play the spy on the movements of +his friends, or to effect the opening of the door with the silver nails. +The first was repugnant to his spirit as a gentleman, and he instantly +chose the second, believing that within the portal lay the only real +clue he had so far obtained. This plan also had the added recommendation +of placing in his hand evidence which would not involve the introduction +of Miss Fitzgerald's name in the matter.</p> + +<p>Having thus mapped out his course of action, and finding there was still +an hour before lunch, he descended to the lawn, and made a preliminary +inspection of the exterior walls of the old manor house. It might be +possible to enter in some other way than by the oaken door which +remained so obstinately closed. The building was of stone,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> and two +stories in height, though most irregular in form, having been added to +and altered during succeeding generations, as suited the taste of the +owner of the period. The north-east end, however, instead of having a +corner, was slightly rounded, and above the level of the roof assumed +the shape of a circular tower, rising some forty feet higher than the +rest of the structure, and surmounted by crumbling battlements. Even an +inexperienced eye might detect that the door with the silver nails gave +entrance to this tower, which Stanley was sure did not assume, in the +lower storey at least, a space commensurate with its diameter above. +Probably the door communicated with a narrow winding stair for the +first, and perhaps the second, floors, the real space of the structure +being contained in the portion which arose detached. This conjecture +could easily be verified by measuring. At the first convenient +opportunity he determined to make these preliminary investigations. It +was said that the tower possessed no windows, and certainly this was the +case, unless they gave on the leads; for, from the ground, it presented +everywhere a blank wall of solid masonry, to which here and there +strands of ivy clung.</p> + +<p>"But they must have got their light from somewhere," he said to himself. +"Perhaps from the roof, in which case there is probably some antique +form of scuttle by which entrance could be had. If one could only get up +there to see—but it's not a likely place for climbing. There should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> be +the remains of an old flag-staff or cresset, or something of that +nature——" and he walked slowly backwards across the lawn, hoping to +reduce the visual angle sufficiently to see any slight projection above +the battlements, but in vain; and he was about to abandon his backward +course and return to the house, when a soft voice murmured at his +elbow:—</p> + +<p>"Star-gazing by daylight?" and he turned, to find himself close beside +Madame Darcy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, good-morning," he said, lifting his hat. "I beg your pardon, but I +was trying to discover the remains of some superstructure on those +battlements."</p> + +<p>"Why not go up and see?"</p> + +<p>"That is what many people have wished to do for the last two hundred +years, but the only door of entrance is shut, and no man knows the +secret of the lock."</p> + +<p>"And do you mean to discover it?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it would only be a waste of time, for probably the whole +thing is so disgustingly simple that everyone has overlooked it. +However, the present, as represented by you, is infinitely more +interesting; let the old tower guard the secret it has kept so long; who +wants to know it?"</p> + +<p>"My husband!" she replied.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said the Secretary. "And that reminds me, I hope you reached +home quite safely last night, and have felt no ill effects from it."</p> + +<p>"None in body," she returned sadly, "but, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> course, what I saw could +not but add to my distress of mind. Tell me what happened after I left."</p> + +<p>"Nothing particular," said Stanley. "We all kept our tempers and were +very polite."</p> + +<p>"Then there was no disturbance?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever; the Colonel was quite amenable to reason and went away +quietly."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Kent-Lauriston?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's too much a man of the world not to know when to hold his +tongue."</p> + +<p>"You will not tell your hostess? Promise me that. Badly as he has +treated me, I am still his wife, and his honour is yet mine."</p> + +<p>"I will keep your secret. If he is discovered in the house, someone else +must do it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're indeed my friend!" she cried impulsively. "I can never +forget your goodness to me. There are, I'm sure, few men like you in the +world."</p> + +<p>The Secretary flushed under her praise, and disclaiming any inherent +superiority to the other members of his race, hastened to change the +subject by saying:—</p> + +<p>"Tell me, are you succeeding any better with your proofs against your +husband on another charge?"</p> + +<p>"I've made a discovery this morning which has greatly disturbed me. I do +not know how to act."</p> + +<p>"What have you found?"</p> + +<p>"I've compared the handwriting of the letters I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> hold, with the +handwriting of the most recent entry in the marriage register of this +church."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! It surely can't tally——!"</p> + +<p>"It does, and with the name of the bride."</p> + +<p>The Secretary was simply staggered,—Lady Isabelle—it was impossible on +the face of it.</p> + +<p>"You're mistaken," he said coldly. "Such charges against the lady to +whom you refer are impossible."</p> + +<p>"You know of this marriage then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—I'm even popularly supposed to be engaged to the bride!"</p> + +<p>"But you are not—tell me you are not."</p> + +<p>"Of course I'm not—I've never had the slightest interest in her, except +as a friend."</p> + +<p>"You relieve me immensely. To lay such charges at the door of one you +loved—to break your heart— I could not have done it."</p> + +<p>"You could not do it in any event—to a woman of her nature such things +would be impossible. I assure you, it is some grievous mistake."</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Why should my husband be a witness to this secret marriage?"</p> + +<p>"Was he——?"</p> + +<p>"Sh!" she said, "he is coming," and disappeared so silently into the +bushes that she seemed to fade away from his sight. A moment later, the +dry leaves crackled under a man's foot, and Colonel Darcy stood before +him.</p> + +<p>"We have not had our little meeting yet, Mr. Stanley," he said +abruptly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> + +<p>"When do you leave this vicinity, Colonel Darcy?" asked the Secretary, +ignoring the other's remark.</p> + +<p>"When you do. Till then I remain here to guard my honour."</p> + +<p>"You surely are not trying to live up to that absurd fable!"</p> + +<p>"Why not, when my wife has this moment left you?"</p> + +<p>"You have sharp eyes, Colonel," replied the Secretary, turning on his +heel, and walking towards the house.</p> + +<p>"I need to have, Mr. Stanley," remarked the other, as he watched him go.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Kent-Lauriston," said the Secretary, when they were alone after lunch, +"affairs have taken a startling turn since I last saw you."</p> + +<p>"I think so myself."</p> + +<p>"Have you been making discoveries?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that they can be dignified by that name; but tell me of +yours."</p> + +<p>"Madame Darcy assures me that the letters which she holds, and on which +she bases her case against her husband, are in the same handwriting as +the name of Lady Isabelle, in the parish register."</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's absurd, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly so—you may take my word for it. But do you assure me that +she said 'Lady Isabelle'?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We mentioned no names, of course. She said that the bride's signature +corresponded—it's the same thing."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see. I think you've made a little mistake about this affair, my +boy. I've seen the register myself."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! You don't mean—you can't——!" exclaimed Stanley, a +sickening suspicion dominating his mind.</p> + +<p>"I mean," replied Kent-Lauriston, "that the maiden name of the bride, as +written there, is not Isabelle McLane, but Isabelle Fitzgerald."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>TWO QUESTIONS</h3> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston fully realised that the strong hold which he possessed +over the Secretary rested, more than anything else, on the fact that his +opinions were entirely reliable; and it was most important that +Stanley's confidence in his friend's <i>dicta</i> should remain unimpaired, +if that friend hoped to be able to guide him. Therefore, much as the +Englishman would have liked to voice his suspicions for the Secretary's +benefit, he determined to keep silence till he had full verification of +his conjectures, and for this purpose he sought out Madame Darcy.</p> + +<p>He found her at home, and she welcomed him courteously.</p> + +<p>"Will you think me very presuming," he said, "to have called on you in +the interests of a mutual friend of ours, Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Any friend of Mr. Stanley's can claim and receive friendship of me," +she replied, a beautiful light coming over her expressive face, "for he +has done me kindnesses that I can never forget or repay."</p> + +<p>"It is in virtue of that, that I've ventured to intrude myself upon you +this afternoon. You have, like myself, a great interest in his welfare,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +I'm sure, and I am come to make common cause with you for his good."</p> + +<p>"You could have come to no one more willing—but will you do me the +honour to accept a seat in the garden, where we can chat more at +leisure."</p> + +<p>"I shall be charmed," he said, and she led the way to a rustic bench, +under the spreading branches of a gnarled, old apple-tree.</p> + +<p>"Our friend makes no secrets of his own affairs from me, you must +understand," Kent-Lauriston began, after assuring himself that they were +alone, "and I imagine, from what he's said, that he's given you some +inkling of his heart troubles."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "he hinted to me in London that he had some affair +under consideration; but I do not think he felt deeply—as he should +have felt. I trust it's not turned out seriously."</p> + +<p>"Not as yet, I'm glad to say—but he's in some danger; and, believe me, +you could not be doing him a greater service, than in helping to ward +off this peril, which would be the ruin of his life."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, yes,—but what means have I?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you have it in your power to prove that the woman who has +bewitched him, is unworthy of his love. Let him realise this and he is +saved."</p> + +<p>"But, surely, you're not alluding to the lady who formed our topic of +conversation this morning?"</p> + +<p>"I fear I am."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Stanley assured me that she was nothing to him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You were talking at cross purposes, and unintentionally deceiving each +other."</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Why, there are two versions of the story of that marriage. The version +Mr. Stanley had been told runs to this effect:—that Lieutenant +Kingsland married Lady Isabelle McLane."</p> + +<p>"But the register——"</p> + +<p>"Says she didn't. I know, I've seen it; but our young friend has not, or +had not when he last saw you."</p> + +<p>"Then he thought I was referring to Lady Isabelle?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. No names were mentioned, he told me."</p> + +<p>"True—but this is most unfortunate! Do you see my position?"</p> + +<p>"Believe me, I'm fully informed on the matter, so that I'll not put you +to the pain of relating it."</p> + +<p>She bowed her silent thanks, and then continued:—</p> + +<p>"The fact of this lady's marriage ties my hands. Deeply as she has +wronged me, have I any right to ruin her husband's life by her exposure? +If she has reformed——"</p> + +<p>"My dear Madame Darcy, pray disabuse your mind of two misconceptions: +the lady in question, Miss Fitzgerald, has not reformed, and I doubt if +the marriage is legal. There's some trick about it."</p> + +<p>"What you've told me leaves me free to act<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> where my own honour is +concerned; but I naturally feel a delicacy about interfering in Mr. +Stanley's private affairs."</p> + +<p>"Believe me, I fully appreciate your hesitation; but that there may be +no misunderstanding between us regarding this important matter, let me +tell you something of my friend's present position. I ask you to accept +my word for it, that he's not as yet bound himself to Miss Fitzgerald; +but his high sense of honour may lead him to do so, if he knows nothing +definite against her."</p> + +<p>"I see, and you want me to show him these letters?" and she took a +little packet from her bosom.</p> + +<p>"No, I wouldn't subject you to such a trying ordeal. I ask you to let me +show the letters to him. Remember that you've told him that you have +them."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I think you're right. You +assure me that he does not love her, and that there's positive danger +that he may marry her from a sense of duty."</p> + +<p>"I assure you that such is the case."</p> + +<p>"Then take them," she said, giving him the letters; "but promise me that +no one besides yourselves shall see them, and that they shall be safely +returned to me by to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I promise," he replied, "and take my assurance that in doing this +you've more than repaid him for any services he may have done you."</p> + +<p>"You cannot persuade me to believe that; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> I'm thankful to help where +I'm able, though it be only a little, and I am even more thankful that +he has such a strong champion in you."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston took her extended hand.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said heartily. "Stanley's a good fellow; too good and +too unsophisticated for the people he's thrown with, and I'm going to +save him from himself if I can, both now and in the future."</p> + +<p>She looked up at him with a wistful light in her eyes, saying:</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll be wishing to save him from me—who've already one +husband too many."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Kent-Lauriston, with an English bluntness, of +which he was not often culpable.</p> + +<p>She laughed merrily, answering:</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll do so, if ever I give you cause."</p> + +<p>"Madame," he returned, "what can I do? You've disarmed me, even before +the first skirmish."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The feelings of Stanley on looking at the marriage register were +difficult to describe. In the first shock of the discovery his brain +whirled. The mystery had become a maze, and he felt the imperative need +of a solution of the subject to steady his mind. Accordingly, he had +that evening a fixed purpose in view, which dominated all matters of the +moment; and though at dinner he talked about something, he knew not +what, during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> the greater part of the meal his eyes and thoughts were +almost continually on the amiable blundering, little old pastor, whom he +had marked out as his prey. When the ladies left the table, and the men +adjourned to the smoking-room, he never lost sight of him; but the +dominie, as if warned by some instinct, contrived to slip out of the +Secretary's grasp, to elude him in corners, and, smiling, vanquish him +in every attempt at an interview. At last, however, the opportunity +came—a move was made to the drawing-room. In a fatal moment, the parson +lingered for one last whiff of his half-smoked and regretfully +relinquished cigar, and the Secretary saw, with a sigh of relief, the +last coat-tail vanish through the door, which he softly closed.</p> + +<p>The click of the latch brought the Reverend Reginald back to the present +with an uncomfortable start.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he cried, tumbling out of his chair, "I didn't see the others had +got away so quickly. Very kind of you to wait for me, I'm sure—very—we +must lose no time in joining the ladies, must we, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Only a little, a very little time, Mr. Lambert," replied the Secretary, +leaning squarely against the closed door, which formed the sole exit +from the room. "Just long enough to ask you one question."</p> + +<p>"Really, I'm sure," said the little man, becoming flustered. "Another +time perhaps— I should have the greatest pleasure——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You have, I know, performed the marriage ceremony in the last few +days," began Stanley calmly.</p> + +<p>"To be sure—yes, certainly—but this—permit me to suggest, is hardly +the place to discuss my parochial duties."</p> + +<p>"Of course anyone married from this house would have to be married by +you."</p> + +<p>"I'm in charge of this living, Mr. Stanley, there is no one else."</p> + +<p>"I know that, and also that your nearest colleague—excuse me if I use a +professional term—is some distance off."</p> + +<p>"Fifteen miles. And now that I've answered all of your questions, let us +waste no more time before joining the ladies."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Mr. Lambert, but I've not as yet asked you a question. I've +made a number of statements, and you've furnished me with a good deal of +gratuitous information, for which I'm deeply obliged. We now come to the +pith of the whole matter, which is simply this. Did you, or did you not, +marry Lady Isabelle McLane to Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"What! The lady to whom you're engaged?"</p> + +<p>"Could I be engaged to a married woman, Mr. Lambert?"</p> + +<p>"My dear sir, you may take my word for it, I did not. I shouldn't think +of such a thing. Let me assure you on the honour of my sacred office, +that Lady Isabelle is not, and cannot be married to Lieutenant +Kingsland."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, then Kingsland <i>is</i> married."</p> + +<p>The parson caught his breath in his relief at the escape from the +dreaded question, which he had supposed was inevitable. He had been too +confidential.</p> + +<p>"I did not say so, sir," he replied with dignity.</p> + +<p>"Quite true, Mr. Lambert, you did not say so," persisted his tormentor, +opening the door, "and so I suppose you'd prefer not to have me ask if +you married Miss Fitzgerald to Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"I would certainly prefer not to answer that question, and now I must +really go upstairs;" and without waiting for further parley, the little +man scuttled out of the room.</p> + +<p>Stanley was preparing to follow him at his leisure, when the door +opened, and Kent-Lauriston entered.</p> + +<p>"Kent-Lauriston!" he exclaimed. "You're the very man I want! I must +speak with you!"</p> + +<p>"I know it," replied his friend, "but not before I've had my smoke."</p> + +<p>"But this matter admits of no delay."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, it does. That's one of the fallacies of modern civilisation. +Every important question <i>admits</i> of delay, and most matters are all the +better for it."</p> + +<p>"But I've seen the register!"</p> + +<p>"Of course you have, but you haven't seen a deduction that is as plain +as the nose on your face, or you wouldn't now be trying to ruin my +digestion. I'll meet you here at ten o'clock this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> evening and then, and +not an instant sooner, will I discuss your private affairs."</p> + +<p>"You English are so irritatingly slow!"</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, we've made our history—you're making yours. You can't +afford to miss a few days; we can easily spare a few centuries. Now be a +good boy, and leave me to peace and tobacco. Join the ladies, and pay a +little attention to one of your <i>fiancées</i>."</p> + +<p>So it was that Stanley found himself relegated to the drawing-room, and +feeling decidedly upset, he good-naturedly determined to see what he +could do towards upsetting the equanimity of the rest of the party. In +this, however, he was partially forestalled by the good parson, who had +not been wasting the few minutes of grace, which the Secretary's +conversation with Kent-Lauriston had allotted to him.</p> + +<p>No sooner had Mr. Lambert entered the drawing-room, than he sought out +Miss Fitzgerald, and confided to her an astonishing discovery he had +made in the church register.</p> + +<p>"Most careless of me, I assure you," he apologised. "I should have +noticed of course—people often make nervous mistakes at times like +those; but it was not till this morning that I discovered that Lady +Isabelle had written her name in the space reserved for the bride, and +you in the space reserved for the witness."</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Miss Fitzgerald, her voice ringing hard and cold as steel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right, my dear," the old man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> quavered on. "Quite all +right, I corrected it myself. I can do a neat bit of work still, even if +my hands do tremble a little. I cut out the names, reversed them, and +put them back in their proper places, and I'd defy any but an expert to +see that they'd been tampered with. I'm sure that none of the people +who've seen the book since suspected the change."</p> + +<p>"Who has seen the book?" she asked, frozen with horror.</p> + +<p>"After I corrected the register?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! Yes! Who?"</p> + +<p>"Dear me—let me see! That was this morning. Now who was there? Ah!—I +remember. A strange lady in black, very beautiful, and Mr. +Kent-Lauriston."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald shuddered.</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear!" cried the parson. "You're cold—the draught from the +window—let me get you a wrap."</p> + +<p>"No, no, I'm quite warm, thank you. You're sure that no one else saw the +register?"</p> + +<p>"No one—except Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>"You must excuse me, Mr. Lambert," she said. "I'm not feeling very +well."</p> + +<p>"You are faint? Is there nothing I can do for you?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more, thank you," and she swept past him across the room, to +where Lady Isabelle was seated on a sofa.</p> + +<p>"Nothing more," murmured the little man, after she had left him; "but I +hadn't begun to do anything;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> and she seemed quite faint. Dear, dear, +she looks strong, but to be so easily upset, I fear something must be +wrong—my daughter was never like that," and, shaking his head, he went +to join the Dowager, who had a <i>penchant</i> for the clergy.</p> + +<p>"You've heard nothing from your husband?" asked Miss Fitzgerald of Lady +Isabelle, as she seated herself beside her.</p> + +<p>"Nothing beyond a telegram telling me of his safe arrival in London."</p> + +<p>"But surely his uncle was <i>in extremis</i>. He cannot live long."</p> + +<p>"I do not know," she replied, "but it's very awkward. Oh, why won't you +let me tell Mr. Stanley the truth?"</p> + +<p>"Sh! He's coming," murmured Miss Fitzgerald, and, indeed, the Secretary +was advancing deliberately towards them; a thing suggestive in itself, +considering how he had striven to avoid them all day long.</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald," he said very quietly, as he stood before them, "will +you permit me to ask you a question?"</p> + +<p>"If it's a proper question to ask, Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>"It is eminently proper and fitting," he replied, coldly.</p> + +<p>"Would you rather that I went?" suggested Lady Isabelle, half rising.</p> + +<p>"I would rather you stayed."</p> + +<p>"Don't be so dreadfully mysterious, Jimsy!" cried Miss Fitzgerald, with +a forced laugh that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> grated on the ears of both her hearers. "Out with +your dreadful question. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"It is this," he replied. "Are you Jack Kingsland's wife?"</p> + +<p>For a moment there was absolute silence. The Secretary stood looking +straight in the face of the Irish girl, without moving a muscle. Lady +Isabelle gave a smothered exclamation, and gripped her companion's wrist +with all her force, flushing red as she did so. Miss Fitzgerald bit her +lip, and stared hard at Stanley for the fraction of a minute; then, +breaking into her hard metallic laugh, she cried:</p> + +<p>"Why, you foolish boy! What can you be thinking of?"</p> + +<p>"You've not answered my question," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Why, what is there to answer?"</p> + +<p>"I ask you— Are you Lieutenant Kingsland's wife?" he repeated +harshly—betraying the first sign of temper he had so far evinced, which +Miss Fitzgerald saw and was quick to profit by. Whatever was +coming—there was, in Lady Isabelle's presence, but one course open to +her—she looked her accuser boldly in the face and said:</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not Lieutenant Kingsland's wife."</p> + +<p>"You are quite sure of what you are saying?"</p> + +<p>"I repeat, I am not his wife. I have not married him, put it how you +please. Do you doubt my word? If you're so anxious to know whom +Lieutenant Kingsland married, ask your <i>fiancée</i>, Lady Isabelle; perhaps +she can tell you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's not necessary to ask Lady Isabelle if she is Lieutenant +Kingsland's wife—because——"</p> + +<p>"Because she has already told you so," broke in Miss Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>"Because," continued Stanley, in the same colourless, dogged tone, +"because Mr. Lambert, the one person who could have made Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle man and wife, has solemnly assured me that he did not +perform the marriage ceremony between them——" and he turned on his +heel and left the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH DEATH IS A RELIEF</h3> + +<p>After Stanley had left them, Isabelle Kingsland and Isabelle Fitzgerald +sat silent for a while, looking into each other's faces, the brain of +each throbbing with a tumult of agitating thoughts. The Englishwoman +voicing to herself a subtle suggestion of coming evil, which had been +omnipresent since her marriage day, an instinctive presentiment that all +was not well: the Irish girl feeling strongly irritated at this last of +the many annoying <i>contretemps</i> of the week; and smarting under a sense +of injustice that, when she had merely practised a little harmless +deception for a friend's sake, that friend should leave the field and +the eminently disagreeable explanations to her.</p> + +<p>She vented her feelings by a shrug of the shoulders, which broke the +tension of the silence.</p> + +<p>"Tell me—on your honour, tell me," cried Lady Isabelle, "that he did +not speak the truth; that I am married to Lieutenant Kingsland!"</p> + +<p>"Of course you're married to Lieutenant Kingsland," replied Miss +Fitzgerald, with a little sigh of resignation. "You read your licence, +didn't you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. But——"</p> + +<p>"But that's quite sufficient—and there's no occasion for a scene."</p> + +<p>"It's not sufficient, not nearly sufficient—there's something that's +being kept back from me, and I want to know the truth!" and Lady +Isabelle rose, becoming quite queenly in her indignant agitation.</p> + +<p>"I've been uneasy from the first about my marriage," she continued, +"because it was not open as I should have wished. I knew there was some +mystery about it. My husband admitted as much to me from the first, and +he did not need to tell me that you were the prime mover in the affair. +It is my right to know the truth."</p> + +<p>"The assertion of people's rights is responsible for most of the wrong +done in the world. Did your husband counsel you to insult his best +friend?"</p> + +<p>"He didn't wish me to speak to you on the subject, but I've determined +to take matters into my own hands. In the face of Mr. Stanley's charges, +I must know the truth."</p> + +<p>"You had better obey your husband."</p> + +<p>"I'm responsible to him for that matter, not to you, Miss Fitzgerald. +Now tell me, what did Mr. Stanley mean?"</p> + +<p>"He meant what he said."</p> + +<p>"But how could Mr. Lambert have told him an untruth?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lambert told him what he believed to be the truth; and that was, +that he had not married you and Jack—Lieutenant Kingsland, I mean."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Was that all he told him?"</p> + +<p>"I should think it highly probable that he added that he had married +your husband to me."</p> + +<p>"My husband to you!"</p> + +<p>"I told you we'd better let this matter alone."</p> + +<p>In a second Lady Isabelle's hands were on Miss Fitzgerald's shoulders, +and her eyes blazed into the eyes of the Irish girl.</p> + +<p>"The truth, woman, the truth! Is he my husband?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then why does Mr. Lambert——?"</p> + +<p>"Because he believes that I was the bride."</p> + +<p>"Did you tell him so?"</p> + +<p>"No, but when I went to make the arrangements he blundered into the +mistake—and—well, I didn't take the trouble to correct him."</p> + +<p>"You dared!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied. "I'd do a good deal for Jack—we used to care for +each other once."</p> + +<p>Her Ladyship's eyes flashed dangerously, and Miss Fitzgerald hastened to +add:</p> + +<p>"Of course that was all over long ago—I know Jack too well."</p> + +<p>"How dared you do it?" asked her accuser again.</p> + +<p>"It was risky, but our names were the same, and he's half blind and +somewhat deaf, and in his dotage. The chances of escaping detection were +good, as the event has proved."</p> + +<p>"How dared you do it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course it wasn't my affair whether Jack told you or not. It was +legal and that's the main thing."</p> + +<p>"How dared you do it?"</p> + +<p>"You needn't be so nasty about it; it was merely to be obliging. If you +think it amusing to be a dummy bride——"</p> + +<p>"Be silent!"</p> + +<p>The two women stood facing each other, breathing hard, as though resting +from physical combat; the face of one expressing infinite contempt, of +the other infinite anger. At this juncture a servant brought a telegram +to Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>Thankful for the relief from an awkward pause, she tore it open, and her +face lit up as she read its message.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Still in London. Uncle died this morning, leaving me his +heir. As preliminaries take some time to arrange, am +returning to you to-morrow.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"<span class="smcap">Jack</span>."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"There!" she said, showing it to her antagonist. "I suppose it's wicked +to rejoice in any one's death; but it's a great relief, for it gives me +back my husband—and he shall defend me from you!"</p> + +<p>"I don't think your husband will be down on me."</p> + +<p>"He'll proclaim the truth about our marriage. It should never have been +concealed, least of all by dishonourable means."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You forget yourself, Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"I remember what is due my position, and so will Mr. Lambert, when he +hears how grossly you've deceived him."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't tell him."</p> + +<p>"It will not be necessary. I've only to ask him to look at the marriage +register. That will bear witness to the truth, I know; for I signed in +the proper place for the bride."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald drew a quick, sharp breath. She had trusted to be spared +this last confession.</p> + +<p>"The register has been changed," she said.</p> + +<p>"Who has done this?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lambert, supposing there had been a mistake."</p> + +<p>"Then Mr. Lambert will change it back again, to-morrow morning!"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't speak to him of this."</p> + +<p>"I'll speak to him to-night."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You've no right to interfere. You've no right to do anything, but +apologise to me for the great wrong you've done me!"</p> + +<p>"I forbid you to apprise Mr. Lambert of the true state of affairs till +your husband returns to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>"I've told you I shall see him to-night."</p> + +<p>"I forbid you, in your husband's interests."</p> + +<p>"You are insolent."</p> + +<p>"I'm in a position to be anything I choose."</p> + +<p>"Why?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Because I have your husband in my power."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe it!"</p> + +<p>"If I choose to make public," she said, laughing insolently, "the manner +in which your husband is spending his time in London, I could have him +cashiered from the navy."</p> + +<p>Lady Isabelle drew herself up, and gave her adversary a look of +unutterable scorn and contempt, saying:—</p> + +<p>"You will probably circulate any falsehood about my husband that you +please; it will simply prove to others, as it proves to me, that you +still <i>do</i> love him, and that when he knew your true character he left +you," and turning from her astonished and indignant rival, she quietly +crossed the length of the drawing-room, to where the Dowager and the +parson were seated.</p> + +<p>"Mother," she said, "would you think me very rude if I asked for Mr. +Lambert's company for a few moments? I want to have a serious talk with +him."</p> + +<p>"Not at all, my dear. Just take my place. I promised to show Mrs. +Roberts a new embroidery stitch," replied the Dowager, acquiescing +joyfully in the proposal.</p> + +<p>Satisfactory on the whole as her child's training had been, on the point +of her religious convictions, the Marchioness had occasionally felt some +disturbing suspicions. I do not mean that Lady Isabelle was not firmly +grounded in her belief of the thirty-nine articles; indeed, she was, if +anything, a trifle too orthodox for her day and generation;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> but the +Dowager knew to her cost that missions were a tabooed subject. Her +daughter had even refused to <i>slum</i> with the Viscountess +Thistledown, and worse than all, charity bazaars, though patronised by +Royalty, were her pet aversions. To the Marchioness, who no longer "sold +well," and whose ambition was to see Lady Isabelle tethered in the next +stall to a Princess, such heresies were naturally repugnant. Mr. Lambert +was very strong on all these points, and had just been suggesting to her +a scheme of his own, to raise money for a worthy object, conceived on +principles that would have put the authorities of Monte Carlo to the +blush. So she patted her daughter's hand, established her in her own +place, and murmuring that she was glad Isabelle felt the need of advice, +and that she might safely rely on "dear Mr. Lambert's wisdom +and—er—commonsense," betook herself to Kensington stitch and a remote +corner.</p> + +<p>But her daughter's confidences admitted of no publicity.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we go to the conservatory, Mr. Lambert," she suggested, "we're +quite sure of finding it unoccupied at this hour, and I've a confession +to make."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my dear, certainly," he replied, following her in the +direction she suggested. "Though I'm sure," he added, "that Lady +Isabelle would have done nothing which she would not be willing that +anybody should know, if need were."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope not," she answered, and a moment later they were alone.</p> + +<p>"Come now," he said, "what is this terrible confession; not so great a +sin, I'm sure, that we cannot easily find a way for pardon or +reformation."</p> + +<p>"There's no sin to discuss," she replied, "at least, none that I've +committed, unless unconscious participation is a crime. I want to speak +to you about my marriage."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes; with Mr. Stanley—a most desirable arrangement, I've been +given to understand."</p> + +<p>"No—not with Mr. Stanley—I'm speaking of my marriage with Lieutenant +Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear young lady, that's impossible. Lieutenant Kingsland is +already married."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he's married to me."</p> + +<p>"To you? What? How can he be?"</p> + +<p>"Because you married him to me two days ago.</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort," cried the old man in irritated bewilderment. "I +married him to Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"You married him to me, Mr. Lambert."</p> + +<p>"But I ought to know best whom I married, and to whom, Lady Isabelle."</p> + +<p>"You ought certainly; but, in this case, it seems you do not."</p> + +<p>"But Miss Fitzgerald said——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's just the point. What did Miss Fitzgerald say?"</p> + +<p>"Really, I can't remember the conversation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> word for word; she came to +make the arrangements, and I inferred——"</p> + +<p>"Did she say that she was going to marry Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"She certainly gave me the impression that such was the case."</p> + +<p>"But did she actually <i>say</i> so?"</p> + +<p>The old man was lost in thought for a moment, striving to recall some +direct admission, but at length shook his head sadly, saying:—</p> + +<p>"No. I can't remember that she did, in so many words; but she led me to +suppose——"</p> + +<p>"You've <i>inferred</i>; you've been <i>given the impression</i>; you've been <i>led +to suppose</i>, Mr. Lambert, what did not exist. I have, however, held in +my hand and carefully examined the special licence under which you +performed the ceremony, and which was drawn for a marriage between +Lieutenant Kingsland and myself. I was the bride whom you married; it +was I who repeated the vows which you gave <i>me</i>; my name is Isabelle, +also, remember, and it was I who signed that name as 'bride' in your +register, where it should be now, if you had not changed it."</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul! This is most bewildering! You say I married you to +Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Lambert, you did, and Miss Fitzgerald and Colonel Darcy were +the witnesses."</p> + +<p>"But this is a serious matter, a very serious matter, Lady Isabelle. +This wedding seems to have been performed under false pretences."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I imagine you would not find it difficult to prove that, Mr. Lambert; +but before we discuss the matter farther, I want first to right myself +in your eyes, to assure you earnestly and honestly that I was no party +to this deception, that I did not know till this evening, till just now +indeed, that you were not perfectly cognisant of all the facts. I was +informed at the time that all arrangements had been made with you, and I +believed of course that you knew everything. I was also told that I must +be heavily veiled as, owing to the proximity of the early service, I +might otherwise be seen; the signing in the vestry was hurried over as +you know, and it was only when, in response to a statement of Mr. +Stanley's, I made inquiries, that I discovered the truth. You believe +me, do you not, Mr. Lambert?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, my dear. I must believe you since you give me your word for +it."</p> + +<p>"Then set my mind at rest. Tell me this marriage was not illegal."</p> + +<p>"I think you may be easy on that score. The licence and the signatures +were regular; all the requirements were complied with; and the +principals, or you at least, acted in good faith; but the affair is most +unfortunate."</p> + +<p>"You will be glad to learn that any objection which my mother might have +had to my husband has now been removed."</p> + +<p>"I do not know what Lady Port Arthur will think of my part in this +deplorable matter, certainly very little consideration or courtesy has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +been shown me," said the poor old man, to whom the Dowager's wrath was a +very terrible thing.</p> + +<p>"Have no apprehensions, Mr. Lambert, my mother shall know the truth of +this matter, and where the blame rests."</p> + +<p>"Then you really think that Miss Fitzgerald——?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it, Mr. Lambert. She has confessed to me, that if she did +not actually say to you that she was going to marry Lieutenant +Kingsland, she purposely allowed you to believe the same; and then +assured my husband, whom I believe to be as innocent in the matter as I +am, that your consent had been gained, and all arrangements made."</p> + +<p>The old parson sat down on a rustic seat beside an elaborately natural, +sheet-iron water-fall, seemingly quite crushed by the blow. But the +spirit of the church militant was strong within him, and he was filled +with righteous anger at his unmerited treatment; so taking his +companion's hand, he rose presently, saying:—</p> + +<p>"Come. Let us go to your mother and tell her the truth; we owe it to her +and to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow, Mr. Lambert—pray wait till to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The preacher's face hardened; he was in no mood for leniency.</p> + +<p>"We have delayed too long already," he said, and took a step forward.</p> + +<p>"Believe me," she replied, laying her hand on his arm, "I do not ask it +from weakness, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> my husband returns to-morrow, and thanks to an +inheritance from an uncle who died to-day, comes back a rich man, able +to support a wife. When my mother knows this, she will receive our news +very differently. See," and she handed him the telegram.</p> + +<p>"I will wait till your husband returns to speak to your mother," he +replied, "but as for that unhappy girl—if it is not too late to turn +her steps to the right path—I will spare no pains to bring her to a +realisation of what she has done. For this, no time is like the +present—no time too soon."</p> + +<p>"I hope you may succeed," said Lady Isabelle, "but I fear you'll find +her much worse than you imagine. However, I do not wish to discourage +you."</p> + +<p>"I'm not easy to discourage in any good work, I trust, Lady Isabelle +Kingsland."</p> + +<p>She started, as her new name was pronounced, and laying a detaining hand +upon him, as he would have left her, said, her voice breaking:—</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, Mr. Lambert. Say you forgive me."</p> + +<p>"My poor child," he said sadly, placing one hand on her bowed head. "My +poor child, you are too much in need of forgiveness from others for me +to withhold mine. It is yours freely; but promise me that you'll show +your appreciation of it by coming to me in all your troubles."</p> + +<p>She seized his other hand in both of hers, and kissing it, burst into +tears.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And now," he said sternly, "I will seek out that miserable girl."</p> + +<p>But Miss Fitzgerald, dreading the tempest, had sought the haven of her +own room.</p> + +<p>She was not a picture of contrite repentance as she stood by the open +window, looking out into the night.</p> + +<p>"Fools all!" she mused. "So I am to blame—it is all my fault!"</p> + +<p>An amused sneer played about her lips.</p> + +<p>"Ah me! After all it is our faults that make life interesting to us—or +us interesting to others," and she tossed away her half-smoked cigarette +with a shrug.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h3>TWO LETTERS</h3> + +<p>Precisely as the clock struck ten, Kent-Lauriston entered the +smoking-room to find it in sole possession of Stanley, who stood leaning +against the mantelpiece, lost in thought—a cigar, long ago gone out, +hanging listlessly between his fingers.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I'm late," said his genial adviser, glancing at the clock, +"but I was just finishing a game of cribbage with Mr. Riddle."</p> + +<p>"I don't envy you his society," growled the Secretary, whose temper was +not improved by recent experiences.</p> + +<p>"You misjudge him," replied Kent-Lauriston. "He's a very good fellow, in +more senses of the word than one—he's just given Mr. Lambert a thumping +big cheque, for the restoration of his little church."</p> + +<p>"And made you the recipient of the fact of his generosity?"</p> + +<p>"Far from it; our gossiping little parson did that, in direct violation +of a pledge of secrecy; for Riddle never wishes his good works to be +known—he's not that kind."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I consider him a hypocrite," replied Stanley shortly.</p> + +<p>"Then you do him a great injustice, my dear boy; and allow me to say, +you'll never make a good diplomat till you've arrived at a better +knowledge of human nature; it's the keystone of the profession. But, to +change the subject, how have you been spending the evening?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, making a fool of myself, as usual."</p> + +<p>"So I suppose. What particular method did you adopt this time?"</p> + +<p>"First, I chivied our amiable parson from pillar to post, in this very +room, till I'd forced the admission of an important fact from him, and +the practical admission of another."</p> + +<p>"And then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "you went and tried the effect of +your statements on the young ladies."</p> + +<p>"I believe you're equipped with X-rays instead of eyes, Kent-Lauriston, +for you were smoking down here and couldn't have seen me!"</p> + +<p>"No, but I saw the ladies—afterwards."</p> + +<p>"To speak to?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. One of them at least has a rooted aversion to me. I know too +much."</p> + +<p>"What were they doing?"</p> + +<p>"Pulling each other's hair out, I should judge, or its equivalent in +polite society. What did you learn from the parson?"</p> + +<p>"That he had not married Kingsland to Lady Isabelle; that Kingsland had +been married to somebody; and a refusal to say that that somebody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> was +Miss Fitzgerald, which was tantamount to an admission of the fact."</p> + +<p>"Exactly, and what did you say to the young ladies?"</p> + +<p>"I asked Miss Fitzgerald if she was Lieutenant Kingsland's wife?"</p> + +<p>"And she denied it?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely."</p> + +<p>"What else?"</p> + +<p>"I charged Lady Isabelle with not having married Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"And what was her answer?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't wait to receive it."</p> + +<p>"Had you done so, she would have denied it likewise."</p> + +<p>"You think so?"</p> + +<p>"I am certain of it, and, if it's any satisfaction to you, I can tell +you that by your action you ensured Miss Fitzgerald one of the worst +quarters of an hour at her Ladyship's hands that she is likely to +experience for a very long time."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Lambert assured me solemnly, that he did not perform the +ceremony between Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant."</p> + +<p>"He was quite right in doing so."</p> + +<p>"But they can't all be right!"</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow," said Kent-Lauriston, "it is very seldom, in this +complex age, that anyone is wholly right or wholly wrong. All these +people, except Miss Fitzgerald, know a part of the truth, and have +spoken honestly according to their lights. She alone knows it all, and, +believe me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> she is much too clever to tell a lie on so important a +point. If she told you she was not married to Lieutenant Kingsland, you +may implicitly believe her."</p> + +<p>"Do you know that it is the truth?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, because I telegraphed to the man who has charge of the issue of +special licences, and have received a line from him, to the effect that +one has been issued in the last few days, for Lieutenant Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle McLane."</p> + +<p>"Then you convict Mr. Lambert of deception?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. If he told you he had not married Lady Isabelle to the +Lieutenant, he told you what he believed to be the truth."</p> + +<p>"But is it possible that he could have married them without knowing it?"</p> + +<p>"It seems that it was possible."</p> + +<p>"How could he make such a mistake?"</p> + +<p>"A man who never makes a mistake makes little or nothing in this world."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Fitzgerald signed in the place of the bride, to divert +suspicion?"</p> + +<p>"It seems impossible to suppose that she would commit herself in that +way," said Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"But the register proves that she did," reported Stanley.</p> + +<p>"Ye-es. It rather savours of the paradox. Perhaps we'd better content +ourselves with the facts that Lady Isabelle did marry Kingsland, and +Miss Fitzgerald did not. How it was accomplished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> does not immediately +concern us, and, as I fear no very creditable means were used, we'd +better not try to find out what they were, especially as we've more +serious matters to consider."</p> + +<p>"You mean——"</p> + +<p>"I mean the charge unconsciously made by Madame Darcy."</p> + +<p>"I feared you were going to speak of that."</p> + +<p>"True, it is an unpleasant business; but you must remember that you owe +it to Miss Fitzgerald to ask her for a definite answer, or to give her +some explanation for declining to do so."</p> + +<p>"You think there's no escape from it?"</p> + +<p>"None that a gentleman can take."</p> + +<p>"What do you advise me to do?"</p> + +<p>"Find out where you stand in the first place."</p> + +<p>"How I stand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. At least one serious charge has been made against the woman whom +you propose to make your wife. If true—for your own sake, for your +father's sake, you must surrender her. If false, you are equally bound, +by honour and chivalry, to disprove it."</p> + +<p>"How can I do this?"</p> + +<p>"The charge to which I refer is based on the direct evidence of certain +letters. See them, and judge for yourself."</p> + +<p>"That is easier said than done."</p> + +<p>"Here they are," replied Kent-Lauriston, handing him a little packet.</p> + +<p>"You have seen Madame Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And she has given you these letters, knowing they would be shown to +me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, on my representation, that if they substantiated her charges, she +would be doing you the greatest kindness in her power."</p> + +<p>Stanley bowed, and opened the little packet. For a few moments there was +silence in the room, broken only by the occasional crackle of paper, as +he turned a page. Most of the dozen or so documents he read through +quickly, and laid upon the table at his side. A couple he re-read +several times. Finally he looked up, saying simply:—</p> + +<p>"You've read these letters?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I was given permission to do so."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of them?"</p> + +<p>"Two of them are suggestive."</p> + +<p>"The two most recent?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they bear dates, you will observe, within the last three days."</p> + +<p>"And the others——?"</p> + +<p>"The others merely show the existence of some relationship between +Colonel Darcy and Miss Fitzgerald, which they wished kept secret. I +don't remember the exact wording. There's a letter which she writes from +London to him at his home, begging him to come to town and 'leave his +tiresome wife,' as they have 'matters of more importance' to attend to; +and again she writes that she cannot meet him at 5 <span class="smcap">p. m</span>., 'because she +must account for her time to her "dragon,"'—alluding, I infer, to her +aunt—but that he must manage to 'meet her accidentally and take her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +down to supper' at a party she is attending that night, 'so as not to +arouse suspicion.'"</p> + +<p>"All this proves nothing."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not—but the extracts are significant. Now take the two most +recent."</p> + +<p>"They were written from here. How were they obtained?"</p> + +<p>"That doesn't concern us if they are genuine."</p> + +<p>"One is certainly in Miss Fitzgerald's hand."</p> + +<p>"The other was evidently torn from Darcy's letter-book. Read it."</p> + +<p>Stanley did so, with evident effort.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dearest Belle</span>:</p> + +<p>"I did not know, till after I had seen you the other +night——"</p></div> + +<p>"The night you proposed," interjected Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>The Secretary nodded, and resumed his reading.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"—the other night, how cleverly you got my letter out of +the Secretary's clutches. It quite retrieves your losing it +at the Hyde Park Club, and now I have lost it under the +secret door in the Hall, as you will probably have heard. If +A. R. cannot get a duplicate, which is doubtful, the door +must be opened.</p> + +<p>"I have entrusted you with all I hold most dear. You know +what that is. If my plans go well, it will mean a happy +future for us both.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"Your affectionate old</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"<span class="smcap">Bob</span>."</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now read the other," commanded Kent-Lauriston; and, sick at heart, the +Secretary complied:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">You old Stupid</span>:</p> + +<p>"Is the report really true that you have lost that letter +under the secret door? There is no time to duplicate it, so +it must be recovered. Why didn't you write and tell me you +had lost it?——"</p></div> + +<p>"But he did," commented the reader.</p> + +<p>"Both letters were intercepted before delivery, I imagine," said +Kent-Lauriston, "but finish the note."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"—Do not try to see me again," read Stanley; "it might +arouse suspicion, and you know how necessary it is for me to +play the rôle of the innocent. I am more afraid of Inez than +anyone else. I am sure she suspects there is something +between us. There is no danger in Little Diplomacy; he is +young enough to believe he knows everything, and that is a +great safeguard. I have found a trusty messenger for our +affairs in Jack Kingsland.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"As ever,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"<span class="smcap">Belle</span>."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The Secretary stopped reading; his throat was very dry. He took a glass +of Apollinaris, and then said:—</p> + +<p>"These letters are not incriminating—in the way <i>you</i> mean."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, perhaps not in so many words; but you must ask yourself two +questions concerning them. Are they letters that an honourable or +refined woman would write to or receive from a married man, at any time, +and particularly when she herself was practically engaged?"</p> + +<p>"May I ask to what you imagine Darcy's expression, 'all I hold most +dear,' refers?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, his heart, or his love, or some such sentimental rubbish."</p> + +<p>"So I supposed; it hasn't occurred to you to take it in a more literal +sense?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well, say that all he holds most dear refers to the five chests of +sovereigns."</p> + +<p>"You believe this?"</p> + +<p>"I know it to be so—and have known it all along—the fact that I tell +you confidentially, that I'm acting under secret instructions in this +matter, will, I'm sure, suffice not only to seal your lips, but to make +you understand that, for the present, you must be contented not to know +more."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston nodded.</p> + +<p>"You'll see, then," continued the Secretary, "that what you supposed was +an intrigue turns out to be—shall we say—a commercial transaction."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston shrugged his shoulders, remarking:—</p> + +<p>"I'd better return the letters to Madame Darcy at once then?"</p> + +<p>"No, leave that to me, I shall ask her to let<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> me keep them, if she +will; they may be useful—as evidence."</p> + +<p>"But, surely, any woman who could connect herself with so dishonourable +an affair, as I imagine this to be, is no fit wife for you. Give me your +word you'll break with her once and for all."</p> + +<p>"I've sources of information about Darcy which, as I have said before, +I'm not at liberty to reveal, but forty-eight hours may loose my tongue. +If I could tell Miss Fitzgerald what I know, she might throw him over +even now, for I still hope she's only his dupe. Give me two days to +prove her innocent; if I fail—I'll do what you please."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston reluctantly acquiesced, and Stanley, putting the +incriminating letters carefully in an inside pocket, bade him +good-night, and left the smoking-room. In the hall he met Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you'll think of me for coming to you, Mr. Stanley," +she said, "after what has passed this evening."</p> + +<p>"I think myself an infernal ass, for I've found out the truth of the +matter since I left you, and I think you're very good to overlook it, +and very condescending to speak to me at all."</p> + +<p>"Do not let us talk of that," she said.</p> + +<p>"Agreed," he replied. "Only permit me to say, I'd the parson's solemn +assurance that he'd not married you, and, however unadvisedly I may have +spoken, I spoke in good faith."</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," she returned. "But now you know the truth."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do, and I'm very much ashamed of myself."</p> + +<p>She smiled, a trifle sadly, and changed the subject abruptly, saying:—</p> + +<p>"I've come to ask you a great favour. In the face of the past I almost +hesitate to do so, but there's no one else to whom I can turn—and +so——"</p> + +<p>"Anything I can do——" he began.</p> + +<p>"I only want to ask you a question."</p> + +<p>"Only a question!"</p> + +<p>"Yet, I hesitate to ask even that—because it concerns a lady in whom +you're interested."</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You need have no hesitation," he said coldly.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you will not misunderstand me," she continued.</p> + +<p>He bowed silently.</p> + +<p>"After you left us, I questioned Miss Fitzgerald about the part she'd +played in my marriage."</p> + +<p>Stanley nodded.</p> + +<p>"You can understand that I was very angry. Whose feelings would not have +been outraged at discovering that they'd been so played upon? I'm sure +that my husband was as innocent of the deception as I."</p> + +<p>She paused a second, but the Secretary did not speak, and she continued, +afraid, perhaps, that he might say something to overthrow her theory.</p> + +<p>"I dare say I forgot myself—in fact I'm sure I did—and said things +that I now regret; but in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> heat of the argument she taunted me with +the fact that she had it in her power to have my husband cashiered from +the navy, if she chose to tell what she knew. Is this true?"</p> + +<p>"Did she specify what he'd done?" asked Stanley, the horrid suspicion +that Belle was not innocent once more reasserting itself with increased +force.</p> + +<p>"No, but she said it was something he'd done in London, during his +present absence."</p> + +<p>"My God!" murmured the Secretary, as the full force and meaning of this +avowal became apparent to him, and he saw that Belle must be fully +cognisant of the plot.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me it's true!" cried Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it is," he replied.</p> + +<p>"But that my husband could be guilty of——"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say that," he interjected. "He may be merely an innocent +instrument; but he might have difficulty in proving it, if the charges +were made."</p> + +<p>"But what are the charges?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! That you must not ask me."</p> + +<p>"You know?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, but you must be content to be sure that, had I the right to +tell you, I would do so."</p> + +<p>"But what is to be done?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. The threat is an empty one. Miss Fitzgerald will make no +charges against your husband; I will guarantee that, and it may +transpire that the Lieutenant has done nothing worse than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> deliver some +cases, of the contents of which he was ignorant, to oblige a friend."</p> + +<p>"But if she could prove that he <i>did</i> deliver them, he might be charged +with complicity?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly."</p> + +<p>"Can I not warn him?"</p> + +<p>"No, Lady Isabelle, you owe it to me to keep silence, at least for the +next few days. In telling you this, to relieve your anxiety, I have +exceeded my instructions, and placed my honour in your hands."</p> + +<p>"It shall be held sacred; but who is to warn my husband?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do so, if you wish."</p> + +<p>"I can never be sufficiently grateful, if you will."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll consider that settled," he said.</p> + +<p>"You've been a true friend to me," she replied, taking his hand, "and +I've ill repaid you for your kindness."</p> + +<p>"Don't think of that," he said, and turned away, heavy-hearted; for now +he fancied he knew the worst.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h3>MISS FITZGERALD BURNS HER BOATS</h3> + +<p>"My dear," said the Secretary, as he shook hands with Madame Darcy over +the little wicket gate entwined with roses, which gave admittance to her +rustic abode, "I want to thank you for those letters."</p> + +<p>"To thank me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? Why, I was almost ashamed to meet you face to face."</p> + +<p>"But why should you be?"</p> + +<p>"That I should have spoken of them at all, and to you."</p> + +<p>"But surely you cannot blame yourself for that. You thought they related +to quite a different person."</p> + +<p>"Now who would have supposed a man would have given me credit. But why +do I stand talking at the gate—come in, you've not perhaps had your +breakfast yet this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, thanks, and a hearty one. Do you think I come to eat you out of +house and home?"</p> + +<p>"I think you come only to the gate."</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately, beggars must not be choosers—and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> I've just time for a +word. It's my busy day, as they say in the city."</p> + +<p>She was piqued, and showed it.</p> + +<p>"Do you not think I would willingly spend all day with you, if——"</p> + +<p>"I think," she replied, "that you're engaged to a certain young +lady—and you've told me that you're busy."</p> + +<p>"It's about her I wished to speak," he said, abruptly changing the +subject. "These letters have misled you."</p> + +<p>"You mean——"</p> + +<p>"I mean that they refer to the plot in which your husband and this young +lady are engaged."</p> + +<p>She looked at him searchingly.</p> + +<p>"You are speaking the truth to me. You know this to be so?"</p> + +<p>"On my honour. I am not trying to deceive you. I only ask you to believe +that your original suspicions were incorrect."</p> + +<p>"But you substitute something quite as bad."</p> + +<p>"Well, no—hardly that. In fact it may benefit you greatly."</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"That I'm not at liberty to tell you just now; I hope I can in a day or +two. Meantime, may I ask you to keep silence about what I've said, and +trust your affairs to me—they shall not suffer in my hands."</p> + +<p>"Have I not trusted you, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"You have indeed, and I've appreciated it;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> but that you'll understand +better a little later—when I've been able to help you more."</p> + +<p>"You have done all for me; you have saved me, and I can never forget +it."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, I've done nothing as yet."</p> + +<p>"You have given me your sympathy. Is not that something? You have been a +true friend to me."</p> + +<p>"For old friendship's sake—could I do less?"</p> + +<p>She flushed and said hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"My father will know how to thank you properly. When I see him——" and +she unburdened her heart to the Secretary, who gave her a willing ear. +Together they discussed her plans for the future, her return home, her +welcome; in short, a thousand and one pleasant anticipations, till +Stanley declared, regretfully, that he must go.</p> + +<p>"But you have stood already an hour," she murmured, "surely you will +come in and rest."</p> + +<p>"An hour!" he exclaimed, looking at his watch. "Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"No," she said. "Not impossible, I also have stood."</p> + +<p>He was overcome at his thoughtlessness, but she silenced his excuses by +throwing open the gate and saying:</p> + +<p>"Come." And he entered.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald was seated at her ease in a West Indian chair on the +lawn. A white parasol shielded her from the sun, and a novel lay +unopened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> in her lap. As she leaned back looking up into the earnest +face of a man, with a supercilious smile and a veiled fire in her blue +eyes, she seemed to be at peace with herself and with the world. In +reality, she was enduring the last of three most disagreeable +encounters.</p> + +<p>Her first had been with her aunt, Mrs. Roberts, who, quite justly, +ascribed the occurrences which had interrupted the harmony of her +house-party to the machinations of her niece.</p> + +<p>"I invited you here at your own request," she had said, in a private +interview before breakfast, in the course of which much righteous wrath +was vented. "You assured me that Mr. Stanley was on the point of asking +your hand in marriage, and only needed an opportunity of doing so; which +I was the more willing to give, because I saw the extreme advisability +of such a step. His actions have belied your words, and moreover, have +made you the subject of unpleasant comment in my house, which has +greatly annoyed me. I do not wish to be unkind, but you must understand +that matters, for the rest of the time we are together, must run more +smoothly, or I shall be obliged to suggest your returning to London."</p> + +<p>It is hard enough to endure the faulty criticism of an elderly and +misguided person, when one is in the right; but when one is in the +wrong, and has hanging over one the probability, if not the certainty, +of coming disclosures, which will force threats to become realities, +such a state of things is unbearable, and Miss Fitzgerald partook of +her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> morning meal feeling that fate had been more than unkind.</p> + +<p>Immediately after breakfast she had been treated to an interview with +the outraged Mr. Lambert, of which a detailed account is unnecessary, +but which resulted in the unpalatable presentation of those obnoxious +criticisms known as "home truths."</p> + +<p>With all her faults, Miss Fitzgerald, like the parson, came of fighting +stock, and, game to the last, she began the dangerous experiment of +burning her boats behind her, by informing her hostess that she should +leave to-morrow afternoon in any event, as it was not her wish to stay +where she was unwelcome. Then, possessed by the spirit that has always +prompted heroic deeds, the determination to do or die, she sought and +found an interview with Mr. Stanley. She boldly opened the attack, by +calling that young gentleman to account for his neglect of the last +twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p>"I've hardly seen so much as your shadow, Jimsy, and I've been nearly +bored to death in consequence. What have you been doing with yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Trying to find out to whom you were married."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Have you succeeded?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the parson has confirmed your assertions this morning."</p> + +<p>"Did you need his confirmation of my word?"</p> + +<p>Stanley said nothing, and his companion, considering the silence +dangerous, hastened to break it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If I really were to marry you," she asked, "would you desert me as you +did yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"If you treated me as you've treated me these last few days, I should +probably desert you altogether."</p> + +<p>The situation was going from bad to worse, and something must be +effected or the cause was lost.</p> + +<p>"What have I done, Jim?" she asked piteously, taking the bull by the +horns, and allowing her eyes to fill with tears.</p> + +<p>"What have you done?" he said nonchalantly, with a flippancy which, in +the case of women, constituted his most dangerous weapon. "What have you +done? Oh, nothing out of the common, I suppose, only, you see, +unfortunately, we men are cursed with a certain, though defective, +standard of morals; and the amount of—well, prevarication you've +practised over this affair has shattered a number of cherished +illusions."</p> + +<p>"I wish you wouldn't wax so disgustingly moral, Jimsy. It's so easy to +be moral—and it bores me. Of course, I don't like saying what's not so, +any more than you do, but one must be consistent. I promised Kingsland +I'd arrange the match for him, and when that old fool of a parson put +obstacles in the way, and then assumed I was the bride,—I'll give you +my word I never told him so—why, it offered an easy solution of the +difficulty. There was nothing illegal about the marriage. I'm sure I'm +not responsible for every man who makes a fool of himself, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> since +I'd undertaken the affair, I was bound, in common decency, to see it +through."</p> + +<p>"Do you consider 'common decency' just the word to apply to the +transaction?"</p> + +<p>"Don't pick up details and phrases in that way, Jimsy. They're +unimportant—but very irritating."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so? Details and phrases go far to make up the sum of life. +Why does Colonel Darcy still remain here?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you still persist in harping upon my friend's name?"</p> + +<p>"Because I loathe him, Belle. If you knew his true character, you'd cut +him the next time you met."</p> + +<p>"Ignorance is the only thing that makes life tolerable."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Jim, answer me this question. If I were your wife, would you permit me +to keep up my intimacy with Colonel Darcy?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then I must choose between you two?"</p> + +<p>"Do you love me so little that there can be a question of choice?"</p> + +<p>"You don't understand. It's easy for you to say, 'Throw him over'; the +reality is a very different matter. He's my oldest friend."</p> + +<p>"And I'm the man who has asked you to share his name and his honour. If +I could prove to you that Darcy was unworthy—would you give him up, for +my sake?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Can you prove this?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not at liberty to say."</p> + +<p>She smiled faintly, and thought hard. She had learned in that last +speech what she most wanted to know—the measure of the Secretary's +knowledge.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said, interrogatively.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how to answer," she replied. "My intuition says no; my +heart says—yes."</p> + +<p>The Secretary turned cold, as a new phase of the situation presented +itself to his view.</p> + +<p>"Do you love this man?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Love Darcy—love him!" she cried. "I hate him more than any man in the +world, and yet——"</p> + +<p>"You're in his power?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Then accept me."</p> + +<p>"Jim," she said earnestly, "you're asking me to decide my whole life. +Give me twenty-four hours to think it over."</p> + +<p>"Haven't you had sufficient time?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow you shall have your answer."</p> + +<p>"Much may happen before to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"But you'll grant me this respite. I promise that to-morrow I'll +say—yes or no."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow I too may be able to speak more clearly; till then, promise +me you'll not see this man."</p> + +<p>"Can't you trust me, Jim? I trust you, and how little a woman can know +of a man's life."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," he said, and left her discomfited—praying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> to Heaven +that some power might intervene to reconcile her heart and conscience; +for this wild, wayward and desperate woman had a conscience, and so far +it had withheld her from committing an unpardonable sin.</p> + +<p>After lunch, as fate willed it, the Irish girl and the Dowager were left +a moment alone together. Being both inflammable substances, sparks flew, +and a conflagration ensued.</p> + +<p>The credit of starting the combustion must be accorded to the +Marchioness. She had observed the young lady's earnest conversation with +Stanley on the lawn in the morning, and coupling this with the +undemonstrative behaviour of that gentleman towards her daughter, had +jumped to the conclusion that Miss Fitzgerald was trying to rob her of +her rightful prize. Being possessed of this belief, and the +circumstances being exaggerated from much thinking, her wrath found +expression in the offender's presence, and she gratuitously insulted the +Irish girl; a dangerous thing to do, as she presently discovered.</p> + +<p>"How are you to-day?" asked the Dowager with irritating condescension.</p> + +<p>"Excessively trivial, thank you. An English Sunday is so serious, one +has to be trivial in self-defence."</p> + +<p>"It is different in your country, then?"</p> + +<p>"Rather."</p> + +<p>"You seemed nervous and absorbed, at lunch."</p> + +<p>"No. Simply absorbed with my luncheon. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> find that eating is really +important in England. It takes one's mind off the climate."</p> + +<p>"I'm leaving to-morrow," continued Miss Fitzgerald, for the purpose of +breaking an awkward silence, which had already lasted several minutes.</p> + +<p>"I think it's the wisest thing you can do," replied the Dowager.</p> + +<p>Such provocation could not pass unnoticed.</p> + +<p>"Why?" queried her companion, outwardly calm, but with a dangerous gleam +in her eye.</p> + +<p>"Because if you were not leaving the house at once, I should feel it my +duty to take Lady Isabelle away—with young girls one must be careful."</p> + +<p>"Explain yourself, Lady Port Arthur."</p> + +<p>"I do not think it necessary, really; do you? Of course I can quite +understand that it's most advisable, perhaps necessary, for you to +marry; but common decency would prevent you from thrusting your +attentions on a man who——"</p> + +<p>"If you're alluding to Mr. Stanley, your Ladyship, I don't mind telling +you, if it'll make you feel easier, that I've about decided to refuse +him."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"He proposed to me some days ago, but, as you say, one has to be +careful."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"As for marrying," continued her adversary, relentlessly, determined, +since Lady Isabelle's marriage must be known, to have the satisfaction +of imparting the news herself—"as for marrying—you're hardly qualified +to speak on that subject,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> if you will pardon my saying so, as you don't +even know the name of your daughter's husband."</p> + +<p>The Dowager gasped. She had no words to express her feelings.</p> + +<p>"You needn't get so agitated, for I shall probably leave you Mr. Stanley +to fall back upon, if this present marriage proves <i>illegal</i>. Lady +Isabelle would be provided with <i>some</i> husband in any case."</p> + +<p>The Dowager gripped the handle of her sunshade until it seemed as if it +must snap, and turned purple in the face.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me I lie," pursued her tormentor, "it's not good form, and +besides, if you want confirmation, look in Mr. Lambert's register at the +chapel next door, where your daughter was married two days ago."</p> + +<p>"Insolence!!!" gasped the Dowager.</p> + +<p>"I ought to know," continued Miss Fitzgerald, calmly, "as I was one of +the witnesses—you——" but she never finished her sentence, for the +Dowager had hoisted her sunshade and got under way for the church door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h3>THE TOP OF THE TOWER</h3> + +<p>After his disquieting interview with Miss Fitzgerald, Stanley felt the +imperative need of an entire change of subject to steady his mind. This +want, the secret of the old tower supplied.</p> + +<p>No time could have been better suited for his investigations. Lunch was +well over, the members of the house party were in their various rooms +for an hour at least.</p> + +<p>A few moments spent in measuring on the first floor in the great hall, +and the library, which ran parallel to it, proved the correctness of his +theory, that the space enclosed was smaller at the bottom than at the +top, as only six feet was unaccounted for. Evidently on this floor the +tower contained merely a staircase.</p> + +<p>He now carried his investigations to the second storey. The room over +the library had been assigned to Kent-Lauriston, and as the Secretary's +knock elicited no answer, he took the liberty of entering, finding, as +he supposed, that his friend had gone out. The inside measurements of +this room gave only ten feet, where they should have given twenty-five, +and brought up at a large fireplace, which had no existence in the +apartment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> below, and which was apparently much deeper than was really +the case. Around and behind this there was a secret chamber of +considerable dimensions, but half an hour's experiments brought the +Secretary no nearer effecting an entrance. The old blue glazed tiles of +the fireplace, and the bricks which composed its floor, were alike +immovable. There was only the roof left; if he failed there, he must +resign himself to the inevitable, and bend all his energies on trying to +open the secret door.</p> + +<p>At the risk of being thought prying and meddlesome, Stanley now +proceeded to search for some mode of ascent to the leads, and after many +mistakes and much wandering, he discovered at last a worm-eaten ladder. +This he climbed, at great bodily risk, and forcing a rusty scuttle, +emerged at last, safe and unperceived, on top of the house, amidst a +wilderness of peaks and undulations, which attested more to the +ingenuity of mediæval builders, than gave promise of comfort to him who +attempted to traverse it. At last, however, by dint of much scrambling, +and several hair-breadth escapes from an undignified descent to the +lawn, he reached the point at which the tower sprang from the roof. It +rose sheer above him for almost forty feet, unbroken by any window or +excrescence, and thinly covered by ivy which, while it was too scattered +to conceal any outlet, at the same time afforded no foothold for ascent.</p> + +<p>It was dreadfully tantalising. Once on those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> crumbling battlements, he +persuaded himself he should have no trouble in entering through the +roof. The missing letter was then within reach, and the young man saw +the road to rapid promotion stretch glitteringly before him; saw that +Darcy would be in his power, with all that it implied; but saw that +forty feet of frowning masonry, which separated him from his hopes, and +cursed his luck.</p> + +<p>A ladder would solve the problem—but for numerous reasons it was a +solution not to be thought of. Above all things, he wished his +investigations to be absolutely unsuspected. If Darcy for an instant +imagined that the truth was known, he would be off like a flash. If the +Secretary was to conquer the secret of the tower, he must do it unaided, +and he was about to turn back and descend, baffled by the hopelessly +smooth surface of the structure, when his eye caught sight of a small +iron ring in the side of the tower, about two feet above the roof of the +house. Examining closely, he saw a second ring two feet above the first, +and others at like distances up, presumably to the top, though the ivy +had in some cases concealed them. His first conjecture was that at some +time there might have been a rope ladder arranged; but that would have +called for pairs of rings at the same level, and the closest scrutiny +failed to reveal more than one.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, thought Stanley, it might be possible to rig some sort of a +contrivance of rope to these, by means of which he might ascend; but it +was difficult<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> to procure the necessary material, and still more +difficult to attach it to the tower without attracting observation. He +caught hold of the ring and gave it a good jerk towards him to be sure +it was firmly enough embedded to be of some service, when, to his utter +astonishment, not the staple, but the block of stone to which it was +attached, pulled out about six inches. Here was an unexpected +<i>dénouement</i>. If the masonry was as rotten as all this, it was high +time, for the safety of the house, that it was pulled down. A moment's +examination, however, assured him that the tower was as solid as a rock. +Why then should this one stone be loose, and why could he pull it no +farther? He pushed it in again and pulled once more with all his +strength, but it came only the six inches, and then remained immovable. +He bent down and examined it closely. Then, as he perceived there was no +trace of mortar on its edges, he gave a shout of exultation, and seizing +the second ring, drew it towards him with a similar result. The stone to +which it was attached pulled slightly out. Unwittingly, he had stumbled +on to one secret of the tower. These stones formed nothing more or less +than a concealed staircase; perilous indeed, but quite possible of +ascent. Springing up on the first and second stones, he found they bore +his weight, and he was thus enabled not only to steady himself by the +rings above, but to pull them out in like manner. Having tested three or +four and pulled out six, he descended again to the roof, and returned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +to his room to provide himself with certain necessaries for the trip, +among which were a small bicycle lamp and a match-box. He took off his +coat and waistcoat, and also his shoes, and set about making the attempt +in a more practical manner. For at least half the way up he would be +screened from view by the roofs, and for the remainder he must take his +chance of not being seen. Drawing a long breath, and placing his foot +firmly on the first stone, he commenced the ascent. For ten or fifteen +feet it seemed an easy matter, but as he cleared the intercepting roof +peaks, and the view opened out, he fully realised his perilous position, +and a gust of wind which swayed him on his airy perch made him feel all +the more insecure. Sternly resisting the temptation to look down, and +the no less dangerous desire to hasten his ascent, he kept his face +resolutely turned to the wall, and testing carefully each ring before +trusting himself to it, climbed slowly up and up. The way seemed +endless, and when but six feet remained, two sparrows, with a whir and +rush of wings, flew angrily round his head, at what they regarded as an +invasion of their nest, and almost caused him to lose his hold in an +attempt to drive them away. And now the battlements were just over him, +projecting awkwardly from the face of the wall, and proving much higher +than he had at first supposed. But he noticed, with relief, that +directly in the line of his ascent were a pair of projecting iron +stanchions not visible from below, but evidently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> intended to be used in +pulling oneself up and over the battlements; a supposition borne out by +the fact that they were placed each side of a break in the stonework, +which was ornamented with a lip or step of smooth stone, evidently +intended to afford an entrance to the roof of the tower. This lip had a +slight slant upwards, and might perhaps have served a double purpose as +a drain or broad spout.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Stanley's caution had not entirely deserted him, and he had +the good sense to reach up and test one of the stanchions before +trusting himself to it. It was well that he did so, for its fastenings +proved to be rotten with age, and the bolt giving way, it tore out in +his grasp, and flying from his hand fell with a loud clank on the roof, +forty feet below. The Secretary swayed out from the tower with the force +of the shock, and had not the topmost iron, to which he clung, held +firm, this narrative would have come to a sudden and a tragic ending.</p> + +<p>Having recovered his equipoise, he found himself face to face with a +serious if not an insurmountable obstacle. The natural entrance to the +roof was denied him; for even if the other stanchion held firm, he had +no mind to trust his entire weight to it, and without its mate it was of +little use for lifting himself up. Besides which, the lip or step, +which, by its slant towards him, would, with the aid of the stanchions, +have made access easy without them, rendered it, by reason of its angle, +the more difficult. The only practical way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> seemed to lean far to one +side, and seizing the rough stones of the battlement which projected +over his head, swing himself up and through one of the embrasures. The +last step would bring him breast high with them, but as they projected +nearly a foot beyond the face of the tower, he must bend his body +outward, and trust to them alone for support. If the stones of the +battlements were strong, his athletic training gave him no reason to +suppose that he would have any trouble in accomplishing the feat. Youth, +moreover, is apt to be venturous, and an aerial perch, eighty feet from +the ground, is not just the place one would choose for lengthy +consideration.</p> + +<p>Therefore, after reaching up and testing the masonry, as thoroughly as +he was able, he flung caution to the winds, a full assemblage of which +were whistling around him, and, making a desperate effort, clutched the +stones above him, and swung his body up and one leg over the +battlements.</p> + +<p>He was secure after all. Then, looking within, he received one of the +worst shocks which the events of his life had ever afforded him. There +was no roof in existence; at least, none where he had expected to find +it. He discovered that he was seated astride the rim of a circular well, +forty feet deep, whose bottom was the roof of the house. In other words, +the whole tower above the second story was a shell—a sham. A few +moments' observation was sufficient to assure him that there never had +been a roof at a higher level. An iron bar corroded with rust, round +which was wound a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> chain, stretched across the diameter of the well, and +had evidently furnished at one time support for a flag-staff, to further +keep up to the outside world the deception of a roof; but otherwise the +inside was perfectly smooth, even the holes where the steps were pulled +out not showing, which bore evidence to the fact that they worked in the +thickness of the wall.</p> + +<p>Down at the level of the roof two or three little beams of light marked +the location of certain gargoyles or antique water-spouts, which Stanley +had noticed on the outside, and marvelled that they should have been +placed in the middle instead of the top of the tower. These explained +the absence of water in the well.</p> + +<p>Looking down, as his eyes became accustomed to the gloom, he was able to +see something of the nature of the roof, which must enclose the secret +chamber. It was covered with dust and debris, but he was positive he +could distinguish certain little bumps or lumps, which he shrewdly +guessed to be thick diamond panes of glass, set in lead, and which, as +he conjectured, furnished light to the room beneath. Entrance to this +apartment seemed totally lacking from the roof, or else concealed by the +dust of centuries. No staircase could he discover on the inside of the +well, and he was about to relegate it to the limbo of unfathomable +mystery, when a startling discovery gave him the key to the whole +matter. It was, he saw, manifestly impossible to go down inside without +falling, after which, if not killed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> shock, he would be left to +starve at his leisure, while his friends searched the country-side for +him. But if to descend within was impossible, to descend without +presented almost as many difficulties. To go over the battlements as he +had come, was well-nigh hopeless; but if he could walk along their inner +rim for a foot or two, round the next embrasure, to the natural slanting +entrance which was directly over the first step, the descent would be, +comparatively speaking, easy. To rise from his present posture and +assume a standing position on the twelve-inch rim of a structure eighty +feet in the air requires a steady head, and though the Secretary was +possessed of this, he did not at all relish the undertaking. It had to +be done, however; but after his previous experience he determined to +take no more risks, and reaching out from his position of vantage, he +tested carefully every step of the way. At last only the slanting step +remained. Reaching far over he touched it with his hand, when, to his +horror, it practically revolved, now pointing down into the interior of +the tower, its outward end pointing up. He shuddered when he saw the +fate which the fortunate accident to the stanchion had caused him to +escape. Had he descended in the regular way and stepped upon the +slanting plate, the instant his foot passed its centre of equilibrium, +it would have revolved, and without a doubt flung him down into the +interior of the well. It was a cursed, mediæval trick, a fitting +accompaniment to the inquisitorial horrors of those ages—an English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +<i>oubliette</i>. If the fall did not finish the daring invader of the +tower—the inhabitants of the secret chamber doubtless had means to +insure his end, or perhaps he was merely left to starve.</p> + +<p>Touching the plate once more he pushed it back to its original position, +and found that it remained stationary. As long as he kept on the outward +side he was safe, and if the Secretary observed this rule he could +easily avail himself of the plate to descend by, for the perpetrators of +the villainous arrangement had evidently not thought it necessary to +make it entirely revolve, as one who had once gone up the tower was +never expected to come down the outside again. And now, with great +caution, he wormed his way to the treacherous step, and with still +greater care placed his foot on its outer edge; it held firm, and he +ventured to plant both his feet upon it. But, alas! he has forgotten how +slippery a flag of slate, polished by two hundred years' exposure to the +elements, may become. His feet slipped from under him, and in striving +to save himself he overbalanced the stone. Instantly it revolved, and a +second later he found himself suspended over the well, with only the +strength of a despairing grasp on the edges of the slate between him and +eternity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>THE SECRET OF THE DOOR</h3> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald's disclosures to the Marchioness, as it turned out, +rather helped than hindered those principally concerned, for Mr. Lambert +met her Ladyship at the church, and his explanations took the keen edge +off the wrath which she vented on her daughter a little later, and in +the midst of which Lieutenant Kingsland arrived, with ample assurances +of worldly prosperity, which overcame her strongest objections, and went +far to reconcile her to the inevitable. Her disappointment, however, was +keen, and her temper suffered in consequence, so that dinner, at which +the Secretary's unaccountable absence formed the chief topic of +conversation, was distinctly not a success, and the ladies retired +early, leaving the gentlemen to their own devices.</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald claimed to join in the general hegira, but her actions +belied her words, for shortly after she was supposed to have gone to her +room, her figure, its white dinner dress concealed by a long grey cloak, +might have been seen gliding across the lawn in the direction of the +inn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p> + +<p>The night was pregnant with great events, though outwardly calm and +beautiful, and the great hall in which Mr. Riddle, Kent-Lauriston, and +the Lieutenant stood smoking, after having been dismissed from the +drawing-room, was flooded with moonlight.</p> + +<p>"I say," remarked Kingsland irrelevantly, after a long interval broken +only by the conscientious puffing of cigarettes, "how that mediæval +prize puzzle shows up in the moonlight."</p> + +<p>"The secret door?" asked Kent-Lauriston. "Yes, it does. I heard the +butler making his plaint about it yesterday. It appears it's no joke to +keep those nails polished."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think it would be, and I dare say the bulk of the servants +wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. I wonder what's behind it, +anyway."</p> + +<p>Nobody said anything.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Darcy'll ever get his letter?" asked Kent-Lauriston, +glancing at Mr. Riddle. "Anyway, it's as safe behind that portal as if +it was in the Bank of England. Safer, in fact, for he can't get it out +if he wants to."</p> + +<p>"I don't think there's much chance of anyone's opening it," said Mr. +Riddle. "Cleverer men than Colonel Darcy have tried to solve that +problem in the last two centuries, and failed. I imagine, however, if it +ever does come to be opened, that a certain theory will be proved +correct."</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Kingsland.</p> + +<p>"That the prophecy tells only half the story.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> To press the nails they +must be flexible, but they're firm and immovable."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's evident that there is some catch or spring to be worked +first."</p> + +<p>"How do you make that out?"</p> + +<p>"These five nails we hear so much about are really the key to the lock, +but until the movable impediments—or, to give them their technical +name, the 'tumblers'—are so arranged as to release the key, the lock +cannot be opened."</p> + +<p>"It's a rum sort of key, with no keyhole," said Kingsland.</p> + +<p>"The key to open this lock is a mental one, rather than one of steel and +iron. In other words, a puzzle lock like this always has certain movable +parts, the movement of which constitutes the enigma."</p> + +<p>"Ever heard of any locks like this one?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly, but the Russians, Hindoos and the Chinese have their +puzzle locks in the shape of birds or animals, and they're locked or +unlocked by pressing certain parts of their bodies. You can depend on +it, some spring must be worked first, which relieves the nails from +their tension and permits one to work the combination."</p> + +<p>"But no such catch or spring is visible."</p> + +<p>"Of course not. It would be the most carefully concealed of all the +mechanism; but some lucky fellow will stumble on it eventually, and if +he has presence of mind enough to press the nails also— Presto! your +door will fly open."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And what will he find?" asked Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"From present appearances," replied Mr. Riddle, "a little pile of dust, +which some centuries before was a letter——"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a mouldering skeleton +in chains," said Kingsland.</p> + +<p>"Or a complicated astrological machine, such as one hears about in +Bulwer's grewsome ghost story," added Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"The inhabitants of this house are too unfeignedly easy-going and +comfortable to admit of such a supposition," replied Kingsland, and +turning to Kent-Lauriston, added: "What do you think is inside the +Tower?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, and if I did, I shouldn't tell anyone."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because if its contents are so unpleasant, that they had to shut it up +for ever, it certainly wouldn't prove a fit subject for conversation."</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow," said the Lieutenant, "I trust the discoverer will be a +short man, or he'll hit his head a nasty crack, when he tries to go in."</p> + +<p>"Wrong again," said Mr. Riddle. "I think you'll admit that I'm medium +height for a man; but if I stood with my back to the door, my head +wouldn't hit the top of the arch."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense. Let's see."</p> + +<p>Riddle took up the position indicated, facing them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're right!" ejaculated the young officer.</p> + +<p>"I'm amazed! I supposed it was much lower. What do you measure?"</p> + +<p>"Five feet eight inches. But it is the extreme width of the portal which +makes it deceptive; it lowers it. I think, if I stretched out my arms, +straight from the shoulder, I should no more than touch the +side—see——" and he made a great cross of himself, against the black +oak.</p> + +<p>"What are you fumbling at?" asked Kingsland sharply.</p> + +<p>"My fingers hardly touch—it's a stretch. Ah! now they do."</p> + +<p>"You look ghastly in the moonlight; put your arms down and come away."</p> + +<p>"I'm very comfortable here, barring my back; those silver nails are +rather sharp," and he put his hands behind him.</p> + +<p>"Come away," said Kingsland, nervously, seeing something in his face he +did not like. "You look as if you'd been walled up a few months ago, by +some inquisition, and we'd just unearthed you in your niche."</p> + +<p>"By heavens! some of these nails are loose!" cried Riddle.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" retorted Kingsland. "You've thought so much about it, you'd +imagine anything. They're as firm as—well, nails. I tried them myself. +That door won't be opened in our lifetime, unless——" but the +Lieutenant never finished his sentence, for he had paused suddenly, in +open-mouthed astonishment. Without warning, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> without a sound, the +portal, closed for centuries, swung slowly inward, carrying Riddle with +it; who, catching in vain at the sides of the door in an attempt to save +himself, fell heavily backwards down three steps into the secret +chamber.</p> + +<p>Seeing that he did not immediately rise, but turned over partially on +his side, Kingsland recollecting himself, sprang forward to his aid, +crying:</p> + +<p>"Have you hurt yourself?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he replied, waving him off, and slowly rising from the floor, +covered with dust.</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. "How did you ever do it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, I'm sure," replied Riddle, emerging from the portal, and +vigorously brushing himself. "As I told you, the nails, or some of them, +felt loose—I pushed them, and the next thing I knew the door revolved +and I was on the floor."</p> + +<p>"You're a genius!" exclaimed Kingsland. "But," peering down into the +darkness of the tower, "where's Darcy's letter?"</p> + +<p>"We need a little light on the subject," said Mr. Riddle. Stepping to +the fireplace, he lighted an old wrought-iron sconce, full of candles, +which stood on the broad mantelshelf, and approached the secret door.</p> + +<p>In the light of the candles, all could see that, except for the little +space into which he had fallen, the whole interior of the tower was +filled by a narrow stone staircase, which, in its ascent, half turned +upon itself. Of the missing document,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> however, there was not a trace. +The stillness in the great hall was oppressive. Even their own footsteps +on the stones seemed, to the hearers, preternaturally loud.</p> + +<p>Mr. Riddle raised the sconce above his head, and there burst on a sudden +a shimmering flash of a thousand prismatic colours from the head of the +staircase. He fell back a step, as did the others, and Kingsland +murmured in awe-struck tones:—</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>Riddle again raised the sconce, and again the burst of light from the +head of the stairs overwhelmed him, but this time he stood his ground.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Let us examine."</p> + +<p>"As far as I can make out, it's a flexible curtain of chain mail—hung +across the staircase."</p> + +<p>"I swear it moved," said the Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"No, it was the light which moved," replied the discoverer. "You see," +and he swayed the sconce from side to side, making the curtain appear to +be moving silently.</p> + +<p>"If I take the light away," he continued, "there's nothing to be seen;" +and he removed the sconce, leaving only the black mass of the steel +curtain visible.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to be seen—isn't there? Look there!" whispered Kingsland, and, +following the direction of his eyes, the others saw a broad band of +blood-red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> light steal out of the blackness, across the steps at the +head of the staircase.</p> + +<p>"That room has been closed for centuries, and yet there is a light +burning," he continued hoarsely. "Shut the door, my dear fellow, and +let's get away."</p> + +<p>"It merely confirms another theory of mine," said Riddle, "which is, +that, as there are no windows on the outside of the tower, they must +have got their light and ventilation from the roof. I think it's fair to +suppose that they used red glass, and that the full moon is shining +through it."</p> + +<p>"Then you can go and prove it if you like, but if you take my advice, +you'd better leave it alone."</p> + +<p>"I don't like, my dear Kingsland, though I'm going, just the same. I +daresay I shall find something very nasty at the head of the stairs, but +it won't be supernatural. If I want you, I'll call you. If not, wait +till I come back." Putting down the sconce, he slipped off his dress +coat, and crossing the hall, picked up a stout hunting crop, the +property of the Lieutenant, while his two companions stood staring at +the blood-red band of light which lay across the steps, and which seemed +to their excited imagination to grow broader and deeper.</p> + +<p>"What do you think he'll find up there?" asked Kingsland.</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I don't wish to think," he replied. "But I'm certain that, to this very +day, there lie hidden away in some of our old country houses the +ghastliest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> secrets of mediæval times, the fruit of crimes and passions, +of which, happily, even the names have perished."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" said the young officer, laying his hand on his +companion's arm, and in the silence both distinctly heard the click of a +latch, and facing round at the same moment, confronted the white face of +Colonel Darcy, framed in the hall door.</p> + +<p>In an instant he was at their side, drawing a quick hissing breath and +exclaiming:—</p> + +<p>"It's open. Where's my letter?"</p> + +<p>"There is no letter," said Kingsland gruffly. "But you gave us a jolly +good start, creeping in. This ghost business sets one's nerves all on +edge."</p> + +<p>"Who opened the door?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said Mr. Riddle, coming up just at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Then you have my letter."</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't seen a trace of it. It may be up aloft."</p> + +<p>"I believe there's some living object up aloft," said Kingsland. "If you +take my advice, you'll shut the door, and leave it and the letter in +perpetual seclusion."</p> + +<p>"I don't care whether it's a man or a devil!" cried Darcy, who, whatever +else may be said of him, did not know the meaning of fear. And as he +spoke, he set one foot upon the lower step.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" cried Kent-Lauriston. "There's something up there, and, +what's more, it's coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> down." And as he spoke, a sound was heard in +the long closed chamber, and as the listeners held their breath, +something slowly approached the steel curtain, which swung out +noiselessly as if waving in a ghostly wind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h3>WITHIN THE TOWER</h3> + +<p>Stanley's first thought as he hung suspended over the gulf, when the +plate had so treacherously revolved, was of self-preservation. And, +indeed, he had need to think, for it seemed highly probable that within +the next few minutes he might be dashed to pieces on the floor of the +secret chamber, forty feet below. To pull himself up over that slippery +stone was, he found, a sheer impossibility. To let go of his precarious +hold and drop to the bottom of the well was certain death. Yet the sharp +edges of the plate were already cutting into his hands, and it could +only be a matter of a few moments when his arms would refuse to support +any longer the weight of his body. Evidently he must find some means of +escape from these two alternatives, and that right speedily, or for him +the end of all things would be at hand. Below him the wall stretched +smooth as glass. No vine grew upon it to which he might cling, no +crevice in which he might put his foot. He cast his eye round in a wild +search for some possible means of salvation, and, as he did so, he saw +one infinitesimal chance of escape. So slight was it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> that no one, in +less desperate straits, would have dared to take the risk, but he had no +choice.</p> + +<p>He had noticed, when taking his precarious walk along the edge of the +battlements, that an old rusty iron chain was loosely twisted round the +bar which stretched across the diameter of the well, about on a level +with where he hung suspended. It might be possible, springing into the +air, to catch the end of this chain, which terminated in a ring. He had +done that sort of thing more than once in gymnasiums, though under very +much more favourable conditions. Even if he succeeded in catching the +ring in his flight, he might only find himself in a worse position. The +chain might refuse to unwind from the bar, or the whole contrivance, +rusted by years of exposure, might snap under his weight. But even if +this were so, he reflected, he could but drop to the bottom of the well, +which he was bound to do in any event, if he stayed where he was, while +every foot that the chain unrolled before breaking was twelve inches +less for him to fall. Evidently there was not an instant to lose, for +his fingers were already getting stiff and numb with the tension they +were undergoing. So, setting his teeth, he sprang into the air, on this +last desperate venture. For one horrid second he felt the ring which his +fingers touched, slipping through his grasp. Then with one supreme +effort, he crooked his hand through it, and swung suspended by one arm. +A moment later, he had brought his other hand to his aid. But scarcely +had he steadied himself, when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> bar, round which the chain was wound, +and which evidently worked in a socket, began to revolve. It was rusty +and out of gear, and as it let him down, it gave him the most frightful +series of jerks, which seemed to dislocate every bone in his body. It +would let out three or four feet of chain at lightning speed, and then, +catching in its rusty gearings, would stop with a racking jerk, +remaining still perhaps a whole minute, before it moved on again, to +repeat the operation. Moreover, as he got farther and farther down the +well, and there was a greater length of chain above him, it began to +oscillate frightfully, twirling him round in one direction till his head +swam, and then reversing the operation. All tortures must come to an +end, however, and when he was ten feet from the bottom of the well, a +corroded link snapped, and he dropped the remaining distance like a log, +bringing down thirty feet of iron chain on top of him.</p> + +<p>The blow which he received rendered him instantly unconscious, and it +was hours later before he came to himself. His first knowledge of the +world and things in general was a realisation that in some mysterious +way the entire firmament was divided in half by a black band, and it was +only as his brain became a little clearer that he realised that he was +lying on his back looking up at the rim of the well. He sat up, and +examined himself critically. He had evidently cut his head slightly, for +it was still bleeding. Moreover, he was black and blue from head to +foot, but he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> rejoiced to find, after a careful examination, that no +bones were broken, nor had he even suffered a sprain, and in a few +moments he was able to stand upright.</p> + +<p>His position, however, was none the less precarious. The breaking of the +chain had ended for ever any chance of his ascending the tower, and he +must either effect an entrance through the roof or depend on the very +uncertain chance of attracting notice from without, to escape +starvation.</p> + +<p>Lying face down on the floor of the roof, he tried to look out of the +little holes in the mouths of the gargoyles, but could see nothing, and +from the appearance of the sky over his head, he judged that it must be +growing dark. This reminded him of his bicycle lamp, which a hasty +examination proved to be intact, and feeling that he would at least have +light for his investigations, was a great source of comfort to him.</p> + +<p>His next procedure was to examine the roof. Here, fate once more +befriended him, for he very quickly found a trap-door and, moreover, was +able to lift it. Looking down he could see nothing but utter darkness. +However, this did not deter him, and he hastily made his arrangements +for further investigation, first taking the precaution to light a match +and drop it into the opening. It fell, about ten or twelve feet, +evidently striking the floor and burning there a minute or two before it +went out. It revealed nothing but surrounding darkness, but it apprised +him of the fact he was most desirous to know, that the atmosphere was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +not mephitical. He determined, nevertheless, to take his time about +descending, and left the trap-door wide open, so that as much fresh air +might get in as possible.</p> + +<p>In the interval he amused himself by taking off one of his socks and +unravelling it as best he could. Weaving a cord with the thread thus +obtained, he lowered his bicycle lantern, which he had lighted, into the +room below, swinging it gently back and forwards. Its glancing rays told +him that the apartment was entirely bare and deserted, and showed him +also a narrow wooden ladder, black with age, leading up to the trap-door +above which he stood. Drawing up the light, he took it in his hand, and +being cautious after his recent experience, reached down and tested each +round of the ladder most carefully. To his surprise it held his weight, +and a moment later he was on the floor of the secret chamber.</p> + +<p>The apartment had no secrets to reveal. It was absolutely bare, and +empty of anything except a broken old sconce lying in a corner. The +whole room, however, was indescribably dusty and musty, and he was very +thankful to push aside a curtain of chain mail and descend the +staircase.</p> + +<p>At its foot he saw lying the coveted papers. Forgetful of everything +else, he sat down upon the lowest step, and by the light of his lantern +proceeded to examine them. They more than fulfilled his utmost +expectations. There was a complete cipher and its key, a full list of +the members of the cabinet who were to pass upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> treaty, with +comments on each, and a memorandum of the amounts to be given to certain +of them, coupled with suggestions as to the attitude which Darcy should +take towards others, together with precise instructions as to the +carrying out of the plot; the whole signed by Riddle in the interests of +the firm. The evidence was complete, and Stanley gasped as he realised +the advantage of this tremendous stroke of luck. One fact which his +perusal had elicited caused him to draw a long sigh of relief. Miss +Fitzgerald's name was not mentioned in the incriminating document, and +so much did he wish to believe her innocent, that in spite of all +accumulated evidence, he felt a sense of exultation that he could still, +if worst came to worst, shield her from the effects of her own folly. He +told himself that he might, after all, prove to the satisfaction of his +own conscience that she was innocent of criminal intent. Darcy he would +have no mercy for. He must be punished for his crime, and the fact of +his being the criminal would give Inez her freedom, and then—— Ah! but +if Belle Fitzgerald was innocent—was he not in honour bound to <i>her</i>? +And at that moment he realised that he had mistaken pity for love, that +Darcy possessed the woman in the world most worth having, and that he +was unworthy of her.</p> + +<p>His meditations were interrupted by the sound of voices near him. +Somebody laid a hand on the other side of the door. They were tampering +with it again, and, for more reasons than one, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> wanted the fact of +his having gained entrance to the tower to remain a secret. Putting the +letter in his inside pocket, he softly retraced his steps to the upper +chamber.</p> + +<p>To his consternation, he had scarcely reached there when the door below +was opened. How this had been effected, he did not know. He had been so +interested in the documents, that he had had no time to examine the +mechanism of the portal. At first he heard only the voices of Riddle and +Kingsland. Fearing that the conspirators only were present, and that, +being three to one, he might be overpowered, and his precious evidence +wrested from him, he endeavoured, by the agitation of the steel curtain +and the red light of his lamp, to contrive such ghostly illusions, as +should serve to deter them from investigating the upper portions of the +tower. It can be imagined therefore what a welcome relief +Kent-Lauriston's tones were to him, and the instant he knew that his +friend was below, he felt perfectly safe from an attack by force. He +therefore lost no time in descending, his footsteps producing, as we +have seen, a most startling effect on those below.</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston was the first to recognise him, and seeing at a glance +that his clothes were torn and spotted with blood, he sprang forward to +assist his friend and helped him into the hall.</p> + +<p>"Where's my letter, you thief?" cried Darcy.</p> + +<p>"You've come too late," replied the Secretary, recovering himself. +"You've come too late. The treaty will go through."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p> + +<p>Darcy growled an oath as the measure of the Secretary's knowledge became +known to him.</p> + +<p>"I know who's put you on to it," he cried. "It's that cursed Irish——!"</p> + +<p>"Go!" cried Stanley, in a burst of wrath at this insult to a woman. "Go, +before I knock you down, and as you value your safety, meet me here at +eleven to-morrow morning. You've held the whip hand long enough. It's my +turn now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> + +<h3>THE SHORT WAY OUT</h3> + +<p>"I suppose it's hardly necessary to ask if you found Darcy's letter?" +said Kent-Lauriston to the Secretary, as they were returning to the +house about an hour later from a trip to the telegraph office, whither +Stanley had gone to send a long message in cipher to his Chief.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," he said. "I have it in my possession."</p> + +<p>"Does it give you all the information you required?"</p> + +<p>"As a bit of evidence it's overwhelmingly complete—but it gives me some +additional information which is not so pleasant," replied the Secretary, +who had needed no second glance at the document to assure himself that +it was Mr. Riddle's letter and had been once before in his possession.</p> + +<p>"I've no desire to pry into your affairs, either private or diplomatic, +my dear fellow; but of course I'm able to infer a good deal, and if you +felt inclined to assure me, that this made you master of the situation, +and placed Darcy completely in your power, it would make me feel very +much easier."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then you may be quite easy," returned the Secretary. "I hold all the +trumps. I could have the Colonel arrested to-night, if I chose, and my +evidence is of such a nature that it will practically banish him from +his country and from mine."</p> + +<p>"That's very satisfactory, but let me caution you to go slow. Darcy is a +man of many expedients. I should keep something in reserve, if I were +able."</p> + +<p>"My instructions insist on practically that course of action."</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad to hear it—as you grow older, you'll discover that the +shrewdest policy in the game of life, as in the game of whist, is always +to keep in hand a card of re-entry. And you may take my word for it, +that Darcy is the pivot on which all these little conspiracies revolve. +Hold him, and you can dictate terms to both Kingsland and Miss +Fitzgerald. By the way, have you succeeded in receiving your <i>congé</i> +yet?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't yet received a definite answer."</p> + +<p>"Answer!—haven't you made it clear to her what that answer is to be?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so. In fact, I'm sure she must understand."</p> + +<p>"Then if she doesn't refuse you, you'll be quite justified in refusing +her."</p> + +<p>"I can't be too hard on a woman, Kent-Lauriston."</p> + +<p>"But you cannot marry her."</p> + +<p>"Not if my suspicions are true, and that my conference with the Colonel +to-morrow will prove.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> Now, don't say any more about it, for I want to +go to bed, and try not to think."</p> + +<p>Stanley slept little that night, and the arrival of an early telegram +from his Minister was a welcome relief. It contained only a brief word +of praise, and the information that John, the messenger, would arrive by +the ten o'clock train with a letter of instructions, pending the receipt +of which he was to take no action. This necessitated an early breakfast, +as the station was some distance away. Before leaving, however, he +sealed up the precious document he had found in the secret chamber, and +entrusted it to his friend's care; begging him, should he not return, +through any foul play of the Colonel's, to see it safely delivered to +his Chief in London.</p> + +<p>As he drove to the train he had plenty to occupy his thoughts. The +letter had been more damaging to the cause of the plotters than he could +have hoped. There was sufficient evidence to make out a complete case, +and only the intended forbearance of the government could shield the +Colonel from well-merited disgrace and condign punishment. In this +forbearance Stanley saw, so to speak, his card of re-entry: but he did +not see that fate was going to force him to play it in the first round +of the game. It was true he was here to bring Darcy to justice for +crimes committed against the State, but he must not be judged too +harshly for desiring to take advantage of his position to force the +Colonel to do justice in quarters not political. He had had great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> +provocation, and the man could be relied on to keep his word only when +the penalty for breaking it was actual rather than moral.</p> + +<p>Filled with these thoughts and impulses, he drew up for a moment on his +way to the station at Madame Darcy's cottage, but before he could get +down from the high dog-cart she came running out to meet him.</p> + +<p>"You have good news," she cried, "I can see it in your face."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said. "I got down, or rather fell down, inside the old tower +last night, and I have the precious packet in my possession."</p> + +<p>"Ah," she said. "I do not know whether I should be glad or sorry. If it +contains what I suspect, it must mean so much to me in many ways."</p> + +<p>"It is just for that reason that I stopped to see you," he replied. "I +wanted to set your mind at rest."</p> + +<p>"Then it does not contain incriminating evidence?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, it puts everyone connected with the plot completely in +my power."</p> + +<p>"But then——" she began.</p> + +<p>"But then," he continued, taking up her words, "I hope to be able to +save your husband from the fruits of his folly."</p> + +<p>"But is that possible?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so. I shall tell better after I have seen him. We are to have an +interview this morning, and all I can say now is, that you must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> trust +implicitly in me and believe that everything will come out all right in +the end."</p> + +<p>"I am so selfish that your words make me very happy," said Madame Darcy, +"when my heart should be filled with sorrow at the troubles of my +friend. This discovery must be a sad blow to you."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Why, in regard to Miss Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>The Secretary bit his lip.</p> + +<p>"It seems impossible," he said tersely, "for us to have a conversation +without introducing her name. Surely by this time you must know——"</p> + +<p>"I only know what you have told me," she replied.</p> + +<p>The Secretary started to say something and then thought better of it, +and contented himself by remarking:—</p> + +<p>"My eyes have been opened a good deal in the last few days, Inez."</p> + +<p>She reached up and took his hand in hers.</p> + +<p>"My friend," she said, "I understand."</p> + +<p>For a moment there was silence between them, and then pulling himself +together, he explained that he was on his way to an appointment. So he +left her, smiling at him through her tears, for in these few moments +Inez De Costa had found great sorrow and great joy.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The station, a small rustic affair, at which few trains stopped, seemed +at first glance to be bare<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> of passengers, and on accosting a porter, +the Secretary was informed that he had yet nearly fifteen minutes to +wait.</p> + +<p>"She's in a siding in the next station now, sir, waiting for the London +express to pass; it goes through here in about five minutes, and as soon +as the line's clear she'll be along."</p> + +<p>Stanley thanked him for his information, and, after spending a minute or +two with the station-master, negotiating for a match, he lighted a +cigarette and emerged on the little platform. To his surprise he found +it tenanted by a solitary figure, and that none other than Mr. Arthur +Riddle. If he had any luggage it must have been in the luggage-room, for +he was without sign of impedimenta, excepting a stout stick. He wore a +long, black travelling cloak, and his white, drawn face and the dark +circles under his eyes gave evidence of either a sleepless night or +great mental anxiety, perhaps of both. He held in his mouth an unlighted +cigar, which he was nervously chewing to pieces. Both men became aware +of each other's presence at the same instant; both unconsciously +hesitated to advance, and then both came forward. Stanley was the first +to speak.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't aware that you were leaving, Mr. Riddle."</p> + +<p>The man looked at him, with the expression of a hunted animal driven to +bay; a fear of something worse than death in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"How could you think I should do otherwise, after your discoveries of +last night?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think you're making a mistake. But I shan't try to prevent you. I've +no fear of losing you even in London. I could lay hands on you where I +wished."</p> + +<p>"My journey is much farther afield than London."</p> + +<p>"There are extradition laws."</p> + +<p>"Not where I'm going," he said.</p> + +<p>A shrill whistle smote the air, and the porter came hurrying out on the +platform, crying:—</p> + +<p>"The express, gentlemen, the express! Stand back, please!"</p> + +<p>Stanley noticed that unconsciously they had drawn rather near the edge.</p> + +<p>"Look out!" he said to Mr. Riddle. "The express is coming!"</p> + +<p>"In a moment," replied that gentleman. "I've just dropped my cigar," and +indeed it was lying at his feet.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up, then, the train is on us! You've no time to lose!"</p> + +<p>"I've time enough," he replied, bending deliberately forward.</p> + +<p>Some grim note in his voice awoke the Secretary to his true intentions. +There was only a second's leeway, the iron monster was even then +bursting out of the railway arch at the further end of the platform, +with the roar and rush of tremendous speed. Mr. Riddle was bending far +forward, overreaching his cigar, making no attempt to get it—was——</p> + +<p>Stanley flung his arms about his adversary's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> waist, and made a +superhuman effort to drag him back.</p> + +<p>"You meddling fool, let me alone!" shouted the other.</p> + +<p>"No!" panted the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"Then come too!" he cried, and rising up, he threw his arms about him, +and gathered himself to spring on to the rails in front of the train. +All seemed over, the cry of the porter rang in Stanley's ears, the +rattle of the train deafened him, the hot breath of the engine seemed +blowing in his face. Then somehow his foot caught his opponent's, and +the next instant they were falling—to death or life—he could not tell.</p> + +<p>A second later they lay prone on the platform. The express had passed +them, and vanished in a cloud of dust.</p> + +<p>In a moment the porter was assisting them to arise.</p> + +<p>"A narrow escape for Mr. Riddle," said the Secretary to the porter, as +he picked himself up and recovered his hat, which had rolled to one +side. "A very narrow escape from what might have been a nasty accident."</p> + +<p>"<i>Accident!</i>" exclaimed the porter, with a sarcasm which spoke louder +than words.</p> + +<p>"I said accident," replied Stanley, slipping a sovereign into the man's +hand, and looking him straight in the eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, quite right, sir. <i>Accident</i> it was. Thank ye, sir," and the porter +shuffled off, leaving them alone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I suppose you think you've been very clever," said Mr. Riddle, when +they were by themselves, "but I'll cheat you yet, never fear," and his +hand unconsciously sought a hidden pocket.</p> + +<p>"You need be under no apprehensions," the Secretary replied calmly. "I +shan't interfere to save your life again, or to prevent you from taking +it. I was moved to act as I did solely for the reason that I couldn't +bear to see any man throw away so priceless a possession, owing to a +misapprehension."</p> + +<p>"A misapprehension!" he said, startled.</p> + +<p>"Yes. You were desperate enough to contemplate committing suicide, +because you supposed you would inevitably be disgraced and punished."</p> + +<p>Riddle nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well, supposing that this were not the case?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" he cried, his face lighting up with the return of +hope.</p> + +<p>"I mean that it's in my power to let you go free."</p> + +<p>The man's face fell.</p> + +<p>"But there are conditions," he said.</p> + +<p>"There are no conditions."</p> + +<p>"How about the Company?"</p> + +<p>"It will not be proceeded against, out of a desire to avoid publicity. +Both governments will be informed confidentially of the true state of +affairs, and it will be carefully watched in the future. If the Company +is circumspect, it will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> safe. We merely wish to ensure the passage +of the Treaty. That is done already. Of course, considering the hands to +which you have confided it, you will probably lose your £40,000."</p> + +<p>"I should refuse to receive it under the circumstances."</p> + +<p>"So I supposed. I'm expecting a messenger with important instructions +from London, so must await the arrival of the down train. If you'll take +a seat in the dog-cart, I'll join you presently."</p> + +<p>Mr. Riddle bowed, took a few steps in the direction desired, and then +pausing, swung round and faced the Secretary, saying:—</p> + +<p>"What return can I make you for saving my life?"</p> + +<p>"I've only followed my instructions," he replied. "You owe me nothing. I +admit, though, that my impulse to save you arose strongly from the fact +that I believed you were fitted for better things."</p> + +<p>"I am, Mr. Stanley, I am. Believe me, with this exception, I've lived a +clean life. I was swept into this thing by the force of circumstances, +and in the hope of saving a rotten concern, whose downfall might have +ruined hundreds of innocent persons."</p> + +<p>"I believe you," said the Secretary. "Here comes the train. I shall +expect to find you in the dog-cart."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE DAY OF RECKONING</h3> + +<p>Stanley sat in his room. Before him lay an open letter; below in the +hall, John and the Colonel sat waiting his call. The faithful Legation +messenger being well informed that once Darcy was closeted with his +master, he was to receive the precious letter of evidence from +Kent-Lauriston, and return with all speed to London.</p> + +<p>But first the Secretary wished to read and re-read his Chief's +instructions. It was a clear, concise document, occupying only two +sheets of note-paper. Not a word wasted, yet all necessary information +given, it ran as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Your satisfactory message received and telegraphed to the +Executive in cipher, without delay. I may inform you that it +is not the intention of the government to prosecute, if the +case presented is sufficiently strong to warrant submission +from the recalcitrant members of the cabinet. I leave it to +your discretion to arrest Darcy. Do not do so if you can +obtain his confession without it. We do not wish to proceed +against the agents, but against the principals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> We will do +so, however, if you advise. The points we must prove are as +follows:—</p> + +<p>"1st. Evidence of the names of members of the cabinet who +are to receive bribes.</p> + +<p>"2d. Evidence of the amounts to be received.</p> + +<p>"3d. Evidence relating to the Company offering the bribes.</p> + +<p>"Send proofs by John, at once, and report to me as soon as +possible.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"As ever,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"X——"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>On a separate sheet of paper was the following:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Private and Confidential.</i></p> + +<p>"I have, in the foregoing, written you a letter which you +might show, if necessary, to any of the principals in this +affair, should such a course seem advisable. If you obtain +possession of the money, in round numbers, £40,000, use it +as your discretion suggests. We do not care to handle it +officially. You may find it useful in obtaining evidence.</p> + +<p>"I have also to inform you that your most satisfactory +conduct in this affair will certainly gain you immediate +promotion, though it seems desirable that you should return +home first, and almost at once, in the capacity of witness, +if you are needed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Entre nous</i>, I have received a cable from Señor De Costa, +requesting me to send his daughter, Madame Darcy, home, as +soon as suitable escort<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> can be provided. I have replied, +nominating you for the post, an office which, I imagine, you +will not find irksome. Make this known to Madame Darcy, if +she is still in Sussex, and use your discretion in this +matter as in all other things. Do not act hastily in +anything. You have a great responsibility for one so young, +but I am confident you will discharge it to my satisfaction.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 32em;">"Cordially,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 34em;">"X——"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Stanley sat idly for a few minutes, fingering the papers before him. He +might seem to be wasting valuable time; as a matter of fact he was very +hard at work.</p> + +<p>Finally he arose, and, with an air of quick decision, as of one who had +made up his mind, he stepped to the opposite wall, and touched the bell. +A moment later there came a heavy step on the stairs, a knock, and +without waiting for an answer, Colonel Darcy entered the room, threw +himself into the most comfortable chair, and scrutinised keenly the +little bundle of papers, which the Secretary was in the act of putting +into an inside pocket.</p> + +<p>Stanley noticed the glance, and replied to the unspoken question, by +saying abruptly:—</p> + +<p>"It may facilitate matters between us, if I tell you that the evidence +is no longer in my possession. It has been sent to the Legation."</p> + +<p>The Colonel nodded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should prefer this to be a purely business interview," continued the +young diplomat, "and to that end I will state my case and my conditions, +after which you can make any answers or comments you think best."</p> + +<p>Another nod from his companion was the only answer he received, so he +accordingly proceeded.</p> + +<p>"The Executive of my government received, some time ago, information of +a plot to defeat a treaty, now pending with Great Britain. The subject +of this treaty was an island and sand-bar, lying at the mouth of the +—— river, on which the —— Company have erected large mills for the +manufacture of a staple product of my country. As long as we held the +island, they secured by government contracts a practical monopoly of the +article in question; by the cession of it to Great Britain their +business would be much impaired. Do I state the case clearly?"</p> + +<p>"I've never heard it put better," replied the Colonel, with a calmness +that was admirable.</p> + +<p>"Very well—we'll now proceed to the next point. The firm considered +that my government's grants were worth to them, the round sum of two +hundred thousand dollars, or forty thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"In gold, sovereigns," acquiesced Darcy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've one of them in my possession."</p> + +<p>The Colonel nodded as usual. He evidently felt it idle to waste words in +the face of such incontrovertible evidence.</p> + +<p>"This amount was to be divided among a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> majority of the committee, who +would pass on the treaty, thus insuring its defeat. The names of the +members who would receive bribes, and the amount to be given to each, +being arranged beforehand—by you."</p> + +<p>Darcy's face was immovable.</p> + +<p>"I said by <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p>"I heard you."</p> + +<p>"You've nothing to say?"</p> + +<p>"The accused," said the Colonel, "is never required to convict himself."</p> + +<p>"You're quite within your rights; we'll let it pass. I make the +statement; you neither affirm or deny it."</p> + +<p>"Go on," said Darcy.</p> + +<p>"You then come to Sussex to receive the funds from Mr. Riddle, the most +important shareholder."</p> + +<p>"You're mistaken. Miss Fitzgerald received the money from Mr. Riddle," +remarked the Colonel.</p> + +<p>"You say nothing of your part in the transaction," commented the +Secretary, sternly.</p> + +<p>"I thought you wanted the truth of the matter."</p> + +<p>"I do—go on."</p> + +<p>"When the Company found, thanks to your conversation with, and +infatuation for, Miss Fitzgerald, that you had in all probability been +set to spy upon us, it was deemed better that I should play a +subordinate part," continued Darcy. "Accordingly she was selected to do +all the dirty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> work in this country—collect the money and forward it to +London."</p> + +<p>"What part did Kingsland play?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever, except that of carrier. I sounded him some weeks ago, +and found him too loose-tongued for our purposes. It was Belle's scheme +to let him take the treasure to town, and he actually believed the +cock-and-bull story she told him about the stereopticon slides."</p> + +<p>"As soon as you recovered your lost letter of instructions, you intended +to go to London, draw out the forty thousand pounds, embark for my +country, and distribute the bribes," resumed Stanley, "but, +unfortunately for you, your plans are upset entirely. I have in my +possession not only your letter of instructions, but also the name of +the bank in which the money now lies, and where it can be detained at my +orders."</p> + +<p>At this point the Colonel's reserve entirely broke down.</p> + +<p>"You hold all the trumps, damn you!" he cried. "Give me your terms and +conditions."</p> + +<p>"It's not the intention of my government to prosecute the corrupt +members of the cabinet for a variety of reasons, which, even with your +views on the subject of honour, you'll undoubtedly approve."</p> + +<p>Darcy flushed, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"In the first place," continued the Secretary, "the Executive has no +desire to wash the government's dirty linen in public, and the story is +not so creditable that it should be spread abroad.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> All that is needed +is to insure the passage of the treaty; and it is thought, and thought +rightly, that a warning to the opposition, if the true facts are known, +and can be proved if necessary, would be quite sufficient to remove +their obstruction. Of course, the more overwhelming the proof, the more +potent the warning; and, while it's not necessary, understand that, I +should prefer your signed confession to round out my case."</p> + +<p>"What do you offer in return?"</p> + +<p>"Immunity from prosecution."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"<i>All!</i> Colonel Darcy, I'd have you to know that it's left entirely to +my discretion how to proceed against you. I have it in my power to order +your arrest, with a certain term of imprisonment at hard labour."</p> + +<p>"Would my evidence be used publicly?"</p> + +<p>"I think I can assure against that in any case."</p> + +<p>"What assurance have I that your government will play me fair if I turn +state's evidence?"</p> + +<p>Stanley thought a moment, and then handed him the Minister's open +letter.</p> + +<p>The Colonel perused it, nodded quietly, and said:—</p> + +<p>"It will do. I accept the terms. Damn it, I can't do otherwise! Give me +pen, ink, and paper. What do you want me to write?"</p> + +<p>"In substance what I've said to you."</p> + +<p>"Very well."</p> + +<p>"Kindly leave out all reference, by name, to Lieutenant Kingsland and +Miss Fitzgerald."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ha! I suppose you still think she's an angel."</p> + +<p>"I know she is a woman, Colonel Darcy."</p> + +<p>For some time there was no sound in the room but the scratching of pen +to paper. At length, however, the Colonel raised his head from his work, +and, pushing it towards the Secretary, said laconically:—</p> + +<p>"Will it do?"</p> + +<p>"Quite," replied Stanley, after perusing it. "Will you sign it, please? +Thanks, I'll witness."</p> + +<p>"There," said the Colonel, rising. "That closes our interview."</p> + +<p>"Not quite yet, Colonel. I've still an advantageous offer to make to +you, in reward for some further concessions of a different character. +The case for the government is closed. Our private affairs yet remain to +be settled."</p> + +<p>"By Gad! You're right there! They do!"</p> + +<p>"There is that little trifle of the forty thousand pounds. Suppose I was +to give you that amount."</p> + +<p>"What!!!" exclaimed his hearer, petrified with astonishment. "You mean +to say that you will give it to me?"</p> + +<p>"Never, Colonel, never! I shall go to the Victoria Street Branch of the +Bank of England in London, say the day after to-morrow, to warn them +about the money. If you draw it out before that time, why, it's my +misfortune. I'll be perfectly frank with you, Colonel Darcy. My +government doesn't want the handling of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> coin, its disposal is left +to me. You see it's for everybody's interest to lose this large sum. +When the cabinet knows that the truth has been discovered—they know it +now, by the way—it was cabled in cipher—there's not one of them who +would touch a penny of it. The company can't receive it without giving a +receipt, which might prove damaging evidence; while neither government +can take it without becoming a party to the transaction. I'm willing to +give it to you, if you'll do two things in return. Two disagreeable +things, I admit, to a conscientious man; but they're each worth twenty +thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"I'd sell my soul for that!" said he with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"My dear Colonel, are you sure you have it to sell?"</p> + +<p>"What are the conditions?"</p> + +<p>"First, that you consent to a divorce from Madame Darcy."</p> + +<p>"Humph! That's a nice thing to ask a man. Moreover, it's not worth +anything. In fact it's a clear loss. My wife's property, of which I have +the use, is worth far more than that."</p> + +<p>"But you don't have the use of it, Colonel."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should have to pay alimony—then."</p> + +<p>"I'll guarantee you against that. Moreover, she'd get her divorce in any +event, and then you'd have nothing."</p> + +<p>"You're quite right. A pretty woman, who knows how to have hysterics, +can get anything in a court of law. My wife's an expert in the latter +accomplishment, and she's good-looking enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> to corrupt any jury that +was ever empanelled. I give in, it's no use playing a losing game. Now +for the second."</p> + +<p>"The second is purely confidential."</p> + +<p>"Go on."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know exactly what you and Miss Fitzgerald expected to +receive for this transaction, and whether these letters," producing the +ones Madame Darcy had given him, "do not relate solely to it?"</p> + +<p>Darcy laughed.</p> + +<p>"You're paying rather a high price for that young lady's character," he +said.</p> + +<p>"A woman's character should be above any price, Colonel Darcy. We seem +to have differing standards of value, which does not, however, alter the +main question of whether you will accede to my conditions."</p> + +<p>"Certainly I will, and permit me to tell you that you're paying more +than either of them is worth."</p> + +<p>"That is for me to decide."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. Now how do you wish me to aid in my wife's divorce?"</p> + +<p>"A statement signed by you, to the effect that you would not contest a +suit for divorce—say on the grounds of incompatibility of temper, +coupled by your promise of non-interference, would be sufficient. As +Madame Darcy is not a Catholic, and her father is a power in his own +country, she would have no trouble, legal or religious, in using such +evidence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, is that all?" said the Colonel, manifestly relieved. "I supposed +you wanted statutory grounds."</p> + +<p>"I wish to save your wife as much pain and annoyance as possible, and it +would be well if you felt the same."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Darcy. "So that's the way the land lies, is it? A very +interesting way for a young man who is in love with one of the women, +and engaged to the other."</p> + +<p>"You'll please attend to business, and not discuss my affairs," broke in +the Secretary, sharply.</p> + +<p>"Quite right, quite right; pardon me—there, it's only a few lines, but +I think it will give my wife her freedom when she requires it," and he +handed him a paper, adding:—"Now let me go."</p> + +<p>"Two things you've forgotten," said Stanley. "Your promise not to appear +against your wife in her suit for divorce——"</p> + +<p>"That's understood!"</p> + +<p>"Do you give it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I promise not to appear against my wife in her suit for divorce, +or in any way to impede its progress. Does that satisfy you? You'll find +I'm a man of my word, Mr. Stanley, when I'm as well paid for it, as in +the present case."</p> + +<p>"Now what did you expect to receive from this transaction?"</p> + +<p>"Ten per cent. on the amount distributed—say four thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"I see. And what did you propose to give to Miss Fitzgerald?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I said I'd share it with her."</p> + +<p>"That is, you'd each have two thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"Exactly—but she's such a mercenary, avaricious little baggage, she +struck for more; said she had the most dangerous part to perform, and by +Gad! they allotted her three-fourths."</p> + +<p>"Three thousand pounds. Quite a neat little sum."</p> + +<p>"Rather! I was only to receive one thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"Now about those letters?"</p> + +<p>Darcy looked them over hurriedly, and remarked:—</p> + +<p>"Purely commercial."</p> + +<p>"So I supposed. But how do you explain that sentence in your letter, in +which you refer to there being a happy future for both of you?"</p> + +<p>The Colonel thrust his hands in his pockets, and looked the Secretary +squarely in the face.</p> + +<p>"See here, Stanley," he said. "I'm not altogether a cad, and I'll be +damned if I explain any more."</p> + +<p>The Secretary flushed, and there was an awkward silence, which he broke +by speaking nervously.</p> + +<p>"That's all, I think," he continued, "except—I suppose you'll have no +trouble in getting the money?"</p> + +<p>Darcy laughed.</p> + +<p>"Give me twenty-four hours," he said.</p> + +<p>The Secretary nodded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I must be going," remarked the Colonel regretfully, as if he was +just bringing to a close a protracted, but delightful, interview. +"You've paid a high price for rather indifferent goods, young man, and +to show you that I'm dealing fair, I'll throw in a bit of advice. Drop +our Irish friend as soon as you know how. Take my word for it, she's a +thoroughly bad lot. I don't care what you're worth, she'd run through it +in five years, and then——"</p> + +<p>"Don't say it!" commanded the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"As you like, it's the truth. The money will be in the Victoria Street +Branch of the Bank of England till day after to-morrow? Yes. Thank you, +Mr. Stanley. Trust you're satisfied. I am. Good day."</p> + +<p>The door closed. He was gone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE PRICE OF KNOWLEDGE</h3> + +<p>"I can never thank you sufficiently for all you've done, old man," said +Stanley to Kent-Lauriston, as the latter stood beside him, a few moments +later.</p> + +<p>"Which means," said his friend, "that you are going to ask me to do you +another favour."</p> + +<p>"How well you understand human nature," replied the Secretary, smiling +sadly. "Yes, it's quite true; I want you to go to—<i>her</i>—you +understand, for me. I meant to go myself, but after what Darcy has told +me, it's impossible."</p> + +<p>"It's infinitely better to leave the affair in my hands. It will be +easier for both of you."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it. You once said to me, you may remember, that it required +more skill to break than to make an engagement, and I'm certain that +you'd do this with great tact, and that I should blunder. You'll make it +as easy for her as you can, I know—perhaps she'll save you any +awkwardness by breaking it off herself. From what she said yesterday, I +should think it possible."</p> + +<p>"I trust so."</p> + +<p>"Here are her letters to me—you'll take them back."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I will. Do you feel sure of yourself?"</p> + +<p>"You need have no fears on that account. I think Madame Darcy was right +when she told me once that she was certain that I'd never loved."</p> + +<p>"What reason did she give for that statement?"</p> + +<p>"Reason—that's just it, she said I'd reasoned about my love, therefore +it couldn't be real."</p> + +<p>"Madame Darcy is a very clever woman."</p> + +<p>"And a very charming one."</p> + +<p>"I fully agree with you, but of course she has her drawbacks."</p> + +<p>"You think so?"</p> + +<p>"Her present position is, to say the least, equivocal; and as a +divorcée——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, come, Kent-Lauriston, can't you let anyone alone? I never think of +those things in connection with her. She's just Madame Darcy—that's +all. She forms her own environment; one is so completely dominated by +her presence, that other circumstances connected with her don't occur to +one."</p> + +<p>"In other words, you do not reason."</p> + +<p>"Kent-Lauriston!"</p> + +<p>"There, I won't say it—only you admit that so far I've known you better +than you've known yourself.— Yes?— Well, do not forget what I once +told you before. You can never love a woman whom you cannot respect, and +no woman who respects herself would permit even a hint of a man's +affections until she was free to receive them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> Any such premature +attempt would be fatal to his suit."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Stanley, "I won't forget;" and then, with a touch of +his old humour, which the responsibilities of the last few days had +nearly crushed out, he added: "You're not going to try to save me +again?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, one experience of that sort has been quite enough," +replied Kent-Lauriston, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Now about this present matter," continued the Secretary. "I don't want +you to think me callous or shallow, because I don't appear all broken +up; it has hit me very hard. I admit I was a fool, that I took for real +passion a sort of sentimentalism born of pity; but, nevertheless, I was +honest in my self-deception, and I assure you, even though you may laugh +at me, that could I restore her to the innocent girl I believed her to +be a few days ago; could I even be assured that she'd join this +conspiracy to help a friend, and not as a cold-blooded speculation; I'd +gladly marry her with all her faults, and give up my life to leading her +into better paths."</p> + +<p>"I do not laugh at you, my boy," said Kent-Lauriston. "I respect you for +it, I believe you, too; but, as I said in our first interview on this +subject, you're too good for her; and she has underrated what she is not +fitted to understand."</p> + +<p>"There, go now," said the Secretary. "If I talk of this any more, I +shall be unnerved, and I've need of all my self-control to-day. Go and +do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> the best you can. Be gentle and tender for my sake. I suppose I +ought to face the matter myself, but I can't bear to. I simply can't +look her in the face—now I know——" and he bent his head, choking back +a sob.</p> + +<p>His friend pressed his hand silently, and left the room.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Just one moment, if you please, Colonel Darcy," Kent-Lauriston had +said, overtaking that officer as he was crossing the park, about an hour +after his interview with Stanley.</p> + +<p>"I can't stop just now, I'm in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you can—you can spare me a minute—a minute for an old +acquaintance, who knew you when you were only a Lieutenant, like our +friend Kingsland; a Lieutenant in Derbyshire, who had aspirations for +the hand of Lord ——'s daughter."</p> + +<p>"Which you frustrated, damn you! I haven't forgotten."</p> + +<p>"Or the evidence which led to such an unfortunate result? Affairs of +that sort are not outlawed by the lapse of years; you understand?"</p> + +<p>"What do you want of me? Speak! My time is of value."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know—about forty thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"Humph! Go on, will you. I'll tell you what you want, only be quick +about it."</p> + +<p>"I merely want to know the exact and real truth of Miss Fitzgerald's +connection with this bribery and corruption business."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I told your friend, the Secretary."</p> + +<p>"I know what you <i>told</i> him, he's just retailed it to me; but you will +pardon me, if I state that, as an observer, of human nature, I don't +believe it."</p> + +<p>"I've said what I've said," replied the Colonel, surlily.</p> + +<p>"Let us see if we can't arrive at a mutual understanding," continued +Kent-Lauriston, suavely. "You wish to injure the girl and make her +marriage with my friend impossible, because you think she's betrayed +you. I wish to render the marriage impossible, because I don't care to +see this young man make a fool of himself by marrying a girl who's after +his money, and who has nothing to offer in return. Our ends are +identical, our motives only are different. Do you follow me?"</p> + +<p>The Colonel nodded.</p> + +<p>"Now," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "you've told a very clever circumstantial +story, which has ruined her in Stanley's eyes, and has stopped the +match, as we both wished. Its only flaw lies in the fact that it is not +true. If he finds this out, he'll marry her in spite of us; but he is +much less likely to find it out if I know the real state of the case, +and, as a corollary, the weak points of your narrative, and so am able +to prevent the discovery. Do you believe me?"</p> + +<p>"I never knew you to tell a lie—it's not in your line."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. Therefore, will you tell <i>me</i> the truth?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The truth, then, is that Belle didn't instigate the plot. I got her out +of a scrape some years ago, and she was grateful, and lent me a hand +with this, purely out of friendship. She doesn't expect to get a penny +in reward. It was her idea, however, of using Kingsland to forward the +stuff."</p> + +<p>"Kingsland knew nothing about it?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all. He thought the chests contained stereopticon slides."</p> + +<p>"That's the real truth then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but if you blow it to Stanley, I'll tell him your share in this +little arrangement."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston looked at him, coldly. "You said you were in a hurry, +Colonel Darcy," he remarked. "Don't let me detain you."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"I consider it providential," said the Marchioness.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts said nothing. It was this trait that rendered her so +admirable as a hostess and a friend.</p> + +<p>"Of course," continued her Ladyship, "I had long known that there was +some sentiment between my dear Isabelle and Lieutenant Kingsland, and if +I had supposed there was anything serious, they would at once have had +my blessing, and—er—a wedding in St. George's, and—everything that +religion requires. Their secret marriage was childish and +ridiculous—because it was not opposed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts still held her peace.</p> + +<p>"I say," continued the Dowager, "that it was not opposed; of course Mr. +Stanley——"</p> + +<p>"Ah," said her hostess, seeing that she was expected to intervene: "Mr. +Stanley—what of him?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, my dear Mrs. Roberts, he's a most excellent young man; +but he comes from a Catholic country—and—er—the influence is so +insidious, that, on consideration, I didn't really feel—that my duty as +a mother would permit me to countenance the match further."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts said nothing, she had been ill-used in this particular, she +felt, and withheld her sympathy accordingly.</p> + +<p>The Dowager appreciated the position, and acted promptly.</p> + +<p>"Your dear niece, Miss Fitzgerald, such a charming girl," she continued, +"doubtless feels as I do. Her throwing Stanley over unreservedly was +most commendable, and reflected much credit on your influence, dear Mrs. +Roberts."</p> + +<p>Her hostess was mollified, and showed it. The Dowager's position +promised to turn defeat into triumph.</p> + +<p>"You're most kind, I'm sure," she murmured. "Belle was naturally guided +by me," and then changing a dangerous subject, she continued, "It is so +sad that Lieutenant Kingsland's honeymoon should be darkened by his +uncle's death."</p> + +<p>Her Ladyship dried an imaginary tear, and added:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"If one believes in Providence, one must of course believe that these +things are for the best."</p> + +<p>"Here comes the Secretary," said Mrs. Roberts. "Does he know?"</p> + +<p>"I must tell him," replied the Dowager. "It's my painful duty."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Roberts precipitately left the room.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mr. Stanley," murmured the Dowager, "I was just on the point of +sending for you; you've come most opportunely. I feel I must speak to +you about my dear daughter. She is a sadly wilful girl, and I fear——"</p> + +<p>"Don't speak of it, your Ladyship. I know, that is, I've heard; and +permit me to offer my congratulations on your daughter's recent marriage +to Lieutenant Kingsland," he said, throwing into his voice what he +trusted might pass for a note of resignation.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mr. Stanley," said the Dowager, infinitely relieved, "you are so +tactful, so generous——"</p> + +<p>"I hope she'll be happy."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes—yes—we must hope so." And her Ladyship sighed deeply. "<i>You</i>, +of course, know what I wished from my heart."</p> + +<p>"I'm going away," he said abruptly, "this afternoon in fact. I'm +assigned on a diplomatic service, which, for the present, may take me +out of England, so you'll make my adieux to Lady Isabelle, will you +not?"</p> + +<p>"I—er—trust you do not contemplate doing anything—foolish?"</p> + +<p>"You may set your mind at rest on that score."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You relieve me immensely—you'll excuse me if I'm too frank. I've come +so near being a—er—mother to you, I feel a peculiar interest in your +welfare. May I venture to express the hope, that you'll not commit +yourself with that young Irish person?"</p> + +<p>"Your ladyship may feel quite easy— Miss Fitzgerald and I have never +been more than friends, and in the future——"</p> + +<p>"Of course one must be kind; but a young man cannot be too careful. I +assure you in regard to the young woman in question, that I was told in +strict confidence—the most shocking——"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he interrupted, "but I couldn't think of violating your +strict confidence," and he passed by her out of the room.</p> + +<p>"That young man," said the Dowager, in summing him up to a friend, "has +tact, but lacks reserve."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE PRICE OF LOVE</h3> + +<p>"Have you come to insult me, Mr. Kent-Lauriston?"</p> + +<p>Isabelle Fitzgerald stood in a wooded recess of the park, beside a young +sapling; the one no more fair and tall and glorious with the joy of +living than the other. Kent-Lauriston was beside her, hat in hand, with +just the trace of a cynical smile about his parted lips; but serious +enough with it all, well realising the gravity of the task he had +undertaken, and pitying from his heart the fair girl who stood white and +scornful before him, her garden hat hanging from its ribbon, +unconsciously held in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Have you come to insult me, Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" She said it defiantly, +as if it were a gage of battle.</p> + +<p>"I have come to apologise to you," he replied quietly.</p> + +<p>"You tell me that <i>he</i> has sent you to me. Well, I know what that means. +I <i>knew</i> why you came to the Hall, I would have stopped you if I could. +You were my enemy, I felt it the moment I saw you. I <i>knew</i> you would +have your way then. What chance had an unfortunate girl, whose only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +hope rested in the love of the man she loved, as against one who has +made hundreds of matches, and broken hundreds of hearts? You owe me an +apology you think—it is very good of you, I appreciate it deeply," and +she made him an obeisance.</p> + +<p>"I've not come to apologise to you for any point that I've gained, but +for the means I must employ to gain it."</p> + +<p>"Really," she said, her eyes blazing. "This <i>is</i> a condescension. Are +not any means good enough to cope with an adventuress like myself—a +young woman who is deterred by no conventions, and no maidenly reserve; +whose every art and wile is strained to lure on to their fate weak and +unsuspecting young men. Is it possible that such a person has any rights +that need be respected?"</p> + +<p>"Really, Miss Fitzgerald," said Kent-Lauriston, placidly, "you surprise +me. In addition to the numerous virtues, which I'm confident you +possess, I'd added in my own mind that paramount one, of cool +clear-headedness. This lady, I had told myself, is at all events +perfectly free from hysteria or nervous affections; she can discuss an +unpleasant subject, if necessary, in its practical bearings, without +flying into a fit of rage, and wandering hopelessly from the point. It +appears that I was mistaken."</p> + +<p>"No," she replied brusquely, "you are not; You've summed up my character +very well, but you must remember that you've nothing to gain or lose in +this matter. You're merely playing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> game—directing the moves of the +pawns. The problem is interesting, amusing, if you like, but whether you +win or lose, you've nothing wagered on the result. But the pawn! Its +very existence is at stake—a false move is made, and it disappears from +the board."</p> + +<p>"Quite true! But the pawn has a better chance of life, if the moves are +considered calmly, than if played at random; it is then inevitably +lost."</p> + +<p>"You're right," she said, seating herself on a grassy bank near by: +"perfectly right. Let us talk this matter over calmly. I shan't forget +myself again."</p> + +<p>He seated himself beside her.</p> + +<p>"Now frankly," she continued, "before you saw me, or spoke to me, you'd +made up your mind to save your friend from my clutches, had you not? I +beg your pardon—doubtless, you'd disapprove of such an +expression—we'll say, you had determined to prevent him from marrying +me."</p> + +<p>"Frankly speaking, yes, I had."</p> + +<p>"But you knew nothing about me; you could know nothing about me, except +on hearsay."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me—I knew your late father, and I was at Colonel Belleston's, +when you ran off with his heir-apparent, and were not found till half +the country-side had been searched, and the dinner quite spoiled."</p> + +<p>"But Georgie Belleston was only eight, and I scarcely twelve. We had +determined, I remember, to join a circus—no, he wanted to fight +Indians; but it was childish nonsense."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The spirit was there, nevertheless. But in the present case I was +considering Mr. Stanley, I must confess, rather than yourself. The +world, my dear young lady, is an open market, a prosaic, mercantile +world."</p> + +<p>"Don't you suppose I know that?"</p> + +<p>"I'm willing to believe it if you wish me to do so. It will help us to +understand the commonsense proposition that marriageable young men, like +cabbages, have a market value, and that a young man like our friend, who +has a great deal to offer, should—shall I be perfectly plain, and +say—should expect a pretty handsome return for himself."</p> + +<p>"And you didn't think that I'd much to offer," she said, laughing. "In +other words, that you'd be selling your cabbages very cheap. Eh?"</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston said nothing, but she saw the impression she had +produced, and bit her lips in mortified rage. She wished at least to win +this man's respect, and she was showing herself to him in her very worst +light.</p> + +<p>"I had, as you say," she continued, "nothing to offer Mr. Stanley but my +love; but I dare say you don't believe in love, Mr. Kent-Lauriston."</p> + +<p>"Not believe in love? My dear young lady, it forms the basis of every +possible marriage."</p> + +<p>"Does it never form the <i>whole</i> of such a union?"</p> + +<p>"Only too often, but these are the impossible marriages, and ninety-nine +per cent. of them prove failures, or worse."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can't believe you—if one loves, nothing else counts."</p> + +<p>"Quite true for the time being, but God help the man or woman who +mistakes the passion aroused by a pretty face or form for the real +lasting article, and wagers his life on it."</p> + +<p>"You've never married; you can, therefore, talk as you please."</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Fitzgerald, if I'd ever married, I should probably not +talk at all."</p> + +<p>"You don't regard our affair as serious?"</p> + +<p>"Not on Mr. Stanley's side?"</p> + +<p>"And on mine?"</p> + +<p>"That we shall see later on; but my young friend is in his salad days, +and he's not responsible, but he is almost too honest."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you'll say I tempted him."</p> + +<p>"N-o—but you let him fall."</p> + +<p>"However, you were at hand to rescue him. I wonder you should have +wasted your valuable time in going through the formality of consulting +me over so trivial an affair."</p> + +<p>"But it's not trivial. I thought it was till this morning, now I've +changed my mind. It's very serious. I've a right to save my friend from +making a fool of himself, when he only is the real sufferer; but it's a +very different question when the rights of another person are involved, +especially when that person is a woman."</p> + +<p>"So you've come to me?"</p> + +<p>"To persuade you, if possible, to relinquish those rights."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p> + +<p>"For his sake?"</p> + +<p>"No, for your own."</p> + +<p>"Really—that's a novel point of view to take of the matter."</p> + +<p>"You think so. I only want you to see the affair in its true light, to +realise that the game isn't worth the candle."</p> + +<p>"I think you'll find it difficult to prove that."</p> + +<p>"We shall see. Suppose I state the case. Here are you, a charming young +lady of good family, but no means, thrown on your own resources; in a +word, with the opportunity of marrying a—shall we say, <i>pliable</i>—young +man, of good official standing, and an undoubtedly large income and +principal; who is infatuated—thinks he's fallen in love with you, and +whom you really love. There, have I stated the case fairly?"</p> + +<p>"So fairly, that you'll find it difficult to prove your point."</p> + +<p>"Let me continue. Suppose you're married; grand ceremonial, great +<i>éclat</i>, delighted friends and relatives, handsome presents, diamonds +and all—he'd do the thing well—honeymoon, say, the Riviera—limit, +three months—what next? Where are you going to live? London? It won't +do. Property—that property you're so interested in—can't take care of +itself; the young heir of those broad plantations must go home and learn +the business. Your practical mind shows you the necessity of that. Do +you know the life of his native country? No? Your nearest neighbours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +thirty miles away, and deadly dull at that; your climate a damp, sultry +fog; your amusements, sleeping in a hammock two-thirds of the day, when +the mosquitoes will let you, and your husband's society, as sole +company, the rest of the time. After two or three years, or perhaps four +or five—long enough to ruin your matchless complexion, and cause you +both to be forgotten by all your friends, except those who can't afford +to do so—you come back to London for a nice long visit—say three +months. How you will enjoy it! Let me see, what do you most like? +Horses, riding, hunting? Ever heard the Secretary's ideas on hunting?"</p> + +<p>She laughed nervously, and Kent-Lauriston pursued his subject.</p> + +<p>"Then he's so indefatigable at balls and parties; I've known him to stay +half an hour, when he's been feeling fit! His friends, too, such dear +old fogies, like your esteemed aunt, not like <i>your</i> friends—you know +how fond he is of them. The Kingslands and Darcys of your acquaintance +would simply revel in the house of a man who never plays cards for +money, and can't tell an eighty from a ninety-eight champagne—and he'd +be master in his own house, too—you received an ultimatum yesterday. A +man who will do that to a woman to whom he isn't even quite engaged will +command his wife and see that she obeys him. You would have before you +the choice of living in an atmosphere and associating with people +entirely uncongenial to you, or living wholly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> apart from your husband; +either would be intolerable. Have I proved my point?"</p> + +<p>"You've forgotten to include in your charming sketch that I should still +have the comforts of life, and, what is more important, a house to cover +me, enough to eat and drink, and clothes to wear—things which I have +sometimes in the past found it pretty difficult to obtain."</p> + +<p>"True, but you'd be paying too high a price for them, much too high. +Take my word for it, again and again you'd long to be back in your +present state; yes, and in harder straits than you are now."</p> + +<p>"What you say to me could be equally well applied to Mr. Stanley, in +reverse."</p> + +<p>"Quite so; it sums up in the mere fact, that you two have nothing in +common except passion and sentimentality, very frail corner stones on +which to build a life's happiness. You're not even companionable. What +are you going to talk about for the rest of your lives? It's an +appalling prospect. I want to save you both from making a very bad +bargain."</p> + +<p>"I don't agree with you," she cried vehemently, springing to her feet, +"not at all; but what difference does it make? I know well enough I'm +not really to be consulted as to the issue; you'd never have had the +effrontery to speak to me as you have done, if you were not already sure +of the game. To use a commercial phrase, you've cornered the market, and +can make what terms you please. I must accede to them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You entirely mistake the situation, Miss Fitzgerald," he said, calmly +rising, and facing her. "It is you who have cornered the market, and it +is I who must buy at your price."</p> + +<p>"Explain yourself! What do you mean?" she cried, a gleam of hope, almost +of triumph, lighting up her face.</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston was now playing a bold game.</p> + +<p>"I mean," he replied, "that circumstances have rendered me powerless to +prevent Mr. Stanley's marrying you, if you allow him to do so."</p> + +<p>"Tell me!——" she exclaimed abruptly.</p> + +<p>"It's for that purpose that I've sought you out."</p> + +<p>She nodded. She was watching him guardedly.</p> + +<p>"I've admitted that our young friend was in love with you. I don't say +you encouraged him, but you certainly excited his pity, a very dangerous +proceeding with a person of his nature."</p> + +<p>"What's all this to do with my position?"</p> + +<p>"A great deal," resumed Kent-Lauriston. "You see, I want you to +understand your hold over Mr. Stanley—it's really because he pities +you." The girl flushed painfully. "Excuse me if I speak things which are +unpleasant, but you most understand your weakness, and your strength. +You've nearly ruined yourself by being too clever, and now, by the +wildest stroke of luck, you're in a very strong position."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind speaking plainly?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. In a word, the situation is just this. Within the last few +days, Mr. Stanley has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> made three discoveries about you, which have gone +far to destroy his sympathy for you, and make him believe that his pity +or his love, as he chooses to call it, has been misplaced. Two of these +discoveries I believe to be true; one—the worst—I know to be false. If +he discovers how shockingly you've been maligned, he'll probably forget +the past, and, in a burst of contrition at having so misjudged you, will +do what his common sense forbids—I mean, marry you."</p> + +<p>"You're really becoming interesting. I had underrated your abilities. +Pray be more explicit," she said, quite at her ease at these reassuring +words, and putting Kent-Lauriston down, mentally, as a fool for giving +the game away, when he need only have kept silent to have had it all in +his own hands.</p> + +<p>He read her thoughts and smiled quietly, for, by her expression, he +could gauge the depth of her subtlety. She was no match for him, if she +were innocent enough to believe him capable of such folly.</p> + +<p>"You compliment me," he returned, "but to go on—in the first place, he +learned of your connection with Lady Isabelle's marriage. It opened his +eyes somewhat."</p> + +<p>"She told him?"</p> + +<p>"She did. You forced her to do so, by your threat against her husband."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald bit her lip, and said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Lady Isabelle," continued Kent-Lauriston, "in appealing to the +Secretary to save her husband,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> gave him the clue he was searching for; +which resulted in his discovery of the friendly turn you had done the +Lieutenant, in making him unconsciously, shall we say, <i>particeps +criminis</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!"</p> + +<p>"Have you seen Colonel Darcy to-day?"</p> + +<p>She paused for a moment, considering, and then decided it was better to +be straightforward, and replied:</p> + +<p>"Not since yesterday morning. I went to see him last evening, but found +him out."</p> + +<p>"I know you did."</p> + +<p>Miss Fitzgerald breathed a sigh of relief. It was well she had decided +not to lie to this man.</p> + +<p>"You're probably not aware, then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "that +Stanley succeeded in opening the secret door last night, and obtained +possession of Darcy's letter of instructions."</p> + +<p>The Irish girl turned very white, looking as if she were going to faint.</p> + +<p>"Then he knows everything," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"Everything," replied her tormentor. "The details of the plot he has +known for some time, being stationed here by the Legation to watch the +Colonel—but it was not till Darcy was brought to book this morning, and +in order to save himself, signed a written confession, that he really +knew the extent to which <i>you</i> were incriminated."</p> + +<p>She burst into tears. Kent-Lauriston proceeded unconcernedly with his +story.</p> + +<p>"The Colonel's chivalry is not of such a nature as would cause him to +hesitate in shifting all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> responsibility he could, on the shoulders +of a woman."</p> + +<p>She dried her tears at that, and her eyes fairly snapped.</p> + +<p>"The fact," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "that Stanley had on several +occasions tried to help you to clear yourself, and the fact that you'd +persistently—well—not done so—made matters all the worse. In short, +on these two counts alone, you had given evidence of an amount of deceit +and cold-blooded calculation that completely upset even such an optimist +as he. Still, I think he would have overlooked it, if properly +managed—if that had been the worst."</p> + +<p>"Can anything be worse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, for this last charge against you is not true."</p> + +<p>"Go on."</p> + +<p>"You placed yourself in Darcy's power. A clever woman, a really clever +woman, my dear Miss Fitzgerald, would not have done that. It would be +easy for him to manufacture circumstantial evidence, to back any lie he +might choose to exploit, to your discredit. Say, for instance, that you +were the prime mover in this plot, and that you went into it for a +financial consideration, for three thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"But Bob never would——"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't he, when he was thirsting for revenge, believing that your +careless threat against Lieutenant Kingsland had ruined his hopes."</p> + +<p>"Did he do this?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He did, and that is why I'm here this morning in Mr. Stanley's +place—commissioned to return to you your letters," and he handed her +the packet.</p> + +<p>"It's not true!" she cried. "Before Heaven, Mr. Kent-Lauriston, it is +not true!"</p> + +<p>"I know it's not true, for Darcy's confessed to me."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Stanley does not know."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then he must be told."</p> + +<p>"If you tell him he'll fling prudence to the winds in an agony of +remorse, and you'll have won the game."</p> + +<p>"You mean he'll keep to his engagement?"</p> + +<p>"I mean he'll marry you."</p> + +<p>"And you dare to ask any woman to allow such a slander to live when she +can deny it?"</p> + +<p>"I ask you, for your own sake, for the reasons I've stated, for your +future happiness, and as an escape from certain misery—to let him go."</p> + +<p>"I tell you I love him."</p> + +<p>"Then I ask you for <i>his</i> sake. A brilliant diplomatic career is just +opening before him, as the result of the discovery of this plot. Is his +government likely to repose confidence in him in the future, with you as +his wife—a woman who has practised treason? His father would never +receive you, and might disinherit him. Do you love this man so little +that you wish to ruin him?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you I love him—you do not understand."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I understand that you love him in one of two ways. If it's a great love +it's capable of sacrifice to prove its greatness. Show that it is so by +giving him up. If it's any other sort of love it will not stand the +strain to which you propose to subject it, and within six months after +your marriage you'll realise that you've ruined two lives, and are +yourself the chief sufferer. Come, prove that what you say is true, and +save him from himself."</p> + +<p>"But if I do, I do it at a fearful price. It means social ostracism."</p> + +<p>"Not at all. Who will know of this charge against you? Four people at +the most, and not one of them will ever speak of it. Darcy, who +originated the lie, will, for obvious reasons, keep silent. Stanley's +the soul of honour; he'd rather tear his tongue out than speak a word of +it. I've proved my discretion through several generations, and Kingsland +must be held in check by you."</p> + +<p>"Why do you include Lieutenant Kingsland?"</p> + +<p>"Because, I believe, he holds the only piece of evidence which could +appear to substantiate Darcy's trumped-up lie."</p> + +<p>"And that is?"</p> + +<p>"The receipt for the forty thousand pounds <i>in your name</i>."</p> + +<p>"And you wish me to ask Kingsland to proclaim my own shame!"</p> + +<p>"I wish you to ask him to give that receipt to the Secretary."</p> + +<p>"Now I see why you come to me, why you did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> not ruthlessly throw me +over; your little plot had a weak point, and you needed my co-operation +to complete my own degradation!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitzgerald is fast becoming a diplomatist!"</p> + +<p>"I'm a fool!"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, you are nearer wisdom than you've ever been in your life."</p> + +<p>"If—I—do—this," she said very slowly, "you must help me to reinstate +myself in the eyes of the world."</p> + +<p>"I've told you it'll not be necessary."</p> + +<p>"Bah! I know the world better than you do, with all your cleverness. +Mine is a practical, not a theoretical, knowledge."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston bowed.</p> + +<p>"They'll talk, no matter if it be truth or not. It will be believed. I +must have a few questions answered in any event."</p> + +<p>"Ask them."</p> + +<p>"Who is Mr. Stanley to marry?"</p> + +<p>"Madame Darcy."</p> + +<p>"But——"</p> + +<p>"Her husband has consented to the divorce."</p> + +<p>"On what grounds?"</p> + +<p>"Incompatibility of temper, I believe."</p> + +<p>"So you think the Secretary will marry her?"</p> + +<p>"I'll take charge of that matter."</p> + +<p>"I know they love each other!" she exclaimed, passionately. "It was love +at first sight. Then there was a misunderstanding. Now, one more +question. This sum of forty thousand pounds?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, what of it?"</p> + +<p>"Who's to have it?"</p> + +<p>"Darcy."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"The Secretary told him he might draw it from the bank to-morrow, as, +well—as compensation for turning State's evidence."</p> + +<p>She laughed a harsh, unmusical laugh.</p> + +<p>"You've won," she said. "I will do what you wish—for his sake."</p> + +<p>"I believed that you would," he replied gravely, but one eyelid raised +just a trifle. She saw it, and turned on him like a flash.</p> + +<p>"No!" she cried, "it isn't for that reason! I've some good in me yet, +some pride! I tell you, it's not your cleverness that has done this! I +wouldn't surrender my good name for the sake of any man in the world! I +wouldn't allow the breath of suspicion to linger in the minds of my +friends, for the love of your friend, or any other weak fool, whom I can +turn round my fingers! No! the reason I surrender is because your last +words have told me how I can right myself before all the world, save one +man; and I'll consent to sacrifice my reputation in his eyes, because I +love him. But for all that, Robert Darcy cannot divorce the woman who +bears his name."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because she's not his wife."</p> + +<p>"Not his wife! Who is his wife, then?"</p> + +<p>"I am."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2> + +<h3>THE PRICE OF SILENCE</h3> + +<p>"You are Robert Darcy's wife," he said slowly, trying to adjust his +ideas to this altered state of affairs. Then, as some comprehension of +the results which would follow this declaration dawned upon him, he +continued:—</p> + +<p>"Why have you told me this?"</p> + +<p>"Because I need your co-operation, and you're the only man I know whom I +can trust to keep the secret."</p> + +<p>"I've given you no pledge to do so."</p> + +<p>"Quite true, and I've asked for none; but I've misread you sadly, if you +can't keep a still tongue in your head, when the advantage to all +concerned by so doing can be made clear to you."</p> + +<p>"Can you prove your point?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, even to your satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"I'm all attention," he said.</p> + +<p>"In the first place," she began, "you must understand that Colonel Darcy +and I were secretly married four years ago, in Ireland. I'll show you my +marriage certificate, to prove my words, when we return to the house. I +always carry it with me in case of an emergency."</p> + +<p>Kent-Lauriston nodded, and she continued:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"The Colonel married me under the impression that I was an heiress. I +married him because I thought I loved him. We both discovered our +mistakes within the first few days. No one knew of the step we had +taken, so we agreed to separate. This is a practical age. As Miss +Fitzgerald I'd hosts of friends; as Mrs. Darcy, a girl who had made a +worse than foolish marriage, I should have had none. The Colonel had +expected his wife to support him; he was in no condition to support her. +His regiment was ordered to India; if he resigned, his income was gone. +We decided to keep our secret. I remained Miss Fitzgerald. He went to +India. Three years later he was invalided home. Travelling for his +health, he returned by way of South America. There he met Inez De Costa, +and won her love. She combined the two things he most craved, position +and wealth. He had heard nothing from me for many months. He allowed his +inclinations to guide his reason, and, trusting that I was dead, or had +done something foolish, he married her and returned to England. We met. +My natural impulse was to denounce him, but sober second thought showed +the futility of such a course. I'd nothing to gain; everything to lose. +He sent me money. I returned it. Do you believe that?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you implicitly," replied Kent-Lauriston.</p> + +<p>"Then he came to see me; for I think he still loved me. He came, I say, +fearfully at first, lest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> I should betray him. Then growing bolder, he +threw off all reserve. Believing, fool that he was, because I didn't +denounce him, that I could ever forget or forgive the wrong he'd done +me. He mistook compliance for forgetfulness, even had the audacity to +suggest that I, too, should marry.</p> + +<p>"Then this scheme for defeating the treaty was proposed to him. He was +willing enough to undertake it, for his second matrimonial venture had +been a pecuniary failure, thanks to the wisdom of Señor De Costa in +tying up his daughter's property; but he lacked the brains to carry it +out, and, like the fool that he is, came to me for assistance. I had +lulled his suspicions, and he needed a confederate. He even held out +vague promises of a future for us both, as if I'd believe his attested +oath, after what had passed! I consented to help him, and would have +brought the matter to a successful issue, if it hadn't been for his +stupidity. What did I care about the success or failure of his plot? It +had put the man in my power, put him where I wanted to have him. At any +time within the last six weeks I could have forced him to publicly +recognise me, if need were."</p> + +<p>"What prevented you from doing this?"</p> + +<p>"I'd fallen in love with your friend. Yes, I admit it. It was weak, +pitiably weak. At first I played with him, then too late I understood my +own feelings."</p> + +<p>"But it could have come to nothing."</p> + +<p>"Can you suppose I didn't realise that keenly?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> Yet I hoped against hope +that Darcy would die; that he'd be apprehended and imprisoned, and +perish of the rigours of hard labour; anything that would set me free. +Then I saw that Stanley loved Inez De Costa. It was an added pang, but +it caused me to hesitate; because in taking my revenge, I should wreck +both their lives."</p> + +<p>"But you? Had you pity for Inez De Costa?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, incomprehensible as it may seem to you; for I'd learned to loathe +Darcy before he had committed bigamy. I never met her till that night at +the Hyde Park Club, and she asked me if I knew her husband. <i>Her +husband!</i> I pitied her from that moment. She'd done me no wrong. Why +should I wreck her life, if it could be avoided?"</p> + +<p>"And now?"</p> + +<p>"Now you've solved the problem. Darcy won't dare to contest the suit for +divorce. He'll be glad to get rid of her, because he can't control her +money. Having the purse-strings, I can force him to recognise me as his +wife, after the divorce has been granted. I shall have an assured +position, and I can begin to pay back some of my debts," and her eyes +flashed.</p> + +<p>"And in all this, what is there to compel me to keep your secret?"</p> + +<p>"Because the marriage between Inez De Costa and Mr. Stanley might never +take place if they knew the truth. I'll keep the secret if you will. +She's in no way to blame. At first I hated her; now that I've known her, +my hate is turned to pity."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're right," said Kent-Lauriston. "I'll keep your secret inviolate."</p> + +<p>"Now about the receipt for the forty thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"I think Mr. Stanley had better see it, it'll save further awkwardness, +but I must have it back. It's my one hold over Darcy, my one chance of +righting myself."</p> + +<p>"There's a receipt for the amount," said Kent-Lauriston, tearing out a +leaf from his note-book, on which he wrote a few lines. "I'll be +responsible for its return to you. I can't do less."</p> + +<p>"Here comes Lieutenant Kingsland now," she said. "Don't say anything. +I'll manage this affair."</p> + +<p>"Jack!" she called, "come here a moment."</p> + +<p>The young officer approached.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" he said interrogatively.</p> + +<p>"You needn't hesitate to speak before Mr. Kent-Lauriston," she assured +him. "He's one of my <i>best</i> friends. You've not forgotten the promise +which you made me, when I helped you about arranging your wedding, to do +anything I might request?"</p> + +<p>"No, and I'd do it if the occasion required," he replied heartily.</p> + +<p>"Good," she said, "the occasion is here."</p> + +<p>"What must I do?"</p> + +<p>"You hold in your possession a receipt from the Victoria Street Branch +of the Bank of England<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> for the deposit in my name of five chests +belonging to Mr. Riddle."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've been meaning to give it to you."</p> + +<p>"I wish you to give it to Mr. Stanley."</p> + +<p>"To Mr. Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"All, except that I charge you, on your honour, never to let him know I +asked you to do this. Tell him only that I gave you the chests, and how +you disposed of them, and place the receipt in his hands, as coming from +yourself. Not a syllable about me, mind!"</p> + +<p>"I'll follow your instructions literally; but how am I to have the +opportunity of doing this?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley will give you the opportunity, perhaps to-day. Then see +that you do it."</p> + +<p>"I promise."</p> + +<p>"Swear."</p> + +<p>"Well, I swear on my honour as an officer and a gentleman."</p> + +<p>"Good. One more word. Before to-night you may change your feelings +towards me, may feel absolved from all obligations to me; but whatever +events occur, do not forget that you have sworn to do this on your +honour as an officer and as a gentleman, without any mental reservations +whatsoever, and to do neither less nor more than this."</p> + +<p>"You can trust me, and if you think that anything my wife——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No! no! I do trust you. Go now, and give Mr. Stanley a chance to see +you at once. You'll be serving me best so."</p> + +<p>He left them wondering, and, she, turning to Kent-Lauriston, said:—</p> + +<p>"I tell you it is the greatest proof of my affection for him; for what +he thinks of me is worth all the criticism of the world and more. Oh, +you may scoff! I know you think him too good for me!"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," interrupted Kent-Lauriston, taking off his hat, and bowing +his head over her hand, which he held, "I have misunderstood you."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was nearly two hours later that the Secretary found time, amidst the +distractions of a hurried departure, for he had made his peace with his +hostess and was leaving for town that afternoon, to redeem his promise +to Lady Isabelle.</p> + +<p>"Is Lieutenant Kingsland in the house?" he asked of the servant, who +answered his summons.</p> + +<p>"He's in the billiard-room, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Will you present my compliments to him, and ask him to be so +kind as to come to my room for a few minutes?"</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it, the young officer responded to +the summons, saying as he entered:—</p> + +<p>"Here I am. Can I do anything for you?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. But I sent for you primarily for the purpose of doing you a +favour."</p> + +<p>"That sounds encouraging. By the way, did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> you know that your especial +admiration, Darcy, was planning to vacate at the earliest opportunity?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the Secretary, drily. "I gave him leave to go, but he's +to all intents and purposes under arrest."</p> + +<p>"The devil!"</p> + +<p>"Quite so, there's the devil to pay, and I'm afraid you may have to foot +part of the bill, if you're not careful."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" cried the Lieutenant, starting uneasily.</p> + +<p>"I'll explain. That's why I sent for you; but you mustn't resent a +certain inquisitiveness on my part. It's only for your good."</p> + +<p>"Go on, go on!"</p> + +<p>"You went to London a few days ago, and executed a commission for +Darcy."</p> + +<p>"No—for Belle Fitzgerald."</p> + +<p>"It's the same thing."</p> + +<p>"I think not. There were some chests containing stereopticon slides, and +Belle asked me to put them in a bank for her."</p> + +<p>"The Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of England."</p> + +<p>"Exactly."</p> + +<p>"A good many slides, I imagine; rather heavy, weren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Gad, I should think they were. It took two porters to lift each chest."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you told the bank authorities what was in the chests?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, I was told there was nothing to say. I was only to surrender them, +and a sealed note, which would explain all."</p> + +<p>"Did they give you a receipt for it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Can anybody get the chests out?"</p> + +<p>"No, only the person mentioned in the receipt."</p> + +<p>"Have you still got the receipt?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Very good," said the Secretary. "I see your luck has not deserted you."</p> + +<p>"And now," said Kingsland, "that I've answered all your questions, +perhaps you'll tell me what you mean."</p> + +<p>"This is what I mean," replied Stanley, handing him that first part of +his Minister's letter which he had shown to Darcy.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant read it once, not understanding its purport; then again, +his brow becoming wrinkled with anxiety; and yet again, with a very +white face.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"It looks dangerously like treason, doesn't it?" returned the Secretary.</p> + +<p>"But what is this bribe?"</p> + +<p>"You ought to know that, as you carried it up to London, in sovereigns."</p> + +<p>"What—how much was it?"</p> + +<p>"Forty thousand pounds in gold."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" said the Lieutenant, and mopped his brow. "But I didn't +know anything about it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That doesn't prevent you from having participated in one of the most +rascally plots of your day and generation; from being a party in an +attempt to overthrow, by the most open and shameless bribery, a treaty +pending between the government you serve and mine."</p> + +<p>"But, if this gets out, I'll be cashiered from the navy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think they'd stop there," said the Secretary reassuringly. +"Not with the proof of that receipt."</p> + +<p>"Good Lord, I forgot that! Here, take it, will you?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Suppose we open it and see if it proves my assertion," and, +suiting the action to the word, he placed in the Lieutenant's shaking +hands a receipt of deposit in the Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of +England, by Miss Isabelle Fitzgerald, kindness of Lieutenant J. +Kingsland, of forty thousand pounds.</p> + +<p>"Can't you help me?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It rests entirely with me."</p> + +<p>"Then you will?"</p> + +<p>"Tell me all you know.</p> + +<p>"But I don't know anything, except what I've told you. I give you my +word as an officer and a gentleman, that I've been let into this affair +in a most shameful manner, and that I'm entirely innocent, and ignorant +of everything connected with it."</p> + +<p>"I believe you, Lieutenant Kingsland."</p> + +<p>"And you won't prosecute?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not if you'll promise to drop this gang; they're a bad lot. Promise me +you'll cut loose from them as soon as possible, for your wife's sake."</p> + +<p>"I will," he said. "I will, old man. I can't thank you enough for what +you've done."</p> + +<p>"You've nothing to thank me for; I'm sure you are innocent, and so I +don't consider the circumstantial evidence; but you might not be as +lucky another time. I hope this will be a lesson to you. I need hardly +caution you to silence," and he appeared to peruse some papers to ease +the young officer's exit from the room.</p> + +<p>That evening in the privacy of the library, the Lieutenant confided the +news of his lucky escape to his wife, ending up with the question:</p> + +<p>"Do you think the Fitzgerald really loves him?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Jack," said Lady Isabelle, "a woman of that stamp does not know +what love means, she's simply scheming to marry him for his money. How +can people do such things?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know, my dear," replied her spouse, yawning. The +subject was inopportune, and it bored him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL</h2> + +<h3>THE PRICE OF A LIE</h3> + +<p>Stanley had made all his adieux, or at least all he wanted to make. He +was tired with the exciting events of the day, and longed for a little +peace and quiet before the exacting ordeal of a railway ride to London. +He had given up the time-table as a Chinese puzzle. "What with the +trains that go somewhere and those that don't," he protested, "I'm all +at sea!" He, therefore, sent Kent-Lauriston ahead in the trap, and +walked across the park to the station.</p> + +<p>That gentleman had convinced him of the propriety of restoring the order +for the forty thousand pounds to Miss Fitzgerald. He had pointed out +that she was the rightful owner of the document, and that Darcy was an +infernal rascal. The Secretary had acquiesced in his demand, and +promised, should he not see Belle before he left, an interview he much +wished to avoid, that he would mail it to her from the station.</p> + +<p>He had first, however, a far more pleasant commission to perform, and a +few minutes later was seated under the spreading branches of an old +apple tree with Inez Darcy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I felt I must come and see you," he said. "I'm going away to-day, to +London, on important business."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she murmured. "You've been very good to me."</p> + +<p>"Some time ago," he continued, "you did me the honour to entrust your +affairs to my keeping, or, perhaps, to the keeping of the Legation."</p> + +<p>"To your keeping, I should prefer."</p> + +<p>"I fear that you may think I've been remiss, that other things have +taken my mind off them, that I've, in short, forgotten them, but it is +not so."</p> + +<p>"I never doubted you."</p> + +<p>"I hope to prove to you that you've not misplaced your confidence, in +evidence of which I bring you this," and he handed her a paper.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she said.</p> + +<p>"A line from your husband," she started, "which gives you your freedom."</p> + +<p>"You mean a divorce?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"But I do not understand."</p> + +<p>"He agreed to consent to your obtaining such a decree on any ground you +choose. I've decided on 'incompatibility of temper,' as being the least +embarrassing to you. He will not appear to contest the suit when it is +brought forward. This paper, signed in my presence, promises as much."</p> + +<p>"My husband is a bad man, he would never have surrendered unless he was +forced to do so; for he believes that by retaining the control of me, he +may yet obtain control of my property."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Perhaps he has seen the futility of these hopes."</p> + +<p>"No, no, his own self-conceit would have blinded him to the possibility +of being outwitted. You've forced this from him. How have you done so?"</p> + +<p>"I had hoped you would not press me for these reasons. Can't you accept +my assurance that whatever I've done, has been done in your interests +alone."</p> + +<p>"Don't think me ungrateful if I say no, but I've had to endure so many +mysteries, that, for once, my great desire is to be clear of them."</p> + +<p>"I hesitate to tell you, because it may give you pain."</p> + +<p>"I am used to that and can bear it."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you will have it. Colonel Darcy, as a result of his own +actions, was placed in my power."</p> + +<p>"You mean that it was your duty to have him arrested?"</p> + +<p>"That was left to my discretion."</p> + +<p>"And you forced his consent?"</p> + +<p>"No, I gave him a chance to purchase his freedom, and a substantial +reward, by a confession, and this——" and he touched the paper.</p> + +<p>"But had you a right——?"</p> + +<p>"I had a right to make any terms I pleased. I was given unlimited power +to impose my own conditions, and I'm sure, had my Chief known, he would +have wished you to derive any benefit possible from the transaction."</p> + +<p>"It's dearly bought with that man's disgrace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> In the eyes of the world, +he will still be my husband."</p> + +<p>"There will be no disgrace."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand."</p> + +<p>"The government doesn't wish to punish Colonel Darcy; it merely wishes +for his evidence, to aid in the detection of others."</p> + +<p>"But his name will appear."</p> + +<p>"It is strictly stipulated that it shall not do so; be assured your +secret is safe."</p> + +<p>"And he could have sunk so low as to sell himself and those who trusted +him."</p> + +<p>"They were criminals."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't lessen his treachery."</p> + +<p>"Don't waste a thought on him, least of all any sentimental emotion. He +wasted little enough on you, and would have insulted you in my presence, +had I permitted it; he sold your freedom with less compunction than he +sold his honour or his friends."</p> + +<p>"Enough!" she cried, her eyes sparkling. "He is forgotten. We will speak +of something else. Let me use my time to better purpose, by trying to +thank you—to begin to thank you, for all you've done for me."</p> + +<p>"You can repay me if you like."</p> + +<p>"What is the payment, then, for which you ask?"</p> + +<p>"My Chief has received a request from your father this morning, that you +be put in charge of some responsible person, to come home to him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "that is no favour, it is good news."</p> + +<p>"You must hear me out. Your father requested the Minister to nominate +your escort."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"He has nominated me."</p> + +<p>"What, are you going home?"</p> + +<p>"Almost at once. Will you trust yourself in my hands?"</p> + +<p>"Trust you! I will go with you anywhere! I will trust you always!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," he said, looking down into her eyes, as he stood before her, +"I shall ask you to fulfil those promises some day."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," she replied, rising and standing by his side, "I shall then +be free to answer you," and a radiant smile lit up her face.</p> + +<p>They took each other's hands, and stood silent for a long time. Then he +bade her good-bye, and resumed his walk to the station.</p> + +<p>Midway in his path, a figure lying prone in the tall grass roused itself +into action at his coming, sprang up and stood facing him, flushed, +defiant, and on the verge of tears.</p> + +<p>It was the last person in the world Stanley wished to see—Belle +Fitzgerald. He had felt it was impossible to meet her again; that she +had put herself beyond the pale of his recognition; that it was not even +decent that she should face him; that he should have been left to +forget; and she, seeing all this in his face, and more—longed to throw +her good resolutions to the winds, and cry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> out against this great +injustice. But as they stood there, her subtle woman's instinct told her +that, even were her innocence proclaimed with the trumpet, the thought +that it had been otherwise would stand between them as an insurmountable +barrier for ever, and she hardened her heart for his sake.</p> + +<p>"You are going away," she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, looking down at the road. She told herself +passionately, that he would look anywhere rather than at her.</p> + +<p>"Some of your property has come into my possession," he said. "I wish to +return it to you," and he handed her the receipt for the forty thousand +pounds.</p> + +<p>"I'll trust you'll see," he continued, in a strained voice, "that +Colonel Darcy has his proper share."</p> + +<p>"He shall have what he deserves," she replied coldly; and then she burst +out, her words tumbling one over the other, now that she had found +speech: "You ought to know, you must know, that when Colonel Darcy is +free, we shall be man and wife."</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad," he said, and he said it from his heart.</p> + +<p>There was an awkward pause, neither seemed able to speak. At length he +remarked, more to break the silence than anything:—</p> + +<p>"You know, I always thought, that, in your heart, you loved Darcy, +before anyone else."</p> + +<p>She laughed her hard, cold laugh, saying:—</p> + +<p>"You diplomats know everything."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Secretary bowed silently and passed on, well satisfied to close the +interview; his thoughts full of the brilliant future which was opening +before him, unconscious that behind him, face down in the grass, a woman +was sobbing her heart out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Dollar Library</h2> + +<h2>of American Fiction</h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p class="center">TWO GUINEAS, post free, for a SUBSCRIPTION of Twelve Volumes, or +separately in special binding at 4d. per Volume.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The American Copyright Act, during its nine years' life, has been of the +greatest benefit to American fiction, if not to American literature in +general. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that America drew her chief +supplies of fiction from England up to the year '91, because the earlier +school of American writers, however distinguished, had a comparatively +limited circle of readers, and could not be considered to counterbalance +the enormous vogue of English writers. The Act changed little at first, +and English books continued to have the greatest popularity, but this +popularity was soon encroached upon by the rivalry of indigenous +fiction. To-day there are in America, American authors whose books have +circulations compared to which even those of the most popular modern +English authors are as nothing. Several books have recently attained to +circulations of upwards of a quarter of a million copies, and new +authors of merit are eagerly welcomed, not only from the East but also +from the West, from big centres, and from quieter and remoter places; +giving actual proofs of America's new and remarkable literary activity.</p> + +<p>More striking than the greatest of these successes—for popular +successes are frequently scored by mediocre talents—is the fact that a +school of young American writers is pressing for recognition, gifted +with the sense of form, and not wanting either in pathos or in +humour—real delineators of life and character. And what an +inexhaustible field lies ready for them, to depict—if they will only +depict justly—the actual life of America, of the most variedly +composite and interesting people the modern world knows!</p> + +<p>Inspired possibly at first by several exceptional men who stood on the +threshold of this new literary development, there is now growing up a +school of writers of talent to whom respect cannot be denied and whom we +can no longer afford to ignore in England.</p> + +<p><b>The Dollar Library</b> will give to English readers a representative +selection of the best American fiction of the day, and also a few of the +best works of two writers who are, perhaps, more than any others, +responsible for this new development, for, although both HAROLD FREDERIC +and STEPHEN CRANE have in these brief nine years departed from among us, +no series representative of American fiction of to-day would be thought +complete without them. For the rest The Dollar Library will devote +itself mainly to the introduction of hitherto unknown authors, and it +appeals to readers particularly as a pioneer. It will afford an +opportunity to English readers of gaining an impression of the mercurial +genius picturesquely expressing itself on the other side of the +Atlantic, of appreciating a new graft on the tree of English Literature, +which, transplanted to another clime, bids fair to yield yet another +rich and luxuriant growth.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/ill_002.jpg" width="600" height="266" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h4><i>The following Volumes will appear early in 1901, and others are in +preparation. They will appear, as far as practicable, at monthly +intervals:—</i></h4> + +<h3>THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">E. Hough</span>.</h4> + +<h3>PARLOUS TIMES.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">D. D. Wells</span>.</h4> + +<h3>LORDS OF THE NORTH.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">A. C. Laut</span>.</h4> + +<h3>THE CHRONIC LOAFER.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Nelson Lloyd</span>.</h4> + +<h3>HER MOUNTAIN LOVER.</h3> + +<h4>By <span class="smcap">Hamlin Garland</span>.<br /><br /></h4> + +<h2>The Dollar Library.</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>A Monthly Series of American Fiction.</i></p> + +<h3>LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN.</h3> + +<p class="center"><i>And at all Booksellers and Bookstalls.</i></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parlous Times, by David Dwight Wells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARLOUS TIMES *** + +***** This file should be named 34925-h.htm or 34925-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/2/34925/ + +Produced by Annie McGuire. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parlous Times + A Novel of Modern Diplomacy + +Author: David Dwight Wells + +Release Date: January 12, 2011 [EBook #34925] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARLOUS TIMES *** + + + + +Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print archive. + + + + + + + + + +The Dollar Library + + +PARLOUS TIMES + + + + +THE DOLLAR LIBRARY +OF AMERICAN FICTION + + * * * * * + +THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE. +By E. HOUGH. + +PARLOUS TIMES. +By D. D. WELLS. + +LORDS OF THE NORTH. +By A. C. LAUT. + +THE CHRONIC LOAFER. +By NELSON LLOYD. + +HER MOUNTAIN LOVER. +By HAMLIN GARLAND. + +ETC. ETC. ETC. + + * * * * * + +LONDON: WM. HEINEMANN. + + + + +PARLOUS TIMES + + * * * * * + +A NOVEL OF MODERN DIPLOMACY + + * * * * * + +BY +DAVID DWIGHT WELLS + +AUTHOR OF +"HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT," "HIS LORDSHIP'S LEOPARD" + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN. 1901 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Conspiracy 5 + II. Wanted--a Chaperon 15 + III. Parlous Times 29 + IV. A Lady in Distress 41 + V. A Gentleman in Distress 51 + VI. Afternoon Tea 63 + VII. An Irate Husband 75 + VIII. Diplomatic Instructions 88 + IX. A House-warming 95 + X. Before Dinner 105 + XI. After Dinner 117 + XII. A Morning Call 129 + XIII. The Serious Side of Miss Fitzgerald's Nature 141 + XIV. The Serious Side of the Secretary's Nature 149 + XV. The Secretary's Intentions 156 + XVI. Man Proposes 169 + XVII. Her Husband 179 + XVIII. The Door with the Silver Nails 190 + XIX. A Midnight Message 201 + XX. The Wisdom of Age 209 + XXI. The Resources of Diplomacy 219 + XXII. A Little Commission 229 + XXIII. Forty Thousand Pounds 240 + XXIV. A Very Awkward Predicament 252 + XXV. The Rustle of a Skirt 264 + XXVI. Face to Face 274 + XXVII. The Marriage Register 284 + XXVIII. Two Questions 296 + XXIX. In which Death is a Relief 309 + XXX. Two Letters 322 + XXXI. Miss Fitzgerald Burns her Boats 335 + XXXII. The Top of the Tower 346 + XXXIII. The Secret of the Door 356 + XXXIV. Within the Tower 366 + XXXV. The Short Way Out 374 + XXXVI. The Day of Reckoning 384 + XXXVII. The Price of Knowledge 397 + XXXVIII. The Price of Love 406 + XXXIX. The Price of Silence 422 + XL. The Price of a Lie 433 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CONSPIRACY + + +"Forty thousand pounds is a pretty sum of money." + +"Bribery is not a pretty word." + +"No--there should be a better name for private transactions when the +amount involved assumes proportions of such dignity." The speaker smiled +and glanced covertly at his companion. + +"Darcy is our man without doubt. Can you land him? He may hold out for +the lion's share and then refuse on the ground of--honour." + +"Darcy and honour! That is a far call." + +"There is much unsuspected honesty going around." + +"Perhaps--but not Darcy." + +"But what if he refuse?" + +"He cannot." + +"Why not?" + +"That's my secret. I force Darcy's hand for you, and in return I expect +fair recognition." + +"You have our promise, but it must be to-night. There is no time to +lose. I'll go on to the house. Where will you see Darcy?" + +"Leave that to me. Until morning--_adios_," and he vanished among the +deep shadows and dark shrubbery. + + * * * * * + +The sun had sunk red and fiery below the edge of the waving mesa, and a +full tropical moon shed its glory over the landscape, making dark and +mysterious the waving fields of cane, which surrounded the whitewashed +courts of the palatial hacienda. The building was brilliantly lighted +within, and from it came such sounds of discordant merriment as could be +produced only by a singularly inferior native orchestra. Through one of +the long French windows which gave on to the veranda of the house, there +stepped forth the figure of a man. He stood for a moment taking long +breaths of the heavy miasmatic air, as if it were grateful and +refreshing after the stifling atmosphere of the ballroom. Had he not +worn the uniform of a British officer he would still have been +unmistakably military in appearance, standing six feet or over, a fine +specimen of an animal, and handsome to look upon. But it was a weak face +for a soldier, in spite of its bronze and scars, a weakness which was +accentuated by the traces of a recent illness. To judge from his pallor +it had been severe. The man had a pair of shifty grey eyes, which never +by any chance looked you straight in the face, and now expressed +ill-concealed ennui and annoyance. Not the countenance of a joyful +bridegroom certainly, and yet, he had but that moment left the side of +his wife of a few hours, the most beautiful woman in that South American +State, and the only child and sole heiress of its most famous planter, +Senor De Costa. + +Up to that day the progress of his suit and the many obstacles which +might intervene to prevent its successful consummation, had given a +certain zest to the game. Now that he had won, he was heartily sick and +tired of the whole affair. Seizing a moment when his wife was dancing +with one of her relations, he had stolen out on the broad veranda to be +alone, and to pull himself together in order that he might play out the +rest of what was, to him, a little comedy; and to the woman +within--well, time would show. The soft moonlight tempted him. His place +was in the ballroom, he knew, but he put one foot off the edge of the +piazza, and as it pressed the soft grass under his feet, he fell a +willing victim to the spell of the night, and strolled slowly off into +the darkness. + +His meditations were not, however, destined to remain uninterrupted. He +had gone scarcely thirty yards when a lithe figure rose suddenly out of +a clump of bushes, and touching him softly on the arm, whispered in +perfect English, without the faintest touch of Spanish accent:-- + +"Hist, Senor Darcy. A word with you, and speak softly." + +"Who the devil are you?" demanded Colonel Darcy, instinctively feeling +for his revolver, for in this remote and not over well-governed section, +a night encounter did not always have a pleasant termination. + +"I mean you no harm," said the stranger, "only good." + +"Then why couldn't you come to the house and see me there?" demanded the +officer brusquely. + +"It was out of consideration for your Excellency," replied the stranger +quietly. "I had the honour to serve under your Excellency some years +ago, in England." + +"Impossible!" said the Colonel. "You are Spanish, but----" + +"Of Spanish parents, Senor, but English-born. I joined the regiment at +Blankhampton. My room-mate was Sergeant Tom Mannis." + +Darcy drew in his breath sharply. + +"Your Excellency may remember he died of fever." + +"I never saw or heard of your friend!" + +"Though he was your Excellency's body-servant," suggested the stranger. + +Darcy bit his moustache. + +"When he died," continued the speaker, "he bequeathed certain papers to +me, containing evidence of a ceremony performed over a certain officer +of his regiment, then stationed in Ireland, in the month of August three +years ago." + +"Ah," said the Colonel, "I think I see the drift of your remarks, my +friend. You wish to have a little chat with me, eh?" + +The man nodded. + +"It is a pleasant night," continued Darcy, "suppose we stroll a trifle +farther from the house." He slipped his hand furtively behind him. + +"With pleasure," acquiesced the other. "But," he added, as they took +their first step forward, "the Senor will find only blank cartridges in +his revolver. It is a matter that I attended to personally." + +Darcy swore under his breath. Aloud he said, simply:-- + +"Say what you have to say, and be quick. I shall be missed from the +ballroom." + +The man nodded again, and plunged abruptly into his narration. + +"There is an island at the mouth of the X----River, off the coast of +this country, as you have probably heard. It contains large +manufactories for the sale of a staple article, which we produce. Owing +to an amiable arrangement between the heads of the firm in England and +our Government, a monopoly of this article is secured to them, in return +for which certain officials in this country receive thousands of pesetas +a year. As your Excellency may remember, a treaty is pending between +this country and Great Britain, looking to the secession of the island +to the latter. If the treaty succeeds, the monopoly, owing to your +accursed free-trade principles, will cease, and the island and its +products be thrown open to competition." + +"It has been suggested by certain patriotically disposed personages, +with a desire for their country's good, that a prearranged disposition +of forty thousand pounds in gold among a majority of the members of the +Cabinet who are to pass upon the treaty some six months hence, might +result in its rejection." + +"Well," said Darcy, shortly, "what of that?" + +"The only difficulty that remains, is the transportation of the bullion +from England to our capital. Those interested in the matter have felt +that if an Englishman of undoubted integrity," there was just a +suspicion of sarcasm in the speaker's tones, "who is so highly connected +in this country that the usual customs formalities would be omitted on +his re-entry, I say, if this Englishman could see his way to bringing +over the gold, things might be satisfactorily arranged." + +"A very interesting little plot," said the officer. "And what would the +philanthropic Englishman receive for his services?" + +"He would receive at the hands of the president of the company a packet +of papers, formally the property of Sergeant Tom Mannis, of her +Britannic Majesty's --th Fusiliers, lately deceased." + +"And what would prevent the philanthropic but muscular Englishman from +wringing the neck of the low-down sneak who has proposed this plan to +him, and taking the papers out of his inside pocket?" + +"Because, Excellency, they are now in the safe of the manufacturing +company." + +"And the president of that company?" + +"Is a guest at your Excellency's wedding." + +Darcy clenched his hands nervously. He was battling silently, skilfully, +not to betray the dread which was unnerving him. The music floated out +from the house--fitful and discordant. + +"An Englishman," he said slowly, "never gives way to a threat, but of +course, if he could be brought to see the purely philanthropic side of +the argument, and receive--well, say, five per cent. of the bullion +carried, for his travelling expenses, he might see his way to sacrifice +his personal interests for the good of his adopted country." + +"Good," said the stranger. "The president will meet you the day after +to-morrow, at three o'clock in the afternoon, at the capital in the San +Carlos Club." + +"Very well," said Darcy. "Go. Someone's coming!" + +The figure of the stranger faded into the darkness, and a moment later +the soft footsteps of a woman approached. + +"Ah, _mia carrissima_," he said, taking her in his arms. "You have +missed me." + +"Yes," she said, with a little sigh of satisfied relief, as she felt his +strong embrace about her. "But why did you leave me? I do not +understand." + +"The air of the room oppressed me. I came out to breathe." + +"I did not know," she said. "I was frightened." And as she raised her +face to him, he saw that she had been crying. + +She might well have commanded any man's attention. Tall and slight, +lissome in every movement of her exquisitely shaped figure, barely +thirty, and very fair withal. Even the tears which sparkled on her long +lashes could not obscure the superb black eyes full of a passion which +betrayed Castilian parentage as surely as did those finely-chiselled +features, and that silky crown of hair which, unbound, must have +descended to her feet. Half Spanish, half Greek, she was a woman to be +looked upon and loved. + +"But, Inez, surely you trusted me?" came the suave tones of +expostulation from her husband. + +"Trusted you, my knight? Have I not trusted you this day with my soul, +with my whole life? You have been so near to death's door, and I have +been so near to losing you, that I fear now, every moment you are out of +my sight." + +"Oh, I don't think there is any danger," he said, laughing. "I am strong +enough now, though I daresay I should never have pulled through without +such a plucky nurse." + +"Ah, yes," she said. "I can shut my eyes and see you now, how +frightfully ill and worn you were, when you came to my father's house +that night, three months ago, invalided home from India." + +"Yes," he said. "It was the greatest stroke of luck in my life that I +should have lost my way and have been obliged to beg your hospitality +for the night." + +"And then the fever. The next morning you were delirious. For days you +knew nothing, understood nothing, yet you talked, talked, always." + +Colonel Darcy shifted uneasily. + +"One generally does that," he said. "The raving of delirium." + +"You said things that meant nothing usually. But one name you were +always repeating, a strange English name of a woman." + +"And it was?" he murmured, stroking her hair. + +"Belle. La Belle, I think you meant. And the other name, I do not +remember. It sounded harsh, and I did not like it." + +He laughed nervously. + +"There is nothing for you to be jealous about, _cara mia_," he said. "It +was the name of a playmate of my childhood. I had not heard or thought +of it for years. But that is the way in fever. The forgotten things, the +things of no importance come uppermost in the mind." + +"And then," she went on, "came that happy day when you knew us, and then +you grew stronger and better, and I realised that you would be going +away from us for ever." + +"Did you think?" he asked softly, "that I could ever have forgotten my +nurse?" + +"I had been unhappy and very lonely. I feared to hope for joy again, +till the day that you told me you loved me." And she hid her face on his +shoulder to hide her blushes. + +"Come," he said. "We must think of the present. I have a little surprise +for you. I have been going over my affairs, and I do not think it will +be necessary to take you away from home for so long a time as I had +first thought. I hope that in six months we may be able to return." + +"Oh!" she cried. "That is indeed good news! I dread your England. It is +so far away, and so strange." + +"I shall try to teach you to love it. But we must be returning to the +house. Our guests will miss us." + +"Oh, yes," she replied. "I meant to have told you. The president of some +great manufacturing company has arrived to pay his respects, and is +anxious to speak with you." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WANTED--A CHAPERON + + +Aloysius Stanley, Secretary of a South American Embassy, was not happy. +Yet he was counted one of the most fortunate young men in London. Of +good family, and large fortune, he had attained a social position, which +not a few might envy. His rooms faced the park, he belonged to the +swellest and most inane club in town, was _ex officio_ a member of the +Court, and knew at least two duchesses, not perhaps intimately, but well +enough to speak to at a crush. He had been christened Aloysius, because +his father owned a large plantation in a South American Republic--no, it +was a Dictatorship then--and had named his son after the saint on whose +day he had been born, out of consideration for the religious prejudices +of the community. + +His name, then, was Aloysius Stanley, and this was the reason his +intimates called him "Jim." His other titles were "my dear colleague," +when his brethren in the diplomatic corps wanted anything of him, and +"Mr. Secretary" when his chief was wroth. + +Having shown no special aptitude for growing sugar he had been early put +into diplomacy, under the erroneous impression that it would keep him +out of mischief. + +He was, on the evening on which he is first introduced to us, standing +in the immaculate glory of his dress suit, on the top step of the grand +staircase of the Hyde Park Club. + +His party, a very nice little party of six, had all arrived save one, +and that one was his chaperon. The two young ladies, safe in harbour of +the cloak-room, awaited her coming to flutter forth; the two gentlemen +wandered aimlessly about the now nearly deserted reception-room, for +dinner was served and most of the brilliant parties had already gone to +their respective tables. + +Surely she would come, he told himself; something unavoidable had +detained her. Lady Rainsford was much too conscientious to leave an +unfortunate young man in the lurch without sending at least a +substitute--yet, with it all, there was the sickening suspicion that she +might have met with a carriage accident in crowded Piccadilly; have +received, as she was on the point of starting, the news of some near +relative's death; some untoward accident or stroke of fate, which took +no count of social obligations, and would leave him in this most awful +predicament. Why had he departed from his invariable rule of asking two +married ladies--what if it did cramp him in the number of his guests? +Anything was better than this suspense! If fate was only kind to him +this once, he vowed he would never, as long as he lived, tempt her again +in this respect. + +Hark--what was that! a hansom was driving at break-neck speed up to the +ladies' entrance. Some other belated guest--Lady Rainsford had her own +carriage--no, a man--and-- Good Heavens! it, was her Ladyship's--butler. +Something had happened. He needed no page to summon him--he rushed down, +two stairs at a time. + +"No, sir, no message," explained the flustered butler--"I come on my own +responsibility--seeing as her Ladyship had fainted dead away as she was +just a putting on her opera cloak--and knowing as she was coming to you, +sir, as soon as the doctors had been sent for, I jumps into a cab and +comes here to let you know as you couldn't expect her no-how--her not +having revived when I left--and-- Thank you, sir----" as Stanley, +cutting short his volubility, pressed a half-sovereign into his hand, to +pay him for his cab fare and his trouble--adding as he did so:-- + +"Pray request her Ladyship not to worry herself about me, I shall be +able, doubtless, to make other arrangements--and--express my deep +regrets at her indisposition." The man touched his hat and was gone, and +the Secretary slowly reascended the stairs. + +"Make other arrangements!" Ah, that was easier said than done. What +would his guests say when he confessed to them his awkward dilemma? Lady +Isabelle McLane would raise her eyebrows, call a cab, and go home, would +infinitely prefer to do so than to remain under the present conditions. +But Belle? Without doubt Belle Fitzgerald would do the same--not +because she wished to, but because Lady Isabelle did. And the two +men--they would probably stay and chaff him about it the rest of the +evening. Lieutenant Kingsland always chaffed everybody--he could stand +that--but Kent-Lauriston's quiet, well-bred cynicism, would, he felt, +under the circumstances, simply drive him mad. + +Yet, they must be told. He must face the music, or find a chaperon, and +how could he do the latter in a maze of people whom he did not know, and +who were all engaged to their own dinner-parties? Outside the Club it +was hopeless, for there was no time to send for any lady friend, even +were such an one dressed and waiting to come at his behest. A telephone +might have saved the situation, but London is above telephones; they are +not sufficiently exclusive. No, he must meet his fate, and bear it like +a man, and none of his guests would ever forget it or forgive him, or +accept any of his invitations again. + +Stanley ascended the stairs with the sensations of an early Christian +martyr going to the arena--indeed, he felt that a brace of hungry lions +would be a happy release from his present predicament. As he reached the +top step, a conversation, carried on in the low but excited tones of a +man and a woman, reached his ears, which caused him to pause, partly out +of curiosity at what he heard, but more because the words carried, in +their meaning, a ray of hope to his breast. + +"I tell you, I will not dine with those men. It is an insult to have +asked me to receive them, they are----", but here the man, evidently her +husband, interrupted earnestly in a low tone of voice, begging her to be +silent, but she did not heed his request. + +"I tell you," she continued, as he passed on to the dining-rooms, "I +will go back alone. Ugh! how I despise you!" loathing and contempt stung +in her words. "If only my father were here, he would never permit----" +She turned suddenly, and crossed the hall to the staircase, coming face +to face with the Secretary. + +"What-- Inez? You? I did not know you were in London. But of course-- I +might have known-- Then that was Colonel Darcy? I have never had an +opportunity to congratulate him or--to wish you every happiness," he +added bitterly. + +"Don't, Jim! Don't!" There was something suspiciously like a sob in her +low voice. "That is a mockery I cannot stand--at least from you." + +"I fail to understand how my wishes, good or otherwise, would mean +anything to Madame Darcy." + +"No--you do not understand. That is just it. Oh, Jim--it has all been a +piteous, horrible mistake. They lied to me--and then you did not come +back. They said you were--oh, can't you see?" + +The Secretary looked at the beautiful face before him, now flushed and +distressed. How well he knew every line of that exquisite profile and +the hair parted low and drawn back lightly from the brow. + +"Let me explain," he urged hotly. + +Madame Darcy had recovered her self-possession and drew herself up with +a gesture of proud dignity. + +"No--" she answered gently. "This is neither the time nor place for +explanations between us. Will you see me to my carriage--please?" + +"Oh, don't go! I need you so. Please stay and help me out of a most +embarrassing situation." + +"What can I do for you?" + +"Well, you see it is a most awkward predicament. My chaperon has been +taken suddenly ill at the last moment, and is unable to be present," he +began, plunging boldly into his subject. "As I am entertaining two young +ladies at dinner to-night, you will understand my unfortunate situation. +Will you honour me by accepting the vacant place at the head of my +table, as my chaperon?" + +Madame Darcy said nothing for a moment, but looked intently at the +Secretary. + +"Who form your party, Mr. Stanley?" she asked presently. + +"Do not call me Mr. Stanley, Inez." + +"It is better--at least for the present." + +"As you wish, Madame Darcy," he acquiesced stiffly. + +"I cannot explain now--but believe me it is wiser. And your party +consists of--?" + +"Lady Isabelle McLane, daughter of the Dowager Marchioness of Port +Arthur, Miss Fitzgerald, a niece of Lord Axminster, Lieutenant +Kingsland, of the Royal Navy, and Lionel Kent-Lauriston--well, everybody +knows him." + +She smiled. + +"Yes," she said, "I have met him; he is most charming." In saying which +she but voiced the generally accepted verdict of society. + +Everyone knew Kent-Lauriston and everyone liked him. He was a type of +the most delightful class of Englishman. With all his insular prejudices +strong within him, and combining in his personality those rugged virtues +for which the name of Britain is a synonym, he had in addition that +rarest of talents, the quality of being all things to all men; for he +was possessed of great tact and sympathy flavoured with a cheerful +cynicism which hurt no one, and lent a piquancy to his conversation. It +was said of him, were he put down in any English shire, he would not +need to walk five miles to find a country house where he would be a +welcome and an honoured guest. + +"Then I may hope that you will do me this great kindness?" continued the +Secretary. + +"I accept with pleasure." + +"And Colonel Darcy----" he began. + +"My husband," she replied, not waiting for him to finish his sentence, +"cannot possibly have any objection to my dining with my country's +diplomatic representative. I will speak to him, however, and tell him +when to order my carriage," and she passed into the next room. Though +unperceived himself, the Secretary saw reflected in a great mirror the +scene that followed; her proud reserve as she delivered her dictum to +her husband, his gesture of impatient anger, and the look which attended +it; and finally the contempt with which she turned her back on him and +swept out of the room. A moment later she was by Stanley's side, +saying:-- + +"Will you take me to your guests?" + +As she entered the reception room on the Secretary's arm, he trembled +with evident agitation. Her marvellous beauty, the wonderful charm of +her voice and manner brought to mind only too vividly a realising sense +of something he had once hoped for--of something which, of late, he had +tried to forget. Yet he was about to give a dinner to a lady whose +future relations with himself had been a subject of debate for some +months, not only in his own mind, but in the minds of his friends. + +Miss Fitzgerald was the guest of the evening, and, it must be allowed, +was one of the most winsome, heart-wrecking, Irish girls that ever +delighted the gaze of a youth. She was tall, fair, and almost too slim +for perfection of form, though possessed of a lissomeness of body that +more than compensated for this lack, and she had, in addition, the +frankest pair of blue eyes, and the most gorgeous halo of golden hair, +that could well be imagined. + +She was possessed of a legendary family in Ireland, and numerous sets +of relations, who, though not very closely connected, were much in +evidence in the social world of London. She had, however, no settled +abiding place, and no visible means of support. She was sparkling, +light-hearted, and perfect dare-devil, and the town rang with the +histories of her exploits. All the men were devoted to her, and as a +result, she was cordially hated by all the dowagers, because she +effectively spoiled the chances of dozens of other less vivacious but +more eligible debutantes. The remainder of the guests were brought +together rather by circumstance than by design. Kent-Lauriston had been +especially invited, because the Secretary knew him to be greatly +prejudiced against the fascinating Belle, with regard to any matrimonial +intentions she might be fostering. Miss Fitzgerald herself had suggested +the Lieutenant, and the Lieutenant had opportunely hinted that his +distant connection Lady Isabelle did not know Miss Fitzgerald, and as +they were all to meet in a country house in Sussex at the end of the +week, perhaps it would be pleasanter to become acquainted beforehand. + +At Madame Darcy's coming, such a feeling of relief was made manifest +that her task would have been light, had not her charm of manner served +to put all immediately at their ease. The ladies welcomed her warmly as +a solution of an embarrassing situation, and with men she was always a +favourite, so the little party lost no time in seeking their already +belated dinner. + +At first, indeed, there was a little constraint, owing to the fact that +Lady Isabelle, a type of the frigid high-class British maiden, was +disposed to assume an icy reserve towards Miss Fitzgerald, a young lady +of whom she and her mother, a dragon among dowagers, thoroughly +disapproved. + +The conversation was desultory, as is mostly the case at dinners, and +not till the champagne had been passed for the second time did it become +general, then it turned upon racing. + +"You were at Ascot, I suppose?" asked Miss Fitzgerald of Madame Darcy. + +"Oh, yes," she replied, "They are very amusing--your English races." + +She spoke with just the slightest shade of foreign intonation, which +rendered her speech charming. "I was on half a coach with four horses." + +"What became of the other half?" queried the Lieutenant. + +"That is not what you call it--it is not a pull----?" she ventured, a +little shy at their evident amusement. + +"Perhaps you mean a drag," suggested Stanley, coming to the rescue. + +"Yes, that is it," she laughed, a bewitching little laugh, clear as a +bell, adding, "I knew it was something it did not do." + +"I always go in the Royal Enclosure," murmured Miss Fitzgerald +languidly, turning her gaze on the Secretary, while she toyed with the +course then before her. "It's beastly dull, but then one must do the +correct thing." + +It was a very simple game she was playing--quite pathetic in its +simplicity--but dangerous in the presence of Lady Isabelle, in whose +veins a little of the dragon blood certainly ran, as well as a great +deal that was blue, and Miss Fitzgerald's assumption was a gage of +battle not to be disregarded. + +"Really. I gave up the Enclosure several years ago. It is getting so +common nowadays," said her Ladyship, growing a degree more frigid while +the Irish girl flushed. + +"Perhaps Miss Fitzgerald enjoyed a run of luck to compensate her for the +assemblage?" suggested Kent-Lauriston drily. + +"No," responded that young lady. "I came a beastly cropper." + +"That was too bad for you," he replied. + +"Or somebody else," suggested the Lieutenant, and amidst a burst of +laughter Miss Fitzgerald regained her good humour. + +"Possibly our host had better luck," ventured Kent-Lauriston. + +"Oh, His Diplomacy never bets," laughed Miss Fitzgerald. "He is much too +busy hatching plots at the Legation." + +"I protest!" cried that gentleman. "Don't you believe them, Madame +Darcy. I'm entirely harmless." + +"Yes?" she said. "I thought one must never believe a diplomat." + +"Oh, at the present day, and in a country like England, our duties are +very prosaic." + +"Come now, confess," cried Miss Fitzgerald, laughing. "Haven't you some +delightfully mysterious intrigue on hand, that you either spend your +days in concealing from your brother diplomats, or are dying to find +out, as the case may be?" + +"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he replied gravely, "but my duties and +tastes are not in the least romantic." + +"At least, not in the direction of diplomacy," murmured the Lieutenant, +giving the waiter a directive glance towards his empty champagne glass. + +"You have a beautiful country, Miss Fitzgerald," came the soft voice of +Madame Darcy, who had heard the aside, and was sorry for the young girl +at whom it was directed. + +"Oh, Ireland, you mean. Yes, I love it." + +"We are mostly Irish here," laughed Lieutenant Kingsland. "One of my +ancestors carried a blackthorn, and Miss Belle Fitzgerald." + +"Belle Fitzgerald!" she said, starting and looking keenly at the Irish +girl, who turned towards her as her name was mentioned, "are you the +Belle Fitzgerald who knows my husband, Colonel Darcy--so--well----" + +"Your husband?" she said slowly, looking Madame Darcy straight in the +face. "Your husband? No, I have never met _your_ husband. I do not know +him." + +Lieutenant Kingsland, seeing the attention of the company diverted from +his direction, half closed his eyes, and softly drew in his breath. Just +then the orchestra made an hejira to the drawing-room, and the little +party hastened to follow in its footsteps, in search of more music, +liqueurs, coffee, cigarettes, and the most comfortable corner. + +"My dear Jim," expostulated his guest of honour, half an hour later, +"there is not a drop of green Chartreuse, and you know I never drink the +yellow. Do be a good boy and run over to the dining-room, and persuade +the steward to give us some." + +As he rose and left them, obedient to the Irish girl's request, she +leaned over to Kingsland, who was seated next her, and handing him a +square envelope, said quietly, and in a low voice:-- + +"I want this given to Colonel Darcy before Stanley returns--his party is +still in the dining-room. Don't let our crowd see you take it." + +"Oh, I say," he expostulated, inspecting the missive which was blank and +undirected, "it's a risky thing to do, especially in the face of the +whopper you just told his wife about not knowing him." + +"I had to, 'Dottie'--I had indeed--she's so jealous she would tear the +eyes out of any woman who ventured to speak to him." + +"I won't do anything for you if you call me 'Dottie.' You know I hate +it." + +"Well, Jack then--dear Jack--do it to please me and don't stand there +talking, Stanley may return any minute." + +"All right, I'll go." + +"And don't flourish that envelope, it's most important and--it's too +late." + +"The Chartreuse is coming," broke in the Secretary. "I met the steward +in the hall--a letter to be posted?" he continued, seeing the missive, +which the Lieutenant held blankly in his hand. "Give it to me, and I'll +attend to it." + +A sharper man might have saved the situation, but sharpness was not one +of Kingsland's attributes, and dazed by the sudden turn of affairs, he +allowed Stanley to take the letter. + +"Why, it's not addressed!" he exclaimed, examining the envelope which +bore no mark save the initials A. R. in blue, on the flap. "Whom is it +to go to?" + +"I don't know," replied the Lieutenant, shamefacedly. + +"Where did it come from?" + +Kingsland looked about for help or an inspiration, and finding neither +fell back on the same form of words, repeating, "I don't know." + +Miss Fitzgerald had started up on the impulse of the moment, but sank +back in her seat as the Secretary said, slipping the missive into the +inside pocket of his dress-coat:-- + +"I am afraid I must constitute myself a dead-letter office, and hold +this mysterious document till called for." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PARLOUS TIMES + + +"We are living in parlous times," said the Chief Confidential Clerk, of +the Departmental Head of the South American Section of Her Majesty's +Foreign Office. + +Mr. Stanley, Secretary of South American Legation, bowed and said +nothing. Inwardly, he wondered just what "parlous" meant, and made a +mental note to look it up in a dictionary on the first opportunity that +offered. + +The Chief Confidential Clerk was the most genial of men, who always +impressed one with the feeling that, diplomatic as he might be at all +other times, this was the particular moment when he would relax his +vigilance and unburden his official heart. As a result, those who came +to unearth his secrets generally ended by telling him theirs. + +In this instance neither of the speakers knew anything of the subject in +hand, a treaty relating to the possession of a sand bar at the mouth of +a certain South American river. A matter said to have had its rise in a +fit of royal indigestion, in the sixteenth century. Somehow it had +never been settled. Each new ministry, each new revolutionary +government was "bound to see it through," and the treaty was constantly +on the verge of being "brought to an amicable conclusion," just as it +had been for nearly three hundred years. + +The fate of nations had, in short, drifted on that sand-bar and stuck +fast, at least the fate of one nation and the clemency of another. + +The Chief Confidential Clerk was not conscious that he was really +ignorant of the subject in hand--no true diplomat ever is--the young +Secretary was painfully aware of his own unenlightenment. + +"You are to understand," his Minister had said, "that you know nothing +concerning the status of the Treaty." + +"But, I do not know anything, Your Excellency," admitted the Secretary. + +"So much the better," replied the Minister, "for then you cannot talk +about it." + +The result of this state of affairs was, that at the end of half an hour +the Chief Confidential Clerk had discovered that the Secretary knew +nothing, while the Secretary had discovered--nothing. + +"We are living in parlous times," said the English official, "parlous +times, Mr. Stanley." + +Then his lunch arrived, and the interview closed in consequence. + +"I wonder," said the Secretary, half to himself and half to the horse, +as he trundled clubwards in a hansom, "I wonder if I could write out a +report of that last remark; it might mean so much--or so little." + +Stanley did not worry much over his failure to extract information at +the Foreign Office, because he was much more worried over deciding +whether he was really in love with Belle Fitzgerald. + +That young lady had been the cause of much anxiety to all those friends +who had his interests at heart, and from whom he had received advice and +covert suggestions, all tending to uphold the joys of a bachelor +existence as compared with the uncertainties of married life. They had +spoken with no uncertain voice. It was he who had wavered, to-day, +believing that she was the one woman on earth for him; to-morrow, sure +that it was merely infatuation. Now his decision had been forced. He was +invited to a house-party at her aunt's, Mrs. Roberts; Belle would be +there, and if he accepted, he would, in all probability, never leave +Roberts' Hall a free man. + +Miss Fitzgerald and the Secretary had seen a great deal of each other +during the season just drawing to a close. At first, as he assured +himself and his friends, it was merely "hail, fellow, well met," but +when he came to know the Irish girl better, their relations assumed a +different significance, as he gradually realised the isolated position +she occupied. Interest had changed to pity. He regretted that, for lack +of guidance, she seemed to be her own worst enemy, and feared that her +really sweet nature might be hardened or embittered from contact with +the world. He told himself he must decide at once whether he loved this +wilful girl, and should ask her to give him the right to protect her +from the world and from herself. + +Yet Stanley was keenly sensitive of the rashness of the step he +contemplated. The sweet bells of memory ring out whether land or sea +separates us. In spite of much honest effort on his part, the picture of +a beautiful face could not be banished from his mind. Now, just when he +was convincing himself that he could put the past behind him, Inez +crossed his path again. + +He grew bitter at the thought. "She did not trust me. She never loved me +or she could not have married that scoundrel, Darcy. It is all over +now--and Belle needs a protector." + +On the other hand, he realised how many reasons opposed such a course of +action. His father, his colleagues, and society, demanded something +better of him. That very social position which had put him in the way of +meeting his inamorata required of him in return that he should not make +a mesalliance, while sober common sense assured him with an irritating +persistence that the world could not be persuaded to perceive that Miss +Fitzgerald had any of the necessary qualifications for the position +which he proposed to give her. But he was young and high-spirited, and +these very limitations which society imposed, irritated him into a +desire to do something rash. He was still, however, possessed of a +substratum of worldly wisdom, and knowing that left to his own devices +he would certainly go to Mrs. Roberts', regardless of what might follow, +he resolved to give himself one more chance. If he could not guide +himself, he might, in this crisis, be guided by the stronger will of +another. He determined to ask advice of his friend Kent-Lauriston. + +In a case of this sort, Lionel Kent-Lauriston was thoroughly in his +element, having assisted at hundreds of the little comedies and +tragedies of life, which do more to determine the future of men and +women than any great crisis. + +His creed may be summed up in the fact that he loved all things to be +done "decently and in order." In a word he was a connoisseur of life, +and the good things thereof. Unobtrusive, always harmonious, he knew +everyone worth knowing, went everywhere worth going. Lucky the youth who +had him for his guide, philosopher and friend. He could show him life's +pleasantest paths. + +Stanley was one of these favoured few. They had met soon after he came +to England, and the younger man had conceived a genuine admiration for +the older. + +It seems hardly necessary to say, that Kent-Lauriston, though (or +because) a bachelor, was an authority on matchmaking. He had reduced it +to a fine art. His keen eye saw the subtle distinction between the +vulgar buying and selling of a woman, with the consequent desecration of +the marriage service, and the blind love, which, hot-headed, sacrifices +all the considerations of wisdom to the passion of the hour. + +"Never marry without love," he would say, "but learn to love wisely." + +It was to this man that the Secretary determined to make confession. +Kent-Lauriston, he was sure, did not approve of the match and would use +his strongest arguments to dissuade him from it. Stanley knew this was +the moral tonic he needed. He did not believe it would be successful, +but he determined to give it a fair trial. + +The Secretary reached his decision and his destination at one and the +same moment, and feeling that his good resolutions would be the better +sustained by a little nutriment, made his way to the luncheon table for +which this particular club was justly famous; indeed, few people +patronised it for anything else, situated as it was, almost within city +limits, and boasting, as its main attraction, an excellent view of the +most uninteresting portion of the Thames. + +Happening to look in the smoking-room, on his way upstairs, Stanley +caught sight of Lieutenant Kingsland. + +"Hello!" he said. "You lunching here?" + +"I don't know," returned the other, laughing uneasily. "I'm inclined to +think not. Viscount Chilsworth asked me to meet him here to-day; but, as +he's half an hour late already----" + +"You think your luncheon is rather problematical?" + +"I was just coming to that conclusion." + +"Make it a certainty, then, and lunch with me." + +"My dear fellow, you forget that I dined with you last night." + +"What of that? When I first came to London, I was told that an English +club was a place where one went to be alone--but I prefer company to +custom." + +"Yes--but there are limits to imposing on a friend's hospitality. While +I'm about it, I might as well share your breakfast and bed." + +"Not the latter, in any event, as long as I'm in small bachelor +quarters." + +The Lieutenant laughed. + +"Well, then," he began, "if you'll forgive me----" + +"There's one thing I won't forgive you," interrupted the Secretary, "and +that is keeping me a moment longer from my lunch, for I'm ravenously +hungry. I just want to send a telegram to Kent-Lauriston, asking him to +meet me at the club this afternoon, and then I'll be with you." + +Once they were settled at the table and the orders given, their +conversation turned to general subjects. + +"I suppose we'll all meet at the end of the week in Sussex," said the +Lieutenant. + +"Yes," replied Stanley, "at Mrs. Roberts'." + +"Is it to be a large party?" + +"I don't imagine so. Sort of house-warming. They've just inherited the +estate. Belle Fitzgerald, you and I, and the Port Arthurs-- I don't +know who else." + +"That reminds me," exclaimed Kingsland, "I must hurry through lunch. I +promised the Marchioness I'd do a picture exhibition with her Ladyship +at three, and it's nearly two, now." + +"Under orders as usual, I see," said his host, and the Lieutenant +shrugged his shoulders and looked sheepish. He was weak, impecunious, +handsome and dashing, and rumour said just a bit wild, and, moreover, +was known throughout the social world of London as the tame cat of the +Dowager Marchioness of Port Arthur; a very distant relative of his, and +as the especially privileged companion of her only daughter, Lady +Isabelle McLane, on the tacit understanding that he would never so far +forget himself as to aspire to that daughter's hand. + +"I say," remarked that officer, who did not relish the turn which the +conversation had taken, "tell me something about your country." + +"Do you desire a complete geographical and political disquisition?" +asked the Secretary, laughing. + +"Hardly. What's it like?" + +"The climate and Government of my country are both tropical." + +"I suppose you mean intense, and subject to violent changes." + +The Secretary looked out of the window at the most uninteresting view of +the Thames, saying: + +"I think we're going to have a thunderstorm." + +"Am I to take that remark in a political sense?" inquired the +Lieutenant. + +"I don't believe I've told you," said his host abruptly, discontinuing +an inopportune subject, "that I'm a South American only by force of +circumstances. My parents were born in the States." + +"My dear fellow," Kingsland hastened to assure him, "I never had the +least intention of prying into your affairs, domestic or diplomatic. I +was merely wondering if the country you represent brought forth any +staple products, which would yield a profitable return to foreign +investment?" + +The Secretary mentioned one--which was said to be connected prominently +with the treaty which was the subject of his recent visit to the Foreign +Office--and so was naturally uppermost in his mind--"but," he added, +"that staple is practically a monopoly, controlled by a firm of +manufacturers, whose headquarters are in London, and, unless they fail, +the outside public would have little chance in the same field." + +"I suppose their failure is hardly likely." + +"I'm not so sure of that--it all depends on a treaty now pending between +your Government and mine. Frankly, if I had any money to invest, I would +not expend it in that direction." + +"Thank you. By the way, if your land doesn't produce good investments, +it certainly brings forth beautiful women. What wonderful beauty that +Madame Darcy has, who dined with us last night." + +"Our fathers are old friends," replied Stanley. + +"Ah, what a pity," said the Lieutenant. + +"I don't understand." + +"That she should not have married you, I mean, instead of that bounder +Darcy. I have heard his name more than once in official circles, and +there's precious little to be said in his favour. But his wife--ah, +there's a woman any man might be proud to marry. Such beauty, such +refinement, so much reserve. Rather a contrast to our fascinating Belle, +eh?" + +"I have the greatest respect for Miss Fitzgerald," said the Secretary +stiffly. + +"Yes, but not of the marriageable quality," said the Lieutenant, +speaking _ex cathedra_ as one who had also been in the fair Irish girl's +train. "Oh no, my dear fellow, a woman of Madame Darcy's type is the +woman for you. The Fitzgerald, believe me, would break a man's heart or +his bank account, in no time." + +"Look here," said Stanley shortly, "I don't like that sort of thing." + +"Don't turn nasty, old chap," said Kingsland. "I'm only speaking for +your good. I'd be the last man to run down a woman. I love the whole +sex, and the little Fitzgerald is no end jolly, to play with, but to +marry--! By the way, have you heard of her latest exploit. The town's +ringing with it. She----" + +"Thanks, I'd rather not hear it," replied the Secretary, who just now +was trying to forget some phases of her nature. + +"By Jove!" broke in the Lieutenant--"speaking of angels--there she is +now." + +"What, down in this section of the city?" + +"Yes, in a hansom cab." + +"An angel in a hansom!" cried the Secretary, "that's certainly a +combination worth seeing," and rising, he stepped to the window, +followed by Kingsland. The two men were just in time to see the lady in +question dash by along the Embankment, and to note that she was not +alone. Indeed, even the fleeting glimpse which they caught of her +companion was sufficiently startling to engrave his likeness indelibly +on their minds. + +He was an oldish man, of say sixty, clad in a nondescript grey suit of +no distinguishable style or date, surmounted by a soft felt hat of the +type which distinguished Americans are said to affect in London, while +his high cheek bones and prominent nose might have given him credit for +having Indian blood in his veins, had not his dead white skin belied the +charge. He was possessed, moreover, of huge bushy brows, beneath which a +ferret's keen eyes peeped out, and were never for an instant still. + +"Gad!" exclaimed the Lieutenant, "this promises to be the strangest +escapade of all." + +"Who the devil is he?" demanded Stanley, facing around, with almost an +accusing note in his voice. + +The Lieutenant returned his glance squarely. + +"Why, he's the man who gave her--I mean, who was talking to her last +night at the Hyde Park Club." + +"Last night? I don't remember seeing him." + +"It was when you were waltzing up and down stairs in search of a +chaperon." + +"Who is he?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure," replied the Lieutenant brusquely, lighting a +cigarette, and thrusting his hands in his trousers' pockets. + +"But you must have some idea?" + +"Never saw him before last night, I assure you. Must be off now, old +chap. Late for my appointment already. Thanks awfully for the lunch. See +you at Lady Rainsford's tea this afternoon? Yes. All right. Hansom!" + +And he was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A LADY IN DISTRESS + + +After lunch the Secretary returned to the Legation and made out his +report to his Minister, concerning the treaty. He had looked up the word +"parlous" in the dictionary, and found that it meant, "whimsical, +tricky,"--a sinister interpretation he felt, when connected with +anything diplomatic; moreover the Foreign Office was distressingly +uninformed on the subject, another reason for suspicion. Yet, as far as +he knew--only the mere formalities of settlement remained, the +ratification by vote of his home Government--the exchange of +protocols--and behold it was accomplished--much to the credit of his +Minister and the satisfaction of all concerned. Doubtless the visit was +nothing more than a bit of routine work, and his private affairs seeming +for the time more important, he dismissed it from his mind as not worthy +of serious consideration and compiled an elaborate report of three +pages, not forgetting to mention the arrival of the Chief Clerk's lunch, +as matter which might legitimately be used to fill up space. This done, +he was about to leave the office in order to meet his appointment with +Kent-Lauriston, when John, the genial functionary of the Legation, +beamed upon him from the door, presenting him a visiting card, and +informing him that a lady was waiting in the ante-room. + +"An' she's that 'ansome, sir, it would do your eyes good to see 'er." + +The Secretary answered somewhat testily that his eyes were in excellent +condition as it was, and that the lady did not deserve to be seen at all +for coming so much after office-hours, and delaying him just as he was +about to keep an appointment--then his eyes happened to fall on the card +and his tone changed at once. + +"Madame Darcy!" he exclaimed. "Why, what can have brought her to see +me!--John, show the lady in at once, and--say my time is quite at her +service." + +A glance at his fair chaperon of the night before, as she entered the +room, told him that she was in great trouble, and he sprang forward to +take both her hands in his, with a warmth of greeting which he would +have found it hard to justify, except on an occasion of such evident +sorrow. + +"Inez--Madame Darcy," he said, leading her to his most comfortable +arm-chair--"this is indeed a pleasure--but do not tell me that you are +in distress." + +"I am in very great trouble." + +"Anything that I can do to serve you--I need hardly say," he murmured, +and paused, fascinated by this picture of lovely grief. + +"I was prompted to come to you," she replied, "by your kindness of last +evening, for I knew you had seen and understood, and were still my +friend, and also my national representative in a foreign land, to ask +your aid for a poor country-woman who is in danger of being deprived of +her freedom, if not of her reason." + +"But surely you are not speaking of yourself!" + +"Yes, of myself." + +The young diplomat said nothing for a moment or two, he was arranging +his ideas--adjusting them to this new and interesting phase of his +experience with Madame Darcy. + +As a Secretary of Legation is generally the father confessor of his +compatriots--he had ceased to be surprised at anything. People may +deceive their physician, their lawyer, or the partner of their joys and +sorrows; but to their country's representative in a strange land they +unburden their hearts. + +"Tell me," he said finally, breaking the silence, "just what your +trouble is." + +"I need sympathy and help." + +"The first you have already," he replied with a special reserve in his +manner, for he felt somehow that it was hardly fair that she should +bring herself to his notice again, when he had almost made up his mind +to marry a lady of whom all his friends disapproved. Indeed, in the last +few minutes the force of Kingsland's remarks had made themselves felt +very strongly, and he especially exerted himself to be brusque, feeling +in an odd kind of way that he owed it to Miss Fitzgerald. So putting on +his most official tone he added, "to help you, Madame Darcy, I must +understand your case clearly." + +"Don't call me by that name--give me my own--as you once did. My +husband's a brute." + +"Quite so, undoubtedly; but unfortunately that does not change your +name." + +"Would you mind shutting the door?" she replied somewhat irrelevantly. +They were, as has been said, in the Secretary's private office, a dreary +room, its furniture, three chairs, a desk and a bookcase full of +forbidding legal volumes, its walls littered with maps, and its one +window looking out on the unloveliness of a London business street. + +As he returned to his seat, after executing her request, she began +abruptly:-- + +"You're not a South American." + +"No, my father was a Northerner, but, as you know, he owned large sugar +plantations in your country, and if training and sympathy can make me a +South American, I am one." + +"You're a Protestant." + +"Yes, so are you." + +"It is my mother's faith, and though I was brought up in a convent at +New Orleans, I've not forsaken it. I feel easier in speaking to you on +that account." + +"You may rest assured, my dear, that what you say to me will go no +farther. 'Tis my business to keep secrets." + +"Two years ago," she began abruptly, plunging into her story, "after +our--after you left home, an Englishman, a soldier returning from the +East incapacitated by a fever, and travelling for his health, craved a +night's rest at my father's house. As you know, in a country like ours, +where decent inns are few and far between, travellers are always +welcome. It was the hot season, we pressed him to stay for a day or two, +he accepted, and a return of the fever made him our guest for months. He +needed constant nursing--I--I was the only white woman on the +plantation." + +"I see," said Stanley. "You nursed him, he recovered, was grateful, paid +you homage." + +"Remember I was brought up in a convent. I was so alone and so unhappy. +He told me you had married. I believed him--trusted him. + +"Quite so. His name was Darcy. He is a liar." + +"He is--my husband." + +"A gentleman--I suppose?" + +"The world accords him that title," she replied coldly. + +"I understand-- He's a man of means?" + +"He has nothing but his pay." + +"And you--but that question is unnecessary. Senor De Costa's name and +estates are well known--and you are his only child." + +"Yes, you're right," she burst out. "It's my money, my cursed money! Why +do men call it a blessing! Oh, if I could trust him, I'd give him every +penny of it. But I cannot, it's the one hold I have on him, and because +I will not beggar myself to supply means for his extravagances he +dares----" + +"Not personal violence, surely?" + +"To put me away somewhere--in a retreat, he calls it. That means a +madhouse." + +"My dear Madame Darcy!" + +"Call me Inez De Costa, I will _not_ have that name of Darcy, I hate +it." + +"My dear Inez, then; your fears are groundless; they can't put sane +people in madhouses any longer in England, except in cheap fiction--it's +against the law." + +"It's very easy for you to sit there and talk of law. You, who are +protected by your office, but for me, for a poor woman whose liberty is +threatened!" + +"I assure you that you're in no such danger as you apprehend." + +"But if I were put away, you would help me?" + +"You shall suffer no injustice that we can prevent. You may return home +and rest easy on that score." + +"I shall never return to that man." + +"Why not return to your father?" + +"Would that I could!" she exclaimed, her eyes brimming with tears. "But +how can I, with no money and no friends?" + +"I thought you said----" began the Secretary, but his interruption was +lost in the flow of her eloquence. + +"I've not a penny. I can cash no cheque that's not made to his order, +and to come to you I must degrade myself by borrowing a sovereign from +my maid. I've travelled third-class!" + +The Secretary smiled at the ante-climax, saying: + +"Many people of large means travel third-class habitually." + +"But not a De Costa," she broke in, and then continued her narration +with renewed ardour. + +"I've no roof to shelter me to-night. No where to go. No clothes except +what I wear. No money but those few shillings; but I would rather starve +and die in the streets than go back to him. I'm rich. I've powerful +friends. You can't have the heart to turn away from me. Have you +forgotten the old friendship? You must do something--something to save +me----" and in the passion, of her southern nature she threw herself at +his feet, and burst into an agony of tears. + +Stanley assisted her to rise, got her a glass of water, and had cause, +for the second time in that interview, to thank his stars that love had +already shot another shaft, because if it were not for Belle, his +official position, and the fact that the Senora had one husband +already--well--it was a relief to be forced to tell her that legations +were not charitable institutions, and that much as he might desire to +aid her, neither he nor his colleagues could interfere in her private +affairs. + +"Then you refuse to assist me--you leave me to my fate!" she cried, +starting up, a red flush of anger mantling her cheek. + +"Not at all," he hastened to say. "On the contrary, I'm going to help +you all I know how. I can't interfere myself, but I can refer you to a +friend of mine, whom you can thoroughly trust, and who's in a position +to aid you in the matter." + +"And his name?" + +"His name is Peter Sanks, the lawyer of the Legation, a gentleman, truly +as well as technically. A countryman of yours who has practised both +here and at home, and who always feels a keen interest in the affairs of +his compatriots. He has chambers in the Middle Temple. I'll give you his +address on my card." + +"You're most kind-- I'll throw myself without delay on the clemency of +this Senor----" + +"Sanks." + +"_Madre de Dios!_ What a name!" + +"I dare say he was Don Pedro Sanchez at home, but that would hardly go +here. I've written him a line on my visiting card, requesting him to do +everything he can for you, and, of course, I need hardly say to you, as +a friend, not as an official, that my time and service are entirely +devoted to your interests. There is nothing that I possess which you may +not command." + +"And for me, you do this?" she asked, looking up wistfully in his face. + +He took her two little hands in his, and bending over, kissed the tips +of their fingers. + +"I cannot express the gratitude," she began. + +"Don't," he said, cutting short her profuse thanks. "It's nothing, I +assure you. Here is my card to Sanks. Better go to him at once, or you +may miss him. It's nearly three o'clock." And feeling that it was unsafe +to trust himself longer in her presence, he touched the bell, saying to +the confidential clerk who answered it:-- + +"The door, John." + +A moment later she was gone, leaving only the subtle perfume of her +presence in the room. Stanley threw himself moodily into the nearest +chair. It was too bad that this bewitching woman should be married to a +brute. It was too bad that he couldn't do more to help her, and it +was--yes, it really was too bad, that she should have come again into +his life just at the present moment. She was so exactly like what he had +fancied the ideal woman he was to marry ought to be. But she wasn't a +bit like Belle, and the reflection was decidedly disturbing. And now, he +supposed, she would get a divorce, and--oh, pshaw! it wasn't his affair +anyway, and he was late for his appointment with Kent-Lauriston. + +He rang his office bell sharply, picking up his hat and gloves as he did +so, and saying to the messenger who answered his summons:-- + +"Give this report to his Excellency, John, and let me have some visiting +cards, will you---- No, no, not any official ones. Some with my private +address on." + +"Very sorry Sir, but they're all out. I ordered some more day before +yesterday, Sir. They should have come by now." + +"Just my luck, why didn't you attend to them earlier?" + +"Isn't there one on your desk, Sir. I'm sure I saw one lying there this +morning." + +"Why, yes, so there was." And he turned hastily back, only to exclaim +after a moment's hopeless rummaging:-- + +"Confound it! I must have given it to Senora De Costa!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A GENTLEMAN IN DISTRESS + + +Kent-Lauriston was prompt to his appointment, and it took but a few +moments to establish the Secretary and himself in a private room with a +plentiful supply of cigarettes, and two whiskeys and sodas. + +Stanley was nervous and showed it. Kent-Lauriston adjusted his monocle, +tugged at his long sandy moustache, and surveyed his companion from head +to foot. + +"Not feeling fit?" he queried. "Suffering from political ennui?" + +"Oh, my health is all right, as far as that goes----" + +"Yes, I see," this last remark meditatively. Then he added. "Some deuced +little scrape?" + +Stanley nodded. + +"Woman?" + +"It concerns a lady--perhaps two." + +Kent-Lauriston frowned, and tugged his moustache a trifle harder, to +imply that he now understood the affair to be of a more complex order, +requiring the aid of skilful diplomacy, in place of the simple +directness of five-pound notes. + +"Want my advice, I suppose?" + +"Yes," admitted Stanley, "and so I'd better make a clean breast of the +matter." + +"Decidedly." + +"The fact is, I want to marry--or rather, don't want to marry--no, +that's not it either-- I want to marry the girl bad enough, but I think +I'd better not. It would be what the world--what you might call, a +foolish match." + +"Deucedly hard hit, I suppose?" + +"You see," continued the Secretary, ignoring his friend's question, "I +know I oughtn't to marry her, but left to myself, I'd do it, and I need +a jolly good rowing--only you mustn't be disrespectful to the lady--I--I +couldn't stand that." + +"I think I know her name." + +"Miss Fitzgerald. You dined with her at the Hyde Park Club last +evening." + +"Daughter of old Fitzgerald of the --th Hussars----" + +"I--I believe that was her father's regiment, but now she lives----" + +"Lives!" interjected Kent-Lauriston. "No, she doesn't live--visits round +with her relatives--old Irish ancestry--ruined castles and no +rents--washy blue eyes and hair, at present, golden." + +"She is one of the most beautiful Irish girls I've ever seen," cried +Stanley. "In repose her face is spirituelle. She is a cousin of Lord +Westmoorland." + +"Fourteenth cousin--twice removed." + +"I don't know her degree of relationship." + +"I do." + +"She's splendid vitality and courage," said the Secretary, desirous of +turning the conversation, which threatened to drift into dangerous +channels. "She's dashing, thoroughly dashing." + +"Gad, I'm with you there! I've seldom seen a better horse-woman. I've +watched her more than once in the hunting field put her gee at hedges +and ditches that many a Master of Hounds would have fought shy of,--and +clear 'em, too." + +Stanley smiled, delighted to hear a word of commendation from a quarter +where he least expected it, but Kent-Lauriston's next remark was less +gratifying. + +"Little rapid, isn't she? Trifle fond of fizz-water and cigarettes?" + +"She's the spirits of youth," said the Secretary, a trifle coldly. + +"Let me see," mused his adviser. "How about that Hunt Ball at +Leamington?" + +"I wasn't there, and I must ask you to remember that you're talking of a +lady." + +"Um, pity!" said his friend ambiguously, and added, "How far have you +put your foot in it?" + +"Well, I haven't asked her to marry me." + +"Ah. Order me another whiskey and soda, please," and Kent-Lauriston sat +puffing a cigarette, and tugging at his moustache till the beverage +came. Then he drank it thoughtfully, not saying a word; a silence that +was full of meaning to Stanley, who flushed and began to fidget uneasily +about the room. + +Having finished the last drop, and disposed of his cigarette, his +adviser looked up and said shortly:-- + +"How did this begin?" + +"I met her some months ago--but only got to know her intimately at the +races." + +"Derby?" + +"No, Ascot." + +"Royal Enclosure, of course." + +"Royal Enclosure, of course. She was visiting her aunt." + +"I know. That type of girl has dozens of aunts." + +"Her uncle brought her down and introduced us. He left her a moment to +go to the Paddock and never came back." + +"Um, left you to do the honours." + +"Exactly so, and I did them. Saw the crowd, saw the gees, had lunch--you +know the programme." + +"Only too well. Do any betting?" + +"A little." + +"Thought it was against your principles. You told me so once." + +"I--I didn't bet--that is----" + +"Oh, I see. She did." + +"Rather--a good round sum." + +"You knew the amount?" + +"Well, the fact is--she'd given her uncle her pocket-book, and he got +lost." + +"Clever uncle; so you paid the reckoning." + +"She said she knew the winning horse." + +"We always do know the winners." + +"This was an exception to prove the rule." + +"So you put down--and she never paid up." + +"Youth is forgetful, and of course--you can't dun a lady." + +"No--you can't dun a _lady_!" + +"Look here!" cried Stanley. "I won't stand that sort of thing!" + +"Beg your pardon, I was thinking aloud, beastly bad habit, purely +reminiscent, I assure you. Go on." + +"Well, of course I saw something of her after that. Aunt invited me to +call, also to dine." + +"What about that trip down the Thames?" + +"Why, I'd arranged my party for that before I met Belle--I mean Miss +Fitzgerald." + +"Oh, call her Belle, I know you do." + +"And she happened to mention, quite accidentally, that one of her +unaccomplished ideals was a trip down the Thames. I fear she's +shockingly cramped for money you know, so as I happened to have a vacant +place----" + +"You naturally invited her-- I wonder how she found out there was a +vacant place," mused Kent-Lauriston. + +"My dear fellow," reiterated Stanley. "I tell you she didn't even know I +was getting it up. Of course if she had, she'd never have spoken of it. +Miss Fitzgerald is far above touting for an invitation." + +"Of course. Well you must have advanced considerably in your +acquaintance during the trip. Had her quite to yourself, as it were, +since I suppose she knew none of the party." + +"Oh, but she did. She knew Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"To be sure. He was the man who wagered her a dozen dozen pairs of +gloves that she wouldn't swim her horse across the Serpentine in Hyde +Park." + +"And she won, by Jove! I can tell you she has pluck." + +"And they were both arrested in consequence. I think the Lieutenant owed +her some reparation, and I must say a trip down the Thames was most _a +propos_." + +"Look here, Kent-Lauriston, if you're insinuating that Kingsland put her +up to----" + +"Far from it, my boy, how could I insinuate anything so unlikely? Well, +what other unattainable luxuries did you bestow?" + +"Nothing more to speak of--why, yes. Do you know the poor little thing +had never seen Irving, or been inside the Lyceum?" + +"So you gave the 'poor little thing' a box party, and a champagne supper +at the Savoy afterwards, I'll be bound, and yet surely it was at the +Lyceum that----" + +"What?" + +"Oh, nothing, I was becoming reminiscent once more; it's a bad habit. +Let's have the rest of it." + +"There isn't much more to tell. I've ridden with her sometimes in the +Park. Given her a dinner at the Wellington, a few teas at the Hyde Park +Club. I think that's all--flowers perhaps, nothing in the least +compromising." + +"Compromising! Why, it's enough to have married you to three English +girls." + +"She's Irish." + +"I beg her pardon," and Kent-Lauriston bowed in mock humility. + +"What do you think of my case, honestly?" + +"Honestly, I think she means to have you, and if I was a betting man, +I'd lay the odds on her chances of winning." + +"Confound you!" broke in Stanley. "You've such a beastly way of taking +the words out of a man's mouth and twisting them round to mean something +else. Here I started in to tell you of my acquaintance with Miss +Fitzgerald, and by the time I've finished you've made it appear as if +her actions had been those of an adventuress, a keen, unprincipled, +up-to-date Becky Sharp. Why, you've hardly left her a shred of +character. I swear you wrong her, she's not what you've made me make her +out,--not at all like that." + +"What is she like then?" + +"She is a poor girl without resources or near relations, thrown on the +world in that most anomalous of positions, shabby gentility; who has to +endure no end of petty insults; insults, covert, if not open, from men +like you, who ought to know better. I tell you she's good and straight, +straight as a die; brave, fearless, plucky--isn't the word for it. A +little headstrong, perhaps, and careless of what the world may say, but +whom has she had to teach her better? There's no harm in her though. Of +that I'm sure. And underneath an exterior of what may seem flippancy, +her heart rings true; but you're so prejudiced you'll never admit it." + +"On the contrary," replied his friend, lighting another cigarette, "I'm +perfectly willing to agree to nearly all that you have just said in her +favour--all that is of vital importance, at least. I know something of +this young lady's career, and I'm prepared to say I don't believe there +is anything bad in her. She has to live by her wits, and they must be +sharp in consequence; and having to carve out her own destiny instead of +having a mother to do so for her, she has become self-reliant, and to +some extent careless of the impression she makes, which has given her a +reputation for indiscretion which she really does not deserve. She's +certainly charming, and undeniably dashing, though whether it arises +from bravery or foolhardiness, I'm not prepared to say; but one thing I +can state most emphatically--you're not the man to marry her." + +"And why not, pray?" + +"Because you're too good for her." + +"That's a matter of opinion." + +"No--matter of fact." + +Stanley flushed angrily--but Kent-Lauriston continued: + +"No need to fly into a passion; what I say is perfectly true. The only +way for Belle Fitzgerald to marry, be happy, and develop the best that +is in her, is to have a husband whose methods--forceful or +otherwise--she can understand and appreciate. You are too good for her. +Her struggle with life has been a hard one, she has seen the seamy side +of human nature, and it has taught her to estimate all men at their +worst. She'd consider your virtue, weakness. You could never take her to +South America and the ancestral plantation; it would bore her to +extinction. She'd require to live in London or keep open house in the +country, and she'd gather about her the set she goes with now. Her +companions, her manner of life, you think unworthy of her; already they +grate on your finer sensibilities, blinded as you are; believe me, +they'd grate much more when she bore your name. No, the only man who +could marry her, be happy, make her happy, and keep his good name +untarnished in the future, would be one who knows her world better than +she does herself; who has a past that even she would shudder at; who has +no ideals, no aspirations, just manly vigour and brute force; who could +guide her with a hand of steel in a glove of velvet, and pull her up +short at the danger line, because he knows what lies beyond, and she +knows that he knows. She'd tire of you in six months; she would not dare +to tire of the other man." + +"I think you wrong her," said Stanley wearily. "Indeed, your own +criticism of her might be applied to yourself. Your knowledge of the +world has caused you unconsciously to misjudge a nature you cannot +understand. Yet I know that my friends would all voice your +sentiments--that they'd all be disappointed in the match." + +"Exactly so--and they'd be in the right--excuse me for being blunt, but +with your wealth and social position you would be simply throwing +yourself away." + +"I know all that--but--I'm so sorry for her." + +"You could serve her better as her friend than as her husband. She must +live your life or you must live hers--in either case, one of you would +be unhappy." + +"I half believe you're right. Confound it! I know you're right, and +yet--how am I to get out of it with honour?" + +"Don't have any false sentimentality about that, my boy. Believe me, she +understands the situation much better than you do. So far you have been +chums; if you stop there, she is too much a woman of the world to lay it +up against you. You've given her much pleasure during the past season +and she appreciates it; but she's quite enough of a philosopher to +accept cheerfully the half-loaf." + +"But I can't be just a friend." + +"Not now, perhaps, but you can a few months later, when other things +have supervened." + +"If I see her again--it's all over." + +"Don't see her then." + +"That is just the point. She's going to stay with an aunt in Sussex." + +"Another aunt?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Roberts, and I am invited to go down to the house-party +to-morrow, and have accepted, and shall come back engaged." + +"Send your excuses, by all means, write to-day." + +"Yes, I suppose it's for the best, but you know I hate to do it. Somehow +I can't think all you imply of her." + +"My dear boy," said Kent-Lauriston, "I may be doing the lady gross +injustice and keeping you out of a very good thing, but even in that +case you must not go to Sussex. For heaven's sake, man, take time to +consider! It's too important a matter to be decided in a hurry. If she +cares for you and is worthy of you, she'll give you every fair +opportunity of asking her the fateful question and a reasonable amount +of time to think it over. Take a fortnight for calm reflection; it's +very little to allow for what may be a life's happiness or misery. +Meanwhile try and keep your mind off it. Run over to Paris with me. If +at the end of our trip you still feel the same towards her, I won't +stand in your way, I promise you. Come, is that a fair offer?" + +"Most kind," said Stanley, "and to show you my appreciation of all the +trouble you've taken, I'll send my regrets to Mrs. Roberts by the first +post." + +"Good boy!" said his mentor, sententiously. + +"I don't know about Paris, as to whether I can get leave, I mean." + +"Nonsense, you have already arranged your leave for the house-party, +I'll be bound. Dine with me here to-morrow night at eight, and we'll +talk it over." + +"Thanks, I will. I must be going now, I have to look in at a tea or +two." + +"Not to meet our charming enchantress?" + +"No, no, trust me, I'll play fair," and he was gone. + +Kent-Lauriston puffed meditatively at his cigarette, now that he was +alone, and tugged hard at his moustache. + +"The little Fitzgerald a pattern of all the virtues, eh?" he said, half +to himself, and half to the departing Secretary, and added, under his +breath: + +"Gad! How she would rook him! Never been to the Lyceum or down the +Thames! May she be forgiven!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AFTERNOON TEA + + +The Secretary had stated that he had several calls to make, but they +resolved themselves into one, the fact being that the day was +disagreeable and the prospect of riding vast distances in hansom cabs, +interspersed with short intervals of tea, not alluring. He therefore +decided to confine his attentions to one hostess, and selected his +missing chaperon, Lady Rainsford, whose indisposition had come so near +wrecking his little dinner. Her Ladyship had much to commend her. Her +house was central and large, one knew one would meet friends there, and +there were plenty of nooks and corners for tete-a-tetes, while, as her +circle was most select, and she received frequently, there was a fair +chance that her rooms would not be crowded. + +Stanley found his hostess quite recovered, and standing by the side of a +bright fire in a diminutive fireplace, for the rain had made the day a +bit chilly. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary," she cried, as he entered. "I was +beginning to think you'd not forgiven me for leaving you in the lurch +last night." + +"Don't speak of it, I beg," he said, hastening to deprecate her +apologies. "I should have called to enquire the first thing this +morning." + +"You should most certainly, and I ought to tax you with base desertion," +she went on. + +"That would be impossible, but I'm a victim of stern necessity. Society +demands all my spare time, and I'm forced, as one always is in London, +to neglect my friends for my acquaintances." + +"You deserve a thorough rating, and if it were not for my duties as +hostess, I'd give it to you here and now." + +"I claim the protection of your hearth," he rejoined, laughing. + +"Oh! But it's such a tiny hearth," she remonstrated. + +"And I," he added, "am such an insignificant personage." + +"I won't have you run yourself down in that way. I believe you are a +great social lion. Come, confess, how many teas have you been to in the +last seven days?" + +"Fifty-six." + +"Good gracious! How do you men stand it, and having something to eat and +a cup of tea at every place?" + +"Shall I enlighten you as to the professional secrets of the habitual +tea-goer? We don't." + +"But surely you can't always refuse." + +"I never refuse. I always accept the cup--and put it down somewhere." + +"For another guest to knock over. You're a hardened reprobate, but this +time you shall not escape. You know Miss Campbell, who is pouring tea +for me this afternoon? No? Then I'll introduce you. Miss Campbell, this +is Secretary Stanley, a member of the Diplomatic Corps, who has just +confessed to me that he habitually eludes the trustful hostess and the +proffered tea. You'll give him a cup and see that he drinks it before he +leaves the room," and the vivacious little woman departed, leaving him +no alternative but to accept his fate meekly. + +"How do you like your tea?" inquired Miss Campbell, a young lady deft of +hand, but with few ideas. + +"Lemon and no sugar." + +"How nasty! But then, I forgot you never really drink it, Lady Rainsford +says. But this time----" + +"This time," he replied, "I'm a lamb led to the slaughter." + +Miss Campbell said, "Really?" Then there followed an awkward silence. + +Looking around for some means of escape, he saw a face in the crowd, +that caused him to start, so utterly unexpected and out of place did it +seem, considering what he had heard that afternoon. It was the face of +Colonel Darcy. + +He did not think the man knew him, and for obvious reasons he did not +care to be introduced; so he turned again to Miss Campbell, who, seeing +no alternative, rose to the occasion and continued the conversation by +remarking:-- + +"Is it true that you go to such an enormous number of teas? What do you +find to talk about?" + +"Oh, I don't find much. I talk about the same thing at every tea. If you +meet other people it makes no difference." + +"How clever of you!" + +"On the contrary it's simply dulness, and because I'm lazy--I----" but +he left his sentence unfinished, for Miss Campbell's attention was +palpably wavering, and her glance spoke of approaching deliverance. He +looked over his shoulder to see Darcy advancing with Lieutenant +Kingsland. + +The two officers had met in the crush a few minutes before, and the +Colonel had lost no time in taking Kingsland to task for his stupidity +of the past night. + +"I'm no end sorry," the Lieutenant said, in very apologetic tones. + +"That doesn't give me my letter," growled the Colonel. + +"I know I'm an awful duffer," assented Kingsland, "but when he came up +behind me and asked questions about it, I was so staggered I let him +take it right out of my hands. It wasn't addressed, you know, and I +naturally couldn't say who gave it to me." + +"I should hope not indeed." + +"Well, what shall I do--ask him for it?" + +"No, no, leave it alone; you've blundered enough. You all meet at a +country house to-morrow." + +"Yes." + +"Well, trust its recovery to her; she'll get it, if he has it with him. +If he leaves it behind in London so much the easier for me." + +"But I thought you were coming down----" + +"You think a great deal too much, and your actions are----" + +"Sh!" whispered the Lieutenant, laying his hand on Darcy's arm. "He's +looking our way, he'll hear us." + +Stanley had not caught a word of the previous conversation, but a +whisper sometimes carries much farther than the ordinary tones of the +voice, and he heard the caution and saw the gesture which accompanied +it, very distinctly. + +The Colonel and the Lieutenant were close upon him by this time, and +Stanley, who had no wish to be recognised, began to move off, and +disappeared in the crowd, determined to make the best of his way to the +door. He was terribly bored. + +He was not destined to escape quite so easily, however, for Lady +Isabelle McLane sighted him in transit, and in a moment more had drawn +him into a protecting corner with two seats, and settled down to a +serious conversation. + +"I hear you're going down to the Roberts'," she said; "I'm invited too." + +"Then I'm all the more sorry that I'm not to be there," he replied. + +"You surprise me; I supposed your acceptance was of some standing. I +hope there's nothing wrong, that your chief hasn't forgotten his +position, and turned fractious?" + +"Oh, no, my chief behaves very well," Stanley hastened to assure her, +"but the fact is--I, well, I don't find it convenient." + +"Or, in other words, you've some reason for not wanting to go." + +He assented, having learned by long and bitter experience, that when a +woman makes up her mind to exert her faculties of instinct, it is easier +by far to acquiesce at once in any conclusion to which she may have +jumped, however erroneous. + +"Will you be shocked if I say I'm glad of it?" + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders; he thought he knew what was +coming. + +"It certainly isn't complimentary to me," he replied; "but you've always +exercised the prerogative of a friend to tell disagreeable truths." + +"Now, that's very unkind, Mr. Stanley. I'm sure I only do it for your +good." + +"My dear Lady Isabelle, if you'll allow a man who is older than your +charming self, and who has seen more of the world than I hope you'll +ever do----" + +"To tell a disagreeable truth?" she queried, filling out the sentence, +as pique prompted her. + +"To make a suggestion." + +"It's the same thing. Go on." + +"It's merely this. That you'll never achieve a great social success till +you've realised that the well-being of your friends is your least +important consideration." + +"Dear me, Mr. Secretary, I had no idea you were so tender in regard to +Miss Fitzgerald." + +"Who said anything about Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"I did. I don't suppose you knew she was to be at Roberts' Hall." + +"Certainly I know it. That is the very reason why I'm not going." + +"I'm unfeignedly rejoiced. I've watched your progress in London with +much interest, and believe me, Miss Fitzgerald is a stumbling-block in +your path." + +"All my friends, all the people who have my good at heart," he replied a +trifle testily, "seem to think it their duty to warn me against Miss +Fitzgerald." + +"I should hate to see you become entangled." + +"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's not even the shadow of a +chance of such an event coming to pass. Miss Fitzgerald and I are both +philosophers in our way. We attend to the serious business of society +when we are apart, and indulge in a little mild and harmless flirtation +when we occasionally meet, quite understanding that it means nothing, +and is merely a means of relaxation, to keep our hands in, as it were." + +"You say that so glibly, that I'm sure you must have said it before. +It's flippant, and, besides that, it's not strictly true." + +"Really!" + +"Oh, excuse me if I've said anything rude, but this is a very, very +serious matter, according to my way of thinking! and I do wish you'd +consent to be serious about it just for once, won't you, to please me?" + +"Certainly, if you wish it, and I'm amazingly honoured that you should +have spent so much of your valuable time over my poor affairs." + +"That isn't a promising beginning," she said reflectively, "for a man +who has agreed to be serious; but really now, you must know that I'm +distressed about you. Your attentions to this lady are the talk of +London." + +"I've told you," he replied, "that I've refused this invitation to the +house-party. Isn't that a sufficient answer, and won't it set your mind +at rest?" + +"Ye-es. Would you object if I asked just one more question? If you think +it horribly impertinent you're just to refuse to answer it." + +"Ask away." + +"Had you, before refusing, previously accepted this invitation of Mrs. +Roberts?" + +"Yes," he replied, a trifle sheepishly. + +"Thanks, so much," she said, "I quite understand now." + +"Then may we talk on some more congenial subject?" + +"No, you must take me back to Mamma." + +"What, was I only taken aside to be lectured?" + +"Oh, no," she hastened to assure him, naively--it was her first +season--"but we have been chatting already fifteen minutes, and that's +long enough." + +"Oh, dear!" he said regretfully, "I thought I'd left Mrs. Grundy at the +tea-table." + +"You are so careless yourself that you forget that others have to be +careful. Here comes Lieutenant Kingsland to my rescue. You would not +believe it, Lieutenant," she continued, as that officer approached them, +"this gentleman considers himself abused because I will not talk to him +all the afternoon." + +"I quite agree with him," said Kingsland, "not that I have ever had that +felicity; it's one of my most cherished ambitions." + +"You're as bad as he is; take me to Mamma, at once." + +"I'll take you to have some tea. Won't that do as well?" and they moved +away. + +Ten minutes later the Secretary met the Dowager Marchioness of Port +Arthur, who bore down on him at once. + +"Mr. Stanley, have you seen my daughter?" she demanded. "I'm waiting to +go home, and I can't find her anywhere." + +"The last I saw of her she was with Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"Oh, you _have_ seen her this afternoon, then." + +This last remark seemed tempered with a little disapproval. + +"I had the pleasure of fifteen minutes' chat with her," continued the +Secretary imperturbably. The Marchioness raised her eyebrows. + +"At least she said it was fifteen minutes"--he hastened to explain--"it +didn't seem as long to me; then Lieutenant Kingsland arrived." + +"I knew his mother," she said, "he comes of one of the best families in +the land." + +Most young men would have been crushed by the evident implication, but +Stanley rose buoyantly to the occasion. + +"He proposed----" he began. + +The Marchioness started. + +"To get her a cup of tea," continued the Secretary, placidly finishing +his sentence. + +"You may escort me to the tea-table," she replied, frigidly, and added: +"We leave town to-morrow." + +"Yes, I know," said her companion, as they edged their way through the +crowd. "I'm invited myself." + +"I should think you would find it difficult to attend to the duties of +your office, if you make a practice of accepting so many invitations." + +"Oh, I haven't accepted," he returned cheerfully. + +The Marchioness was manifestly relieved. + +They had by this time reached the tea-table. Lady Isabelle was nowhere +in sight. + +"I do not see my daughter," said her mother severely. "You told me she +was here." + +"Pardon me, I told you that Lieutenant Kingsland offered to get her a +cup of tea." + +"Well." + +"But they went in the opposite direction." + +"I won't detain you any longer, Mr. Stanley." The Dowager's tone was +frigid. "If my daughter is in Lieutenant Kingsland's charge, I feel +quite safe about her. She could not be in better hands." + +The Secretary bowed and went on his way rejoicing, and his way, in this +instance, led him to his lodgings. + +"I wonder why she is so down on me and so chummy with Kingsland," he +thought. "If she'd seen him on my launch on the Thames, she might think +twice before entrusting her daughter to his charge. Well, it's none of +my business, any more than my affairs are the business of Lady +Isabelle." + +He was just a little annoyed at the persistency with which his friends +joined in crying down a woman, who, whatever her faults might be, +possessed infinite fascination, and was, he honestly believed, not half +so bad as she was painted. He told himself that he must seek the first +opportunity that circumstances gave him at Mrs. Roberts' house-party, to +have a serious talk with Miss Fitzgerald and warn her, as gently as he +could, of what was being said about her. Then he recollected with a +start, that he had decided not to go, that he had promised to write a +refusal and--no, that he had _not_ written. He would do so at once. His +latch-key was in his hand. + +He opened the door. There was his valet, Randell, standing in the hall, +but with a look on his face which caused Stanley to question him as to +its meaning, before he did anything else. + +"Puzzled? I am a bit puzzled. That's a fact, sir," Randell replied to +his question. "And it's about that lady," indicating the Secretary's +sitting-room with a jerk of his thumb. + +"What lady?" + +"Why, the lady as come here half an hour ago, with her luggage, and said +she was going to stay." + +"Randell, are you drunk or dreaming? I know of no lady," cried Stanley, +amazed. + +"Well, you can see for yourself, sir," replied the valet, throwing open +the door. + +The Secretary stepped in, and confronted--Madame Darcy. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AN IRATE HUSBAND + + +"Madame Darcy!" he exclaimed, too astonished not to betray in some +measure his emotions. Then following the direction of her eyes, and +noting the interrogatory glance, which she threw at Randell, he signed +to his valet to leave them together. + +"To what have I the honour----" he began abruptly, his voice showing +some trace of the irritation he was not quite able to suppress. Surely, +he thought, Inez De Costa, large as the liberty of her youth might have +been, must know that in England, worse still in London, a lady cannot +visit a bachelor's apartments alone, without running great danger of +having her actions misconstrued. + +She, with true feminine intuition, was none the less keen to realise the +awkwardness of the situation, and to suffer more acutely because of the +inconvenience to which she was putting him. + +"A thousand pardons for this unwarrantable intrusion," she interrupted, +"on one who has already loaded me with favours. It is the result of a +stupid--a deplorable blunder--for which I shall never forgive myself. +But once it had been committed, it seemed better that I should stay and +explain. What letter could ever have made suitable apology--have made +clear beyond all doubt, as I must make it clear, that until I had passed +your threshold I had no suspicion that these were your lodgings, and not +the Legation." + +Stanley bowed, he could not but believe her, every anguished glance of +her eyes, every earnest tone of her impassioned voice, carried +conviction. But how had this strange mischance come about. + +"You've seen Sanks?" he asked, breaking the silence. + +"Ah, that is it," she exclaimed, thankful for the outlet he had +suggested. "That good Senor Sanks, he was so kind, he said I had a case, +and could be protected from--him. He has written a letter, I forget what +he called it, some legal name, requiring my husband to surrender my +goods, my money, and I have written him also to send them to your care +at the Legation, as he told me. Then I drive here with what I have-- I +had nothing when I started, but he advanced me a sum," she flushed, "to +buy what was needful till my trunks come. He advised me to stay at some +private hotel, known only to you and to himself, till my husband has +declared his attitude in the case. I make my purchases, I drive, as I +suppose, to the Legation, my luggage is unloaded and carried in. I ask +if Senor Stanley, if you are here, they say you will be shortly, I +dismiss my cab, I enter, then I find it is not the Legation--it is your +private apartments." + +She paused, awaiting his sentence of displeasure--but his tone was +rather that of thoughtful wonder. + +"How could Sanks have made the mistake in my address? He knew, must have +known, them, both." + +"It was my fault, all mine," she broke in hastily. "It was undecided +where I should have my things sent. I filled in the address myself, from +your card." + +"Ah, that's it," said Stanley, beginning to see light. "I remember now, +I gave you my private card by mistake for my official one. You've +nothing to distress yourself about, Inez, this is my blunder, and it is +I who must beg your pardon." + +"Ah, we will not beg each other's pardon then. It is a foolishness +between friends," she returned, with just that little foreign touch +which rendered her so irresistible. + +"I quite agree with you," he replied heartily. "We've other and more +important things to consider." + +"But what to do?" she exclaimed. + +"Well, you must take Sanks' advice, and go to some quiet, private +Hotel,--say X----'s. I know them and will introduce you, send you over +with Randell: it's better than going with you myself. You'll find it +most comfortable." + +She shivered and shrugged her shoulders. + +"But of course," he hastened to add, "you'll stay and dine with me +first." + +"But Jim!" she said, rising. + +"But why not?" he persisted. "It's a beastly night. You're here. It +makes little difference whether you stay an hour or two, or the thirty +minutes you have already remained. I'll send you over early in the +evening." + +"But the household----" + +"They'd know in any event. The fact is the important thing to them, the +details do not matter. Your staying here for dinner in a prosaic manner, +as if there was no reason why you shouldn't, would do more to stop +tongues from wagging, than your sudden disappearance after a mysterious +visit. Believe me, I should not urge this if it were more or less than +common sense." + +"But your engagements?" + +"I should have dined alone in any case." + +She stood uncertain whether to go or to remain, one hand upon the table. +Then she smiled at him, though there were tears in her eyes, saying;-- + +"I will stay-- I will trust to your judgment. Whom have I to trust but +you?" + +"Good!" he cried, an air of quick decision taking possession of him, now +her consent had been given; "my landlady will put a room at your +disposal should you wish to remove the stains of travel before dinner. +You'll find her kindly, if inexperienced. I'll go and explain the +situation to her and to my valet." And he stepped towards the door. + +"Explain?" + +"Explain by all means, my dear. In this country it is the greatest of +all mistakes to try to deceive your servants, especially where +circumstances give the slightest scope for misconstruction." + +"I thought servants were our worst scandal-mongers." + +"True, they're only human. But put a well-trained servant on his honour +by giving him your confidence, and he's far less likely to betray you, +than if you try to blind him to an obvious truth." + +She laughed, and he left her to arrange for his impromptu dinner. + +When they sat down to table, half an hour later, she was more +self-possessed than he had ever before seen her, and chatted away quite +gaily on indifferent topics, each taking great care to avoid the one +subject which neither could forget. + +With the fruit and wine, the valet, who performed the double office of +body servant and butler, left them to themselves, having first received +careful directions from Stanley in regard to escorting madame to her +hotel, half an hour hence. + +Once they were alone the reserve, which the servant's presence had +called into play, was no longer exerted, and she spoke freely of her own +troubles. + +"You've no idea," she said, "what a misery my winter in England has +been. I shall never look back on it without feeling that this is the +most cruel place on earth." + +"You mustn't judge the whole country from your own unfortunate +experience," the Secretary hastened to interpose. "I've never found +more true culture and refinement than I've met with here." + +"Ah," she replied, "but when the Englishman is a brute----! Since I came +to this country, I've never written a word to my father that has not +been read and--approved!" There was a wealth of scorn in her tones. "Not +a word of my sorrows, of the indignities, the insults he had heaped upon +me. Any attempt to post a letter on my own account, or to send it by a +servant, has resulted in failure, and in the ignominy of having it +opened, and destroyed in my presence. My income lies there in the bank. +His brother is the banker. I had the choice of drawing cheques to my +husband's order, or not drawing them at all." + +"Were you then deprived of money? Surely, to keep up outside +appearances, and I judge your husband would have desired that, you must +have had an allowance?" + +"I had unlimited credit in the town," she replied. "I could buy what I +pleased and charge it, but not a shilling did I have wherewith to pay. +It was my maid, my good Marie, who, when he threatened me with +detention, gave me her little all, her savings, and told me to run +away--ah, that was bitter! But I knew she meant no disrespect--I +accepted it--she shall be repaid a hundred-fold." + +"I think you need have no fears of not being restored to all your rights +and privileges," he said, "and then?" + +"Then I will be free." + +"You mean you will procure a separation?" + +"A divorce." + +"But surely your husband----" + +"Oh, he has not even constancy to commend him; he does not even conceal +his preferences. He is always receiving letters from some woman--some +old friend, he tells me--calling him to London for an hour, or a day, as +the case may be, and no matter what plans I may have made, he goes." + +"You know her name?" + +"She signs her Christian name only--no wonder--but I have her letters +and I'll find her out." + +"And when you've found her, what then? Will you plead with her?" + +"I?" she cried. "I, a De Costa, degrade myself by pleading with a woman +of that class!" + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. + +"I think every woman," he said, "has some good in her, low as she may +be, some spark of longing for better things, some element of +self-respect that never quite dies out." + +"You're right," she admitted. "A man is by nature a brute. A woman, even +at her worst, is not quite that. Some extra spark of divinity seems to +have been given her in compensation for her weakness." + +"I believe no woman is wholly bad," said the Secretary. "The worst women +of history have, at some moments in their lives, been very near +redemption." + +"I believe that is so," she replied. + +"I am very glad to hear you say that. If you can still find charity in +your heart for your own sex, surely I may believe, even in the face of +my friends' hostile criticism." + +"And is there a woman, whom you--shall we say, 'respect' enough to +believe in--no matter what is said of her?" + +"There is," he replied. + +"Then be sure she has some virtues worthy of that respect. I can +picture," she went on, "the woman whom you should marry. You must be, to +her, an ideal, and she must live her life in terms of you. Gentle and +refined, and knowing more of your home than of the world." + +The Secretary sighed. + +"These are the women," he said, "that we dream of, not that we marry." + +"There are many such in the world," she returned. "Is not the woman you +are defending one of them?" + +"No," he said, "not like that." + +"Then she is not worthy of you, she will grate upon you. Does she ever +do so?" + +"I love her," he said simply. + +"Then you will marry her. I'm so glad!" she returned, offering him her +hand. + +"I don't know. I don't think so," he replied. "I can't tell how I should +act." + +"Then you do not love her. Love is blind, it does not reason." + +"I love her," he repeated, seeking to justify himself. "Certainly I +love her, but one should, in this day and generation, love wisely." + +"One should love," she replied, "and that is all, neither wisely nor +unwisely--love has no limits. You do not love her--you must not marry +her--you will be unhappy if you do. I believe she grates on you, you'll +never find the good that is in her. That power has been given to some +other man." + +Stanley raised his hand in protestation, but at that moment, Randell +appeared in the doorway, equipped to take Madame De Costa to her hotel, +and their private conversation was at an end. + +She made her adieux very prettily, not saying too much in the valet's +presence, but enough to show how truly deep was her appreciation of the +Secretary's kindness, and left him wishing, wondering. He found time +before retiring to re-read all Belle's letters for the first time +critically, and seriously caught himself wondering if one could really +love a woman who wrote slang and whose spelling was not always above +suspicion. Subsequently, he remembered, having dismissed Randell for the +night, that he had never written that letter to Mrs. Roberts. + +It was certainly an unfortunate oversight, but it was too late now; he +would telegraph his regrets in the morning, and he fell asleep while +making up his mind that he was very glad he had decided not to go. + + * * * * * + +He arose refreshed and altogether philosophic, relegated Madame De +Costa to past diplomatic experiences, and in the light of that youthful +folly which wears the guise of wisdom, told himself, as he walked across +the Green Park to his office, that he was glad the incident was over. +But nevertheless, while he thought of the fair Senora many times during +the morning, the existence of Miss Fitzgerald, or of her aunt, never +occurred to him till force of circumstances brought it to his mind. + +Force of circumstances, in this instance, found actual embodiment in the +person of Randell, who put in an appearance at the Legation about noon. +The valet had never been there before in his life, and his appearance in +Stanley's office was assurance in itself that something most unusual +must have happened. The instant he set eyes on him, the Secretary was +prepared for a fire or the death of a relative--at least. + +"Well?" he said. "What is it?" + +"A gentleman 'as called to see you, sir, at the house." + +"You didn't come all the way down here to tell me that!" he exclaimed, +immensely relieved. + +"Yes, sir. You see, sir, it was some particular gentleman." + +"Who?" + +"Colonel Darcy, sir." + +"Good Heavens!" + +"And very excited, sir." + +"Naturally; but how did he know that Madame De Costa--Mrs. Darcy, I +mean. That is, why didn't he come to the Legation?" + +"You see, sir, as he told me the story----" and Randell paused uneasily. + +"Well, out with it, man: what did he tell you?" + +"That the lady had written him--which he got this morning, that she had +placed herself in your care, and all her belongings were to be sent to +your address." + +"What, my private address?" + +"Yes, sir. Quite correct, sir. He showed it to me in her letter." + +"It's all because I gave her my private card by mistake," and Mr. +Stanley cursed a number of people and things under his breath. + +"He asked plenty of questions, which I didn't answer, more than I was in +duty bound. But when he learned as you was a bachelor, sir, and the lady +had been at your rooms last evening, he was that upset----" + +The Secretary tilted his office chair back on its hind legs and gave +vent to a long, low, meditative whistle. + +"I explained to him that there was nothing to be displeased about; but +he wouldn't have none of it and said----" + +"Yes, yes, what did he say?" + +"He said a good many things, some of which I wouldn't repeat, sir, not +being respectful; but he asked for your official address, which I +wouldn't give him, and said as he'd call you out--and spoke of bringing +suit--and called you--wel-l, most everything, sir." + +"You need not particularise, Randell." + +"No, sir." + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes, sir. Except to my mind, he didn't seem really very much displeased +over the matter." + +Stanley grunted significantly. He thought he understood. Darcy could +have wished for nothing better. + +"I took the liberty, sir," continued the valet, serenely, "to bring your +bag, ready packed, and your travelling rug and umbrella, thinking as you +might be leaving town to-day, sir." + +"Confound you, Randell, I believe you think me guilty after all." + +"I thought as you were going to Mrs. Roberts' to-day, sir. You spoke of +it to me a week ago, and had forgotten to give directions about your +things, sir." + +"Yes," said Stanley meditatively, and rang his bell. "John," he +continued to the functionary who appeared, "did I send Mrs. Roberts of +Roberts' Hall, Sussex, a telegram this morning?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well, please wire her at once that I'll arrive this afternoon. Leave in +an hour. Is his Excellency disengaged?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Thanks, that will do," and as John departed he added to Randell: "You +might go ahead and reserve a corner seat in a first-class carriage for +me. Facing the engine. Liverpool Street--you know." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Where is Colonel Darcy?" + +"Waiting at your rooms for an answer." + +"Ah," said Stanley, "that gives me time to explain things to the Chief. +If Colonel Darcy is there when you return after seeing me off, tell him +I don't know anything about his wife, and if that isn't good enough he +can call on his Excellency. Say I'm away in the country for an +indefinite time." + +"Yes, sir." + +"You don't know where." + +"Quite right, sir," and Randell departed for the station. + +"Quite right!" groaned Stanley as he sought the Sanctum Sanctorum of the +Legation. "I only wish it were!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +DIPLOMATIC INSTRUCTIONS + + +Mr. Stanley's Chief was a grey, weazened little man, who had achieved +distinction in diplomacy and in his country's councils, largely on +account of his infinite capacity for holding his tongue. As a result he +let fall little and learned much. His reticence, however, was not the +reserve of impotence, but the reserve of power. + +On this occasion he was busy at his great desk, which occupied the +centre of the room, and merely glancing up at his Secretary's entrance, +he resumed the piece of work on which he was engaged. Ten minutes later +he put down his pen and gave his waiting subordinate an encouraging +smile. It was his official permission to speak. + +"I regret to say that I have got into a little scrape, sir, concerning +which will you give me leave to clear myself?" + +"Leave of absence or my approval, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Both, your Excellency." + +The Minister leaned back in his chair, rested his elbows on the arms, +and bringing the first fingers of each hand together, held them at the +level of his face and gazed attentively at their point of contact. It +was a favourite attitude which the Secretary understood, and he at once +gave a concise account of all the circumstances concerning Madame Darcy. + +The Minister heard him out in perfect silence, and after taking a moment +or two to ponder over his words, remarked quietly: + +"It's a small world, Mr. Stanley." + +"You mean the fact that Senor De Costa and my father were friends before +they quarrelled, and that his daughter----" + +"No, I do not mean that." + +The Secretary thought it better policy not to ask what he did mean, +though he much wished to know; and silence again reigned. + +Presently the Minister sat up to his desk and ran his hand through the +mass of papers upon it; finally unearthing one in particular, which he +submitted to a careful scrutiny. + +"Your report of your visit to the Foreign Office yesterday," he said--"a +very important communication, Mr. Stanley." + +If his Chief had a disagreeable trait, and he was on the whole an +exceedingly amiable man, it was an assumed seriousness of speech and +demeanour, which he intended for sarcasm, and which invariably misled +his victims to their ultimate discomfiture. + +Stanley, who was aware of this trait and not very proud of the report in +question, hastened to disclaim any inherent excellence it might be +supposed to contain. + +"There's nothing in it, your Excellency, except that remark about +'parlous times.'" + +"Which was just the thing I was most anxious to hear. It proves that the +Foreign Office regards the accomplishment of the treaty as by no means +certain." + +Stanley, with difficulty, checked an exclamation of surprise, but he had +learned to respect his Chief's little fads, and succeeded. + +The Minister cleared his throat, an indication that this was one of the +rare occasions on which he was about to speak at length, and on which he +desired absolute attention and immunity from comment--and proceeded: + +"For three hundred years a treaty has been pending between Great Britain +and our own country, concerning the possession of an island lying at the +mouth of the river X----. At first Spanish distrust of English +aggression and, at a later period, the frequent changes of government to +which our unfortunate country has been subjected, have prevented the +successful termination of the negotiations. + +"Matters have never been more favourable for its settlement than at the +present time, and the immediate cession of the island to Great Britain, +in return for a most satisfactory indemnity. For the last few weeks, +however, we have noted an increasing opposition on the part of certain +members of our own Ministry, to the acceptance of the English +propositions, the cause of which has now been discovered. An influential +manufacturing concern, officered and financed by certain unscrupulous +persons in this country, owns large mills on the island in question, for +the production of an article of which they would be assured a monopoly, +did the territory still remain in our hands, but which would be open to +competition did it come into the possession of Great Britain. The +company, in order to obtain a continuance of the monopoly, have raised +L40,000 for distribution among a majority of the committee, who are to +pass upon the treaty, thus practically insuring the failure of the +negotiations. + +"While there is no reasonable doubt that this unfortunate state of +affairs exists, we have not been able to obtain actual proofs of the +same, and it is very necessary to do so, in order that the Executive +should be able, when the treaty comes up for consideration, six weeks +hence, to inform the intending offenders that their intrigue is known. +It is not the intention of our government to create any scandal in this +matter, it being quite sufficient to insure the passage of the treaty, +that the Executive should hold proof of the Minister's guilt, and be in +a position to back up the threat of exposure and punishment. + +"Now it is known that the English agent intrusted with the financial +part of this disgraceful scheme, the man who is to take the money to be +used in bribery and corruption from this country to ours, is the worst +type of an adventurer, a thorough-going scoundrel, and clever enough to +make a fortune in some honest way. His name is Colonel Robert Darcy." + +The Secretary so far forgot himself as to draw in his breath sharply, +and his Chief looked at him with a disapproving frown, and then +continued: + +"This is why I said that the world was small when you told me of your +connection with this man. For the past few weeks I have had him +carefully watched, and I have learned that he is to go down to Sussex +almost at once, to receive the money for this dishonourable purpose from +one of the heads of the firm, a silent partner, whose identity we have +not yet discovered. This money is to be paid in gold, and after +receiving it, and his private instructions, Darcy will return at once to +London and sail for the scene of his mission. I cannot watch his course +in Sussex personally, and I do not think it wise to risk publicity by +putting the affair in the hands of the police. Before you told me of +your association with this man and his wife, I had some thoughts of +giving you the conduct of this important and delicate matter, now----" + +"Now!" burst out the Secretary, unable in his chagrin longer to contain +himself, "I have by my stupid blundering rendered myself unfit for the +place, and lost a splendid chance!" + +The Minister was visibly annoyed. + +"I was about to say, sir, when you interrupted me (a very bad habit of +yours, Mr. Stanley), that you had unconsciously so perfectly adapted +yourself to fill the position, that you have made it impossible for me +to give it to anybody else." + +Stanley gasped; he could not help it. + +"A diplomat should never express anything," remarked his Chief severely, +and continued his statement. + +"The greatest triumph of art could never have placed you in the position +you now occupy as a result of a fortuitous combination of events. You +can go right to the ground where Darcy must operate, and any one of a +dozen people can tell him that you have perfectly natural and innocent +reasons for being there. Being only human and apparently very angry, +he'll certainly seek you out, and you may depend on it that I'll see +that he has definite information as to where you have gone and with whom +you are staying. All you'll have to do is to associate yourself with +him; he'll give you ample opportunity for doing so, and to keep your +eyes open. + +"I need hardly point out that, should you, during the next fortnight, be +able to obtain in any way the required evidence, you would not only +merit my approval but would put yourself in the sure way of promotion, +and that for the best of all reasons, as one who has done a signal +service to your country. + +"Now, just a word of warning. Do not communicate with me unless it is +absolutely necessary. Do not try to find out anything about Darcy; do +not try to see him. Do not so much as breathe the treaty to anyone. +Simply be yourself. He's bound to suspect you at first, and it will +only be as time passes and he becomes convinced from your manner of +life--that you are young, inexperienced and wholly unfit to be trusted +with a diplomatic secret--that he'll put himself off his guard. Then +will be your opportunity. Seize it if possible. That's all; now go. No +thanks, please; I trust you will deserve mine when you return. I'll +manage everything for you here, and the Legation pays your +expenses--your leave is for an indefinite period." + +Stanley bowed silently, his heart was too full to speak, and he turned +to leave the room. + +"Stop!" came his Chief's voice. "You ought to know that Darcy has a +confederate. One of the two is a masterhand, probably the Colonel; but +see if you can find out the other; I've not been able to do so." + +Stanley started, a vivid remembrance flashing through his mind of +Kingsland's significant caution to Darcy at the tea. "Sh'. He's looking +our way! He'll hear us." + +The Ambassador noticed the involuntary movement of his subordinate, and +a grim smile played about his lips. + +"Deportment, Mr. Secretary, deportment," he said. "A diplomat should +always appear at his ease. So; that is better. You can go." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A HOUSE-WARMING + + +Much has been written of the blessed state of them that go a +house-partying in England, and certain it is that no pleasanter pastime +has been devised by civilised man, and that in no other country in the +world has it been brought to a like degree of perfection. + +Two great canons govern these functions, which it would be exceedingly +well did the hostesses of all lands "mark, learn and inwardly digest." +The first is that all guests are on speaking terms of intimacy with each +other from the time they arrive till they depart. My Lady may not know +you next time you meet her in Bond Street, and the Countess perchance +will have forgotten to put your name on her visiting list for the +remainder of this or any other season, but during the blessed interval +of your sojourn at that hospitable Hall in Berks, you knew them both, +and they were very gracious and charming. The second rule is none the +less framed for your comfort and convenience, and it reads: "Thou shalt +be in all things thine own master." + +Most admirable of rules. The amusements of the place, and most English +country places are framed for some particular amusement, are put +unreservedly at your disposal. Are you on the Thames? Boats and boatmen +are at your beck and call. Are you North in the shooting season? A +keeper waits your orders. Do you hunt? Grooms and horses are yours to +command. But none of these things are you ever compelled to do. Should +you fear the water, though you are on an island, no one will ever +suggest to you the possibility of leaving it. While your ecclesiastical +host, Bishop though he be, would never take it for granted that you were +predisposed to week-day services and charity bazaars. + +Mrs. Roberts was a perfect hostess, and there was no doubt that her +house would shortly be a favourite on many lists. + +I say, "would be," advisedly, for she had quite recently come into the +possession of her own, which had been another's; a distant cousin, in +short, the last of his branch of the family, who had the good sense to +drink himself to death, shortly before the opening of this narrative, +and leave his fine old Elizabethan manor house to his very charming +relative, an action which did him no credit, because the estate was +entailed, and he could not help it. + +Roberts Hall had more than one attraction: indeed, it was blessed with +an unusual number of delightful adjuncts for a country place, which does +not pretend to be a demesne. For one thing, a number of miles intervened +between the lodge gates and the Hall, and that, in England, is a great +consideration. As long as one has plenty of land, the manner of one's +habitation is of little account, while in America houses must be as +large or larger than one can afford, and if when they are built they +cover most of our land, we are none the worse off in our neighbour's +estimation. + +The estate, moreover, could boast of many fallow fields, and more than +one avenue of fine old oaks, while it had a deer park of which many a +larger place might have been proud. There was also a private chapel, for +the use of the family and tenantry, boasting a great square family pew, +fenced round on two sides with queer little leaden-paned windows, giving +a view of the enclosure which contained the family monuments. It was +farther enriched by a pretentious piece of carving in high relief, +vigorously coloured, representing the resurrection, wherein generations +of defunct Roberts were depicted popping up, with no clothes on, out of +a pea-green field, much after the manner of the gopher of the prairie. + +The gardens were extensive, including two artificial ponds, which for +age and solidity might have been constructed from the beginning, +tenanted by a number of swans, all very proud and controversial, and +surrounded by an eight-foot hedge of holly which was a crimson glory in +winter. + +But if the place was fascinating without, it was still more so within. +It had a long low entrance hall with a tesselated pavement, panelled to +the ceiling with the blackest of oak, and boasting a rail screen of the +same material dividing the apartment, which many a church might have +envied. There was moreover a library filled with a priceless collection +of old volumes, chiefly perused, for some fifty years past, by the +rodents of the establishment. + +Mrs. Roberts was in the great hall when Stanley arrived, and so received +him in person. She was a most vivacious little woman, to whom a long +sojourn on the Continent, coupled with a diplomatic marriage, had given +the touch of cosmopolitanism, which was all that had been needed to make +her perfect. + +"I'm awfully glad to see you, though you are the last comer," she said +cordially. "The Marchioness and Lady Isabelle, under the escort of +Lieutenant Kingsland, reached here in time for lunch, and Miss +Fitzgerald came a few hours later, while Mr. Riddle has just driven +over." + +"Mr. Riddle," asked the Secretary, "who is he?" + +"Oh, Arthur Riddle, don't you know him? He is one of our county magnates +and a near neighbour. I hope you'll all like each other, but you must +realise that you have come to the veriest sort of pot-luck. I haven't +begun to get settled yet, or know where anything is." + +"You speak as if you were a visitor," he said, laughing. + +"Indeed, I feel so. I'm constantly getting lost in this rambling old +house, and having to be rescued by the butler." + +"Have you really never been here before?" + +"It's my first appearance. It was quite impossible to visit here during +the lifetime of the late owner. Why, I don't even know the traditions of +the place, and it positively teems with them. I shall organise you all +into an exploring party, with free permission to rummage from garret to +cellar." + +"I suppose there's plenty to discover?" + +"Discover! My dear Mr. Secretary, this place is fairly alive with +ghosts, and sliding panels, and revolving pictures; and there's a great +tiled, underground passage leading off from the kitchens into the +country somewhere, which everyone is afraid to explore, and which the +last incumbent had nailed up because it made him nervous." + +"I hope you've reserved a nice cork-screwy staircase with a mouldering +skeleton at the top, for my especial discovery and delectation." + +"First come, first served," she replied; "but there's something in this +very hall that's worthy of your mettle, the greatest prize puzzle a +hostess ever possessed, only I shan't forgive you if you solve it, for +it's one of the standard attractions of the house, and has amused guests +innumerable." + +"Trot it out forthwith. I'm all impatience." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind unless you treat it with more respect. +An oaken door, studded with silver nails, that has not condescended to +open itself for at least two centuries, cannot be 'trotted out'!" + +"I beg its humble pardon," said the Secretary, approaching the door and +putting his shoulder against it. "It's as steady as a rock." + +"Oh, yes. Nothing but dynamite or the proper combination could ever move +it the fraction of an inch." + +Stanley regarded it as it stood framed in its low Saxon portal, a +magnificent piece of black oak, sprinkled from top to bottom with at +least a hundred huge, silver-headed nails, driven in without any +apparent design. Another peculiarity was that neither lock, hinges, nor +keyhole were visible. + +"Does it lead anywhere?" he asked, greatly interested. + +"To an unexplored tower," she replied. "To which this appears to be the +only entrance; at least it has no windows." + +"How interesting. I wonder how they ever got it open." + +"Tradition says that this is the original of our modern combination +lock. No human strength can move it; but once exert the slightest +pressure on the proper combination of those silver nails, five I +believe, one for every digit, and the portal swings open of itself." + +"And discloses, what?" + +"Open it and see," she answered. + +"Are you sure the house won't tumble down if I do, or that you'll never +smile again--or that some unpleasant ancestral prognostication isn't +only awaiting the opening of that door to fall due and take effect?" + +"I can't insure you," she replied, "and I wish you wouldn't talk such +nonsense," and she shivered slightly. + +"You surely don't believe, in the nineteenth century----" he began; but +she interrupted him, saying almost petulantly: + +"You'd grow to believe anything if you lived in a place like this. On +the whole, I think you'd better leave the door alone," she added, as he +began to finger the nails thoughtfully, "you're too clever, you might +succeed." + +"If I do," he assured her, "I'll promise to keep my discoveries to +myself." + +"You'd better confine your attentions to the library; it's much more +worthy of your consideration," she replied, evidently wishing to change +the subject. + +"With pleasure," acquiesced Stanley, following her lead. "And what am I +to discover there?" + +"Nothing. Now I come to think of it, it's already pre-empted." + +"Who are our literary lights?" + +"Lady Isabelle McLane and Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"I should never have suspected it of either of them," he replied, +manifestly surprised, for Kingsland's literary tastes, as evidenced on +the Thames, had not been of an elevated nature; and Lady Isabelle was +too conventional and well-ordered a person to care to read much or +widely. + +"Nor should I," agreed his hostess; "but they remain glued to the +bookcases, and to see them going into raptures over an undecipherable +black letter volume, adorned with illustrations that no self-respecting +householder would admit to his family circle, is, considering the young +lady's antecedents at least, rather amusing. They've the room entirely +to themselves." + +"Oh!" said Stanley, and they both laughed. + +"But the Marchioness is certain that it is literary enthusiasm," she +assured him. + +"My dear Mrs. Roberts," said the Secretary, "that is merely the wisdom +of age." And they laughed again. + +"And now," he added, "if you'll permit, I'll begin my tour of +exploration, by finding where my belongings are bestowed." + +As he spoke, a footman was at his side, and his hostess, nodding +cheerfully to him, left him to his own devices. + +Stanley's room was charming, and he was so busy examining its +curiosities that the sound of the dressing-bell awoke him to the +realities of the situation with a start of surprise that he could have +unconsciously idled away so much time. + +But then there was a fireplace, almost as large as a modern bedroom, +ornamented with blue tiles of scriptural design, blatantly Dutch and +orthodox; and the great logs resting on fire-dogs, that happened to be +lions, which caused most of the guests to break the tenth commandment in +thought, and neglect to break it in deed, only because they were +unsuited both by weight and design for surreptitious packing in bags or +boxes. Also there was the wall paper, rejoicing in squares of camels, +and groves of palm trees, amidst which surroundings fully a hundred +Solomons received a hundred blushing Queens of Sheba. Moreover, there +was a huge four-poster into which you ascended by a flight of steps, and +from the depths of whose feather-beds you were only rescued the +following morning by the muscular exertions of your valet, which, as +Kingsland aptly remarked at dinner, was a tremendous cinch for the +family ghosts, as they could haunt you all night long if they liked, +without your ever being able to retaliate. + +Altogether, it is doubtful if Stanley would ever have remembered to +dress for dinner, had not his meditations been interrupted by a series +of astonishing sounds in the hall, which seemed to betoken the movements +of great weights with strenuous exertions. Just at that moment the valet +entered with his freshly brushed dress clothes, and a question as to the +cause of the disturbance elicited the fact that: + +"They was Mr. Riddle's chests, sir," and though it wasn't his place to +say it, "he's a mighty queer old gentleman, gives magic lantern shows +and entertainments free for charity, sir." + +"From his luggage, I should imagine he was supporting an opera troupe." + +"They was labelled 'stereopticon,' sir, but they was that heavy----" + +"Thanks," broke in the Secretary. "That's quite sufficient." + +He never approved of encouraging gossip, and was not interested in the +description of the benevolent county magnate--still less in the weight +of his chests--yet he smiled quietly to himself as he dressed for +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BEFORE DINNER + + +The Lieutenant and Miss Fitzgerald were in the billiard-room, and the +former was putting in the half-hour which must elapse before dinner by +teaching the latter the science of bank-shots. + +"I say," queried her instructor, in one of the pauses of the game, "do +you know that little diplomatic affair of yours has turned up again? I +saw it driving in from the station, half an hour ago. + +"Jimsy Stanley, I suppose you mean?" + +"The same,--and look here, you won't turn crusty, if I ask you a +point-blank question?" + +"No, Dottie." + +"Don't call me that, you know I hate it." + +"Isn't it your naval sobriquet?" + +"Never mind if it is." + +"But I do mind, and I shall call you what I please, for it suits you +perfectly. Well, then, Dottie, I don't mind your asking me anything, if +it's for a purpose, and not for idle curiosity." + +"Oh, it's for a purpose fast enough." + +"Go ahead, then. I'll try and bank that ball into the side-pocket, while +you are thinking it out." + +"It doesn't need thinking out. It's just this: Do you mean business with +Little Diplomacy?" + +"What affair is that of yours?" she asked, pausing in the act of +chalking her cue. + +"None, thank goodness; but I'd like to do a pal a good turn, and so----" + +"Well?" + +"If you'll accept a bit of advice." + +"Out with it." + +"Don't lose any time, if you do mean business. He's being warned against +you." + +"Aren't you clever enough to know the result of that?" + +"Yes, if the advice comes from a woman--but supposing it's from a man?" + +"Who?" + +"Kent-Lauriston." + +Miss Fitzgerald so far forgot herself as to whistle. + +"How do you know?" + +"Gainsborough told me. He said he overheard an awful long confab between +them at the St. James, two days ago, and Diplomacy said he'd write a +letter to our hostess, sending his regrets." + +"No such letter has been received." + +"Probably he changed his mind,--but----" + +"Then he'll make a clean breast of it to me, but I'm much obliged just +the same, and I won't forget it." + +"I'll see he owns up to it." + +"You won't do anything of the sort, you'll bungle it, and there's an end +of things." + +"Have I generally bungled your affairs with Little Diplomacy?" + +"No. You were a trump about that launch party. Now I mustn't keep you +from her Ladyship--run along, and remember if I can be of any help--just +call on me." + +"You can be--and I want you to----" + +She broke in with a merry laugh. + +"I knew it." + +"Why?" + +"Because Lieutenant Kingsland doesn't generally put himself out to +oblige his friends, unless he expects them to make return with +interest." + +The gentleman in question looked sheepish and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Come now," she continued briskly. "Let me hear it, and don't go +blundering about for an explanation; the facts are sufficient. I've been +alone with you long enough. I don't wish to set myself up as a rival to +Lady Isabelle." + +"It's about her I want your help." + +"Of course, I know that. Go on." + +"You don't ask if I mean business." + +"I don't need to. I know the amount in consols which she received from +her grandmother." + +"Don't be so damned mercenary!" + +"Why not say a thing as well as mean it? Let's be honest for once in a +way. Besides, you're not to swear at me, Lieutenant Kingsland--please +remember I'm not married to you." + +"No. By Gad! I wish you were." + +"Oh, no, you don't. I haven't silver enough to cross the palm of my +hand. But to come to business. Doesn't your affair progress swimmingly?" + +"Why, it has so far--as long as the Dowager fancied there was danger +from Little Diplomacy's quarter, I was used as a foil. Now that she +learned about your claims she breathes again, and gives me the cold +shoulder in consequence." + +"I suppose you haven't been wasting your time?" + +"Rather not." + +"It's all right then?" + +"Yes, I think so; but the old lady'll never allow it." + +"Marry without consulting her." + +"That's what I mean to do." + +"Where?" + +"Why, here. Haven't we got the parson and the church attached? What +could be more convenient?" + +"Nothing, if the Marchioness doesn't suspect?" + +"But I'm afraid that she does." + +"What--not that----" + +"Only that my intentions are serious." + +"Transfer them to me then--temporarily." + +"Won't do. Devotion to Lady Isabelle is the tack. Why won't you lend me +your little affair?" + +"What, Jimsy?" + +"Yes. I fancy the old lady has a mistaken idea that he's +poverty-stricken. Of course, I know that can't be the case if you----" + +"Do not finish that sentence, Lieutenant Kingsland; I'm quite willing to +oblige you--by mentioning to the Dowager the amount of Mr. Stanley's +income--if I know it." + +"She'll accept your word for it, even if you don't, and once her +attention is turned to him, I'll have a clear field." + +"Is that the help you wanted?" + +"No, I want you to square the parson." + +"Oh, I see; that's a more difficult matter. When do you wish to command +his services?" + +"If I need 'em at all it'll be in about three days. To-day's +Thursday--say Sunday." + +"I'll do what I can." + +"You're a brick. Oh, by the way, I spoke to Darcy about that letter you +gave me at the Hyde Park Club." + +"And he told you to keep a still tongue in your head and leave it to +me." + +"How did you know that?" + +"It's good advice," she continued, ignoring his question, "and I'll give +you some more. If I make any suggestion after dinner, advocate it +warmly--put it through." + +"You mean to get that letter to-night?" + +"I must get it to-night." + +"But suppose he's left it in London?" + +"Then I must find it out this evening, and take steps to procure it +there." + +"You wouldn't have his rooms searched?" + +"I must have that letter--that's all," she replied. "You don't know what +it means to me?" + +"I don't know anything about it. But why not ask him for it?" + +"Tell him it was mine, and that I sent it to Darcy," she exclaimed, +incredulously. + +"I say," he ventured to expostulate--"you know I am no milksop--but +don't you think that you and the Colonel are getting a trifle thick? +He's a married man, you know, and----" + +She flushed angrily, and then controlling herself, said quietly: + +"Oblige me by going to the drawing-room at once, Lieutenant Kingsland. +We've been here too long already." + +He bit his lip, looked at her, laughed shamefacedly, and thrusting his +hands into his trousers' pockets, went out. + +Having given him time to make his escape, she slowly followed his +footsteps. + + * * * * * + +Stanley dreaded meeting his friends, as a man does who stands convicted +of having done something foolish, and while he was wondering whom he had +better encounter first, Lady Isabelle settled the question for him by +meeting him in the great hall. + +"This is indeed unexpected," she said. "After what you told me at Lady +Rainsford's tea, it's naturally the last place where I should have +thought of seeing you." + +"I don't suppose our hostess considered it necessary to mention that I +was coming, after all." + +"I believe that she did say something at luncheon about receiving a +telegram from you; but as you had assured me that you were not to be +here, and as I was much engaged----" + +"In literary pursuits with Lieutenant Kingsland," he said, finishing her +sentence for her, at which termination her Ladyship flushed, and the +Secretary felt that in the first round at least he had given as good as +he had received. + +"But I want you to understand the reason of my coming," he said, leading +her to a seat in a little alcove. "I feel that I owe you some +explanation." + +"I don't see why you should," she replied coldly. "I'm sure you have a +perfect right to do one thing and say another without consulting me." + +Lady Isabelle was nettled, for she felt he had trifled with the serious +side of her nature. She had offered him good advice which he had +pretended to accept, and straightway her back was turned, he had +unblushingly belied his words. + +"I beg your pardon," he said humbly. "I shouldn't have presumed to +suppose that you could have felt any real interest in my affairs." + +"Oh, but I do," she replied, somewhat mollified. "A deep interest, the +interest of a friend." + +She made it a point to qualify any statement that might be open to +possible misconstruction. + +"I see I shall have to throw myself on your mercy, and tell you the +whole truth," said Stanley, which he proceeded not to do. "I intended +to write a letter." + +"It isn't necessary. I would accept your word----" + +"But you'd still have a lingering suspicion of me in your heart. As I +was saying--I intended to write to Mrs. Roberts, declining her +invitation, and forgot to do so till this morning, and then I made a +virtue of necessity, and as it was too late to refuse, telegraphed my +hour of arrival." + +Had the light been a little stronger, he would have noted the quiet +smile which played about Lady Isabelle's face, though her silence was, +in itself, suggestive of the fact that she did not believe him. + +"I probably shan't stay more than a few days, long enough to do the +proper thing, you know." + +"Have you seen your friend?" + +"Miss Fitzgerald? On my word, I haven't laid eyes on her. The fact is, +I've quite decided to follow your advice. You must be my guardian +angel." + +Her Ladyship looked dubious at this, though the role of guardian angel +to an attractive young man has ever been dear to the feminine heart. +However that may be, her ultimate decision was perforce relegated to +another interview, by the appearance before them of the subject of their +conversation--Miss Belle Fitzgerald. + +This much discussed lady was dressed in the apparent simplicity which +tells of art. Her costume, the very finest of white muslins, suggested +the lithe movements of the body it encased, with every motion she made, +and her simple bodice was of the fashion of thirty years ago, a fashion +which always inspired wonder that the clothes stayed on, and awe at the +ingenuity with which that miracle must have been accomplished. A broad +frill of the same material, caught with a knot of white ribbon at her +breast, framed her dazzling throat and neck, and a yellow sash, whose +end nearly touched the floor, encircled her waist; a sash whose colour +just matched the tint of that glorious hair, which, astonishing to +relate, hung loose down her back, and was surmounted by a very tiny +white bow, which was evidently a concession to the demands of +conventionality, as it could have been of no possible use in retaining +her tresses. That Miss Fitzgerald was able not only to adopt this style, +but to carry it off with unqualified success, and the approval of all +unprejudiced observers, was its own justification. + +"I always wear my hair like this in the country," she had said at lunch. +"It is so much easier, and I'm really not old enough to paste it over my +forehead and go in for a bun behind"--this with a glance at Lady +Isabelle, which caused the Dowager Marchioness to exclaim, quite +audibly, that it was scandalous for that young person--she was sure she +had forgotten her name--to wear her hair as if she wasn't yet eighteen. +Lady Isabelle, it may be remarked, could lay no claim to anything under +twenty. + +But certainly in this case, the end justified the deed, and Miss +Fitzgerald, rejuvenated, was one of the most simple, blithesome and gay +young maidens that the sun shone on. + +Possibly this was the reason that she never saw or comprehended the +meaning of Lady Isabelle's uplifted eyebrows and steely glare, as she +drew up before the couple and violated the first rule of fair and open +warfare by interrupting their tete-a-tete. + +"Well, Jimsy," she said, using a form of address that the rack would +never have wrung from his companion, "How are you? Feeling fit?" + +He smiled uneasily, and, for the sake of saying something, since her +Ladyship preserved an ominous silence, remarked: + +"There's no need of putting that question to you." + +"Rather not. Once I'm in the country, I'm as frisky as a young colt," +she rattled on. "I'm going to have such fun with you and Kingsland, and +I expect to be, as usual, quite spoiled. Now, how are you going to +begin?" + +"Really," he faltered, rising in an access of agitation, for Lady +Isabelle's expression was fearful to behold. + +"You shall run along with me to Mrs. Roberts," she continued, not giving +him an opportunity to flounder, "and tell her that she must send us down +to dinner together. Because you're a diplomat and will have a post of +honour, and the butler has given me the tip that we're to have just one +round of '80 champagne before the dessert, and you know we really must +have the first of the bottle, there is sure to be sediment farther +down." + +"You must excuse me, but you see-- Lady Isabelle," and he indicated that +stony personage. + +"Oh, I beg Lady Isabelle's pardon--it was so dark I didn't see her!" she +cried in a fit of demure shyness, and added--"If I have said anything +indiscreet, do explain it, there's a dear, good Jimsy." + +"It's not necessary," came the icy tones of his companion. "I shouldn't +think of keeping you, Mr. Stanley, from such congenial society." + +"At least, let me escort you to the drawing-room." + +"Don't trouble yourself, I beg. I dare say I shall find some people +there who are contented to wait till their proper precedence has been +allotted to them," and she turned away. + +"Oh, yes," the irrepressible Belle called after her. "I just sent +Kingsland up there. He's been showing me bank notes in the +billiard-room. I thought I'd never get rid of him." + +If her Ladyship heard this information she betrayed no sign of the fact, +and Miss Fitzgerald returned to more congenial fields. + +"You behaved disgracefully," said Stanley, as they went in search of +Mrs. Roberts, "and I shall have to spend most of this evening in trying +to make my peace with Lady Isabelle." + +"Poor, proper Jimsy! Was he shocked? But I really couldn't help it, you +know--she's such a funny old thing." + +The Secretary wisely changed the subject. + +When they discovered Mrs. Roberts she assured them that their proposed +arrangement at table suited her exactly, but could not forbear +whispering in her niece's ear: + +"I shouldn't think you'd have thought it necessary to ask. Of course, +I'd arranged it that way." + +To which Miss Belle whispered in return: + +"Don't be stupid!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTER DINNER + + +When the Secretary entered the drawing-room he received a distinct shock +of surprise. + +The one person in the party unknown to him was Mr. Riddle. Yet those +high cheek-bones, that prominent nose between the deep-set, restless +eyes, peering out under their shaggy eyebrows, were strangely familiar. +He had seen them once before when they and their owner occupied a cab +together with his fair dinner partner. He was on the point of saying so +to her, but restrained himself, he hardly knew why, in deference, +perhaps, to his diplomatic training, which forbade him ever to say +anything unnecessary. + +Fate placed him next to the Dowager Marchioness, who was manifestly +displeased at his presence, and lost no time in making him feel +thoroughly uncomfortable. + +"I had always supposed," she began, before he was fairly seated at the +table, "that at this season of the year there was a great deal of +activity in the diplomatic world." + +"There is," answered Stanley hastily, scenting danger, and anxious to +turn the conversation from his own affairs. "Most countries have a +little leisure, and, like Satan, expend the time in making and finding +mischief." + +"That is, of course, a matter of which I am no judge, Mr. Stanley, but I +should have supposed, under the circumstances, you would naturally be +much occupied." + +"We are," he replied, a trifle flippantly. Flippancy, he had noticed, +was the one thing that drove the Marchioness to the verge of +desperation. "My Minister and my colleagues are working like +draught-horses." + +"While you----" began her Ladyship. + +"I'm working also--hard," and he turned himself and the conversation to +the fair Miss Fitzgerald, while the Dowager said things in a loud tone +of voice about youthful diplomacy to Mr. Lambert, the local incumbent, +who had taken her down to dinner. + +The Secretary was no more fortunate with his dinner partner. Not that +she rated him; far from it; but she was evidently making conversation, +and he could not help feeling that the cordial good fellowship which had +hitherto existed between them was now lacking, and that a restraint had +taken its place, which, to say the least, did not promote their mutual +ease. But there, he would have a talk with her when opportunity offered, +and they would understand each other and be as good friends as ever; +nothing more. He knew himself now. He was sure she had never been so +foolish as to suppose for an instant that their intimacy could mean +anything further. She would probably laugh at him if he proposed to +her--which he would not do, of course--but all the same he must make +some sort of an explanation, and--what was she saying?--he had not +spoken for a whole course--what must she be thinking of him? He pulled +himself together, and rattled on, till his hostess gave the signal for +the ladies to leave the table. + +The interval for rest, refreshment, and tobacco promised to be somewhat +wearisome, for Kingsland seemed moody and abstracted, and Riddle and the +Reverend Reginald Lambert offered, to Stanley's mind, little hope of +amusement. + +The good pastor was a bit of an archaeologist, an enthusiast on the +subject of early ecclesiastical architecture, and the nominal duties of +his living left him much spare time for the exploitation of this +harmless fad. He was possessed of considerable manual dexterity and a +certain nicety in the manipulation of whatever he undertook, whether it +were the restoration of parchments or the handling of leaden coffins, +but apart from his hobby he was as prosy as the most typical member of +his calling. + +As the Secretary could not tell a nave from a chapter house, a very few +minutes served to exhaust his interest in the good old gentleman, and he +turned to Mr. Riddle in sheer desperation. Stanley had conceived a +dislike for the stranger from the first moment he had heard he was a +fellow-guest, either from his reputation for beneficence or his +mysterious acquaintance with Miss Fitzgerald. He had at once put him +down as a hypocrite, and his attitude towards him was reserved in +consequence. This sort of man, he told himself, takes a pride in his +good deeds, and can be most easily approached on that subject. +Accordingly he drew up his chair and opened the conversation with some +allusion to the chests of stereopticon fittings. + +"Yes, they're bulky," replied Mr. Riddle, "and I was almost ashamed to +bring them with me-- I trust they've not annoyed you." + +"On the contrary, I was hoping we might be favoured with a view of their +contents." + +"Oh, no," he said, his face lighting up with a frank smile, which +appealed to the Secretary in spite of his prejudices. "I never inflict +my fads on my friends. I'd promised to send them on to a man in London, +and, as I was coming in this direction, brought them part way myself. +You see, the average porter cannot understand that a thing may be heavy +and yet fragile--if a chest weighs a great deal--and you'd be surprised +how heavy a case of slides can be--he bangs it about regardless of +labels and warnings; so I generally try to keep an eye on them, or put +them in the charge of some trusty friend." + +"You are much interested in these things?" + +"The slides? Oh, yes,--collecting them becomes quite absorbing, and now +these clever scientists of ours are able to photograph directly on them, +it increases our field immensely." + +"Of course the good you can do with them must be their chief charm to +you----" began the Secretary, sententiously. + +The answer surprised him. + +"Not at all. On the contrary, my charities, if they _are_ charities, are +of a very selfish sort. I suppose you've some kind of amusement which +you turn to in your hours for relaxation? Golf, tennis, hunting, what +not. These little entertainments are--mine. I thoroughly enjoy them. The +fact is, I'm passionately fond of children, and not having any of my +own, I've adopted everybody else's for the time being. But it's selfish, +purely selfish. Some benighted idiots call me a philanthropist--I'd like +to have them come pressing their claims for lazy heathen in my bank +parlour, they'd find out what sort of business man I was." And this +queer specimen doubled up his fists, and broke into a roar of laughter, +which was too hearty to have been assumed. "I'll tell you what it is," +he continued, "if it wasn't for our good dominie there, I'd admit to you +that I hate a real professional philanthropist--ten to one he's a +humbug." + +The parson held up his hands, and Stanley laughed nervously--the man was +actually voicing his own thoughts. + +"As for charity-- Bah! Charity begins at home. It doesn't go racing over +the country with magic lantern shows--that's real downright, selfish +egotism." + +Then, evidently feeling that the conversation had proceeded far enough +in this direction, he broke off suddenly, remarking: + +"They tell me that you're a diplomat." + +"Yes," said the Secretary. "Perhaps you know my chief?" + +"I've not that honour. Indeed I've never had any dealings with your +countrymen but once, and then I'd reason to regret it." + +"Really? I'm sorry to hear that." + +"It was with a large manufacturing company," he continued, and mentioned +the name of the concern which had such a sinister reputation in regard +to the treaty. + +"Oh," said the Secretary, at once alert for any information he might +pick up. "You mustn't judge my countrymen by that concern--anyway I +understand that it's really owned in England." + +"Ah, is it so? I can't say how that may be, I'm sure; but I know they +kept so closely to the letter of their contracts with my bank, that it +almost crossed the border line from strict business to sharp dealing." + +"I'm sorry you should have been annoyed, but I know nothing about it. +We--my father, is interested in sugar, and that, as you see, wouldn't +bring us into any connection with their line of business." + +"No, of course not. Do you happen to know who _are_ the heads of the +firm in this country?" + +"I haven't any idea," the Secretary answered, very tersely. "I fancy +they're in the nature of silent partners. But I dare say they might be +known in business circles." + +"Oh, the matter doesn't interest me--except as I've mentioned. It was +recalled to my mind by some notice of a treaty I saw the other day in +the papers--which I should fancy would rather cripple their resources, +if it went through." + +The Secretary held his peace, and silence falling upon the room, the +Reverend Reginald deposited the butt of his cigar tenderly in the +ash-tray, and blew his nose lustily, as a preparatory signal for a +retreat to the upper regions. The others obeyed the hint, and a moment +later were on their way to the drawing-room. + + * * * * * + +Miss Fitzgerald's resentment towards the Lieutenant had been +short-lived, and she was quite ready to aid and abet him to the extent +of her power, the more so as his success would upset the most cherished +plans of the Marchioness, who was, for the time being, the Irish girl's +pet detestation. Accordingly she took up her station near that matron, +who descended on her forthwith. + +"I suppose, my dear," said the Dowager, with an assumption of friendly +interest that was even more terrible to behold than the coldness of her +wrath, "I _can_ only suppose, from what I could not help observing at +table this evening, that you are soon to be a subject of +congratulations." + +"Really I don't understand." + +"Of course, I shouldn't think of forcing your confidence, but when an +engagement is unannounced there's a degree of uncertainty." + +"Oh, but I think you're mistaken," said Miss Fitzgerald, lifting her +liquid blue eyes to the Dowager's face, with an expression of innocence, +which was the perfection of art. "I'm much too young to think of such +things--besides, who'd have me, with no dower except my beauty, such as +it is, which, as your Ladyship knows, is not lasting." + +The Marchioness fairly snorted with rage. She had been a Court belle in +her time. + +"Some country parson, perhaps," continued Miss Fitzgerald reflectively; +"but then I fear I should not make a good parson's wife." + +"I should doubt it," assented the Dowager with asperity. + +"No millionaires would think of me for a moment." + +"I did not know there were any such here." + +"What, not Mr. Stanley?" + +"Mr. Stanley?" + +"Why, to be sure. He's worth millions they say. Stanley & Son, South +American sugar. Anyone in the city would confirm my statements, but you +don't know the city of course-- Lieutenant Kingsland could tell you more +about him if you cared to hear it," and she moved away as the gentlemen +entered the room, and running up to Stanley, exclaimed:-- + +"You've been an interminable length of time over your cigars. Men are +so selfish and I'm simply dying for a game of hearts." + +"You play it so much I should think you would tire of it," he said, +smiling. + +"Tut! tut! naughty man! This is serious business. Sixpence a heart, and +you mustn't win, for I'm quite impoverished. You'll be one of the party, +Jack," she continued, turning to Kingsland, who had just come up. + +"Nothing I should like better. I always approve of assisting the +undeserving," replied the Lieutenant, and added: "I'll get Lady Isabelle +to join us." A very valuable piece of assistance, as her Ladyship would +hardly have done so on Miss Fitzgerald's unsupported invitation; and +since it was manifestly an affair of the young people, this deflection +might have ruined all. + +The Lieutenant's request, however, had due weight, and she graciously +consented to join the party, which was further augmented by Mr. Riddle, +who declared that "young people" meant anyone who felt young, and so he +did not intend to be excluded. + +The cards were accordingly shuffled, but during the deal, Belle +discovered that though she had a pencil, no paper for scoring was +anywhere obtainable. + +"Oh, any old scrap will do," she said. "Surely some of you gentlemen +have an old envelope on which we can keep tally. Jack? Mr. Riddle?" + +Both gentlemen professed to an utter absence of any available material. + +"You, Jim--then?" she queried, turning to the Secretary. + +"I don't generally carry my correspondence round in my evening clothes," +he protested, laughing. + +"Idiot!" she retorted, with an affected depth of scorn. "How can you +tell unless you've looked?" + +"Oh well," he replied, "to please you----" and thrust his hand into the +pocket of his coat. "Why," he exclaimed, "here is something! I declare, +it's that mysterious letter which I intercepted at the Hyde Park Club +night before last. Let me see, Kingsland, I think it dropped from the +ceiling into your hands." + +"The letter belongs to me," came the keen voice of Mr. Riddle. + +"To you!" said Stanley, in genuine surprise. + +"Yes. I gave it to Lieutenant Kingsland at the Hyde Park Club." + +"But surely," contended the Secretary, "Lieutenant Kingsland told me, +only that morning, that he didn't know who you were." + +Silence fell on the little company. The Lieutenant flushed and moved +uneasily in his seat, and Miss Fitzgerald leaned forward with a strained +look in her face, while the keen, restless eye of Mr. Riddle swept round +the table, taking in all present at a glance. + +Then he spoke, with quick decision. + +"Quite true. I did not till to-day have the pleasure of _knowing_ +Lieutenant Kingsland. I saw him leaving the room at the club, however, +and though he was a stranger, ventured, as I was unable to leave my +party, to ask him to do me the favour to post a letter for me, handing +him two-pence for the stamp. I had, it seems, very carelessly forgotten +to address it." + +"Yes," broke in the Lieutenant, catching his breath. "You remember I +told you I didn't know who had given it to me." + +"You will notice," continued Mr. Riddle, "that the envelope is sealed +with the initials A. R. inclosed in scroll work. Here"--detaching it +from his watch chain--"is the seal with which the impression was made." + +A cursory glance assured Stanley that it was the same. + +"If you doubt my statement," continued Mr. Riddle affably, "we can +procure some wax and make a duplicate----" + +The Secretary hastened to disclaim any such intention. Why should he +doubt this gentleman's word? Kingsland corroborated his story, and the +letter was no concern of his, anyway. Indeed, as he said, in handing it +over to its owner, he felt that he owed him an apology for his +unwarrantable interference in the matter. + +At this point Miss Fitzgerald resumed the conversation. + +"There!" she cried. "You and your stupid letter have lost me the deal, +for I don't know where I left off. Take the cards and deal for me-- I'll +run downstairs and get a clean sheet of paper, and come in on the next +hand," and suiting the action to the word, she pushed the pack over to +Stanley, and ran from the room. + +A moment later the game was in progress. Mr. Riddle was the life and +soul of the party, and his irresistible mirth and good humour put every +one at his ease. + +The impoverished, it is perhaps needless to say, were duly remunerated; +and the Secretary, after a round of whiskies and sodas, retired to his +room, feeling that the evening had been a triumphant success, and +reflecting ruefully that he was yet very young, for a little brief +authority had made him suspicious of everybody. Had he not put down Mr. +Riddle as a hypocrite, when that gentleman was one of the most open, +whole-hearted and mirthful personages in existence? As for the letter it +was an unfortunate incident, very successfully brought to a close. +Something was wrong with Belle, however. She had left him with a shrug +and laugh, saying: "Oh, there is no real gambling in a mere game of +cards. Try life!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A MORNING CALL + + +The Dowager was being created for the day. Created seems the only term +applicable to the process, for Lily, Marchioness of Port Arthur, as +finished by her Maker and her maid, were two entirely distinct and +separate articles. Stimson alone was initiated in these mysteries. Even +Lady Isabelle had never been allowed to see her mother as she really +was, and no one exactly knew how she was put together, though several +tradesmen in Bond Street might have been able to make shrewd guesses at +her component parts. + +The Dowager never appeared in public until lunch time. She had, she told +her friends, earned the right to this little luxury now that the +struggle of life was nearly over. Doubtless her Ladyship knew best what +she had done to deserve such an indulgence. But, be that as it may, her +daily retirement gave her a much coveted opportunity for attending to +matters in the private life of other people, and one of these affairs +claimed her attention after the Secretary's arrival at Roberts' Hall. + +Stimson had finished her morning's budget; that is, she had retailed to +her Ladyship all those things about which the Dowager declared +pathetically she had not the slightest desire to know, but which, had +the maid omitted to mention them, would have cost her her place. + +"And so, as I was saying, my Lady," Stimson concluded her recital, "Mr. +Stalbridge, the butler, he tells me as there was a strange lady come to +Coombe Farm yesterday, a foreigner like." + +"I do not know, Stimson, why you worry me with these trivialities," said +the Dowager, "in which I can have no possible interest. You say she was +a foreigner?" + +"Yes, my lady. A Spaniard, Mr. Stalbridge thought, and her name----" + +"You needn't trouble me to tell me her name, Stimson." + +"No, my Lady. I shouldn't presume, my Lady. But, of course, when I heard +as it was Madame Darcy, I couldn't help thinking----" + +"I do not employ you to think, Stimson. I understand you to say that the +lady's name was Madame Darcy? Surely my daughter met a Madame Darcy the +other night, somewhere?" + +"Yes, my Lady, at Mr. Stanley's dinner." + +"It is quite immaterial to me where Lady Isabelle met this person. But, +as you say, it _was_ at Mr. Stanley's dinner. So I infer she must be a +friend of his." + +"She's not staying at the Hall, my Lady." + +"No," said the Marchioness. "I shouldn't have supposed she would stay at +the Hall. Stimson, you may get me my bonnet and a light shawl." + +"But I thought your Ladyship said as how you was not well enough to go +out this morning." + +"I said, Stimson, that you could get me my bonnet and a light shawl. +Perhaps a little air will do me good." + +"If your Ladyship was thinking of taking a little stroll, it's very +pretty towards the Coombe Farm, not ten minutes' walk across the Park to +the left of the house." + +"As you very well know, Stimson," her mistress remarked with asperity, +"I am too nearly tottering on the brink of the grave to venture out of +the garden. Perhaps there is a side-door by which I can leave the house +and be alone. I shouldn't have the strength to talk to anybody." + +"No, your Ladyship. I'll show you the way, and if Mrs. Roberts should +send to inquire for your Ladyship's health----" + +"Say I have been obliged to lie down by a headache, and shall not appear +till lunch." + +"But if anyone saw your Ladyship----" + +"In that case," snapped the Marchioness, "I should be obliged to dismiss +you as being untruthful." + +In a good cause the Dowager was only too apt to overtax her strength, +and this was probably the reason why, half an hour later, she was +obliged to sink down on a wooden bench outside the door of Coombe Farm +and request the privilege of resting herself for a few minutes. The +farmer's wife, who, like most people of her class, took a vast interest +in the guests at the Hall, knew intuitively that she was a Marchioness, +and having ducked almost to the dust, rushed into the house to get her +Ladyship a glass of fresh milk and impart the astounding intelligence to +her lodger. A moment later Madame Darcy appeared upon the scene. + +"I am going to take the liberty of introducing myself, as I have the +pleasure of knowing your daughter," she said. + +Her Ladyship was affable in the extreme. + +"This is, indeed, a pleasure, Madame Darcy," she murmured. "Dear +Isabelle was so impressed with you the other night that she has done +nothing but talk of you since; but, of course, I could not have supposed +my walk would have had such a charming termination. Is not your coming +into the country rather unexpected?" + +"Yes," replied Madame Darcy. "It is what you in this country call a +whim, is it not? I am not yet quite sure of your language." + +The Marchioness smiled indulgently. + +"Yes," she said, "that's quite right. It is very clever of you." + +"I do not like your London," pursued the stranger. "It suffocates me, +and I wish to run away into the country." + +"And how did you know of this charming spot?" said her Ladyship, still +angling on general principles. + +"Oh, I have heard it mentioned." + +"By Mr. Stanley, perhaps?" suggested the Dowager. "You knew he was to be +here." + +"Oh, yes," rejoined Madame Darcy, judging it better to be frank. "But I +came here to be quite alone. I need rest and quiet." + +"I see," said the Marchioness, who was quite bewildered. "But you and +Mr. Stanley are very old friends, are you not?" + +"Our fathers were. We have not met often recently." + +"Yes, yes, of course," said the Marchioness. "Mr. Stanley told me. He's +such a nice young fellow. We often see him at our house. I take quite an +interest in him. And how pleasantly he is situated, too. Diplomacy is +such a delightful profession. But then"--and here she sighed +gently--"like other delightful things in this world it must require a +very long purse." + +If Madame Darcy had had any knowledge of English manners and customs, +the Dowager's method of attack would have put her on her guard at once. +But being totally unversed in the ways of British matrimonial diplomacy, +she took the Marchioness' remarks to mean nothing more than an +expression of kindly interest in the young man's welfare, and did not +hesitate to inform her that the Secretary was amply able to afford any +position he chose to take. + +"Oh, yes," said the Dowager. "His father's greatly interested in sugar, +I believe. Or is it salt? I am very ignorant about these matters. Which +do you grow in your country?" + +Madame Darcy repressed a smile and informed her guest that Mr. Stanley's +father grew sugar, and was one of the most wealthy planters in that +section of the world. + +"Well, I must be going now," said the Marchioness. "I have had such a +pleasant little chat, and I shall certainly ask Mrs. Roberts to call on +you." + +"Oh, pray don't," returned Madame Darcy. "That is--excuse me, I did not +mean to be rude--but I have come down here for absolute rest, and do not +feel in the mood for any gaiety." + +"I quite understand," said the Dowager, "and will respect your feelings. +Indeed, I will not mention having met you at all, and then no one need +be the wiser. No, thanks. I shall be quite able to go by myself. Perhaps +we may meet again in London. You must ask Mr. Stanley to bring you to +call on me. Such a nice young fellow! He ought to be married to keep him +out of mischief." And the Marchioness returned to her room to complete +her headache. + +Scarcely fifteen minutes had elapsed since the Dowager's departure, +when, just by accident, Stanley strolled by, and lifting his eyes caught +sight of Madame Darcy's face at the cottage window. + +"What!" he exclaimed. "You here!" and stood silent a moment as a wave of +feeling rushed over him, the first pleasure of seeing her sad sweet face +being swept away by consternation at the thought of how she had played +into her husband's hands by following him to this place. + +She read what was in his mind, saying, with that charming accent which +appealed to him so strongly: + +"You should not express your thoughts so clearly in your face. You are +thinking--but it is not of me--it is of yourself--in this part of the +world men think only of themselves--in my country they think of us." And +she gave a sigh. + +"You are, what you English call 'put out' at my coming--you think it +will compromise you--strange country where the men consider that they +will be compromised. You do not think of me, not one little bit--eh? I +am right?" + +"I'm afraid so," he said. "You see, nowadays, chivalry doesn't exist far +north or south of the equator." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"I carry my own climate, my own atmosphere," she said. + +The Secretary bowed. + +"No? You are not convinced? I had thought better of you." + +"You see," he said, feeling it wiser to be blunt, feeling that he must, +if possible, bring this wayward, entrancing, fantastic creature within +the limits of practical common sense. "You see, your precious husband +has been making trumped-up charges against me, on your account, which +are highly unpleasant." + +"He is a beast!" + +"Quite so, but as far as circumstantial evidence goes, he has some cause +on his side. Your arrival at my private apartments in London was most +unfortunate; but your following me here was simply the worst sort of +foolishness." + +The Secretary was aggrieved and showed it; but the result of his plaint +was most unexpected. + +His fair companion sprang to her feet and gave him a flashing glance, +that startled him out of the fancied security of his egotism. + +"I come here to follow you! How dare you?" + +"Oh, I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to be rude, really; but I +naturally inferred----" + +"No!" she cried. "Why should I come for you?-- Bah! I come for _her_!" + +"For whom?" + +"For _her_," she cried, pointing towards the Hall. + +"For her?" inquired Stanley, somewhat dazed by this unexpected change of +base. "But who is she?" + +"I do not know. I do not care; but she writes to my husband--she makes +appointments with him." + +"Oh, the nameless friend." + +"Now you understand why I have come?" + +"Yes, I see. Still I think it lays you open to misconstruction. You had +better return to London. I suppose you know you were followed to my +house?" + +She snapped her fingers airily. + +"I care just that for being followed. What of it?" + +"My dear Inez, you forget that you're not in our native country. We +can't fight duels galore in this part of the world, and cut the throats +of inconvenient witnesses. People will talk; there are the newspapers; +and--the dowagers; and the nonconformist conscience to be considered. +You don't know what you are letting me--I mean yourself, in for." + +"I tell you, I must confirm my suspicions. I must see your--what you +call it--your visitors' book--which they have in great houses-- I must +compare the handwriting of the guests with the handwriting of these +letters. When I have proved my case I will return to London--not one +moment before. You are my friend, you will help me." + +"Of course I will help you; but I assure you there is no one in the +house who could be suspected for a moment." + +"At least, you will help me to prove myself wrong?" and she shot at him +one of those unsettling glances. + +"Of course--with all my heart--and then you'll go back to London and +take Mr. Sanks' advice, won't you?" + +"You are very anxious to have me go," she said, piqued. + +"No, no!" he assured her hastily. "Far from it; but can't you see--that +it is for your sake that I urge it. Supposing anyone saw us now; what +would they think, what could they think--an early morning rendezvous." + +"They would say that you were making a report to me of your progress in +discovering the plot against the treaty between England and our +country." + +He looked at her dumbfounded and said nothing. Indeed there was nothing +he could say without risking some imprudent disclosure. + +"Ah," she cried, laughing merrily at his discomfiture. "You see, you +diplomats do not know everything. It is true I only write supervised +letters home, but that does not prevent my receiving letters from my +country first hand, and my father has written much about this treaty. It +seems they are going to try and bribe the Senators to defeat it, with +money raised here, and some cowardly scoundrel has been engaged as +go-between." + +Stanley stood looking at her in horrified astonishment. Was it possible +that if she knew so much she did not know that she was condemning her +own husband? But her next words proved to him that such must be the +case. + +"My father writes me," she continued, "that on proving the identity of +this go-between, the success or failure of the plot depends, and so far, +the government have been at a loss to identify him." + +The Secretary, who held the key to the situation, could see excellent +reasons why the Executive had kept Senor De Costa in the dark; what +Madame was saying was evidently what everybody knew. Of the truth she +had not the remotest inkling. + +"Well," she cried gaily, "why don't you speak?" + +"I have nothing to say," he replied. + +"Diplomatic to the end, I see," she retorted. "But you can't expect to +share my confidences unless you give me yours. Now tell me, have you +discovered any of the conspirators yet?" + +"I can truthfully say," he replied, "that as far as I know, there is +nobody at Roberts' Hall connected with the conspiracy to which you +allude." + +"So you've come down here at the busiest season of your year on +indefinite leave just to pay a country-house visit." + +"How did you know that?" he asked. + +"Randell," she replied. + +"Good Heavens!" he cried, "you haven't been to my rooms again." + +"Naturally not," she returned coldly. "Your servant brought a pair of +gloves to my hotel, which I left at your rooms." + +The Secretary bit his lips and changed the conversation, and made a +mental note of the fact that if Randell was becoming talkative, he would +have to go. + +"You asked me," he said, "if I had discovered one of the agents of this +mysterious treaty of which you seem to know so much. Perhaps you will +tell me if you have?" + +"Yes," she said, smiling. + +"Who is it?" he asked. + +"Ah!" she cried. "I thought I should break down your reserve." + +"Well," he said sheepishly, "what have you to say?" + +"Nothing," she replied. "I only exchange confidences for confidences. +Tell me whom you suspect, and I will tell you whom I know." + +"What you ask is impossible," he replied, feeling that he could never +wound her by admitting his suspicions of her husband. + +"So be it," she said gaily, giving him her hand, and added, "Come and +see me again when you can spare a little time from your detective work." + +The Secretary saw she was laughing at him, and took his leave +discomfited. Madame Darcy watched him go, and sighed gently as she +turned to re-enter the house. She also had felt that she would not have +dared to wound him by mentioning her suspicions. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SERIOUS SIDE OF MISS FITZGERALD'S NATURE + + +It may have been contrition for her shortcomings which induced Miss +Fitzgerald to offer her services to the Reverend Reginald Lambert to +assist in decorating the altar of the little church for the ensuing +Sunday, and it may not. At any rate, she did offer them, and they were +gratefully accepted. + +She was dressed in a garb which would have befitted a postulant for a +religious order, and her sweet seriousness, and altogether becoming +demeanour, charmed the Reverend Reginald. + +The old parson was, it is needless to say, a thorough nonentity, and the +skilful attentions of his fair assistant were the more appreciated, +because the more rare. + +"It's very kind of you, my dear," he said, "to give so much of your time +to helping an old man." + +"I'm afraid I don't give up half enough. I think we should give +ourselves to the serious side of life at least for a little while every +week, don't you? We are so apt to devote ourselves to frivolities." + +"I'm very glad to hear you say that. Young people are none too serious +nowadays; but I'm sure you're too strong a nature to be wholly +frivolous." + +"I'm afraid not, but I often do things I don't care for, to keep myself +from thinking. My life hasn't been all a bed of roses, Mr. Lambert." + +"You surprise me," he said, sitting down in the front pew to get a +better view of their united arrangement of potted plants. "That's very +pretty, my dear. Now come and sit by me, and tell me all about it, and +if an old man's advice----" + +"Oh, I _do_ so want advice," she said. "You can't realise what the life +I lead means to a girl--my parents are both dead, you know." + +"Yes, poor child. I remember; Mrs. Roberts told me. How sad!" + +"I've no settled home-- I knock about. I try my best, I do indeed, Mr. +Lambert; but with no one to advise me--no older woman than myself who +really cares--it is at times very hard." + +"But you've relatives--Mrs. Roberts." + +"Yes, of course, they're very kind, and all that; but a young girl needs +far more than what she could ask of a remote relative. She needs +watchful care, constant protection. You've had a daughter, Mr. Lambert." + +"Yes, yes, I know. My dear Mary was a model girl, Miss Fitzgerald; a +good child is a great blessing. I see your position." + +"I'm sure you do. Try as one may, a young girl has not that experience +which comes with age, her best efforts are sometimes misinterpreted-- +I've suffered keenly myself." + +"My poor child," said the old rector, patting her hand in a fatherly +manner. "My poor child! You yourself see the need of a guiding hand." + +"I do, I do. Having no one to fight life's battle for me, I've become of +necessity self-reliant." + +"Of course, of course." + +"It has been misinterpreted, misunderstood. I've been called--hard; +worse-- I've been thought----" Her voice broke. + +"My dear child," said the old man, "you'll forgive my speaking plainly, +but you should be married. You need a husband. Someone who will take the +responsibility from you." + +Miss Fitzgerald breathed a contented little sigh, and her bowed head +leaned, oh, so lightly, against his shoulder! + +"I hoped you would say that," she murmured. + +"Is there someone--then--someone you love? You rejoice me exceedingly." + +Resuming a more erect posture, she said earnestly: + +"Tell me, Mr. Lambert, would you ever consent to perform a +marriage--quietly--very quietly--say, with the knowledge of only the +contracting parties and witnesses?" + +"If there were good and sufficient reasons. Of course, if the young +lady's parents were living, I should wish to be assured of their consent +first." + +"Oh!" murmured Miss Fitzgerald. + +"But, in your own case, if you really wished it, though it seems +unnecessary, I could make some such arrangement as you suggest, because +no one would be affected but yourself, though if a large estate or title +was involved it would be a very different matter." + +His companion thought long and deeply; then, looking up at him, she +said: + +"Would you, would you, dear Mr. Lambert, accept my word for it that +silence is necessary?" + +"I--yes. I suppose so. But, Mrs. Roberts?" + +"I can assure you that Mrs. Roberts approves of my marrying; but----" +and she laid her finger on her lips. + +"Well, as you please; but remember the responsibility rests with you; +then there would have to be witnesses." + +"I could promise that Lady Isabelle McLane would be present, and the +best man would be the other." + +"Quite so--but--when would you wish the ceremony to take place?" + +"Say Sunday." + +"But, my dear young lady--there are the fifteen days required by +law--unless, of course, you have a special licence." + +"Perhaps there _is_ a special licence." + +"Of course in that case everything is easy--but do nothing rash. +Marriage is a most solemn covenant, and I should strongly advise that +you speak to Mrs. Roberts. Indeed, I hardly know if I----" + +"I have your word, Mr. Lambert. I'll come to you to-morrow, may I? and +you'll talk to me earnestly, very earnestly, about it all. It will be +decided then--and if I should wish it before early service Sunday +morning, you would help me, I know. But remember, it's a secret, and oh, +you're so kind!" And taking his hand, she kissed it. + +"But, my dear," stammered the old man, quite flustered by this +unexpected mark of affection, "you haven't even told me the gentleman's +name." + +Bending over, she whispered softly, "Lieutenant Kingsland," and fled out +of the church. + + * * * * * + +In the light of the events of the morning, Miss Fitzgerald was naturally +desirous of becoming better acquainted with the appearance of a special +licence, and in the seclusion of the billiard-room, Lieutenant Kingsland +was able to gratify her curiosity. + +"Quite an expensive luxury, I've been given to understand," she said +reflectively, regarding the parchment. + +"Yes," admitted Kingsland regretfully, "it means a special messenger to +the Archbishop, wherever he may happen to be. He never's by any chance +at 'Lambeth' when you want him, and fees all along the line." + +"A matter of forty pounds, I've been told." + +"Well, call it thirty. I know the crowd." + +"I shouldn't have suspected you of being ecclesiastical." + +"It's a long story, and not to the point. Now, what have you done?" + +"Considering that you were thoughtful enough to procure that licence, +I've done everything." + +"Bravo! When can the ceremony take place?" + +"Before early service Sunday morning, say a quarter to eight." + +"The sooner the better. I'm a thousand times obliged. You're a little +brick, and I shall never forget it." + +"I shall ask for a return some day," she said. + +"And you shall have it, no matter what. Is there nothing more?" + +"Only this. You know Mr. Lambert is somewhat aged, very blind--don't +forget that--and a trifle deaf; so, though I assure you I never said so, +I'm quite sure he is under the impression that you're going to +marry--me." + +"But I don't understand." + +"Mr. Lambert informed me that in the case of a person of importance, or +one whose parents were living, he couldn't perform the ceremony +privately--that is, as privately as you would wish; but as regarded +myself, an orphan--you see?" + +"But the name?" + +"Are we not both Isabelles? Besides, he is old, and deaf, and nearly +blind, and the bride and I will both be closely veiled, under the +circumstances. If we should appear to have signed our names in the wrong +places in the registry--why, it's a stupid blunder that any one might +make on such a trying occasion." + +"But how account for Lady Isabelle's presence?" + +"He asked me concerning the witnesses, and I promised that her Ladyship +would be there. As for the other?" + +"My best man will serve." + +"Who is he?" + +Kingsland laughed. + +"Wait and see," he said. "He's an old friend of yours. Anything else?" + +"Yes, two things. Keep a still tongue in your head, and have the bride +there to the minute." + +"I promise. Belle, you're the best friend a man ever had." + +"Not at all. I'm only doing you a service--for a service in return." + +"What is that?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure; but any woman who lives the life I do is sure, +some day, to want a friend who is sufficiently in her debt--to--well, do +anything that may be needful. You understand?" + +"Done!" he cried, and wrung her hand. + +"Oh, by the way," she added, "I've given the Marchioness her tip, and I +don't imagine Jimsy's life will be worth living in consequence." + +"Couldn't you help to make it a little more bearable--for instance?" +insinuated the Lieutenant. + +"It takes two to make a bargain of that sort," she returned. + +"All right," he said, laughing. "I'll see that Little Diplomacy gets a +steer in your direction," and he started to leave the room. + +"No; I forbid you to do anything of the sort," she called after him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SERIOUS SIDE OF THE SECRETARY'S NATURE + + +In virtue of his good resolution to point out to Miss Fitzgerald the +error of her ways, the Secretary had been nerving himself to an +interview with her on this delicate question, and as result, when he +found himself alone with Lieutenant Kingsland in the smoking-room after +dinner that evening, both were silent. Each had something to think +about, yet each was thinking about the same thing. The Secretary +abstractedly wondering how he was to commence the awkward interview +which was staring him in the face; while the young officer, relying on +the axiom that "a woman never says what she means," was pondering over +the best way in which to go to work upon his companion, in order to +induce him to open his heart to the lady in question. + +"I say, Stanley," he remarked, "do you know Bob Darcy?" + +"Darcy? No, I don't think so." + +"Why, he's the chap whose wife chaperoned your little dinner that night +at the Hyde Park Club, when Lady Rainsford failed you." + +"No, I don't know him. Do you?" + +"I--oh, very slightly--I assure you--never exchanged more than half a +dozen words with him in my life." + +"I thought you seemed pretty well acquainted at Lady Rainsford's tea." + +"I"--faltered the young man--"I think you're mistaken." + +Stanley smiled quietly, as the nature of the conversation he had +overheard came back to his mind--he was getting on. + +"I'm afraid," he remarked, "that your friend doesn't attract me. What +did you wish to say about him?" + +"Only that he's awfully gone on Belle Fitzgerald, means business, and +all that--lucky dog--I think he'll win hands down," and Lieutenant +Kingsland heaved a sigh. + +"But he's married, surely?" + +"Oh, yes, I believe he is--but it hasn't been an unqualified success. I +understand there's a divorce in the air, and after that--of course----" + +"He's treated his wife like a brute!" spluttered Stanley. + +"Don't know, I'm sure. He's a jolly good fellow at the club. Any way, +he'd put a job with Belle to do the platonic under Mrs. Roberts' +protecting roof for a week or two, when what does our hostess do but cut +up rusty about his marital infelicities, and refuse to invite him. +Rather a sell on the little Fitzgerald, eh?" + +"I'll be obliged to you if you'll mention Miss Fitzgerald more +respectfully in my presence. She's a lady for whom I have the highest +consideration, and who would, I'm sure, if she knew what I know of +Colonel Darcy, cut him off from her list of acquaintances immediately. I +hope you'll not feel called upon to speak of this more than is +necessary," and he rose stiffly and left the room. + +Kingsland rolled over on the divan, on which he was sprawled out, and +indulged in a fit of hearty laughter. + +"Gad! how he rose to the bait!" he roared. "I supposed Darcy was too old +a story to tempt anyone with; but the world's after all a very small +place." And this, curiously enough, was precisely the reflection which +the Secretary made ruefully to himself, as he sought the captivating +Belle. + +As can be understood in the light of that interview in the smoking-room, +the two gentlemen were late in arriving upstairs, and when Stanley did +put in an appearance, Miss Fitzgerald required all her courage to dare +to claim him as her exclusive property and carry him off to the +comparative seclusion of the conservatory, for black care sat heavy on +his brow, and her interview promised to be anything but agreeable. +However, she was nothing if not courageous, and opened the attack at +once, on the ground that the defensive is always the weakest position. + +"What an old bear you are to-night, Jimsy. I couldn't get a word out of +you at dinner, and now you look as glum as if you'd lost your last +friend." + +"I've been talking to Lieutenant Kingsland," he said bluntly. + +"Dear me, if it always has as bad an effect I must contrive to keep you +two apart in the future." + +"He's been telling me about your relations with Darcy. Confound it, +Belle!--it's too bad of you! Why, he's a beastly cad. I wouldn't have +him in my house, and to think that the woman I--well, any woman I +respect as much as I do you--should be on intimate terms with a man like +that, makes my blood boil. Great Heavens, have some consideration for +your friends, if you haven't for yourself! Think of what will be said of +you; think----" + +"Don't do the heroic, Jimsy, it doesn't become you," she interrupted. +"Give me a cigarette, and see if you can't talk this matter over without +going all to tatters." + +"You smoke too much. I don't approve of ladies smoking. It seems so +common." + +"Nonsense. It's uncommon not to. I'm dying for a whiff, and one never +gets a chance in that crowd of old fogies. Thank you--now what's all +this disturbance about Colonel Darcy? I declare, I almost believe you +are becoming an old fogy yourself." + +"I didn't even know you knew him-- Darcy, I mean-- I object to him +strongly." + +"Really, Mr. Stanley, I don't run my acquaintances on the lines of your +choosing." + +"Of course not; but I may claim the privilege of a friend." + +"To make yourself uncommonly disagreeable; I suppose you may--and I was +feeling so amiable too--just in the mood for an old-time chat. But it +can't be helped. Colonel Darcy's an old friend, and was very kind to me +at a time when I needed friends and hadn't many. I don't know what he +has done or not done, and I don't care. I learned that he was to be in +this neighbourhood shortly on business, and, wishing to make some return +for his past kindness, I proposed to my aunt to invite him here, and +she, who's a woman after your own heart, refused--because, forsooth, he +didn't get on well with his wife--as if his wife mattered to me-- I +certainly didn't want to invite her." + +"I assure you," burst out the Secretary, "that she's a most charming +woman, and that her husband has treated her like the cad and brute he +is." + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Stanley. I didn't know you were posing as the +knight-errant of hysterical wives." + +"I'm not; but I can't stand by and see a lovely and innocent woman +injured." + +"I presume I'm not to defend my friend?" she asked, her small foot +tapping the tiled floor in anger. + +"You would not wish to do so if you knew his true character." + +"I do not wish to prolong this interview, Mr. Stanley. I must remind you +that there are limits even to the rights of friendship, and you have +overstepped them." + +"I fear I've forgotten myself, that I've been too vehement. I humbly beg +your pardon. I won't trespass again, believe me. I only spoke for your +good--indeed, I wanted to have a serious talk with you about yourself; +but the spirit in which you receive my suggestions makes it impossible." + +"You mustn't say that," she replied, more quietly than she had hitherto +spoken. "But you can surely understand that my friendship would be of +little use to any man if I stood quietly by and let him be denounced +without a word of resentment on my part. Are there other of my friends +of whom you do not approve?" + +"It's partly that, but rather the--you'll pardon me--the things that are +said about you, Belle. People--my friends--men as well as women--have +said things in my presence--that I did not like to hear. Things that +show how easy it is for a careless, easy-going nature like yours to be +misinterpreted; in short----" + +"In short, they told you I was fast, I suppose, a sordid, scheming, +money-making wretch. Is that correct?" + +"Really, Belle!" + +"Is that correct? Answer me." + +"Well, they certainly wouldn't have used such words in my presence." + +"But they meant that--or something like it?" + +"I'm afraid they did." + +Her face, white enough before, flushed red, as she demanded: + +"And you! What did you say?" + +"I--I don't remember-- I refused to listen; but I made up my mind to +speak to you-- I thought you ought to know." + +"You"--she cried, turning on him in a fury--"you, my friend, as you +call yourself, had no answer to make, did nothing, except to decide to +lecture me about what you should have known to be a lie! Let me tell +you, Mr. Stanley, you'd have done better to defend me--knowing, as you +must know, the slights, the buffets, the insults I've had to endure, +because I'm unprotected, and men can dare----" + +"I assure you I did. I didn't believe it of you for an instant." + +"You believed it enough to question me as to the truth of these +accusations. It's easy to preach prudence when you've nothing to gain or +lose; but were you a woman, thrown on the world and on her own +resources, you'd find it a different, a very different, thing, and you'd +expect help and encouragement from friends who are stronger and more +fortunate than you--not this!" and she burst into tears. + +"Miss Fitzgerald!-- Belle!" he cried, striving to take her hand, "I +wouldn't have pained you in this way for worlds! Believe me, I'm your +friend, your true friend!" + +"I've friends enough of your sort," she sobbed, "too many." + +"But at least let me explain." + +"Don't say any more, please--you've said enough. Good night, you must +excuse me. I--I'm not myself," and touching her handkerchief to her +eyes, with a great effort she controlled herself and left the +conservatory. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SECRETARY'S INTENTIONS + + +Roberts' Hall preserved the good old English custom concerning +breakfast--which means that a rambling meal extended from eight to +eleven in the morning--at which the butler served you with tea, or +coffee and rolls, and you served yourself to the rest, from the cold +cuts on the sideboard to the hot viands in copper vessels warmed by +alcohol lamps. The cold cuts you had always with you, also the orange +marmalade; as for the eggs and bacon, devilled kidneys, etc., their +state was dependent on the taste of the guests who had preceded you, and +your own ability as an early riser. You came down when you pleased, and +ate your meal in solitary state or in any company that might happen to +be present, which, if it proved to be congenial, made a very jolly, +informal repast, and if it didn't,--well, that was fate, and you had to +submit to it. Fate may be kind or it may not, sometimes it sets out to +play ponderous practical jokes, which may include something nearly akin +to a grim reality in the future for the persons involved. + +This was probably the reason why Stanley, on his advent into the +breakfast-room, found it tenanted by only one person, and that one, +Lady Isabelle. + +At the sight of her, the Secretary felt decidedly sheepish, because Miss +Fitzgerald's tears and some subsequent hours of sleepless meditation +thereon had convinced him that he was morally, if not actually, capable +of all the weakness for which her Ladyship had upbraided him. He told +himself that he owed a duty to the fair Belle, that he must save her +from herself at all costs, even if it involved the sacrifice of his own +future, that he had misjudged her cruelly, and that he was very, very +sorry for her, and that, because he was conscience-stricken, he was +certainly in love. Indeed he kept assuring himself with feverish +insistence, that this must be the real article. + +To Lady Isabelle, on the contrary, Stanley's deficiencies were almost +lost sight of, in view of the disturbing suspicion that that young +gentleman might be led to suppose that her well-meant interference in +his affairs had proceeded from an undue regard for himself. A suspicion +but a few hours old, and dating from an interview with the Marchioness, +who, for some unknown reason, had suddenly assumed a totally different +attitude towards the Secretary, and even tried to entrap her daughter +into admitting that his attentions might mean something. This made Lady +Isabelle most anxious to impress him with the fact that their friendship +was purely platonic. Accordingly, to his intense surprise, she was +exceedingly gracious, and chatted away all through breakfast in a +charmingly easy, if somewhat feverish, manner, even condescending so +far as to say something pleasant about Miss Fitzgerald. Under this +treatment Stanley simply glowed, and opened out as much as he dared in +the presence of the butler and two expressionless footmen, upon that +lady's charms. He was a very young diplomat, as the reader will have +noticed ere this, or he would not have continued to praise one lady to +another; least of all at breakfast time, an hour when the temper of +mortals is by no means certain. But in the pleasure of his subject he +did not notice the scorn that was suggested by the curl of his +vis-a-vis' lip. + +"I do wish," he said in conclusion, "that you'd take a stroll with me +this afternoon; the deer park is quite worth seeing, I understand, and +besides there are lots of things I want to talk to you about." + +It was during this proposition that Lieutenant Kingsland, preceded by +the Dowager, entered the breakfast-room. + +"Oh, I say," blurted out that officer, "I think we've got an appointment +after lunch, haven't we?" + +"I think not, Lieutenant Kingsland," replied Lady Isabelle, foreseeing +the crisis, and realising the necessity of immediate action. Then +turning to Stanley, she added:-- + +"Thanks, I should enjoy a good walk hugely, and I love deer. It was very +kind of you to suggest it. What time shall we start?" + +"Say three o'clock," said the Secretary, immensely rejoiced at his +restoration to favour. + +"Three, let it be then, if mamma approves." + +It was only too evident that mamma did approve; she nodded and smiled, +and said that exercise was a splendid thing for young people; till +Stanley became frightened at her excessive geniality, and Kingsland +looked black as a thunder-cloud. + +The Lieutenant was not, however, so easily baffled, and jumped to the +conclusion that half of Lady Isabelle was better than no Lady Isabelle +at all. + +"Three's not company, I know," he said, laughing with attempted gaiety, +"but I'm no end fond of deer myself." + +"I was about to ask you, Lieutenant Kingsland," interrupted the Dowager, +coming promptly to the rescue, "to execute a few commissions for me this +afternoon, at Tunbridge Wells. I'm sure our hostess will put a dog-cart +at your service, and it's not above fifteen miles." + +"Charmed, I'm sure," replied the Lieutenant--but he did not look it. +However, he had his reward, for Lady Isabelle had just finished her +breakfast, and Kingsland declared he had already had his, which was not +true, so they disappeared together and left the Dowager to enjoy her +repast in the company of the Secretary, to whom she was so extremely +affable, that, had it not been for his instructions, he would have had +serious thoughts of leaving for London, before he was appropriated body +and soul. + + * * * * * + +"What have you been telling my mother about Mr. Stanley?" asked Lady +Isabelle of the Lieutenant, in the seclusion of the library. "I know you +had a long conference with her last night--and something must have +happened." + +"I'm sure I don't know, unless it was that he's a millionaire, and made +his money, or had it made for him, in some beastly commercial +way--sugar, I think." + +Lady Isabelle gave him one look, and remarked with a depth of scorn +which even the unfortunate Secretary had not evoked:-- + +"Oh, you idiot!" + +Kingsland was immersed in literature the entire morning in company with +Lady Isabelle, who doubtless found the Lieutenant's companionship a +great comfort, under the circumstances, since now that she knew the +reason of her mother's attitude towards the Secretary, she was as +anxious to avoid the walk with him, as she had previously been willing +to take it. + +Kingsland, however, bore up bravely, for his trip to the Wells gave him +an opportunity to settle several little matters of business, which the +Dowager, had she known of them, would hardly have approved. Moreover, +Belle saw him off, saying as he mounted the dog-cart:-- + +"Don't be upset by Lady Isabelle's defection this afternoon, Jack; the +most trustworthy little mare will sometimes jib, just before taking a +desperate leap." + + * * * * * + +When two people start out on a long walk together, each with the firm +intention of doing his duty by the other, the result is apt to be far +from pleasant; but in this case both had so much to talk about that for +the first hour of their walk they said nothing, and their arrival at the +deer-park was a distinct relief, since it furnished a new and harmless +subject for discussion. And, indeed, the pretty animals warranted more +than a passing word. They were seen in numbers, peeping out of a fringe +of woodland across the width of an uncultivated field, and they were in +that delightful state of semi-tameness, when a longing for the bits of +bread, with which Stanley and Lady Isabelle were well supplied, battled +equally with an impulse, born of natural training, to flee the proximity +of the human race. + +But there was not much going in the line of food, and so gradually, step +by step, the most daring of the herd ventured into the open, and slowly +approached the visitors, who were wise enough to throw tempting bits +about twelve feet away from them. Watchful to note the slightest +movement of a muscle, the bread was at length secured, and the herd +scampered away in a panic of fear, only to return for more, thrown +nearer the feet of their friends. So it was at last, with advances of +six feet and retreats of as many yards, at the crackling of a bush or a +change in the wind, that the most adventurous consented, standing as far +aloof as possible, and stretching their necks to the last degree of +tension, to take the bread from the visitors' hands. + +But finally even the charms of the deer were exhausted, and as they +turned about and began slowly to stroll homeward across the park, Lady +Isabelle abruptly broached the subject which both of them had nearest at +heart. + +"I'm afraid," she began, "that I'm very prone to order the lives of my +friends, from my own point of view." + +"My life, for instance?" he asked. + +"Mr. Stanley," she said, "I shan't be really happy till I have +apologised for the way I spoke at Lady Rainsford's tea. I'd no right to +do so, and I'm sure my judgment was hasty and ill-advised. I've been +trusting to my eyes and ears rather than to the reports of other people, +and I'm sure I've been mistaken. Do you know how Miss Fitzgerald spent +part of yesterday?" + +"I have not seen her to speak with to-day." + +"Then I'll tell you. She was helping poor old Mr. Lambert trim the +church for to-morrow. I think it was very nice of her." + +"I'm afraid your commendation has come a trifle late. The fact is, I +took it upon myself to counsel the young lady in question against a +friend of hers--a Colonel Darcy." + +"Not Colonel Robert Darcy?" + +"The same." + +"Do you know him?" she asked. + +"No, but I know how he treats his wife, and his own character is none +too good." + +"It's curious," she said, a trifle sadly, "but I'm in just your position +in regard to a dear friend of mine, and concerning the same man." + +"Concerning Colonel Darcy?" + +"Yes." + +"And his intimacy with Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"How did you know?" + +"'He that hath eyes to see----'" quoted the Secretary. + +"They never even knew each other till a short time ago, but in the last +few weeks they've been constantly together. I can't understand it." + +Mr. Stanley thought he could, but forbore to say so. + +"I don't know why I distrust Colonel Darcy, but I do," she continued, +"and his sudden intimacy with Jack--Lieutenant Kingsland--makes me +apprehensive. Do you think----" + +"I think your friend is of too pliable a nature to be in the hands of so +unscrupulous a rascal." + +She sighed, and then feeling perhaps that she had said too much, +hastened to revert to their original subject, saying: + +"Don't tell me there's a misunderstanding between you and Miss +Fitzgerald. I'm so sorry. I wouldn't for the world--that is, I almost +feel as if I'd been to blame." + +"You're not the only one of my friends who has misjudged her-- I've done +so myself--utterly." + +"But surely this little difference will not be lasting--I hoped----" + +"Would you wish me to marry Miss Fitzgerald, Lady Isabelle?" + +"Well, perhaps I won't say that--but I should certainly not wish +anything I might have said to prevent you from so doing. Of course, my +only reason for interfering was prompted by a wish for your happiness." + +"Do you think you understand what that comprises?" + +"That's just the point I wanted to make clear," she said hastily, +determined that he must understand, even at the expense of a slight +indiscretion on her part, which she felt would be far preferable to the +slightest misunderstanding of their relative positions, in view of any +future action of her mother's. + +"You see," she continued, "to put it frankly, what could I possibly know +of the requirements which, in a woman, would go to make you happy. Of +course, you and I are friends, great friends; but just that state of +affairs, as far as we're concerned, makes any judgment of mine useless +concerning the kind of woman you could love." + +Stanley, who could scarcely help drawing his own inferences, was piqued +that she should have felt it necessary to batter a self-evident fact +into his brain in such a bald manner. + +"I wish," he said, "that her Ladyship, your mother, was possessed of the +same lucid views on kindred subjects." + +"Poor mamma," murmured his companion, "she's a trifle conventional; but, +of course, if you're not in sympathy with her, you can easily avoid +her." + +There, the cat was out of the bag at last, and both felt easier in +consequence. Stanley threw himself into the breach at once, and took the +burden of the conversation. + +"I'm sure," he said, "I don't believe that half of the people in the +world can tell for the life of them why they fall in love with a certain +person and not with another. As we're talking confidentially, I don't +mind telling you that I've decided that I'm in love with Miss +Fitzgerald, and that the best thing I can do is to tell her so as soon +as possible, though I'm afraid there is little chance of her having me." + +"I can honestly say," rejoined his companion, "that, if that is how the +case stands, I do hope you'll be successful." + +Having arrived at this amicable and highly satisfactory conclusion, they +realised that in the earnestness of their discussion they had not +noticed the lapse of time. + +"Dear me, it must be getting late. I trust we're not far from the Hall," +said Lady Isabelle. + +"To tell you the truth, I don't know just where we are," he replied. + +They were standing in a thick plantation at the time, through which +meandered the little path they were following. + +"There's rising ground ahead, however," he continued, "and, I think, a +clearing." + +This proved to be the case, and when they had gained the little knoll +they saw, nearly in front of them, across a slight valley, bordered on +either side by wide stretches of fields and pasture-land, the Hall. + +"It doesn't look to be half a mile distant, but I doubt the wisdom of +trying a short cut," he said, "We'd much better keep to our path." + +Their prudence had its own reward, for they had not been walking five +minutes before they encountered a peasant, who, with more good nature +than brevity, directed their steps in a way that was too plainly not a +short cut. However, there was nothing for it now but to push on, and +though they walked rapidly, it was a long time before they reached the +Hall. + +Unkind fate prompted them on their arrival to venture into the +drawing-room in search of a belated cup of tea, and, to their dismay, +they found the apartment, which should have been deserted at this hour, +tenanted solely by the Dowager, who had evidently been awaiting their +return. + +She was much too formally polite to make them feel at their ease, and +with a word dismissed her daughter, on the plea of removing her wraps, +thus leaving the Secretary to his fate. + +Once they were alone, her Ladyship surveyed the young man deliberately +through her lorgnettes, and when she had made him sufficiently nervous, +remarked in a chilling tone that she trusted her daughter had caught no +cold from walking so late in the park. + +The Secretary acquiesced, and then the Marchioness opened the attack in +earnest. + +"We--my daughter--has had the pleasure of seeing a great deal of you +lately, Mr. Stanley." + +"Er, yes," he replied, scenting danger. "Of course it's been a great +pleasure to me." + +"Still," she continued, "it is not usual for a young lady, unchaperoned, +to walk in the park with a gentleman at this hour; a gentleman who is, +shall we say, a mere acquaintance." + +"The matter was one of necessity," he replied shortly. "We lost our +way." + +"Mrs. Roberts has driven me over her grounds repeatedly, and it appears +to me to be quite impossible for anyone to really lose his way." + +"Deference to your Ladyship's opinion prevents me from saying more." + +"It is certainly not pleasant," resumed the Dowager, ignoring his last +remark, "to continue this conversation, and, were my late husband +living, I should naturally have left the matter to him; as it is, my +duty as a mother and my desire for dear Isabelle's welfare bids me----" + +"Really, your Ladyship, am I to understand you to imply----" + +"I can only say that I have heard your name associated with my +daughter's in a manner--that was not--quite as I could wish. Dear Lady +Wintern, a woman most interested in the good of her friends, spoke to me +herself, and of course you, as a man of honour and a gentleman----" + +"As a man of honour and a gentleman, I deeply regret that anything in +my conduct should have led to a misconception in regard to my relations +with Lady Isabelle, and in the future----" + +"In the future, Mr. Stanley, you will of course see little or nothing of +my daughter--unless----" + +She paused, and for a moment neither spoke. Then the Secretary, who, +whatever else may be said of him, was not a coward, seeing what was +impending, determined to face the situation and have it over as soon as +possible. + +"Am I to understand," he inquired, "that you're asking me my +intentions?" + +Her Ladyship raised her eyebrows. If the French shoulder is expressive, +the English eye-brow, feminine, speaks volumes. + +"You do not make the situation easy for me," she replied. "Of course I +speak only for myself. What my daughter may feel----" + +"You don't suppose," he exclaimed, "that Lady Isabelle really +thinks----" + +"I _know_, Mr. Stanley, that my daughter thinks nothing and does nothing +that would not be proper in a young lady of her position." + +"Then I've only to apologise," he said, rising, "for what you force me +to believe is my fault, however unintentional." And, bowing gravely to +her, he quietly left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MAN PROPOSES + + +As he dressed for dinner that evening, Stanley was still smarting with +irritation at the undeserved attack which had just been made upon him by +the Marchioness, and which through no fault of his own placed him in an +exceedingly unpleasant and awkward position towards her daughter. The +sooner he proposed to Miss Fitzgerald, and their engagement was +announced, the better for all parties concerned. So seeking to justify +himself by force of circumstances, he threw prudence to the winds and +determined to speak that very night. + +If, however, his private affairs had progressed rapidly to a crisis, the +official interests which, he assured himself, were the real cause of his +presence here, had not progressed at all, and he seemed no nearer the +solution of the mystery, and the apprehension of the conspirators, than +when he arrived. + +True, Lady Isabelle's confession concerning Kingsland only served to +strengthen his own conviction that the Lieutenant was Darcy's +confederate; but Darcy himself, the prime mover of the plot, had not as +yet put in an appearance, and till he arrived there was nothing to be +done but to watch and wait. + +Five minutes later the Secretary had joined the party in the +drawing-room just as dinner was announced, and to his utter +consternation his hostess whispered to him: + +"I am sending you down with Lady Isabelle. I hear you and she are great +chums." + +"Great chums!" Stanley was tempted to plead sudden indisposition, and +have his dinner in his room. Then a remembrance of his recent interview +caused a wave of adverse feeling to sweep over him. Yes, he would take +down Lady Isabelle. Was he to be badgered out of his dinner because a +designing old woman could not leave well enough alone? + +He could not indeed resist casting a look of amused triumph at the +Dowager as he passed her with her daughter on his arm, but his +conscience pricked him nevertheless, for he felt that his presence must +be distasteful to his fair companion. That she really cared for him at +all he could not bring himself to believe in the light of their +conversation on the walk. Still, her frankness might have been assumed +through pique at unreturned affection, and with a desire born of pride, +to blind him to the true state of her feelings. The more he thought of +this the more uneasy he became, and he could not help noticing that she +was much more pale than he had as yet seen her, and seemed singularly +abstracted. Moreover, he was certain that she was incurring her mother's +displeasure, which would be to her a grave matter. He tried to make such +atonement as lay in his power to make her feel at ease and to divert her +mind. He told her his best stories, gave her his most brilliant +conversation, but in vain. His endeavours fell hopelessly flat, and at +last, after a dreadful pause, they spoke that which was in their hearts. + +"Do you think it was nice of you to take me in to dinner?" she asked in +that quiet conversational tone with which so many secrets have been told +at dinners without arresting the attention of others. + +"Really," he said, "I'd no option. Our hostess----" + +"You managed to avoid it last night." + +Stanley flushed. + +"Do you mind so much?" he asked. + +"Oh, no; but mamma." + +"She didn't show me much consideration the last time we met." + +"I was very sorry for you," she replied, "but as it had to come I +thought I was better out of the way." + +"Do you mean to say that you deliberately left me to my fate?" + +"You mustn't be too hard on mamma. She wouldn't have thought she was +doing right if she had not spoken." + +"But," he continued relentlessly, "you----" + +"Oh! I----?" + +"Yes, supposing I had--succumbed." + +She paused a minute, and then looked shyly up at him. + +"In that case," she began, when Mrs. Roberts rose, and gave the signal +for the ladies to retire. + +Stanley cursed the convention, yet perhaps it was fortunate, as the +Dowager had been growing dangerously red and puffy in the face, owing to +the fact that the two young people had, unconsciously, drawn closer +together in the excitement of those unfinished words. + +The cigars seemed interminable; but at last they were over, and the +gentlemen were at liberty to seek the drawing-room. + +There is generally a moment of indecision when the men come up from +dinner. The ladies have appropriated the most comfortable and naturally +the most isolated chairs, and their lords and masters huddle like sheep +in the doorway, uncertain where to flee for refuge and the most +desirable companion. The Secretary had studied this peculiarity of his +sex, and had learned to choose his goal beforehand. One glance showed +him that Lady Isabelle was absent; either she had retired, her mother +was quite capable of ordering her off to bed to keep her out of harm's +way, or else she was in the conservatory. He trusted that this last +supposition was correct, and disappeared among the palms, when the +Marchioness' attention was directed elsewhere. + +"And in that case?" he said, as he stood beside her, recalling her last +words at the table. "In that case?" + +"In that case," she replied, flushing slightly, "I should probably have +said something I might have regretted, had not Mrs. Roberts come to my +rescue." + +"And now?" + +"Don't be stupid, Mr. Stanley. Surely you know that any well-brought-up +girl would always obey her mother--and--and you ought to see that this +conversation is impossible." + +"It's certainly unique." + +"Don't you think we had better change the subject?" + +"By all means, if you wish it, after I've asked you one more question. I +trust you won't think me rude to persist, but--do you care for me, Lady +Isabelle?" + +"As a friend, yes." + +"But in no other way?" + +"In no other way." + +"You're quite sure?" + +"Quite, and I'm very sorry you asked me the question. I tried hard to +prevent you." + +"You've succeeded admirably," he said, laughing. "I was afraid you did +care." + +He held out his hand, and she took it, saying with a little constraint +in her manner: + +"You're certainly frank." + +He was pleased to see that she was only piqued; the speech had been +unfortunate; but Lady Isabelle had plenty of common sense, and she +realised that his naive confession had cleared the atmosphere, and made +social intercourse possible. + +He made another attempt to interest her in general conversation, this +time succeeding admirably. And so an hour slipped by unnoticed, until +the stern voice of the Dowager recalled them to the realities of life. + +"Isabelle," she said coldly, "you are surely forgetting your duty to our +hostess, and to me also, it seems." + +"I'm coming, mamma," she replied, and left him with a quiet +"Good-night." + +Stanley felt immensely relieved. That was over; Lady Isabelle and he +understood each other now, and his path was clear for--was it to be +matrimony after all? He told himself he was a weak fool--that Miss +Fitzgerald cared nothing for him; would not take him after last night; +that he was under no real obligation and that he was a sentimental +idiot--yet, he must see her--for his own sake--to justify +himself--to---- He resolutely shut his eyes to the future, and went in +search of the lady in question. + +Ten minutes later, Belle and he were alone in the most favourable place +in the house for a tete-a-tete, a curious old corner, the two sides of +which were converted into a capacious seat to which there was but one +approach, screened by a heavy curtain on one side and a suit of armour +on the other--safe from all observers. + +"What a quaint old house this is!" he said. "We might almost suppose we +were back in the sixteenth century." + +"Yes," she replied dreamily. "We're out of place in these surroundings." + +She was in a strange mood this evening, sad and thoughtful, yet lacking +the repose which should have accompanied reverie. It was the only time +that the Secretary had ever seen her nervous or _distraite_. + +"What have you been doing all day?" he asked, hoping to lead the +conversation to some more cheerful subject. + +"Trying to forget myself," she replied. + +"Surely it would be a pleasure to remember yourself, I should think." + +"Should you? I fear not." + +"Your ears must have burned this afternoon," he continued, unheeding her +comment. "Pleasant things were being said about you." + +"Did you say them?" + +"Of course I said them, I always do; but I was referring to someone +else--to Lady Isabelle." + +"People only patronise me, when they think me unworthy of reproof." + +"How can you say that!" he exclaimed. "I----" but she silenced him with +a gesture. + +"You've said it. That's why. I've never had one friend with whom there +did not come a day, that he or she threw me over and cast my failings in +my face. I'd believed it was different with you, I believed you trusted +me; that you'd have trusted me through good and evil report--but no, +you're like the rest. Society points its finger at me, and you accept +its verdict, and you're right. You, secure in your social position, +powerful, influential, you shall determine what is right and what is +wrong, and I,--I must accept it without a murmur--I'm only a woman +without a friend." + +"No! no! no!" he cried vehemently. "You wrong me, you do not understand. +No one can respect a woman more than I respect you. It's of some of your +friends that I disapprove." + +"A man is known by the company he keeps--how much more a woman. I'm like +my friends--and you--you"--and for the moment she forgot to be meek and +suffering, and her eyes blazed with passion--"you are the Pharisee of +the nineteenth century, the hem of whose robe we outcasts are unworthy +to touch!" + +"How can you!" he cried, springing to his feet. "How can you do me so +much wrong? It's not that you're like your friends. It is the fear that +you may become so that moves me to speak as I do. But since you've seen +fit to suspect me, you must allow me to justify myself. I know the +affairs of this Colonel Darcy; know them as few others could, by virtue +of my diplomatic position, and I assure you he has wronged and brutally +treated one of the most beautiful and sweet-natured women I have ever +seen. Treated her so badly that she was forced to flee to our Legation +for assistance and protection. Imagine my feelings when you tell me that +this man is your friend--when I hear your name coupled with his in the +idle gossip of the smoking-room." + +"I only know that Colonel Darcy was kind to me once upon a time," she +replied, interrupting the flow of his eloquence. + +"But what's that to do with this?" + +"A man who can be kind to a woman in distress cannot be wholly bad." + +"Why do you defend him?" + +"Never mind why. Don't let us talk any more about it," she said wearily. +"You cannot deny that you think worse of me for defending him; you can't +take back your words of last night. I've been thinking it over +carefully, and I've make up my mind. I'm of no use to anyone. I make my +friends ashamed of me-- I'm misunderstood and misjudged. It's the way of +the world, but it's hard. My spirit's broken. I no longer have the wish +to continue the battle. I'm going away." + +"Going away! When?" he cried, in amazement. + +"At once." + +"And where?' + +"I don't know; somewhere where I'm not known, where I've no friends to +be annoyed at having to claim me as an acquaintance. Somewhere where +people will take me for what I am, not for what I have been, for whom I +know, for what I have done or left undone. Oh, I'm so tired, so sick of +it all," and she bowed her head and wept. + +The effect of all this on Stanley can hardly be over-stated. He +supported her, he soothed her, he told her all that was in his heart, or +all he thought was there. She should not go away alone; he would go with +her; he had shockingly misjudged her; it should be his life task to +make her forget that, to proclaim to all the world how great a heritage +he had received in her love. They would triumph over all obstacles. He +would show the world what a true, noble woman she really was; he would +prove it in the best way possible by marrying her, if she would have +him, if she would so far honour him. His heart was at her feet. She +would be quite right in spurning it, but he besought her to be merciful, +to give him his answer, and let that answer be consent. + +And the lady, who, under these ministrations and protestations, had +gradually recovered her self-control, ceased her passionate sobbing, +rested her head contentedly on his shoulder, and allowed him, with but +feeble resistance, to encircle her waist with a protecting arm--in +short, everything seemed prepared for her success, when the curtain was +pushed aside and there stood before them the figure of a man, which +caused them both to spring to their feet, in time, as they fondly hoped, +to escape detection; the Secretary with a smothered exclamation of rage; +the lady, as she recognised the intruder, with a startled cry of: + +"Colonel Darcy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HER HUSBAND + + +Even an unobserving man--and Colonel Robert Darcy was not that--could +hardly have helped seeing that his presence was unwelcome, and that he +had interrupted an important interview. + +"I beg your pardon," he said, "I fear I've intruded." + +The Secretary said nothing, and Miss Fitzgerald came to the rescue by +declaring that she was very glad to see him, and that she had no idea he +would be in Sussex so soon. + +"The fact is, I particularly wanted to see you," he replied bluntly. + +Thereupon Mr. Stanley did that most unpardonable thing in good +society--lost his temper and gave evidence of the fact; a piece of +egotism often noticeable in young men during their first years of social +life, before a severe course of snubbing has taught them of how little +relative importance they really are. + +"Three's an impossible number for a tete-a-tete," he said stiffly, "so +if you'll excuse me," and he started to leave her side. + +Up to this point Belle had been in some doubt as to how she ought to +act; but when the Secretary took the initiative, it at once gave her +her cue, and she was quick to save the situation. + +"There are no secrets between friends," she said hastily, "and you're +both friends of mine, so I shall expect you to be friends of each +other's." + +"This is Colonel Robert Darcy, Jimsy--we call him Bob for short," she +rattled on, laughing nervously. "And now, Bob, why have you arrived so +unexpectedly in Sussex?" + +"I think you've forgotten to introduce me to Colonel Darcy, Miss +Fitzgerald," suggested Stanley. + +"Dear me, I believe I have," replied that lady, calmly. "Bob, this is +Jimsy; Jimsy, this is Bob--that'll do for the present. I'll tell you the +rest of his names, titles and appurtenances when I've more time and less +to talk about. So now we are friends and have no secrets from each +other, therefore out with yours." + +Darcy laughed. + +"You see, Jimsy," continued Miss Fitzgerald, turning to the Secretary, +"though I'm young and ignorant, men have always come to me for advice, +or, perhaps, for the use of my intuition." + +"I'm sure I trust Colonel Darcy will profit by it; but even our +well-established friendship gives me no right to play third party to his +confidences, and as I promised Kingsland a game of pool----" + +"Ah, but you mustn't go; really you mustn't," expostulated the Colonel, +"or you'll make me feel I've intruded." + +Stanley felt that it was not his fault if that officer did not already +possess those sentiments, and was about to stand to his decision, when +Miss Fitzgerald pulled him down beside her, saying: + +"Don't talk nonsense, Jimsy. I'm dying to hear Bob's secrets, and he's +been here five minutes already, and we haven't allowed him to get a word +in edgewise." + +Thus admonished, the Secretary had no choice but to be an unwilling +listener. + +"I'm sure I don't know why I should dignify my affairs by the name of +secrets," began Darcy, with ill-attempted nonchalance, "or why I should +be reticent about speaking of them, either. It's more than the Press +will be in the next few days," and he laughed harshly. + +"My dear Bob!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, with a horror that was meant +to be assumed, but nevertheless had a touch of reality about it. "My +dear Bob! I knew you were bad, but don't tell me you're as bad as all +that!" + +"I'm afraid so," he replied. Then turning to Stanley, continued, "I +suppose you've not the misfortune to be married?" + +"I'm a single man," replied the Secretary, who, under the circumstances, +felt that a mere statement of fact was infinitely better than an +expressed opinion. + +"Then of course you can't conceive the pleasures of anticipation which +the prospect of the divorce court arouses in the mind of a husband." + +"I can imagine that the point of view would largely depend on his own +status in the case." + +"You don't mean to tell me, Bob," cried Miss Fitzgerald, "that she's +been foolish enough----!" + +"Oh, I'm the accused in the present indictment. But, fortunately for me, +women are by nature inconsistent." + +"Why do you say that?" she asked. + +"Why? Because, having run away from my house and secured legal +assistance in London to bring suit against me--well, on statutory +grounds, she has, as a proof of her injuries, seen fit to take up her +residence at the bachelor quarters of her Secretary of Legation." + +"What! Is she there now?" cried Miss Fitzgerald, her eyes flashing, as +she turned them full on Stanley. + +That gentleman, who had foreseen this _denouement_ from the first, half +rose to his feet with a view of crushing his defamer, but the Colonel's +next statement so staggered him that he sunk back in his seat. + +"No," replied that officer, in answer to Miss Fitzgerald's question. +"No. London life didn't seem to agree with them, so they've made a +little expedition into Sussex together; in fact, they're both here, or +hereabouts." + +"What do you say?" cried Belle, quite dazed by this astounding +declaration. + +"Oh, it's quite true. She actually had the effrontery to write me +requesting that I send her belongings to his chambers. Of course I got +no satisfaction in London, for my young man, with a discretion far +beyond his years, promptly left for parts unknown. I didn't search for +him, I watched her. I knew I could trust her to put me on the scent, if +not to lead me to the quarry. She's quite fulfilled my expectations. +When she left town my detective was on hand, followed her to Liverpool +Street, watched her while she took her ticket, secured a place in +another part of the same train, located her in a farmhouse on this +estate, and, as I suspected, found that among the guests at the Hall was +my co-respondent, Mr. Secretary Aloysius Stanley." + +The speaker paused, and absolute silence reigned between them; but he +did not seem to notice the tense muscles of the man or the flushed +anxiety of the woman. + +"Well, that's the story," he said shortly. "Not a pretty one, either, is +it; but of course I shall have to see it through, and, as a first step, +I must ask the assistance of you both in meeting this little cad of a +diplomat. After I've settled with him, I shall leave her quite free +to----" + +"Stop!" cried the Secretary. "Don't say that, Colonel Darcy. Don't you +dare to say it!" + +"What the devil-- I----" began Darcy, completely astonished at the turn +affairs had taken. + +"Miss Fitzgerald," continued his companion, "neglected to introduce me +formally, but I will rectify that error. My name is Aloysius Stanley, +and I'm the Secretary of Legation to whom you've presumed to allude in +language for which I shall demand an explanation." + +"We'll settle our difficulties at some more appropriate time, sir," +replied the Colonel, with repressed anger patent in every tone. + +"We'll settle them here and now-- I demand a retraction of what you've +just said, or intimated, in regard to my relations with your wife." + +"I'll give you the only satisfaction you have a right to expect, and I +to demand, when and where you please." + +"Gentlemen! gentlemen!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, fearful of what their +anger might lead to. "Pray remember that you're in the presence of a +lady." + +"You need have no fear," said Stanley, in reply to her request, "_I_ +shall not forget _myself_." Then turning to Darcy, he continued: + +"Did not my profession, which is essentially one of peace, prevent me +from taking any notice of your absurd challenge, I should still refuse +to involve myself in a matter with which I've no concern, merely because +you've been enough of a cad to slander your wife in the presence of a +third person." + +"If I ever meet you outside!" began the Colonel, purple with rage--but +the Secretary continued his remarks, oblivious of the interruption. + +"There is one thing, however, that I shall do," he said. "Unless you +leave this house immediately, I shall inform my hostess, who has +already refused to include your name in her party, of what I know of +you, and then put you out." + +"Do go, Bob!" cried Belle. "Do, to please me." + +"Oh, to please you," said Darcy, sulkily, "I suppose I must. But where +I'm to go for a night's lodging, in this God-forsaken place, is quite a +problem." + +"Oh, there's a good inn just outside the Lodge gates. I know the +proprietor of it," said Miss Fitzgerald. + +"Perhaps you'll give me a line to him," he suggested, "as you're turning +me out, and I've no luggage to insure my respectability." + +"Certainly," she replied, "if you've a pencil, and will excuse the back +of an old envelope." + +The Colonel nodded, and she took an undirected envelope, which seemed to +be carrying more than it could conveniently hold, from the pocket of her +dress, and hastily scribbled a line on it with the pencil he gave her, +handing them both to him nervously. + +"Perhaps," suggested the Secretary coldly, who had watched this +transaction with growing irritation, "it would be as well to remove the +contents of your letter, Miss Fitzgerald. You should be careful to whom +you entrust your correspondence." + +She faced him, and looked at him steadily, with those great blue eyes of +hers, while she said, with measured force and deliberation: + +"I should be quite willing to trust the contents of any of my letters to +Colonel Darcy's care." + +The Colonel had, meantime, been nervously twisting the envelope round +his fingers, and Stanley caught sight of a well-known monogram composed +of the initials A. R. It was the letter he had taken from Kingsland, and +restored to Mr. Riddle. How came it in Belle's hands--the seal still +unbroken, and why was it given to Darcy? His suspicions, so long lulled +by careful artifice, were at once aroused, and he threw the Colonel a +glance, the meaning of which was not lost on the woman. Suddenly, her +whole manner changing, she became nervous and excitable, once more +saying to Darcy: + +"Now, go, Bob; go at once, for all our sakes." + +He growled a surly reply, and before the Secretary was aware of his +intentions, had left the room. + +Stanley stood for a moment, dazed; uncertain whether to follow or +remain, his breast full of conflicting emotions; bewilderment at the +vast field of possibilities opened by the Colonel's receipt of the +letter; rage at his cowardly imputations, and dismay at the consequences +of the strong circumstantial evidence which Madame Darcy had unwittingly +manufactured against him; and at the effect which the Colonel's charges +might produce on Miss Fitzgerald. + +He was prepared for hysterics, recriminations, stern questions, scorn, +anger, and endless tears; but totally unprepared for the ringing burst +of laughter which greeted him as soon as the Colonel had left the room; +cold, cynical laughter, from the girl he had just asked to be his wife, +who threw herself on the couch, her eyes flashing and her whole face +twitching with anger or merriment, he was not certain which. + +"Oh dear--oh dear!" she cried, when she could at last control her voice, +"this is too funny! too dreadfully funny!" + +"I don't see anything amusing about it," he said bluntly. He was angry +and sore, and this ill-timed merriment irritated him. + +"Don't you? Then you must have lost your sense of humour. This young +man," she continued, pointing at him, as if she were exhibiting him to a +crowd. "This good young man, who preaches me sermons on +self-respect--who is concerned for my good name--who thinks I've been +too careless of my reputation, who is cut to the heart because I do not +live up to the ideal to which he considers a woman should attain, who +has just done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage--not because he +loves me--oh dear, no--but because he feels it his duty to save me from +myself. This practical young man, who combines pleasure with duty, by +conducting an _affaire du coeur_, in a neighbouring farmhouse, with my +friend's wife, but whose morality is so outraged at the man who is +courteous enough to permit that wife to get the divorce, that he can't +bear to be in the same room with him. This superlatively excellent young +man, who had almost persuaded me that I was wrong in my estimate of +human nature, turns out to be the worst of the lot, a whitened sepulchre +of lying and hypocrisy and deceit--or perhaps I should sum it all up +and say--a model of diplomacy. Isn't it funny--isn't it cruelly, +wickedly humorous? Do you wonder I laugh?" + +"If you can believe this of me, Miss Fitzgerald----" began the +Secretary, who had flushed, and then turned as white as a sheet. + +"One story's good till another is told, my dear Jimsy; but I was wrong +to have laughed. I quite understand, believe me, the painfulness of your +position." + +"I tell you it's not true----" he began. + +"Oh, don't try to improve the situation. You can't"--she continued, +rising and towering before him in the majesty of her wrath. "I'd really +come to believe that there was one among the hundreds of worthless, +vicious, mercenary human beings I know, who called themselves men, who +was what he claimed to be; who really believed in the old fallacies of +right and duty, and moral cleanliness, and lived up to them; who really +kept the ten commandments in thought as well as in act, a strong rock of +defence to whom I might cling in time of trouble; but he's a fraud like +all the rest, and the man I made a hero turns out to be of clay!" + +She paused, and the Secretary, controlling himself, replied coldly: + +"After what you've said, it's of course worse than useless for me to +repeat the question I asked you just before Colonel Darcy intruded his +presence upon us. It had better remain unanswered." + +"No," she said. "I don't think so. It needs an answer, and you shall +have it--but not yet. I've been a little fool, and have been punished +for my folly; but I don't know any reason why I should make you suffer. +You're only as you were made. You can't help it, I dare say." + +"You surely can't think of marrying me, believing what you do." + +"I don't know. While I thought you were an angel, I was afraid of you. I +thought I should have to be constantly living up to you and listening to +sermons;-- Thank Heavens you can never preach to me again. Even you +wouldn't have the face to do it now. But since I've found out that +you're only very human, I really don't know but what I might grow to +love you. I'll think it over. There," she continued, "don't look so +sheepish. I may decide not to take you after all, but until then +consider yourself on approval. Don't say anything more, you'd only bore +me. I want to be by myself and get my face straight, if I can," and +crossing the room she broke out again into peals of ringing, unmusical +laughter. + +"This is intolerable!" he cried, but he addressed thin air,--he was +alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE DOOR WITH THE SILVER NAILS + + + "ST. JAMES' CLUB, + "PICCADILLY, W. + + "MY DEAR STANLEY, + + "I am sending this letter to you at Roberts' Hall, because I + am certain that you are there. + + "I can fancy you drawing a long face, and admitting to + yourself that you are certainly in for a sermon from that + old bore, Kent-Lauriston, but you are entirely mistaken. I + shall neither expostulate with nor upbraid you, for you have + done exactly what I expected you would do. Nevertheless I + mean to save you from yourself, to which end I trust you are + not as yet entangled, as it is less easy gracefully to break + than make an engagement. + + "The fact is, my dear Mr. Secretary, I do not consider you, + under the present circumstances, a responsible creature. The + fascinating Miss Fitzgerald has, I can well imagine, driven + all other considerations into the background. + + "I should probably have let you go to your fate, unchecked + by any letter of mine, did I not feel that I had been + morally negligent. You came to put your case in my hands, + and proved so sweetly rational that, for the last time I + swear, I trusted in human nature, and left you to your own + devices, instead of watching your every movement until the + danger was past. + + "Of course I have heard the little scandal about your + escapade with Colonel D----'s wife. All London is ringing + with it, thanks to her husband. + + "What you most want is change of scene and occupation, to + distract you from your present cares. There is only one way + to drown care without drowning oneself--and that is by work. + So unless I find you grinding away at the Legation to-morrow + noon, I shall invite myself to be one of Mrs. Roberts' + house-party, and we shall see what may be effected even in + the face of overwhelming odds. Give me a fair field and no + favour, and I pledge my word to win you to yourself. + + "In any event command my humble services. + + "Yours as ever, + "KENT-LAURISTON. + "Friday evening." + +The Secretary dropped back on the comfortable divan that occupied a +recess in one corner of the smoking-room, and gazed vacantly at the +letter as it lay in his lap; then he gave a great sigh, and reached for +a fresh cigarette. In his own estimation, matters could not be worse, +but unfortunately he was not in a position to heed his friend's advice +and bolt for London the first thing in the morning--indeed his +recognition of Darcy's letter, the possible significance of which he was +at last beginning to realise, imperatively demanded his presence and +attention. + +Besides, he was now accountable to others. To Belle in the first +place--and to Colonel Darcy in the second. For the latter he cared not a +whit. It was true that circumstantial evidence had made rather a strong +case against him--but the Secretary was sure the Colonel did not really +believe the charge he had preferred against his wife to be true, and +that he had merely seen, in the unfortunate combination of +circumstances, a chance of strengthening his own position. + +But while Stanley had little concern for the Colonel's status, he felt a +great deal for his own. Fate had treated him badly, very badly, and he +owed it to Belle and to Madame Darcy, and to his own good name, to right +himself as speedily as possible. + +The figure he would cut in Madame Darcy's eyes was bad enough in all +conscience. He supposed she would never speak to him again, and, for +some reason which he was at a loss to explain satisfactorily to himself, +this prospect made him feel uncommonly blue. He even felt no resentment +against her, though her innocent rashness had been the font of all his +misfortunes. Somehow it seemed an honour to be associated with her, even +to his own undoing. And that by any efforts in her behalf, he should +have unwittingly injured her, nearly drove him to despair, with chagrin +and regret. + +But if his position in the eyes of Madame Darcy and of himself was most +awkward, the position he held in Miss Fitzgerald's estimation was, he +told himself again and again, simply unbearable. That it was possible +for any good woman to believe--and she certainly did believe--the things +that were said about him, and yet find it in her heart to even consider +matrimony with such an unscrupulous cad as he must appear to her, +revolted him. It was not nice; he was sure Lady Isabelle would never +have done so. + +Perhaps she did not care, that was worst of all; that she did not care +for him, for his good name, his honour, his reputation, only for--the +thought was intolerable--he started up and drank off a strong peg of +whiskey; he felt that he needed a bracer. In the hopes of distracting +his thoughts, he once more took up and re-read Kent-Lauriston's letter, +which had arrived before dinner and lain forgotten during the excitement +of the evening; and which he had found waiting to greet him, when, at +the close of that dreadful interview, he had stolen away to his room +without bidding anybody good-night. He remembered that he had hesitated +to open it, knowing as he did that it contained a remonstrance against +committing a folly, which he had already committed. He had determined to +read it calmly, but it awakened within him a scathing self-examination +most unsettling in its result. + +He recognised it as the dictum of an astute man of the world, a +"_connoisseur des grandes passions_" one who knew the symptoms with +unfailing accuracy. In short, the Secretary did not for a moment doubt +the truth of what his friend had written; but he was equally certain +that it did not apply to his own case. + +Miss Fitzgerald had by no means driven all other thoughts from his mind. +Indeed, he realised that she had, during the last few days, held a +relatively small place in his thoughts. He was not miserable when he was +absent from her--he had enjoyed his talk with Madame Darcy and his walk +with Lady Isabelle immensely. He had not even decided that he should ask +Belle to marry him till the eleventh hour, and was not that decision +due, after all, to the pity which, we are told, is akin to love, but +which by itself forms such an unsatisfactory substitute? Would his +friend have any trouble in winning him to himself, as he expressed it? +Was he supremely happy? Was he not rather, in his heart of hearts, +wishing himself well out of the whole affair? The words of Madame Darcy +came back to him, doubly enforced by these contradictory data. + +"You do not love her. Love is blind. Love does not reason." + +Had it come to this, then--was he such a weak fool that he did not know +his own mind; that he had proposed to a woman who existed only in his +imagination; who so little resembled the real one that he had no wish to +assimilate the two; that he was already regretting the step before it +was half taken? What hope did that hold out for a happy future? He was +thoroughly disgusted with himself. In a fit of mortified rage, he +crumpled up the letter in his hand, and threw himself down among the +cushions of the divan. As he lay there Kingsland entered the room. + +"Why," he said, "I thought you had retired." + +This was, indeed, the truth, but the restlessness induced by +Kent-Lauriston's note had made the confinement of his chamber seem +intolerable, and a rapid survey of the rooms downstairs assured him that +the Dowager and Miss Fitzgerald were in full possession; a combination +which, under the circumstances, he did not care to face. These facts, +however, were hardly to be adduced to a third party, and the Secretary, +turning to the resources of diplomacy, reminded the Lieutenant that they +had had an appointment for a game of pool, which one of them, at least, +had not seen fit to keep. + +"Shall we have it now?" suggested Kingsland. + +"No," answered Stanley. "I'm not feeling fit." + +"Try a drink, then." + +"I've just had one." + +"Drinking alone? That's a bad sign. What are you so blue about?" + +"I'm wondering," said Stanley, "how a man can ever be fool enough to +fall in love, or get married." + +"Oh," said the Lieutenant, "so she's refused you, eh?" + +"Who?" + +"Belle Fitzgerald." + +"Yes," replied the Secretary, shortly. + +The Lieutenant thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets and paced +the room in silence, whistling softly to himself. Finally he remarked: + +"Well, I'm sorry, old chap, but I've been more lucky." + +"Oh," said the Secretary. "Lady Isabelle, I suppose." + +Kingland nodded. + +"Does mamma approve?" inquired Stanley. + +The young officer shrugged his shoulders. + +"I'm going to postpone entering into that matter," he said, "till after +the ceremony." + +"Oh," said the Secretary shortly. "An elopement. Well, I don't know that +I can conscientiously offer my congratulations--to Lady Isabelle, at +least, but I dare say you'll find it worth while." + +"You needn't be so nasty, just because you've been disappointed." + +"Oh, it isn't that; but, as you say, I've no reason to express an +opinion. It isn't the first time a young man's eloped with a lady of +means." + +"Well," snapped the Lieutenant in reply, "it's a shade above eloping +with somebody else's wife who happens to have a large bank account." + +Stanley sprang to his feet. + +"If that cad of a Darcy," he cried, "has been saying----" + +"Oh, you needn't assume the high moral role," said Kingsland. "I've just +had the story first hand from him." + +"It isn't the first time he's told it to-night," snapped the Secretary. + +"What! You don't mean to the fair Belle?" + +Stanley nodded, and Kingsland threw himself on the sofa in a paroxysm of +laughter. + +"But how did you come to see Darcy?" demanded the young diplomat, +ignoring his friend's ill-timed merriment. "I ordered him out of the +house." + +"Yes," replied the Lieutenant, "so he told me. But he's lost a valuable +letter in the hall." + +"The hall? Why, there doesn't seem to be much chance of losing anything +there. There are no draperies and very little furniture." + +"Well, it's a queer business," admitted the officer. "But while the +Colonel was telling me about your little escapade, he dropped a letter +which he had taken from its envelope, and just at that moment the butler +came in. He started to pick up the letter for the Colonel, but Darcy +jumped forward, and so between them it was pushed under the crack of +that old oak door studded with silver nails." + +"A letter!" cried the Secretary. "Did you notice what it looked like?" + +"No," said Kingsland incautiously, "except that it had an address +scrawled across one side in pencil." + +Stanley waited to hear no more. Fate seemed playing into his hands at +last, and springing to the door he threw it open, and saw to his intense +astonishment the figure of Colonel Darcy grovelling on the floor of the +hall. + +"I thought I told you to leave this house, Colonel Darcy," said +Stanley, striving to be calm, but his voice quivering with suppressed +emotion. + +"So you did," replied his adversary, rising slowly to his feet, very red +in the face and somewhat short of breath. + +"Then why haven't you gone? Do you wish me to speak to Mrs. Roberts?" + +"I intended to obey your request, out of respect to Miss Fitzgerald. But +the fact is, I have lost an important letter." + +"So Kingsland tells me, though it seems almost impossible." + +"Truth, sir, is often stranger than fiction," replied the Colonel +angrily, "as our own relations with each other have already proved. But, +as you have given me the lie once this evening, you can, if you see fit, +prove the truth of my statement by referring it to the butler." + +"I gave you the lie, as you express it, Colonel Darcy," replied the +Secretary, "because my own knowledge assured me, that your charges were +untrue. In this case, however, I am quite ready to fully accept your +statement. But it's a pure waste of time to attempt to recover your +letter. For two hundred years they've tried to open that portal, and to +this day it remains closed." + +"The butler told me some such cock-and-bull story--but of course----" + +"It's quite true." + +"But I must have my letter. I must have it, I tell you--surely someone +knows the secret." + +"There's a legend current to the effect that the pressure of five of +these silver nails, one by each of the five fingers, will suffice to +open the door. But to my way of thinking it's likely to remain closed +for two centuries to come." + +"Curse it!" cried the Colonel, throwing himself against the portal in a +frenzy. "It has neither handle nor keyhole, and it's as firm as iron! +What am I to do?" + +"If it's absolutely necessary to recover this document, I'll tell Mrs. +Roberts. Though I should doubt if she'd consent to ruin an interesting +heirloom for the sake of a gentleman against whom she already entertains +a prejudice." + +"I couldn't think of it. Impossible to put Mrs. Roberts to so much +inconvenience; I shouldn't consider it for a moment! Let the cursed +letter remain where it is!" replied the Colonel, evidently very much +upset by this proposition. + +"As I'd supposed, Colonel Darcy, you would prefer that the document +should remain where it is, rather than it should pass, even temporarily, +into any other hands than yours. Might I inquire if it's the one you +received from Miss Fitzgerald." + +"It is, of course, quite useless to attempt to deceive a diplomat," +replied his companion, with a touch of temper which was not lost on +Stanley, who answered composedly: + +"I think you may be reasonably assured that your letter will never be +found till you and it have long been dust, and till not only its +importance, but its very meaning, have become unintelligible. You may +consider it irrevocably lost, and so, as there's no further excuse for +your remaining, Colonel Darcy, I'll wish you--good-night," and the +Secretary threw open the great hall door. + +"Good-night, Mr. Stanley," replied the unwelcome guest, with a frown of +anger as he passed over the threshold. "Good-night--but not +good-bye--remember we've still a score to settle." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A MIDNIGHT MESSAGE + + +Stanley closed the great front door, turned the key, shot the bolts, and +lighting his bedroom candle, slowly and thoughtfully betook himself to +his chamber. + +Kingsland's knowledge of the mysterious letter only served to increase +the Secretary's suspicions of that young officer's complicity with +Darcy, while the letter itself presented such a bewildering variety of +contradictory possibilities, that his mind was dazed. A further +consideration of his past experiences in this matter did not make him +feel any the easier, and for the first time, under the spur of doubt and +mistrust, he recalled Kingsland's story of the reception of the missive, +and subjected it to a critical analysis. Mr. Riddle had said, and the +Lieutenant had confirmed, that the letter had been handed by the former +to the latter at the Hyde Park Club, and that the Lieutenant was then +"leaving the room." Yet the Secretary, now he came to think of it, was +sure Mr. Riddle had not been of the company at or after dinner, and that +Kingsland had not left the drawing-room or attempted to do so. Moreover, +if Riddle had given him the money for the stamp, why had he not +mentioned the fact at the time? The letter was evidently of importance, +and intended for Darcy, a man of whose every action, he had the greatest +distrust. Yet the important missive, after being lost for three days, +was given by its owner to Miss Fitzgerald, who thought so little of it, +that she used the envelope to scribble an address on, before giving it +to the Colonel, who now had lost it under the secret door. + +It was certainly a mystery to which he was unable to offer any solution, +but which, nevertheless, caused him a vague uneasiness. He drew up an +arm-chair beside the table, and lighting his lamp, prepared to seek +distraction in a book. + +The Secretary had scarcely settled to his reading, however, when he was +startled by a sharp click against his window. At first he thought +nothing of it, but at a repetition of the noise, plainly produced by a +pebble thrown up against the glass, he opened the casement and looked +out. + +The night was very dark, and he could see nothing; but out of the +blackness below him came a voice, which he thought he recognised, +calling his name softly. + +"Why, John!" he cried, scarcely believing it could be the Legation +factotum. "What on earth are you doing here at this time of night?" + +"Special message from 'is h'Excellency, sir," came in the familiar +cockney of the messenger, with the added caution, "don't speak so loud, +please--it's that private--" + +Stanley nodded, quite oblivious of the fact that he was invisible, and +added in lowered tones: + +"Go round to the front, and I'll come down and let you in." + +He cautiously made his way downstairs, pausing at every creaking board +in fear that he had awakened the household, and traversing the long +hall, opened the great front door, and admitted the shivering John; for +the night was cool, and several hours of watching and waiting had +chilled the messenger thoroughly. + +"How long have you been out there?" + +"Since ten, sir." + +"Good Heavens! and it's past midnight! Come up to my room, and I'll give +you some whiskey." + +"Thank ye, sir. I shan't mind a drop--it's that cold, but I'll take off +me boots first." + +"Take off your boots!" + +"'Is h'Excellency was most par-ti'cler, sir, as no one but you should +know as I was 'ere." + +"Oh, I see. Very well. Leave them at the foot of the stairs. You'll find +these flags rather cold for stocking-feet." + +A few minutes later John was installed in the Secretary's bedroom, and +his inner man was being warmed and refreshed with a copious dram of +whiskey--while Stanley, seated at his table, was breaking the seals of +the despatch which the messenger had brought him. + +"It's most secret, sir." + +"Quite so. How did you know which was my room?" + +"The lady of the 'ouse, sir, employs the hinnkeeper's daughter to 'elp +the 'ousekeeper day times--and so----" + +"I see; very clever, John. Eh! what's this?" and bending forward to the +light he read the now opened dispatch. It was short and to the point. + + "Dear Mr. Stanley," wrote the Minister. "This is to inform + you that we have discovered the silent partner in the firm, + who is the chief instrument in putting up the money to + defeat the treaty. His name is Arthur Riddle. He is a guest + of your hostess, and should be watched. Darcy left for + Sussex this afternoon, presumably for your neighbourhood. + Kindly report progress, if any, sending letter by John, who + should return at once. + + "Yours, etc. + "X----." + +As the full force of this communication became apparent to the +unfortunate Secretary, he sunk back in his chair, groaning in an agony +of mortification. + +"Dear, dear, sir!" cried John, who had been meditatively regarding the +bottom of his empty glass. "You don't mean to tell me as they've got +away." + +The messenger, it may be remarked, not being supposed, technically, to +know any official secrets, knew more than most of his superiors. + +"Oh, it isn't that, it's a thousand times worse than that! I'm such an +infernal fool! John, I've had those instructions in my possession." + +"You have!" cried the messenger, much excited. + +"Yes. Had them for three days in the inside pocket of my dress-suit, and +being the greatest idiot in the diplomatic service, I never even +suspected what they were, and gave them back to the man who wrote them." + +"What, Riddle?" + +Stanley groaned, and bowed his head. + +"Dear, dear," said John, gravely, "I'm afraid it's a bad business, sir." +And noticing that the Secretary was absorbed in his own woes, he judged +it a favourable opportunity to replenish his glass, which he +thoughtfully consumed, while the unfortunate diplomat poured out to the +old messenger, who was distinctly the _deus ex machina_ of his Legation, +and who had helped him out of many a tight place in the past, the story +of the letter. How he had received it, how he had been induced to give +it up, and finally how it reached its present destination. + +"Well," he said despairingly, in conclusion, "what do you think, John?" + +"Hit's hall the woman, sir. Take my word for hit, hit's hall the woman," +replied that functionary, with dignity. + +"What, Miss Fitzgerald?" + +John nodded, with the solemnity befitting so weighty a dictum. + +"You old idiot!" cried Stanley. "It's nothing of the sort. Miss +Fitzgerald's share in this matter was merely a coincidence." + +"Didn't you tell me has it was she suggested your taking han hold letter +to keep score hon, knowing well you 'ad _the letter_ in your hinside +pocket hall the time?" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the Secretary. "How could she have known anything +about it? She had never laid eyes on the letter till I produced it." + +"Mr. Stanley," returned the messenger, with a dignity against which the +two glasses he had consumed struggled unsuccessfully, "h'I've fostered +young gentlemen, an' got h'em hout hof scrapes, an' taught h'em their +ha, b, c's of diplomacy, afore you was weaned, han' I knows whereof h'I +speaks, h'I tells yer, hit's the woman!" + +"I wish you'd get me out of this scrape. I'd be your friend for life." + +"That's heasy enough. You _must_ get the letter." + +"But how--I tell you----" + +"Get it," reiterated the messenger, whose potations had made him +optimistic. "Blow this bally hold barn into the next county, hif need +be, but open that door and get it." + +The Secretary looked despairingly at the despatch, and tossing it to +John, said: + +"And what am I to answer to this?" + +"H'I'll answer it, hif you'll let me come to the table." + +"You!" + +"Yes--and you can copy and sign it. Hit won't be the first private note +h'I've hanswered, or the first despatch h'I've written, heither," and +with this rebuke he composed the following: + + "To + "His Excellency, + "The Honourable, + "------ + + "SIR:-- + + "I have the honour to acknowledge your Excellency's private + despatch of the 20th inst., and to inform you in reply that + the person mentioned in it is now a guest in this house, + also that I have discovered the present location of the + papers desired, and hope soon to be able to place them in + your hands. + + "I am, Sir, + "Your obedient servant, + "------. + "Sunday, 12.45 A. M." + +The Secretary read and approved, and in a few moments had produced a +copy of the same, which was duly signed and sealed. + +"And now," he said, "you must be off. There's a train to London about +six." + +"Yes, sir. Hit's a very cold night, sir." + +"No, you've had enough, and you need to keep your wits about you," and +he led the way downstairs. + +"John," he said, as he let the faithful servitor out, "I believe you're +right in what you said." + +"Habout the woman, sir?" + +"Of course not. I tell you the lady knows nothing whatever of the +matter; pray disabuse your mind of that absurd idea, once and for all. I +mean about the letter." + +"Yes, sir." + +"I've got to get it again, John. Send me the best book you can find on +combination locks. I _will_ get it! Impossibilities don't count!" + +"Yes, sir. Good-night, sir, and remember, hit's the woman!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WISDOM OF AGE + + +The Secretary passed one of the worst nights of his life. His pride, +self-esteem, and youthful estimation of his abilities as a diplomat had +received a crushing blow. He told himself that he was not fit to copy +letters in an office, much less to undertake delicate negotiations in +which the honour of his country was involved. The conspirators had known +him for what he was, a conceited young ass, and had egregiously fooled +him to the top of his bent. They had regained the document without half +trying; even Kingsland, whose intellect he had looked down on, had +completely taken him in. It seemed as if he must die of shame when it +became known. He would be disgraced and turned out of the service with +ridicule. Then of his despair was born that resolution to _do_, which +sets all obstacles at naught, and succeeds because it declares the +possibility of the impossible. + +He must retrieve himself, he must regain that letter, and hereafter his +self-reproaches were mingled with every scheme leading to its recovery, +that his brain could concoct. + +He was downstairs soon after seven. + +Entering the great hall, he found Lady Isabelle in sole possession, but +equipped to go out. + +"Whither so early?" he said. + +"I'm going away--that is--out." + +"Away?" he queried, as he saw her eyes fill with tears, and noted that +she was closely veiled "Can I serve you?" + +"No--yes," she replied, uncertain how to answer him. "Could I ask you to +do me a very great favour?" + +"Most certainly." + +"But it's something you won't like to do." + +"Lady Isabelle," he said quietly, "we've been very good friends, and I +may tell you that I've a suspicion of what you intend to do this +morning. Won't you trust me, and allow me to help you in any way in my +power?" + +"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I will, because I'm sure +you mean what you say, and I'm in desperate straits. You remember the +answer I gave to a question of yours last evening?" + +"That you did not care for me--yes." + +"I might have added," she said shyly, casting down her eyes, "that I +cared for someone else." + +"Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"Yes." + +"Are you sure you're making a wise choice, Lady Isabelle?" he asked, +feeling that he ought not to allow this state of affairs to continue +when he was almost certain that the young officer was practically a +criminal, whom it might be his duty to have arrested any day, yet +prevented by his instructions from preferring any charges against him +to Lady Isabelle. + +"Don't, please," she said. "You misjudge him." + +"I hope I do." + +"You do not understand. How should you? Have you ever seen him in his +uniform? He is a picture, and you know," sinking her voice, "his family +dates from the Conquest." + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. He'd had enough of warning people +for their own good, so he contented himself with remarking that a +disregard for the Decalogue seemed compatible with an unbroken descent +from the Norman robber. + +"Now you're cynical," she cried, "but I shan't argue with you, for I +love him, and we're to be married this morning in the chapel. Everything +has been arranged, and in fifteen minutes I shall be his wife." + +"That's very interesting," said Stanley. "But where do I come in?" + +"I need your help." + +"Oh, I see. I suppose that if I'd any real interest in your welfare, I +ought to refuse, but as you'd do as you please in any event, I'm quite +at your service." + +"Thanks. Mamma will be here presently. She's announced her intention of +attending early service, and if she does----" + +"She might interrupt another, and that would be awkward." + +"Dreadfully. She does not wish me to marry Lieutenant Kingsland--I think +she would rather I married you." + +"Is she so bitter? Well, make your own mind easy, I won't ask her." + +"But you must." + +"What!!!" + +"Nothing short of a proposal would deter her from going to service." + +"But, I thought you----!" + +"Oh, I'll promise to be unavailable by the time you've finished,-- Sh! +she's coming. Remember your promise to help me, and wish me luck." + +"With all my heart," he cried, as she vanished through the door, and the +Dowager entered the hall. + +Stanley wished the old lady good-morning which she received with +chilling condescension, and neither of them spoke for some moments; a +precious gain of time, during which her Ladyship put on her gloves, +rearranged her cloak, unrolled and re-rolled her sunshade, paced the +long hall, alternated glimpses out of the windows by glances up the +great stairway, and betrayed every sign of impatient waiting for a tardy +companion. The Secretary stood watching her and counting the minutes, +which seemed to pass unusually slowly. + +Finally the Dowager's patience got the better of her reserve; she faced +round and demanded if he had seen her daughter. + +"Yes," he replied, very deliberately. "I believe she was in the hall +when I came down." + +"Believe. Do you not know, Mr. Stanley?" + +"I certainly caught a glimpse of her," he admitted. + +"But she's not here now." + +The Secretary made a careful inspection, from his point of vantage on +the hearthstone, of every cobweb and corner of the great apartment, and +in the end found himself forced to agree with the Marchioness' +statement. + +"Where has she gone, then?" was her next question. + +"Really," he replied, "it is not your daughter's custom to keep me +posted as to her movements." + +"But you've eyes, haven't you?" she retorted, testily. "At least you +know how she left this hall." + +The Secretary sighed as he saw the end of his little manoeuvre. + +"She went out at the front door," he said. + +"Why couldn't you have told me that to begin with?" + +"You didn't ask me." + +"Don't be so distressingly literal. I'm late for the service as it is. +My daughter has probably misunderstood our arrangements, and is waiting +for me at the church." And the Marchioness showed unmistakable signs of +preparing to leave. + +Even allowing a most liberal leeway to the maundering old parson, +Stanley knew he could not yet have reached that passage beginning, "All +ye that are married," and ending in "amazement," for which there is a +canonical time-allowance of at least five minutes; it therefore behoved +him to play his last trump. + +The Dowager, like a hen preening her feathers, had given the last +touches to her garments, and was already half-way to the door, when the +Secretary, stepping forward, arrested her progress by remarking: + +"I feel that I owe you some explanation of what occurred last night, +Lady Port-Arthur." + +"Perhaps it's as well that you should explain," she replied, pausing at +the door, "though I should have supposed it would have been unnecessary +after our last interview." + +"I've not forgotten it." + +"You appeared to have done so last evening." + +"Really, you know," he said, piqued by her rudeness, "I couldn't refuse +to escort your daughter down to dinner when my hostess requested me to +do so." + +"If Mrs. Roberts so honoured you as to permit you to take in Lady +Isabelle, naturally----" + +"Yes, that is the way I should have put it." + +"I do not pretend to say how you should have expressed yourself, but I +wish to point out that your place at dinner was no excuse for your place +afterwards." + +"Oh, in the conservatory. Well, you see, the fact is, I was telling Lady +Isabelle----" + +"Yes, Mr. Stanley. What were you telling my daughter?" + +He glanced at the clock. Seven minutes had elapsed since the Dowager +entered the hall. He hoped they would shorten the service. + +"I was asking her a question," he continued. + +"Well?" + +The Dowager was far below zero. + +"I asked her if she cared for me." + +"And she naturally referred you to her mother." + +"She told me a few minutes ago that you were coming here," he replied, +noticing that his companion's mercury was rapidly rising. + +"I'm glad," continued the Marchioness, "that you've taken so early an +opportunity to explain what I could only consider as very singular +conduct. For dear Isabelle's sake I'll consent to overlook what has +occurred in the past, and if you can make suitable provision----" + +Five minutes only remained before the time of early service. He thought +his income large enough to fill the interval, and interrupted with: + +"The woman I marry would have----," and then he told the Dowager all +about it, in sterling and decimal currency. + +"I think," said that lady, with a sigh of relief at the end of his +narration, which, it may be remarked, took the best part of half an +hour, "I think dear Isabelle's happiness should outweigh any social +disparity, and that we may consider her as good as married." + +"Yes," he replied, remembering that the church bells had stopped ringing +some fifteen minutes before. "Yes, your Ladyship, I think we may." + + * * * * * + +A few minutes later Stanley found himself in one of the secluded +stretches of the park, breathing in the fresh keen morning air with a +new sense of delight, after the inherent stuffiness of the Dowager. + +He trusted that Lady Isabelle would break the news to her mother at +once, and get it over before he returned; but even then he had an +unpleasant interview before him. As an accepted suitor the Marchioness +would owe him an apology, which he could not avoid accepting. He hoped +he could do the heart-broken and disappointed lover, whose feelings were +tempered by the calm repression of high gentility. It was the role he +had figured for himself, and he thought it excellent. + +All his ideas, however, were centred on the problem of recovering the +lost document; some means of entry to that secret tower there must be, +and he must find it. He could not, of course, be certain that the paper +contained Darcy's instructions; but it was admittedly important, and its +loss had done him an injury which could only be atoned for by its +recovery. + +A light footfall interrupted his meditations, and looking up, he saw, +standing before him, half screened by the bushes which she was holding +back, to give her free access to the main path which he was pursuing, +the graceful figure and sad, sweet face of Madame Darcy. + +A shade of annoyance passed over his brow as he remembered the scene of +the night before, and his companion was quick to interpret his mood. +"Ah, Mr. Stanley," she said, "you've seen my husband." + +"Yes," he admitted. "He came up to the Hall last night." + +"I hope he didn't make himself a nuisance," she said. + +"Well, I'm afraid he did rather," he returned, and added, "but it's +nothing," for he felt that it would be impossible for him to tell her +what had really occurred. + +"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I only bring you trouble." + +"No, indeed," he hastened to assure her, "far from it. These little +talks with you are a positive rest and refreshment to me. I hate this +playing the spy." + +"I suppose it won't do for me to ask how you're progressing, and what +you've found out?" + +"I've found out that I've made an awful fool of myself," he said. "Mr. +Riddle----" + +"I could have told you who Mr. Riddle was yesterday," she said. + +The Secretary shrugged his shoulders. + +"I'm afraid that would have been of little use." + +"Be very careful," she warned him. "There are others besides Mr. Riddle +whom you have to look out for." + +Could it be possible, he asked himself, that she suspected her husband? +Aloud, he said: + +"Whom do you mean?" + +She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not for me to belie my own sex," she +retorted, "but----" + +"You mean there is a woman in the case?" + +She nodded. + +The Secretary drew himself up very stiffly. + +"It's an impossibility that we will not discuss," he said. "Your +prejudices mislead you." + +Yet, in spite of his apparent calmness, he was greatly disturbed, for +this was the second time that day that doubt had been cast upon Miss +Fitzgerald. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RESOURCES OF DIPLOMACY + + +Determined to drive these unjust suspicions from his mind, the Secretary +turned the conversation into other channels, and spent a most delightful +hour in the park with Madame Darcy, in which they came to understand +each other marvellously well. Prompted by that subtle instinct which +invariably suggests to the feminine mind the proper course with a man +she cares to impress, she relegated her own woes to the uncertain +future, and led the conversation into reminiscences of their common +country. So time fled by unnoticed, till Stanley had arrived at the +dangerous point of wondering why fate had not ordained his life +differently before she had married that brute, or he had--no, no, he did +not mean that! He was a very lucky dog, and Belle was much too good for +him--and, in short, he must go back to the Hall. + +To this, however, his fair companion strongly objected. She was lonely, +she wished to be diverted. His time was his own. Considering that he was +partially engaged to two ladies, the Secretary felt this statement +admitted of qualifications. Besides, they were at the entrance of the +farmhouse where she was staying--it was a most ideal spot--he must step +in and see it. + +But his reasons were of a more solid nature, and he laughingly confided +to her that his wish to depart arose not from a desire to avoid her +society, but from the fact that he had, as yet, had no breakfast. + +"But it is my own case," she cried with a ringing laugh. "I'm starving, +actually starving--it is a most droll coincidence." + +Stanley assured her he would not detain her a moment longer, but this +was equally repugnant to his hostess' views of hospitality. She declared +that a breakfast for one was a breakfast for two; if not, more should be +ordered. Her appetite was that of a bird; the repast was humble, but it +was a sin to go without sampling the housewife's eggs and cream--there +were none so good at the Hall, she was sure. + +The Secretary told her that he could not dream of staying, and found +himself within five minutes ensconced at Madame Darcy's table. + +No liquids, other than fresh milk and pure spring water were served at +this repast, yet Stanley arose fully assured that they were the most +intoxicating beverages he had ever tasted, and betook himself Hall-wards +towards noon, through a maze of black eyes, and dazzling flashes of +beauty, his brain vibrating with a voice, whose tones were the poetry of +sound. + +A vision of the Dowager Marchioness of Port Arthur, placidly seated on +the lawn, under a green umbrella, with a book in her lap, and evidently +on the borderland of sleeping and waking, brought him to earth once +more. + +It would be better to interrupt her matutinal slumbers, and get one of +his two dreaded interviews over. She looked rather too composed, he +thought, for a disappointed mother, and he was sure she would be that, +did she know the truth. He coughed discreetly, and approached, slowly +enough to permit her Ladyship to quite recover her senses, before he +arrived by her side. + +It would not do to appear too downcast before being informed of the +hopelessness of his suit, so putting on his best society manner, and +reflecting that an adversary disconcerted is an adversary at a +disadvantage, he asked, as if it were quite the most ordinary of +questions: + +"How beautiful are your feet--Lady Port Arthur?" + +"Dear me, young man!" exclaimed her Ladyship, now thoroughly awake, +"they've always been considered beautiful; but why should you ask?" + +"My reference was scriptural, purely scriptural, I assure you-- I was +referring to the feet of the messengers upon the mountains, who bring +good tidings. You'll find it in Isaiah. Are you one of them?" + +"There are no mountains in Sussex, and the rising generation knows +entirely too much," snapped out the Dowager. "As for you-- I've +conferred with my daughter----" + +She _has_ told her, thought the Secretary, preparing to draw down his +mouth to the requisite expression of woe. + +"--And it gives me great happiness to tell you----" she continued, +beaming on Stanley in spite of his flippancy, at which that gentleman +drew down his mouth in good earnest, as he realised that she was still +undeceived. + +"--It gives me great happiness to tell you, that I believe your suit +will have a favourable termination. She has promised to consider it." + +"Oh," said the Secretary; and then, recollecting himself, added: + +"It's very good of her, I'm sure." + +If he had the opportunity, after lunch, he mentally determined to give +Lady Isabelle a piece of his mind. + +"It's an honest soul," continued her Ladyship, not noticing the +interruption, "which refuses the promptings of her heart. Her hesitancy +is quite natural, I assure you, and most becoming. When his Lordship +asked the honour of my hand----" The Dowager sighed at the sweetness of +reminiscence, and again took up the thread of her discourse. + +"My daughter told me that she could not, without reflection, be certain +of the state of her affections. Make allowance for her, Mr. Stanley, she +is very young. Believe me, I should not speak as I do, were it not for +the fact that I have known the world well--in my youthful days--though +this you would scarcely believe, I dare say--I was one of the +acknowledged leaders of the court." + +"Your Ladyship's wit and beauty are a bye-word in all good society, and +one has only to see you, to realise that they have been enhanced by the +added grace of years," murmured the Secretary, doing his prettiest. + +"You're a deceitful diplomat, and I don't believe you," said the +Dowager, giggling and pretending to be very angry, but vastly pleased, +none the less; and, giving him a flabby pat with one of her expansive +hands, she continued: + +"You must not be downhearted, however; leave everything to me." + +The Secretary assured her that he felt quite safe to trust his heart in +the keeping of one who had held the custody of so many, and was rewarded +for his flattery by a further proof of the Dowager's confidence. + +"Take my advice, dear James----" she began; but Stanley felt this was a +step too far, and hastened to put himself on the defensive. + +"That is not my name, Lady Port Arthur," he said, quietly. + +"But surely," she continued, pressing her point, "your friends call you +by a disrespectful contraction of it. + +"Jim?" he asked, laughing. "Oh, that's because my Christian name is +quite unfitted for ordinary usage--it's only brought out on state +occasions." + +"May I inquire what it is?" + +"Aloysius." + +"Dear me, no, I don't think I could call you that; but as I was saying, +if you take my advice you'll see as little as possible of Isabelle +to-day. Leave her to herself; it's far wiser." + +The Secretary felt decidedly relieved. + +"I quite agree with you," he replied. "You may depend on my following +your advice to the letter," and he turned towards the house. + +"One point more," she said, detaining him with a gesture, "I strongly +disapprove of secret engagements. I don't wish the insinuations made +against my daughter that one hears about that impudent young minx, Miss +Fitzgerald.-- Why, they actually hinted that she was engaged to you!" + +"Dear me! Did they?" murmured Stanley. + +"If there is the happy issue that we both wish, I should desire that our +friends here, if not society in general, should know it immediately." + +"My dear lady," said the Secretary impressively, "the moment that your +daughter tells you definitely that she accepts my offer of marriage, you +may announce it to the whole world; till that time, however, I must +insist, that for her sake as well as mine, you be most discreet," and he +bowed himself from her presence. + +The Marchioness sank back in her chair with a sigh of placid +contentment. Her work in life was, she believed, on the eve of +successful accomplishment, and that most agonising period to a +mother--the time from her daughter's coming out to that young lady's +engagement--was safely over. On the whole her child had behaved +unusually well; but of late she had suffered some inquietude of spirit, +owing to the attentions of Kingsland, whom she, in common with all +mothers of the social world, listed as belonging to the most dangerous +and formidable class of youths that a girl, who has any pretensions to +being a _partie_, can encounter. + +In the case of the Lieutenant, however, Lady Port Arthur flattered +herself that she had nipped matters in the bud, by the best of all cures +for a romantic, impossible lover, _i.e._ a prospective husband. True, +Mr. Stanley was not of noble family, she feared his people might even be +called commercial; but he was eminently safe, and possessed of a +substantial income wherewith to support the glories of the noble name of +Port Arthur. In short, he was an admirable solution of the difficulty. + +The Marchioness felt she was justified in taking forty winks, and did +so. + +Luncheon rather amused the Secretary than otherwise. He obeyed the +Dowager's instructions to the letter, sat as far from Lady Isabelle as +possible, and by the caprice of fate, found himself next to Miss +Fitzgerald, who, with admirable foresight, treated him exactly as if +nothing had happened, and that being half engaged to a man was the +normal state of her existence. This put Stanley quite at his ease, and +even Belle's fictitious claim on his services for the afternoon, based +on her unsupported declaration that he had asked her to drive with him +in the pony cart at four, a proposition he would never have dreamed of +making, was accepted by him as a matter of course. A proceeding which +elicited an expansive smile from the Dowager, who considered it a +deep-laid diplomatic plot, in furtherance of her suggested plan of +campaign. + +The Secretary's attention was, however, mainly directed to Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle, who sat side by side at table, and who acted, in his +opinion like a pair of fools, till it seemed as if everyone present must +guess the true state of affairs. As a matter of fact, no one did, and +Stanley, seeing this, was once more reassured; for he did not wish to +play his little part to more of an audience than was absolutely +necessary. + +Mr. Riddle, towards whom the Secretary, in view of the night's +disclosures, felt even a stronger antipathy, was in high spirits, until +he was silenced by Mrs. Roberts, who assured the company that she had +caught him in the act of aiding and abetting the cottager's children to +make mud pies in the public highway. + +"I really couldn't help it," he said, excusing himself shamefacedly, +"the dear little things were pining for some one to play with, and we +did have such fun--and got so grubby;" and there was such a genuine ring +of honest pleasure in his tones, that Stanley again found cause to +wonder which was the true man. + +Something like an hour later, the Secretary emerged on the driveway, to +find the pony cart and Belle, got up in faultless style; and as he +looked on the technical mistress of his heart, she seemed so +exceedingly fair and gracious, that his morbid imaginings vanished away +like smoke, under the spell of her presence. + +"I'm afraid you'll be very angry with me," she said, apologetically; +"but when I proposed our drive this afternoon, I'd quite forgotten a +promise I made to Mr. Lambert to go and see a poor, sick, old woman, a +parishioner of his." + +"Then I suppose the drive is off?" + +"Not at all, if you'll be a dear, good, self-sacrificing Jimsy, and do +what you're told." + +"What's that?" + +"Just jump into the cart and take it round to the north gate--it's a +couple of miles I know--but I'll walk straight across the fields, make +my visit, and be at our rendezvous almost as soon as you are. I'll +promise not to keep you waiting over ten minutes at the longest. Will +you do it?" + +"Certainly, if I may solace myself with a cigar while I wait." + +"Two, if you like; but you won't have time to smoke them. Now off you +go," and waving her hand to him, she watched him disappear round the +corner of the house. + +Once he was out of sight, Miss Fitzgerald lost no time in producing, +from the mysterious recesses of her pocket, a telegram, the delivery of +which she had intercepted, which she surveyed long and critically. + +A telegram is generally regarded as best serving its purpose when most +promptly delivered; but in the case of this message, Miss Fitzgerald +evidently felt it would improve by keeping, for it had arrived during +the morning, and was now some hours old. The time had come, however, +when it should be delivered to its proper owner, and she accordingly +went in search of Lieutenant Kingsland. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A LITTLE COMMISSION + + +Lady Isabelle and Lieutenant Kingsland sat on the lawn before the old +manor house in the soft glow of an English afternoon, contemplating the +inevitable. In this case the inevitable was represented by the Dowager, +who was enjoying a peaceful nap not fifty feet away. Only fifty feet of +faultlessly-kept turf separated them from the vials of a mother's wrath; +and in spite of their supreme happiness of the morning, they felt the +presence of this gathering storm which must now be faced--as soon as the +Marchioness awoke--for to wake her would put her in a bad temper, and +her rage promised to be violent enough without any external irritants. + +But it happened that while the Dowager slumbered, Miss Fitzgerald, +slipping around the corner of the house, appeared in the background, and +signalling to the Lieutenant to come to her, where they could talk +without awakening the Marchioness, gave him his telegram. He read its +contents once, twice, and a third time, word by word, gave a sigh of +unutterable relief, and then laughed joyously. + +"Good news, apparently," commented Miss Fitzgerald. + +"The best," he replied. "A crusty old relative, who is no good to +anybody, lies dying in the north of England, and for some unknown reason +has made me his heir-- I must leave at once to see him out of this world +in proper style--but it means I'm a rich man." + +"I'm ever so glad. Must you start to-day?" + +"I shall go up to London this afternoon, and on to-morrow." + +"You'll spend the night in town, then?" + +"Yes. I must go to my bank and draw some funds for my journey." + +"Then you can do me a favour." + +"A thousand, if you want them, after what you've done for me." + +"Will you oblige me by taking charge of several chests of Mr. Riddle's +stereopticon views; they're heavy, but fragile and very valuable, and +I've promised him I'd find some one to take them up to town for him, and +put them in safe keeping. Where do you bank?" + +"Bank of England, Victoria Street branch." + +"Will you leave it in their charge subject to my order?" + +"Certainly. How many cases?" + +"Five, and they're rather heavy." + +"All right. Have the chests put in the luggage cart, and I'll look out +for them. Now I must tell my--why, it's Kent-Lauriston!" and to their +mutual astonishment, they beheld that gentleman standing close beside +them. + +"Good afternoon," he said. "You didn't expect to see me? I wired Mrs. +Roberts." + +"I know my aunt will be delighted," said Miss Fitzgerald. "Won't you +come into the house?" and she led the way, calling back to the +Lieutenant: "I'll see they're ready. Thank you so much." + +Once in the hall, she wasted no time over the unexpected, and to her +unwelcome, guest, but, consigning him to the butler, sped away to give +directions as to the disposition of the chests, and was soon scurrying +across the park to join the patient Secretary, who had had ample +opportunity to smoke his two cigars. + +The Lieutenant had in the meantime shown his despatch to Lady Isabelle, +whose face at once assumed an expression very much in contrast to that +of her liege lord's; her brows contracted in a frown, and tears sprang +to her eyes. + +"Oh, Jack!" she cried. "You won't leave me now-- I can't spare you. Your +poor uncle Benjamin!" + +"But you don't understand!" he cried. "You don't see what it means! The +Steward writes that I'll inherit his property, and that I should come +and protect my interests." + +"But he's not dead yet--only very ill," she argued, seeing the +possibilities ahead--yet hoping against hope to win her husband from his +better judgment. + +"It's the same thing--they wouldn't have telegraphed for me if it wasn't +the end." + +"But it's so far off--nearly to the Scottish border." + +"That's all the more reason for hurrying. I must take the first train +for London." + +"And leave me!" + +"My darling, you must be brave, you must be sensible. If I inherit my +uncle's property, I shall be a rich man, and your mother's scruples will +be removed. It's vital that I should lose no chances--it means +everything to us." + +"But is there any danger of your doing so--doesn't the telegram +expressly state that he means to make you his heir?" + +"Yes, yes, but there are other relatives as near as I. They'll all be +there, and if they suspect I'm chosen, will try and get him, at the +last, to turn against me." + +"But why should you be chosen?" + +"Pure cussedness, I think, coupled with the fact that I've never +troubled myself to be even civil to him. His other relatives have spent +their time in fawning about him, and he has seen through it, and led +them a lively dance in consequence. He lived in a beastly old hole of a +place--dull as the water in his own moat. I was sent there as a boy, and +when he tried to cane me for stealing his fruit, I pelted him with +apples. Since I've been old enough to consult my own inclinations, I +have entirely ignored him. I never supposed he'd leave me a penny, and I +wouldn't have let him lead me a dog's life for it, if I had. Now that +he has done so to spite the rest, I shall protect my own interests, +never fear." + +"But you'll tell mamma before you go?" + +"Most certainly not," replied the Lieutenant, glad of any valid excuse +for putting off what promised to be a rather trying interview. "I should +have to go at once in any event, and I certainly couldn't leave you to +face your mother's wrath alone; besides, now I come to think of it, your +late father was one of uncle's pet detestations, politically, and if a +rumour of my secret marriage were to reach him before the end, it would +be all up with my prospects, and you can easily see what splendid +capital it would be for his precious relatives." + +"But mamma might be trusted?" queried Lady Isabelle, feeling that she +was venturing on untenable ground. + +"Those who don't know won't tell; besides, my position will be much +stronger as the heir in possession than the heir prospective. Now I must +be off to make my excuses to Mrs. Roberts, and to pack up my belongings, +or some of them, for I don't expect to be gone more than two or three +days at the most, and till then everything depends on keeping the +secret." + +"But, Mr. Stanley," she expostulated. + +"Oh, pshaw! I forgot him." + +"But we mustn't forget him. You know we promised him that we would tell +at once." + +"Circumstances alter cases. You must arrange it between you somehow. You +can stave off the evil day with your mother. Say you need time to think +it over." + +"You don't know mamma as well as I do, Jack." + +"Then refuse absolutely." + +"She'd take me away at once, abroad perhaps. She's made up her mind to +this match." + +"You must hold it off and on, that is all there is about it. Let her +think you are going to consent, but that you mustn't be hurried." + +"But think of Mr. Stanley's position. How would you feel in his place?" + +"Now, what's the use of arguing suppositious cases when I'm pressed for +time? Stanley has accepted the position, and he must make the best of +it." + +"But if he's afraid Miss Fitzgerald may learn of his proposal to me, and +misunderstand." + +"Not much danger of that, as she saw you married this morning." + +"But Mr. Stanley doesn't know that Miss Fitzgerald was present at our +wedding. Now, if I could tell him so----" + +"Um!" murmured the Lieutenant thoughtfully. "On the whole, I don't think +I would. It wouldn't be quite fair to Belle." + +"To Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"To Miss Fitzgerald. At least you must gain her consent first." + +"But why should she object?" + +"Well, to speak quite frankly, her own position in the matter was open +to question. You see, she had some difficulty in arranging the private +marriage, and, out of friendship to me, she did and said certain things +of which an over-conscientious person, like our friend the Secretary, +might disapprove." + +"Jack!" she cried, frightened. "Tell me the truth. Swear to me that our +marriage was a true marriage--was legal." + +"I swear it, my darling. Hadn't you the special licence to prove it? My +remarks only referred to the means she used to induce the parson to keep +his mouth shut. Not discreditable at all, you understand, and some day, +when I'm at liberty to explain it, you'll see--but we owe it to her to +keep quiet about the whole affair." + +"I don't like it, dear--it doesn't sound honest." + +"Well, I can't help it. It is all fair and square as far as you are +concerned, and if you like you may tell Miss Fitzgerald all about +Stanley's position, so that he can't injure himself in her eyes. But to +him you must say nothing without her consent--absolutely nothing." + +"But this does not settle the matter of the engagement." + +"You must manage that as best you can. Stanley can't really be engaged +to you, because you are a married woman; and Belle can't be jealous if +she knows the truth." + +"But poor Mr. Stanley--consider his feelings--how needlessly you are +making him suffer. He'll think that Miss Fitzgerald will never forgive +him." + +"And a good thing, too, for he's treated her very badly; he deserves to +be made uncomfortable." + +"What has he done?" + +"Never mind. It's not a story for polite society. But he'll deserve all +he gets, take my word for it. Now run along to the library and see if +you can find our place in that old black letter book of the 'Lives of +the Saints.' It'll be positively necessary for me to look up a reference +or two before starting, to fortify myself for my journey;" and so saying +he entered the house, feeling that in giving Belle the whip hand over +the Secretary, he had more than compensated her for all she had done for +him. But Lieutenant Kingsland was destined to find out that a +whip--especially one with so long a lash--is apt to be a dangerous +instrument in unqualified hands, and may even include the giver in its +whistling sting. + +Something over an hour later, the Lieutenant having been duly fortified, +and dispatched on his journey, Lady Isabelle found herself closeted with +her mother in the midst of a most trying scene. The Dowager had placed +before her the manifest advantages of a union with the young diplomat, +and her daughter, incautiously following her husband's short-sighted +advice, had not only seemed to acquiesce in favour of the suit, but had +even overdone the part, in the hopes of thereby inducing such amiability +in her mother, as would lead her to be lenient concerning the final +decision. The result of this was that Lady Isabelle had not, +figuratively speaking, left herself a leg to stand on, and having +admitted all her mother's arguments with a complaisance which could only +argue their ultimate acceptance, came to a standstill the moment a +definite answer was demanded. She agreed to all her mother said, but +could not of herself say yes--or no. + +Lady Port Arthur could only attribute her daughter's hesitation to one +of two reasons, either maidenly modesty which prevented her acceding to +her requests--"A most becoming motive, my dear"--the Dowager assured +her--"and one that does you infinite credit, but which, in this +instance, must give way to my superior wisdom, or else----." Here the +Marchioness expressed herself with a heat and bitterness which it would +be hardly fair to put on record for cool and sober reading; referring to +an "inherited obstinacy," which she assured her daughter had come direct +from the late Lord Port Arthur, and had led to a certain amount of +friction in her marital life, and concluding by remarking that--"this +(obstinacy) I have determined to nip in the bud, and crush out with a +stern hand." + +She therefore requested an immediate answer. Lady Isabelle, not being of +a strong nature, nor daring to brave her mother's wrath by a direct +refusal, and feeling the impossibility of assent, replied that she had +nothing further to say. This equivocal position proved to be most +disastrous--for it left her mother free to lay down the law, which she +proceeded to do. + +"If," she said, "your refusal to answer is due to a foolish access of +modesty, I shall reply in the affirmative for you, and Mr. Stanley will +see the propriety of your attitude, and will, I am sure, excuse its +apparent childishness. If, on the other hand, your motive is due to +obstinacy, I consider myself privileged to interfere in order to save +you from the results of your own foolishness, and I shall still accept +for you. Should you so far forget yourself as to oppose my wishes, I +shall feel that seclusion and rigorous measures will be necessary--we +will leave to-morrow for a six months' course of mud baths in Northern +Bavaria, which will be highly beneficial to me, and will give you ample +time for reflection on the sins of undutifulness and obstinate pride." + +The Dowager paused to watch the effect of her threat. It was all she +could have desired. + +Lady Isabelle knew Snollenbad by reputation; knew that it was a stuffy, +dull, German, provincial town; loathed mud baths; longed for the +gaieties of the world as a girl longs who has only had one season; and, +worst of all, realised that the settlement of estates and the +limitations of leave would make it a six months' exile from her husband. +She hesitated, and the Dowager, relying on the proverb, felt that she +had won. + +"Give me half an hour to consider," she asked. + +"There is nothing to consider," replied her mother. "You know what my +course of action will be; the future will depend on yours; but you had +better retire to your room and think matters over;" and she dismissed +her with a gesture. + +In spite of her words, however, the Dowager did not feel perfectly +secure, and determined to clinch matters in a manner which, had her +daughter suspected it, would have moved even that vacillating nature to +rebellion. As it was, Lady Isabelle contemplated a confession to Stanley +on his return from the drive, in direct disobedience to her husband's +commands; which, at the eleventh hour, would have sealed her mother's +lips by apprising her of the truth. But fate ordained otherwise, and the +Secretary and Miss Fitzgerald were disgracefully late; giving them +barely time to rush to their rooms, hurry into evening clothes, and +appear in the drawing-room, flushed and breathless as the butler +announced dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FORTY THOUSAND POUNDS + + +As the Secretary sat in the governess' cart finishing his second cigar, +he reflected that if he had any strength of character he would never +have lent his aid in countenancing a secret marriage between one of his +best friends, and a man, who, he believed, could be proved guilty of +something very nearly approaching treason to the Sovereign whose uniform +he wore; nor, for that matter, would he be waiting for a girl who had +insulted him by her suspicions of the evening before, and who had capped +the climax by taking the refusal of him at her own valuation. + +However, his reflections were cut short by the appearance of Miss +Fitzgerald herself, who had not hurried so much as to be flushed or out +of breath, and who had arrived with the fixed intention of keeping the +Secretary away from the Hall during the entire afternoon. + +"I'm awfully sorry to have kept you waiting so long," she said, mounting +to the seat which faced him, he driving under her direction. "But you +shall have your reward--for I've two bits of good news for you." + +"That's encouraging," he replied, praying inwardly that one of them was +the announcement of Lady Isabelle's marriage. + +"In the first place, your friend Mr. Kent-Lauriston has arrived." + +The Secretary's face did not express any excess of joy. + +"Won't you be glad to see him?" she asked. + +"Of course," he replied. + +"He's an old friend of yours?" + +"My oldest in England." + +"How nice that he's here!" she said, a slight frown clouding her brows. +"His coming will mean so much to you." + +"Yes," said the Secretary meditatively, "I don't know how much," and +there was silence between them for a while. + +"And your second piece of news?" he asked suddenly, recollecting +himself. + +"Is, that your pet detestation is going away." + +"You refer to Colonel Darcy?" + +She nodded. + +"Away from here?" + +"Away from England." + +"Really." + +"You know so much about him, I thought you might have heard of it." + +"Where is he going?" + +"Abroad somewhere." + +"Does he take his wife with him?" + +She laughed light-heartedly, as though relieved from some oppression. + +"No, I fancy not--in fact I think it is rather to escape her." + +"Oh!" he said, and relapsed into silence. Then suddenly reverting to his +original train of thought, which Darcy's name suggested, he spoke +abruptly:-- + +"Why did you ask me to drive with you this afternoon?" + +"Because I wanted to talk to you--no, I didn't-- I wanted you to talk to +me." + +"About last night?" + +"Yes." + +"But it's impossible--if you can believe----!" he cried hotly. + +"What Bob said, about you and his wife?" she interjected. "I don't, but +it made me very angry just the same. You see, up to last night, you had +been an ideal to me. Then suddenly you proposed to change all our +relations; and just at that moment Bob came in and made those charges, +which, though untrue, showed me how very human you would have to be to +me if I accepted you, and I was bitter and lost my head." + +"But if you didn't believe them, why did you refuse to give me a +definite answer?" + +"Because you'd brought me face to face with new conditions. I wanted to +readjust myself to them." + +"But if you love me---- Do you love me?" he said earnestly. + +"Yes, Jim," she replied, with a quiet seriousness that carried +conviction to him, "I do love you." + +"Really, love me?" + +"Really, more than I have loved any man--ever." + +"But then, how can you doubt?" and he turned impulsively towards her. + +"You'd better keep both hands on the reins--the pony is only just +broken. As I was saying--I love you--in my way--but that's not all, it's +merely the beginning. If I only had to meet you for the rest of our +lives at afternoon tea and dinner, and we had on our best clothes and +our company manners, there would be no question--but you see there are +breakfasts and luncheons to be considered. Suppose after our honeymoon +was over I was to discover that you wanted to live at West Hempstead, or +dined habitually at the National Liberal Club, or wore ready-made +suits--it might wreck my life's happiness." + +Her sincerity had disappeared, and her change in manner grated on him. +He was certain she did not mean what she was saying, but he forced a +laugh in replying:-- + +"Diplomats are not allowed to belong to political clubs, in the first +place," he said, "and I've been told that well-cut clothes may be met +with even at the N. L. C. Besides, if you loved me, it wouldn't really +matter." + +"Ah! But it might, and that's just the point. Either I love _you_, the +real, imperfect, human _you_--and nothing else counts--or else I love +the Secretary of the ---- Legation, in a frock coat or a dress suit, +and everything does count. I've got to determine which. My feminine +intuition will tell me that in an instant some day, and then I can +answer you." + +"Let us hope that your feminine intuition will make up its mind to act +quickly then, for I must be getting back to London in a few days." + +"Why?" she cried. "What have you to do?" + +What indeed, when the canny old messenger the night before had told him +that this beautiful girl was the main spring of the conspiracy he was +here to crush? He did not believe that, but the whole conversation had +revolted him--it was not decent somehow to discuss the most serious +things of life flippantly. His face showed his feelings. + +She was quick to take the cue. + +"I doubt if you really know yourself," she continued. "Suppose Madame +Darcy were unmarried-- I have sometimes thought----" + +"Suppose the impossible," he interrupted. "Suppose you should decide to +drop her husband----" + +"I wonder," she said, ignoring his petulant outburst, "if you would mind +my asking you a very frank question?" + +"About the Colonel?" + +"Yes. You see I've been thinking a good deal of what you said the other +night, but of course one can't throw over old friends without good +cause--merely for marital infelicity--there are always two sides to +those stories, you know. I was wondering if there was anything +else--anything about him which you knew and I wouldn't be likely to-- +I've sometimes thought--that perhaps----" she paused and looked +inquiringly at him. + +The Secretary longed to tell her the truth; but remembering his Chief's +instructions, and chastened by his late reverse, hardened his heart. + +"As for that," he replied guardedly, "he doesn't bear an altogether +savoury reputation, I've understood, but as my personal knowledge of his +affairs dated with his wife's visit to me two or three days ago--my +information is comparatively recent." + +She smiled contentedly, and changed the subject, by suggesting that they +should get out and walk. A long hill was before them, and since from the +construction of governess carts the tendency of an up-grade is to put +all the weight at the rear, it seemed advisable to descend. + +"To give the pony a fighting chance," as the Secretary suggested. + +Miss Fitzgerald complained that it was hot, and, barring the fact of +cruelty to animals, a nuisance to have to climb the hill; saying which, +she took off her hat, giving an unobstructed view of her hair. + +If there is any excuse for the fact that the Secretary forgot his good +resolutions, it must lie in the heart of the reader, who perhaps has +been young some time himself, and had the exquisite pleasure of driving +during a long, perfect English afternoon, through glorious wooded lanes, +and all the picturesque antiquity which England alone knows, with a +winsome Irish girl, with a peaches-and-cream complexion, a ravishing +laugh, bewitching blue eyes, and golden hair loose upon her shoulders, +which a madcap wind whipped in his face. + +"I think it's glorious," said Stanley, reverting to the landscape, a +little later, when the conversation had turned to less serious topics, +"There's no country like England--but it's comparable to the little girl +of the nursery rhyme-- + + "When it is good, it is very very good, + And when it is bad, it is horrid." + +"I'm glad to see you appreciate it at its true worth. Isn't this scene +perfect--but think of it in a November fog," she said. + +"Think of those people wasting their afternoon on the lawn at the Hall, +drinking bitter tea and eating heavy cake." + +"I dare say some of them are above those things," replied Belle. + +"Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant?" queried the Secretary. + +"Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant," she acquiesced. "I wonder if there +is really anything serious in that affair?" + +She said this to probe Stanley, and, as a result, she put him on his +guard. + +"What do you think?" he asked cautiously. "I imagine the Dowager could +never be induced to approve of it." + +"The Marchioness!" cried Belle scornfully, as, having reached the summit +of the hill with a long, downward slope before them, they remounted into +the cart. "She doesn't count." + +"Oh, doesn't she?" said the Secretary. "She counts a great deal, as"--he +added half to himself--"I ought to know." + +They had already turned homewards and were rattling down the hill, and +at that moment they swung at top speed round a corner, to come upon a +wrecked luggage cart, which blocked the whole road. Without hesitation, +Stanley pulled the pony up on its haunches, bringing them to a stop with +a tremendous jerk, within three feet of the obstacle; nearly throwing +them out, and driving, for the time being, all thoughts of their +interrupted conversation from the Secretary's head. + +"Why, Tim!" he said, recognising the driver as one of Mrs. Roberts' +servants. "You've had a spill!" + +"Axle broke, sir. That's what it is, and if it hadn't been as the +carrier"--indicating a second cart on the further side--"had happened to +come up just now, I don't know as Mister Kingsland would have got his +luggage." + +"Lieutenant--Kingsland--is he going away?" + +"Why, didn't you know that, sir? Called sudden on the death of his +uncle--Miss Fitzgerald there--she----" + +"Don't spend all the afternoon gossiping, Tim," broke in that young +lady, sharply--"but attend to your work. Drive round somehow, can't +you?"--she continued, addressing the Secretary--"or we shall be late for +dinner?" + +"Don't you see it's impossible? Besides I want to help Tim." + +"Nonsense, turn round and we'll drive back--some other way. Tim and the +carrier can help themselves," she cried petulantly. + +"I'm not so sure of that," drawled the driver. "Them chests are powful +heavy--for all the Lieutenant said they contained glass picture +slides--it's more like lead." + +"Mr. Riddle's slides, eh?" said Stanley, jumping down, despite his fair +companion's remonstrances. "Then we mustn't let Lieutenant Kingsland go +without them;" and he seized the handle of one of the boxes, and pulling +it off the partially overturned cart, dragged it along the road, while +Miss Fitzgerald sat holding the pony, and biting her lips in +ill-disguised vexation. + +"Gad! They are heavy!" admitted the Secretary, as, with the carrier's +help, he swung it into the cart, and returned for another. + +Four were transported safely, but in lifting the fifth chest, whose +cover seemed a trifle loose, Stanley turned his foot on a round stone, +and losing his grip on the handle, the chest fell to the ground bottom +side up. + +"No great harm done, we'll hope," he said, righting it, and helping the +carrier to lift it beside the others. + +"Why, bless me," ejaculated that official, "if there ain't a bran new +sovereign lying in the dust!" + +The Secretary regarded it critically, and plunging his hands into his +trousers pockets, fished out a lot of loose change, which he examined +carefully, saying: + +"I must have dropped it in bending over; thank you for finding it. +There's a shilling for your trouble." And straightening up, he realised +that Miss Fitzgerald was regarding him intently. + +Half an hour later the wreck was sufficiently cleared for them to resume +their homeward way. + +The remainder of the afternoon was not a success, including, as it did, +a drive home in the teeth of a wind which had suddenly sprung up; which, +finding them hot and dusty, left them at their destination cold and +cross, and utterly fagged out; Stanley with a twinge of rheumatism, +devoutly hoping that Lady Isabelle had got it over, and Miss Fitzgerald +with a splitting headache, realising that she had lost a move in the +game. + +They both looked forward to dinner as a salve for all evils, though when +they entered the drawing-room just in time to go down, they were +naturally surprised, Miss Fitzgerald at being committed to the charge of +Kent-Lauriston, and the Secretary to Lady Isabelle--for the latter of +which arrangements the Dowager was directly responsible--indeed, she had +held an interview with her hostess a few minutes before, which had left +that lady very much excited. + +As soon as they were seated at table, he noticed that he was separated +from Miss Fitzgerald as far as might be, so he lost no time in putting +Lady Isabelle at her ease by engaging her in conversation. Knowing what +he did, he felt that to give her a chance to talk about her husband +would be most acceptable to her, and probably useful to him; so, noting +his absence, he told her of accidentally hearing of his departure. + +"I suppose," he said, "that as he was carrying so much of value, he'll +stop in London before going north?" + +"Of value," she said. "I do not understand." + +"Why, five cases of stereopticon slides for Mr. Riddle. I helped the +carrier to reload them, and very heavy they were." + +"He said nothing to me of it," she replied; "but he certainly is going +to stop in London one night." + +"I wish I'd known, I'd have asked him to cash a cheque for me. It's so +hard to do that sort of thing in the country, and I imagine we bank at +the same place." + +"He banks at the Victoria Street branch of the Bank of England. I'm sure +he would have been glad to have done it for you." + +"Thanks, but it really doesn't matter," replied Stanley, who, having +thus learned the probable destination of Mr. Riddle's chests of +sovereigns was contented to change the subject, saying: "I do hope that +the Lieutenant unburdened his soul to your mother before he left." + +She then told him all the events of the afternoon, even the interview +with her mother, the whole in a conversational tone of voice. The +Secretary sat dazed as the magnitude of what he had let himself in for +dawned upon him; and her Ladyship's eager explanations and apologies, +which presently died down to a whisper, as there came a lull in the +conversation, fell unheeded on his ears. Suddenly he became intuitively +aware that everyone was looking at him--no, at them. His hostess was +making a feeble attempt to smile at him from far down the table--he felt +a horrible premonition of coming catastrophe; he looked at Lady +Isabelle, she was white to the lips. + +"My friends," came Mrs. Roberts' voice, trembling a little, "Lady Port +Arthur has just told me some interesting news, with the request that I +would transmit it to you all; so I am going to ask you to drink your +first glass of champagne this evening in honour of the engagement of +Lady Isabelle McLane and Mr. Aloysius Stanley." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A VERY AWKWARD PREDICAMENT + + +Had Mrs. Roberts' interests not led her in another direction, she must +have felt no small gratification at the effect which her speech +produced. It was a great _coup_ for any hostess, and of tremendous +force, because absolutely unexpected. + +A number of guests had been invited for this particular evening to swell +the party, making a dinner of sixteen, and it was delightful to witness +the manner in which they took the announcement. The men received it in +silence, while the women broke instantly into a confused, joyous cackled +exclamation, surprise and curiosity. + +The Dowager was the person who probably derived the most satisfaction +from the scene, for her work was over and she could survey it calmly; +but Stanley, though the table and the guests whirled before his eyes, +caught some lightning glimpses of various expressions, which he was +destined never to forget. + +He saw the Marchioness' satisfied smile, which said as plainly as words +could: "There, what did I tell you? You see how successfully I have +brought about this affair." He caught the glance of sympathy which his +hostess shot at Miss Fitzgerald, and he caught the glance of vindictive +rage which that young lady bestowed upon him, though he did not see the +smile which followed it. + +It needed no one to tell Miss Fitzgerald that she held the whip now, or +to teach her how to use it. Her lover should smart for this. + +One other glimpse the Secretary caught in that moment--a disgusted shrug +of the shoulders from Kent-Lauriston, and this latter hurt him the most +keenly of all. He wondered how all these people could be so stupid as +not to see the ghastly mistake they were making, the awful position in +which they were placing them both; and then he understood that Lady +Isabelle's pallor and his own flushed face might as easily be traced to +natural embarrassment as to utter confusion. What a shocking +complication--but if it was so bad for him, what must it be for her? +Thank Heavens, he was not to blame for it--he had only done what she had +asked him. What would people say when they learned the truth? What would +Inez think--what--Good Heavens! Why were all the men rising from their +seats? He must rise too--to drink his health. He felt fairly dazed from +agitation. They drained their glasses, he drank with them. The champagne +served to steady him; he was himself once more, ready to do battle for +his honour and hers. What was that they were saying--some idiot at the +far end of the table was crying "Speech--Speech!" Stanley made a mental +note that, despite laws against duelling, he'd run him through before +breakfast to-morrow morning, or know the reason why. Now all the others +were taking it up, every one was crying: "Speech! Speech! Speech!" Good +Heavens, what could he say! Would it not be better to stand up and tell +the truth of this miserable matter? One look at the bent head of Lady +Isabelle, and her nervous fingers clutching the tablecloth, determined +his course of action--he could not expose her to the criticism of this +table of scandal-mongers. She sat there, almost fainting, hanging on his +every word; chivalry, honour, manliness, left but one course open--he +must sacrifice himself to save her. The future would decide itself--his +duty lay clear before him. He saw that he must speak--and that he must +by his words deceive the company, and yet not compromise either her or +himself. He raised his hand to command attention; the rest sat down--it +gave him thirty seconds for reflection, an infinitesimal amount of time +in which to take action, but ample space in which to take thought: then +he spoke:-- + +"My friends:-- + +"You have just done us the honour to drink a toast to our united +happiness. I thank you for your kind intention. Those who are already +married have, by drinking this toast, very gracefully assured me of my +own future happiness, and those who are single have given me the +opportunity to express a hearty wish that it may some day be my +privilege to drink a similar toast to them." + +Had Mr. Stanley never given other evidence of his fitness for a +diplomatic career, this speech alone would have conclusively furnished +it. He resumed his seat, and the look of gratitude which his companion +gave him was sufficient reward. + +How that dinner passed off the Secretary never knew. It was a horrible +nightmare, and it seemed interminable; but it did come to an end at +last, and he repaired to the smoking-room where even a worse purgatory +awaited him. Kent-Lauriston distinctly avoided him, the rest evidently +regarded him as their lawful prey. His over-taxed nerves were beginning +to give way. He laughed hysterically, threw his cigar into the +fireplace, and, begging to be excused, left the room. A burst of +laughter followed him. He knew what it meant--every action of his must +henceforth be misinterpreted. + +His appearance in the drawing-room was the signal for a preparatory +giggle, and then an, only too apparent, ignoring of his presence, +accompanied by meaning glances towards the conservatory. He took the +hint, and went in that direction, to find Lady Isabelle weeping her eyes +out on a divan. + +"There's no use crying over spilt milk," he said to her, cheerfully; +"but you must admit it's a deuce of a mess." + +"How can I ever sufficiently thank you, Mr. Stanley?" she exclaimed, +looking up at him in undisguised admiration. "You were splendid." + +"Oh, not at all--but I'll admit your mother's announcement rather +staggered me." + +"I tried to prepare you." + +"I'm afraid you didn't succeed," he replied coldly, for he felt that he +had been ill-used. + +"I assure you," she said, "if I'd had the remotest idea of what mamma +intended doing, I would have faced all possibilities and told her the +truth, rather than have exposed you to what has occurred. I can never, +never forgive myself for it." + +"It was really more my fault than yours. I gave your mother permission +to announce our engagement whenever you gave your consent." + +"I never gave it!" she cried. + +"Of course," he continued, "I never supposed that your mother would so +far forget herself as to force you." + +"You mustn't be too hard on mamma." + +"Under the circumstances you could hardly expect me to be lenient; I +think we'd better agree to change the subject." + +She bowed silently. + +"There's one thing, however, that you can do to help me," he continued. + +Lady Isabelle shivered as she saw the approach of the dreaded request, +and asked: + +"What is that?" + +"You can go to Miss Fitzgerald and tell her the truth. No statement of +mine, unsupported by you, would have any credence in her ears after what +has passed. You're the only person whose word can right me in her +estimation." + +"Mr. Stanley," she replied slowly, and with evident exertion, "I cannot +tell you the pain, the chagrin, which it gives me to refuse your +request." + +"You won't do it!" he cried, utterly amazed. + +"I can't do it." + +"But do you realise the position in which you place me with Miss +Fitzgerald?" he protested, unwilling to believe his ears. + +"Perfectly--only too keenly," she replied. "The knowledge that I've +wronged you in her estimation is the bitterest part of the whole matter. +I feel it much more than my own position in the affair." + +"And knowing this you can still refuse to interfere in my behalf, when a +word from you would set all right." + +"I deeply regret it, Mr. Stanley, but I must." + +He stood looking at her for a moment in the deepest scorn. Had he +sacrificed himself for a woman like this? + +"Don't think too hardly of me," she pleaded; "believe me, I have +reasons." + +"I've only this to say, Lady Isabelle," he replied coldly. "Until you +absolve me from the unfortunate position in which your foolishness and +weakness have placed me, my good name, my honour, and my future +prospects are in your hands. Your conscience should tell you how far you +have the right to trifle with them," and turning on his heel he left the +conservatory. + +After the departure of the Secretary, Lady Isabelle lost no time in +seeking out Miss Fitzgerald, who had retired to her chamber. + +To pursue a woman who believes that you have cruelly wronged her was a +bold undertaking, but if she could not assure the Secretary that she +would right him in his lady's eyes, her duty, under the circumstances, +was all the more imperative to do so without delay; so summoning all her +courage to her aid, she ascended to Miss Fitzgerald's chamber, and +knocked timidly; so timidly, indeed, that at first she was not heard, +and was compelled to knock again. + +"Come in," called Belle. + +Her Ladyship partially opened the door. + +"It's I," she said. + +"Lady Isabelle!" exclaimed Miss Fitzgerald, in unfeigned surprise, +rising to receive her visitor. "You're the last person I expected to +see!" + +"I must beg your pardon for intruding upon your privacy, but I felt I +must come to you the first moment that I was able." + +"Really?" + +"I owe you an explanation, Miss Fitzgerald." + +Belle looked at her proudly and coldly, with the air of an insulted +queen. It was not often she had the chance to triumph over a lady of +title, and she enjoyed it thoroughly. + +"You owe me more than an explanation," she said, and indicating a chair +for her guest, they both sat down. + +"Of course, you're aware that Mr. Stanley cannot be engaged to me," Lady +Isabelle began, after some hesitation, in which Belle gave her no help, +for she knew this interview was her real punishment. + +"I should hardly have supposed so," replied Miss Fitzgerald, and lapsed +into silence. + +"I"--Lady Isabelle began, covered with confusion--"I--the fact is--I +asked him to propose to me." + +"You asked him to propose to you?" + +"I don't wonder you are surprised; but the facts of the case are these. +My mother asked Mr. Stanley his intentions last evening. Being engaged +to you, he naturally had none." + +"Mr. Stanley is not engaged to me." + +"I beg your pardon, I thought----" + +"He has proposed to me, I admit; but I must say his conduct doesn't +prejudice me in his favour." + +"But you mustn't allow this to injure him, Miss Fitzgerald. Really you +must not." + +"A man who could accept a lady who had so far forgotten herself as to +propose to him----" + +"Pray let me state my case before judging me," pleaded her Ladyship, +ready to sink through the floor with mortification. + +"Proceed, Lady Isabelle," said her tormentor. + +"Mr. Stanley told me of his interview with my mother, who, I knew, was +very anxious to make a match between us. This morning I discovered that +she intended to go to early service. You know what that would have +involved." + +Miss Fitzgerald nodded. + +"I tried every means to deter her, but in vain. Then, as a last +resort--I admit it was very wrong to do so--I asked Mr. Stanley to +intercept my mother on her way to the church, and make her a proposal +for my hand, as I knew this was the only way to detain her, telling him +that I was about to be married, and that I would tell her the truth +to-day." + +Miss Fitzgerald drew a sharp breath. + +"Then he knows that you're a married woman?" + +"He knew that I was to be, before the ceremony." + +The Irish girl gave a contented little sigh, and murmured to +herself--"So he did know after all." + +Then waking up to the immediate present, she continued, with exaggerated +courtesy:-- + +"Your Ladyship has not, I think, finished your story. You promised Mr. +Stanley that you would tell your mother the truth--but you have not done +so." + +"No, I have not, and for the following reasons. My husband, as you know, +received a telegram apprising him of the fact that a relative, who was +dying, intended leaving him a large fortune, and required his immediate +presence. He forbade me to speak till he came back, and insisted that I +must hold out the prospect of my engagement with Mr. Stanley as a bait +to keep my mother here till he could return to me. She, however, pressed +me for an answer, and on my refusing to commit myself either way, took +matters into her own hands, as we have seen. I assure you entirely +without the knowledge of Mr. Stanley or myself." + +"I see. You feel it necessary to continue this bogus engagement, for the +present." + +"I'm between two fires, Miss Fitzgerald: obedience to my husband's +commands, and the reparation I owe to you." + +"What does Jimsy say?" + +"Mr. Stanley has, of course, behaved like a gentleman, and left the +matter for me to decide. I'm in a most dreadful position, either way I +must wrong some one." + +"I'll spare your conscience, Lady Isabelle. I shan't require you to +break your engagement with the Secretary." + +"But you'll forgive him, will you not? It was not his fault, really." + +"You seem to forget that I've not accepted him as yet." + +"But you'll not let this prejudice your ultimate decision. Promise me +that?" + +"Yes, I'll promise--for I don't think there's anything proved against +him in this matter, except that he's weak, and I did not need you to +tell me that." + +"He's a very large heart, Miss Fitzgerald." + +"He has," assented that lady. "Of which I've had ample evidence in the +last few days." + +"You've been so gracious to me in this matter," continued Lady Isabelle, +"that unsuitable as the occasion is, I'm going to venture to ask you a +favour. + +"And what is that, your Ladyship?" + +"Mr. Stanley doesn't know that you're aware of my marriage, and for some +reason which I don't understand, my husband forbade me to tell him of +the fact unless I had your permission; so he fancies that he's put +himself in a worse position than is really the case. Do allow me to +tell him the truth. Poor fellow, he's so unhappy." + +"No," replied Miss Fitzgerald, a gleam of triumph lighting up her face, +as she realised the power which Kingsland had placed in her hands. "Your +husband is quite right; there are excellent reasons why he should not be +told; besides he deserves to be miserable, he's treated me very badly." + +"In that case," said Lady Isabelle, stiffly, rising to go, "I've nothing +more to say." + +"Quite right, Lady Isabelle, and may I give you a parting word of +caution? When your husband, Lieutenant Kingsland, advises a course of +action, follow it blindly." + +"Really, Miss Fitzgerald!" exclaimed her Ladyship, bridling up at the +Irish girl's remark. + +"Good-night, Lady Isabelle," murmured Belle in her silkiest tones, +opening the door, and laughing softly to herself, as her visitor rustled +away in the distance. Then she leaned over the staircase and listened. +No sound met her ears, but her eyes beheld the disconsolate figure of +the Secretary, standing alone in the hall below. She tripped noiselessly +down, and, arriving within a few paces of him unnoticed, drew herself +up haughtily, and said, in her most chilling tones:-- + +"Will you kindly permit me to pass, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Belle--Miss Fitzgerald," he cried. "I must have a few words with you-- +I must explain." + +"It's not necessary, Mr. Stanley. I've already heard a detailed account +of the affair from Lady Isabelle's mother." + +On the verity of the statement we will not attempt to pass judgment; +suffice it to say, that it simply staggered the young diplomat. + +"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "I--it's not true, believe me, it's not +true." + +"Do I understand you to insinuate that the Marchioness has +prevaricated?" + +"No, no, of course not; but it's all a mistake. I can explain--really." + +"Mr. Stanley, answer me one question. Did you or did you not give the +Marchioness to understand, in your interview with her this morning, that +you wished to marry her daughter?" + +"Why, yes--I suppose I did--but, then, you see----" + +"That is quite sufficient. Good-night." + +"If you'd only let me explain!" + +"Good-night, Mr. Stanley," she repeated icily, and swept past him into +the drawing-room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RUSTLE OF A SKIRT + + +"You graceless young dog!" cried Kent-Lauriston, falling upon Stanley in +a half-feigned, half-real burst of anger, as he entered the smoking-room +after his encounter with Belle. "Do you know you've caused me to refuse +invitations by the score, and dragged me down to this God-forsaken +place, at the most impossible season of the year, on false pretences?" + +"False pretences! How so?" + +"Why? You shameless Lothario! Why? Because what's left of my conscience +smote me for leaving a lamb amidst a pack of wolves, and wouldn't let me +rest; nearly destroyed my digestion, I give you my word. I came down to +pluck your innocence alive from the burning, and I've been a fool for my +pains. Why, confound you, I not only find you _epris_ with Madame Darcy, +but engaged to both the Fitzgerald and Lady Isabelle." + +"My dear Kent-Lauriston, pray soothe your ruffled feelings; your logic +is excellent, but your premises are one and all false." + +"What!" + +"I say there's nothing between Madame Darcy and myself, and that I'm +neither engaged to Miss Fitzgerald nor Lady Isabelle." + +"But, my dear Stanley, I've heard----" + +"But, my dear Kent-Lauriston, you've heard wrongly." + +"What--isn't Madame Darcy here?" + +"Yes." + +"And haven't you seen her?" + +"Yes." + +"And walked with her early in the morning?" + +"Yes." + +"And breakfasted with her, _tete-a-tete_ at a farmhouse?" + +"Yes." + +"And hasn't her husband challenged you to a duel on her account?" + +"Yes." + +"And didn't he, moreover, catch you in the act of proposing to Miss +Fitzgerald?" + +"Yes." + +"And haven't you asked the Marchioness for Lady Isabelle's hand?" + +"Yes." + +"And in the face of all this--you attempt to deny----" + +"In the face of all this--circumstantial evidence--I'm quite prepared to +deny everything. Would you like to hear the _facts_ of the case?" + +"Rather!" + +As will have been inferred, the two men had the smoking-room entirely to +themselves, and the best part of an hour passed before the Secretary +had finished his account of events with which the reader is familiar. + +Kent-Lauriston heard him out with great interest, and after drawing a +long breath, at the close of his recital, remarked:-- + +"I think I shall be fully repaid for any inconvenience to which I've put +myself on your account. This whole affair is most interesting, and, +believe me, there's more in it than appears on the surface." + +"I feel the same way myself," replied the Secretary; "but let us hear +your views on the subject." + +"First," replied his friend, "you must assure me of how you yourself +stand. Are you still in your unregenerate state, or have you yet begun +to see the fruits of your folly?" + +The young diplomat was silent for a long time, but finally he said, +looking up into Kent-Lauriston's face with an almost appealing glance: + +"I'm afraid you would think me awfully caddish if I told you the truth +about it." + +"About the state of your affections for Miss Fitzgerald, you mean?" + +"Yes." + +"Of course, I shouldn't think you justified in making a public +declaration of a change of sentiment, because it might seem to reflect +on the lady, but in my case it's very different. Having spoken so +frankly and freely on the subject already, I might almost say that you +owe it to me to continue to do so. Certainly I've given you no cause +for reticence by anything I've done, and, as certainly, you must confide +fully in me if you wish my help in the future." + +"Well, then, the truth is," he blurted out, "that you were right and I +was wrong, and I've found it out too late." + +"I thought as much." + +"But I'm not going back on my word. If I've made a mistake, I must +suffer for it; and if Miss Fitzgerald accepts my proposal, which she now +has under consideration, I shall live up to my part of the agreement; +and if I can prevent it, she shall never suspect that I would have +matters otherwise. If she should refuse me, however----" + +"You'd make a fool of yourself just the same," continued Kent-Lauriston, +"by jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire, and marrying Madame +Darcy the instant she obtained her divorce." + +"Kent-Lauriston," Stanley exclaimed, "you know a d----d sight too much!" + +The Englishman laughed softly, and then resumed the thread of his +discourse. + +"Now that I understand your position----" he began. + +"Do you understand it?" + +"Better than you do yourself, I fancy; let me see if I can state it. +You've proposed to Miss Fitzgerald, and she has taken the question of +marrying you into consideration; since which time you have come to the +conclusion, for reasons which we will not specify out of consideration +for your feelings, that, if she refuses, or could be induced to refuse +you, you'd accept the decision without an appeal. Am I correct?" + +The Secretary nodded gloomily. + +"Under the circumstances, do you give me permission to do what I can to +effect your release?" + +"Do what you please." + +"I'll do my best. Now what induced you to propose to her against your +better judgment? Did she lead you on?" + +"No, certainly not--if you suppose----!" + +"Well, something must have started you up." + +"Charges were made against her. I thought it my duty to tell her what +had been said----" + +"How did she receive it?" + +"She accused me of being a false friend, of not having defended her." + +"And you proposed--when--that day?" + +"No, the next night." + +"I see, the next night; because you thought it your duty to protect +her." + +"Confound you. You read me like a book." + +"An open page is easy reading. Now who made the charges?" + +"Kingsland." + +"I thought so. Whom did they concern?" + +"Darcy." + +"Exactly. And at the very moment that you were asking her to give you +the right to protect her from men of Darcy's stamp--he turns up and +proves you the worst of the lot." + +"And she-- I wonder she didn't refuse me out of hand." + +"I wonder she didn't accept you--but let that pass. All I wish to point +out to you is this:--Kingsland drove you by the charges he made against +Darcy to propose to Miss Fitzgerald. What was his motive for doing so?" + +"Friendship for Miss Fitzgerald." + +"Would that be likely to induce him to make serious charges against +her?" + +"Friendship for me." + +"Nonsense! I know the man. He did it because it paid him to do it." + +"How was that possible?" + +"I can suggest one motive. The removal of the obstacles preventing Lady +Isabelle's secret marriage. Now who could have effected this? Not Lady +Isabelle, she never had the audacity to carry out such a scheme; not +Kingsland, he hasn't brains enough; our hostess is above suspicion; in +fact there's only one person who could have conceived and carried out +the plan to its successful conclusion--namely, Miss Fitzgerald." + +"What grounds have you for proving it?" + +"Was she with the parson at all, before the ceremony?" + +"I knew you'd ask that question!" + +"Then she was." + +"Twice, on the days just preceding--to my knowledge." + +"That's sufficient." + +"Not for me." + +"Then I'll tell you where we can find the missing link of evidence." + +"Where?" + +"In the marriage register of the church. Find the names of the +witnesses, and you'll find the people who have carried it through. If +you'll kindly leave it in my hands, I'll verify my statements to-morrow +morning. I'd prefer that you did not do it yourself." + +"As you please. But even admitting you're right, it doesn't give the +cause for the motive." + +"Oh, yes, it does--Miss Fitzgerald's intervention in this matter was the +price of Kingsland's egging you on to propose." + +"Nonsense!" + +"I'll lay you a thousand to one on it." + +Stanley shrugged his shoulders, saying:-- + +"But your own arguments defeat you, my dear fellow. If Miss Fitzgerald +was such a calculating person, why should she put herself out, and run +the risk of compromising herself, merely to induce the Lieutenant to +play upon my jealousy, when, as you've already shown, and I've admitted, +I was so weak as to make such strategy unnecessary." + +"Perhaps that was not the only favour Miss Fitzgerald looked for, and +the Lieutenant's hands----" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, taking five chests for her to London." + +"Oh," said the Secretary, much relieved, "I know all about that. I quite +assure you it has nothing to do with Miss Fitzgerald." + +"But I heard her asking Kingsland to take them up for her this +afternoon, and to put them in his bank." + +"Look here, Kent-Lauriston, your dislike for poor Belle must have got +the better of your common sense. You certainly misinterpreted what she +said. Those chests belong to Mr. Riddle." + +Kent-Lauriston changed the subject. + +"What is Colonel Darcy here for?" + +"He says, to watch his wife." + +"What is she here for?" + +"She says she has letters written to her husband by some member of this +household, which have aroused her suspicions." + +"That sounds more promising. Who is this person?" + +"A woman of course--but she only knows her Christian name." + +"And that is?" + +"She will not tell me." + +"Ah!" said Kent-Lauriston drily. + +"I've sources of information about Darcy, which I'm not at liberty to +give you," resumed Stanley, "but you're not on the right track, believe +me." + +"Time will prove the correctness of some of my theories, at least," +replied his mentor, "and I shall be better able to talk when I've seen +the marriage register. Now let's have something to drink, and go to +bed;" and he pressed the bell. + +An interval having elapsed without an answer, he rang again, but no +servant appeared. + +"It must be later than I thought. We'll have to shift for ourselves. +There'll be something going in the billiard-room." + +"Hark!" said Stanley. "There's somebody in the hall; it's probably the +butler shutting up for the night." + +They both listened, and a peculiar, shuffling, scraping sound became +audible. + +"That's a curious noise," said the Secretary. "Let's see what it means," +and, suiting the action to the word, he threw open the smoking-room +door. + +The light in the hall was turned out, and the sombre black oak panelling +made the great apartment seem darker than it really was. Absolute +stillness reigned. It was, to all appearance, empty. + +"Must have been rats," said the Secretary. "Everyone seems to have +retired." + +"Have they?" said Kent-Lauriston. + +"Listen!" + +And both could have sworn that they heard, far up the hall, the dying +rustle of a skirt. But there were some things that Stanley had no wish +to know, and he set his face and his steps towards the stairs, +continuing:-- + +"As I was saying, we are the only people up. + +"Then we'd better go to bed." + +"By all means." + +"Shall I turn out the electric lights in the smoking-room?" + +"Yes, we're evidently the last." + +A moment later they stood on the upper landing about to separate for the +night. + +"The woman was behind that screen at the foot of the stairs," said +Kent-Lauriston. + +"Yes, I know," replied the Secretary. + +"Good-night, my dear Stanley." + +"Good-night, old man. You possess a rare talent." + +"Yes?" + +"You know when not to ask questions." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +FACE TO FACE + + +When Kent-Lauriston had disappeared in his bedroom, and closed the door, +the Secretary, extinguishing his own candle, turned on his heel, and +walked slowly back to the head of the stairs. It was easy to preserve an +unruffled demeanour before his friend, but he was far from being as calm +as he appeared. + +All was not right in the house, he knew. Some mischief was afoot, and he +meant to find out what it was, even though he dared not admit to himself +some of the possibilities which it suggested. + +He softly descended the stairs. Everything was silent. He moved the +screen; the space behind it was vacant. Suddenly, his eye fell upon the +smoking-room door, and he drew in his breath softly. There was a line of +light showing under the crack. Yet he could have sworn that +Kent-Lauriston had turned off the switch, and while he stood hesitating +as to what it was best to do, a soft breath of wind upon his cheek +caused him to make another discovery. The great front door was open. He +stepped softly down the hall, and going out under the porte-cochere, +cast his eyes over the driveway. No one was in sight. He was about to +return to the house when he heard light steps coming down the hall. +Drawing back into the shadow to escape observation, he waited. Someone +was evidently leaving the house. A moment later, a hand was lightly laid +upon the door, and it was closed behind him, before he could realise +what was happening. He was shut out into the night. + +His first impulse was to ring sharply for assistance. Second thoughts +showed him the foolishness of such an attempt. It would be merely +apprising the intruders of his presence, and long before a servant could +be aroused and the bell could be answered, they would have made their +escape. + +The Secretary judged that shutting him out was unintentional. The +persons, whoever they were, had hidden somewhere, till he had gone +upstairs, had then slipped into the smoking-room, probably to arrange +their plans, and coming out while he was on the lawn, and seeing the +door ajar, had closed it, quite unconscious that by so doing they were +putting their pursuer in a very awkward predicament. + +However, the Secretary told himself that there was nothing to prevent +him from seeing what was going on in the hall, and he hastened to make +his way round to the side of the house where there were several large +windows opening into that apartment. He had picked his way across +several flower-beds, and was just turning the corner to approach the +house when he was startled by seeing a dark figure loom up beside him, +and feeling a hand lightly laid on his shoulder, and a whispered word of +caution to be silent. Almost involuntarily, however, he exclaimed:-- + +"Inez! You here, and at this hour." + +"Sh!" she said, "There are listeners. I, like you, am watching." + +"Who are you watching?" he asked, softly. + +"My husband." + +"Your husband?" + +"Yes," she replied. "Why has he entered this house secretly every night +since he has been here?" + +"You amaze me," said the Secretary. "How has it been possible for him to +get in?" + +"He has been aided by someone who opens the door for him." + +"A man?" + +"No, a woman." + +The Secretary whistled softly. + +"Well," he said, "we'll probe this mystery to the bottom. I, too, have +heard suspicious noises in the passages to-night, and, coming down, +after I had retired, to find out what they were, I was shut out from +within, though I don't think they were aware of my presence. We must go +round on the outside and see what we can through the windows." + +"You can't," she said. "The approaches are protected by an iron fence +with spikes." + +"But surely there's a gate?" + +"Yes, but it's always padlocked." + +"We'll have a look at it, any way," he replied; and they approached and +examined it closely. + +The Secretary rattled the lock cautiously and found it old and shaky. + +"I think I could smash this with a couple of bits of flint," he said, +"and if I have a new lock put on at my own expense, my hostess will, +under the circumstances, probably forgive me." And suiting the action to +the word, he managed, by a few judicious blows, with two bits of stone, +picked up from the driveway, to bend the hasp of the lock sufficiently +to release it. + +There being no further impediment to their progress they hastened +through the gardens, and a moment later were standing outside one of the +great hall windows whose lower panes were on a level with their faces. +They could distinctly see three people, but their glances were riveted +on a circle of light farther up the hall, a circle that shifted and +danced over the surface of the secret door, flashing on the heads of the +silver nails; a circle that was made by the lens of a small bull's-eye +lantern, held in the grasp of a crouching figure whose back was turned +towards them. By his side were two others, apparently a man and a woman, +who seemed to be directing him at his work. For several minutes the +little group presented their backs to the spectators, but at an +incautious step of the Secretary's, which caused a dry twig to crackle, +they all turned sharply round, the owner of the lantern throwing its +rays full on the window outside which they were standing. The watchers +drew back, in time evidently to escape detection, for the absence of +footsteps and the recurrence, after a moment, of the curious sounds +which Stanley had noticed from the smoking-room, assured him that they +had once more returned to their work. The lantern, however, though it +had failed to discover them, had, for a brief second, illumined the +faces of the intruders, and both the Secretary and Madame Darcy +recognised the trio. The man at work on the door was the Colonel; his +assistants were Mr. Riddle and Miss Fitzgerald. The Secretary's worst +suspicions were confirmed, and a smothered sob at his side told him that +the discovery had inflicted no less keen a pang on his companion. She +slipped down in a little heap on the ground, and he dropped on his knees +beside her, whispering such consolation as he could without running the +risk of being overheard. + +"I knew it must be so," she said, "and yet I hoped against hope that he +was not guilty of this last infamy." + +Suddenly another thought seemed to have occurred to her. + +"You knew," she said. "You must have known, and yet you did not tell +me." + +"My dear Inez," he said. "How could I, when my suspicions were directed +against your own husband?" + +"But why do I think of myself?" she said. "I am nothing. But it is +you--you, that my heart bleeds for. I, too, concealed my suspicions for +your sake." + +"And you can think of me," he said, "at a time like this?" + +"Of course," she replied. "Yours is the greater sorrow. I knew that my +husband was bad--worthless--capable of anything. My eyes are only +proving what my reason told me must be so. But with you, it is so much +harder. This is the woman you loved, and, whom loving, you must have +made your ideal. And now to find that she is--this." And she pressed his +hand silently. + +"Don't talk about it," said the Secretary. + +"You don't quite understand." + +"But what is to be done?" she said. + +"Nothing, unless they show signs of success, and that I do not think +likely. If the secret of the door has withstood the ingenuity of +generations in the past, it is likely to do so in the future, unless +they tried to force it, and that I think they'd hardly dare to do." + +"Listen," she said. And the Secretary heard a noise of creaking, +straining wood. + +"They are trying to force it!" he cried, springing up and looking +through the window. And she, following his lead, saw that Darcy was +working with might and main with some burglar's tool after the nature of +a lever. But though the old oaken door groaned in protest at such +treatment, it never gave an inch, and the Colonel, removing his +instrument, made a gesture of despair, and stood wiping the sweat from +his brow. + +"What does this all mean?" said Madame Darcy, as they slipped down again +into their place of concealment. + +"It means," said the Secretary shortly, "that your husband's secret +instructions are behind that door, and from his eagerness to get them I +should say that they contain a cipher of something that cannot be +duplicated in the time at his command." + +"I do not understand," she said. + +"Well, if you must know the truth," he replied, "he's to take over the +specie needed to defeat the treaty, and to get there in time he must +sail from England in a few days." + +She nodded mournfully. + +"I supposed it was something like that," she said. "I knew Mr. Riddle +had brought the gold. It is here." + +"No," he said, "it's in the Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of +England, in London." + +"How was it sent up?" + +"Lieutenant Kingsland took it." + +"Is he a member of the conspiracy?" + +"It appears so--but I am not certain. He may be an innocent dupe," +replied the Secretary. + +"And you let the specie go?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said. "When I discovered where they were sending the chests I +helped them. It's safer in the Bank than knocking round here, and I can +prevent its being drawn out any time I wish." + +"By the arrest of the conspirators?" she said. + +"I hope that it won't be necessary to arrest anybody," he replied. + +"Then you have some plan?" + +"Yes. But I'm afraid you mustn't ask me what that is. Nor must you write +a word of all this to your father. But I promise you that if it's +possible I'll save your husband from open disgrace, and I think it will +be." + +"Thank you, thank you," she murmured. "You are indeed my friend," and +her hand again sought his, and he quivered under her touch. + +"Listen!" she said. "They're moving." + +He raised himself cautiously, and looked through the window. The attempt +for that night had evidently been given up. The three conspirators shook +hands, and Miss Fitzgerald and Mr. Riddle stole softly upstairs, leaving +Darcy to put his tools in a bag and let himself out. This he proceeded +to do in a leisurely manner. Once his companions were out of sight, he +again took out the lever, and made one more attempt to open the secret +door, bending all his force to the task. Madame Darcy and the Secretary +watched him breathlessly, but he was again unsuccessful, and with a +disgusted shrug of his shoulders he relinquished the attempt. + +His attacks on the door had, however, evidently marred the wood, and he +produced from his receptacle a bottle of varnish and a brush, with which +he proceeded to repair the traces of the damage. The Secretary's eyes, +wandering from the Colonel, suddenly lighted on the figure of his +friend, Kent-Lauriston, who had evidently been awakened by the +returning footsteps of Darcy's companions as they sought their bedrooms, +and who was now stealing downstairs to intercept the intruder. + +Before Stanley could restrain his friend, Kent-Lauriston had softly +approached the recumbent figure, so softly, indeed, that the Colonel, +who was intent on trying to repair the door, did not hear him, and was +aware of his presence only when a stout arm encircled his neck, throwing +him backwards on the floor, where he lay, with his captor's knee upon +his chest. + +Stanley felt the need of being present also, and exerting his strength +on the sash, found, to his great satisfaction, that the butler had +neglected to bolt the window. With a quiet good-night to Madame Darcy, +who slipped away in the darkness, he swung himself over the sill, and +landing on his feet in the hall, joined the group, nodding to his friend +as he did so. + +"Ah, my fine fellow. Burgling, were you?" said Kent-Lauriston to his +captive. + +"You're mistaken," said the Secretary, stepping quietly up. "This is not +a thief; it's only Colonel Darcy, engaged, if I mistake not, in an +attempt to recover his lost property." + +"I beg your pardon," returned Kent-Lauriston, releasing his prostrate +foe; and turning to Stanley, he continued: "Lacking the fineness of +perception bred of diplomatic training, I must confess I didn't see the +subtle distinction." + +Darcy rose deliberately, growling a surly something, which might have +been equally well an apology or an oath, and snapped to the shutter of +his dark lantern. + +"Yes, we shan't need that light now, thank you," said Stanley, turning +on the central lamp. + +"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked the Colonel, gruffly. + +The diplomat was on his best behaviour. + +"I'm so sorry," he said. "Of course, we did not know you were a caller. +The ladies have retired, and I'm sure you don't want to see us; we won't +detain you." + +"I----" began Darcy, clenching his fist. + +"Oh, I'll make your excuses to Mrs. Roberts," pursued the Secretary. +"Don't trouble about that." + +"I'll be damned if I'll tolerate this interference," burst out the +Colonel. + +"I'm sure you'll be the first, and will also endure the second, my dear +sir," continued Stanley in his most suave tones. "So we'll say no more +about it. The _front_ door is easy to open, Colonel Darcy, as of course +you know. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE MARRIAGE REGISTER + + +On the morning which succeeded Stanley's midnight vigil, the Reverend +Reginald Lambert was early at the little chapel, which was his great +pride in life. The good old gentleman was never so happy as when he +could induce any of the visitors at the Hall to give him an hour of +their time to listen to his dissertations on the ecclesiastical history +of the building; to examine its fragments of "dog-tooth," and discuss +the meaning of that one "foliated capital," in a structure otherwise +severely Saxon. He was even writing a little book on all these things; a +volume which he fondly hoped might some day be given to the world. This +morning, however, he must have been engaged on some work of special +interest, in which he was so absorbed that time flew by unnoticed till +his task was finished. He was just preparing to return to his rectory, +when he received an unexpected visit from a lady, who requested +permission to examine the marriage register. + +The lady was a stranger to him, and was evidently of foreign extraction. +She asked to see an old volume of the records, and took the occasion, +when his back was turned, to hastily glance at the last matrimonial +entry, for the marriage register lay open on the table, comparing the +same with a line of handwriting which she had with her, and evincing +surprise as well as satisfaction at the knowledge she derived therefrom. + +A moment later, when the old man returned, she was, to all appearances, +absorbed in the contemplation of an extremely repellent gargoyle. + +The entry she desired was not to be found, was probably in some +neighbouring parish, she suggested--a fact which the narrator thinks +unlikely. She nevertheless passed a profitable hour, allowing the good +parson to show her every nook and corner of his precious possession, and +displaying an intelligent interest, which was as rare as it was +gratifying. + +But the morning had not yet revealed all its treasures to Mr. Lambert. +Scarcely had the strange lady's footsteps died away, when another +visitor, a new arrival at the Hall, put in an appearance; and avowed +himself such an ardent enthusiast in all matters ancient and +ecclesiastical, and, moreover, substantiated his pretensions to such a +degree, that the old parson declared afterwards he had never had such a +morning of perfect enjoyment in his life. Kent-Lauriston, for it was +none other, exerted himself to interest his _cicerone_, and succeeded +admirably. He possessed that rare gift of developing any topic that +might be suggested by the person to whom he was talking, of making it +his own, and at the same time causing his companion to believe that he +was contributing, in no small part, to the brilliancy of the +conversation. So, more than an hour slipped by, and Kent-Lauriston found +ample opportunity to consult the marriage register unobserved, and to be +much surprised at what he saw there--moreover he learned many things +besides the subject of Norman decoration and Saxon construction--among +the more important of which was the visit of the foreign lady, who +wanted to look up old volumes of the records. + +"I have the honour to be invited to dine at the Hall this evening," said +Mr. Lambert, in parting with Kent-Lauriston. "I shall look forward to +the pleasure of continuing our conversation." + +His visitor bowed, and left him. + +It cannot be said of most of the members of the house party that they +passed the morning as usefully or happily as Kent-Lauriston. In the +Secretary's mind the problem was uppermost, of how to be alone from +breakfast to lunch. He was aided in the accomplishment of his intent by +the connivance of the three ladies whom he was most anxious to avoid. +The Dowager sent him a little note saying that she always spent the +morning in her room, and that her dear Isabelle would be quite free in +consequence. The "dear Isabelle" informed Stanley publicly, that she +should spend the morning in the library, and intimated privately, that +it would be well if he was supposedly with her, and in reality any where +else; while Miss Fitzgerald remarked, that she intended spending the +morning in the park, as she wished to be alone. As a result of these +obvious suggestions, the Secretary followed Lady Isabella into the +library, in full sight of the party at large, and crossing the room, +stepped out of one of the long, low windows on to the lawn, and by means +of a side staircase quietly gained his own apartment, where he spent the +morning in reading and meditation. His reading was confined to a +comprehensive volume on "Locks, Ancient and Modern," by Price, received +that morning from John. His meditations, on the other hand, were on an +entirely different subject. + +The events of the night before, aided by Kent-Lauriston's suggestive +comments, had brought him face to face with a question to which he had +hitherto avoided giving an answer. _Was Miss Fitzgerald a party to the +conspiracy to defeat the treaty?_ He put it to himself in so many words. + +Repugnant as was the task, the Secretary felt that he must, in the +interests of his country, put sentiment aside and face the facts. + +It was not to be supposed because he had made the mistake of taking pity +for love, in the case of the lady, that he was any the less indifferent +to her fate. He still considered himself bound to her, should she ask +the redemption of his promise; he had championed her purity and +innocence in the face of all opposition; and it was inexpressibly +shocking to him to find himself forced to consider even the possibility +of her being connected with such a nefarious transaction. + +Yet he felt it only just to face the evidence against her, and seek to +the best of his ability to rebut it. + +What reasons were there for supposing her to be connected with the plot +to defeat the treaty? He placed them in order of their occurrence. + +1. He had seen her driving with Mr. Riddle on the day after his dinner. + +2. She had denied her acquaintance with Darcy, in his presence, to that +gentleman's wife, though she had since been proven to be very intimate +with him. + +3. She had proposed a game of cards, and suggested Stanley's using an +old letter to score on, which proposal and suggestion had led to the +restoration of the secret instructions to Mr. Riddle. + +4. Kent-Lauriston said she had asked Kingsland to take the chests +containing the money to London. + +5. She had been in the hall late the night before, assisting Darcy to +break open the door. + +This was all the evidence against her. Did it prove that she was a +partner to the plot? + +No, he told himself. It did not. + +Did it prove that she was a dupe of these men? An innocent instrument in +the furtherance of their vile conspiracy? + +He was forced to admit the possibility of this, though he told himself +he knew her too well to believe for an instant that she had any +knowledge of the plot itself, or the desperate game her friends were +playing. It now became his duty to save the Irish girl from the +consequences of her own folly; to open her eyes to the true character of +her friends. He could only do this by proving their complicity. The +destruction of the plot, and her salvation alike, hung on the recovery +of that lost letter, for in the light of the events of the past night, +it seemed fair to assume that this paper had an important bearing on the +conspiracy, and was necessary to its success. + +The money had been sent, the time was short, but Darcy still remained. +Why did he do so, unless it was to attempt a recovery of the document? +It must, then, be of vital importance. + +Having arrived at these conclusions, Stanley found himself committed to +one of two courses of action: either to play the spy on the movements of +his friends, or to effect the opening of the door with the silver nails. +The first was repugnant to his spirit as a gentleman, and he instantly +chose the second, believing that within the portal lay the only real +clue he had so far obtained. This plan also had the added recommendation +of placing in his hand evidence which would not involve the introduction +of Miss Fitzgerald's name in the matter. + +Having thus mapped out his course of action, and finding there was still +an hour before lunch, he descended to the lawn, and made a preliminary +inspection of the exterior walls of the old manor house. It might be +possible to enter in some other way than by the oaken door which +remained so obstinately closed. The building was of stone, and two +stories in height, though most irregular in form, having been added to +and altered during succeeding generations, as suited the taste of the +owner of the period. The north-east end, however, instead of having a +corner, was slightly rounded, and above the level of the roof assumed +the shape of a circular tower, rising some forty feet higher than the +rest of the structure, and surmounted by crumbling battlements. Even an +inexperienced eye might detect that the door with the silver nails gave +entrance to this tower, which Stanley was sure did not assume, in the +lower storey at least, a space commensurate with its diameter above. +Probably the door communicated with a narrow winding stair for the +first, and perhaps the second, floors, the real space of the structure +being contained in the portion which arose detached. This conjecture +could easily be verified by measuring. At the first convenient +opportunity he determined to make these preliminary investigations. It +was said that the tower possessed no windows, and certainly this was the +case, unless they gave on the leads; for, from the ground, it presented +everywhere a blank wall of solid masonry, to which here and there +strands of ivy clung. + +"But they must have got their light from somewhere," he said to himself. +"Perhaps from the roof, in which case there is probably some antique +form of scuttle by which entrance could be had. If one could only get up +there to see--but it's not a likely place for climbing. There should be +the remains of an old flag-staff or cresset, or something of that +nature----" and he walked slowly backwards across the lawn, hoping to +reduce the visual angle sufficiently to see any slight projection above +the battlements, but in vain; and he was about to abandon his backward +course and return to the house, when a soft voice murmured at his +elbow:-- + +"Star-gazing by daylight?" and he turned, to find himself close beside +Madame Darcy. + +"Oh, good-morning," he said, lifting his hat. "I beg your pardon, but I +was trying to discover the remains of some superstructure on those +battlements." + +"Why not go up and see?" + +"That is what many people have wished to do for the last two hundred +years, but the only door of entrance is shut, and no man knows the +secret of the lock." + +"And do you mean to discover it?" + +"I'm afraid it would only be a waste of time, for probably the whole +thing is so disgustingly simple that everyone has overlooked it. +However, the present, as represented by you, is infinitely more +interesting; let the old tower guard the secret it has kept so long; who +wants to know it?" + +"My husband!" she replied. + +"Quite so," said the Secretary. "And that reminds me, I hope you reached +home quite safely last night, and have felt no ill effects from it." + +"None in body," she returned sadly, "but, of course, what I saw could +not but add to my distress of mind. Tell me what happened after I left." + +"Nothing particular," said Stanley. "We all kept our tempers and were +very polite." + +"Then there was no disturbance?" + +"None whatever; the Colonel was quite amenable to reason and went away +quietly." + +"But Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" + +"Oh, he's too much a man of the world not to know when to hold his +tongue." + +"You will not tell your hostess? Promise me that. Badly as he has +treated me, I am still his wife, and his honour is yet mine." + +"I will keep your secret. If he is discovered in the house, someone else +must do it." + +"Oh, you're indeed my friend!" she cried impulsively. "I can never +forget your goodness to me. There are, I'm sure, few men like you in the +world." + +The Secretary flushed under her praise, and disclaiming any inherent +superiority to the other members of his race, hastened to change the +subject by saying:-- + +"Tell me, are you succeeding any better with your proofs against your +husband on another charge?" + +"I've made a discovery this morning which has greatly disturbed me. I do +not know how to act." + +"What have you found?" + +"I've compared the handwriting of the letters I hold, with the +handwriting of the most recent entry in the marriage register of this +church." + +"Good Heavens! It surely can't tally----!" + +"It does, and with the name of the bride." + +The Secretary was simply staggered,--Lady Isabelle--it was impossible on +the face of it. + +"You're mistaken," he said coldly. "Such charges against the lady to +whom you refer are impossible." + +"You know of this marriage then?" + +"Yes--I'm even popularly supposed to be engaged to the bride!" + +"But you are not--tell me you are not." + +"Of course I'm not--I've never had the slightest interest in her, except +as a friend." + +"You relieve me immensely. To lay such charges at the door of one you +loved--to break your heart-- I could not have done it." + +"You could not do it in any event--to a woman of her nature such things +would be impossible. I assure you, it is some grievous mistake." + +She shook her head. + +"Why should my husband be a witness to this secret marriage?" + +"Was he----?" + +"Sh!" she said, "he is coming," and disappeared so silently into the +bushes that she seemed to fade away from his sight. A moment later, the +dry leaves crackled under a man's foot, and Colonel Darcy stood before +him. + +"We have not had our little meeting yet, Mr. Stanley," he said +abruptly. + +"When do you leave this vicinity, Colonel Darcy?" asked the Secretary, +ignoring the other's remark. + +"When you do. Till then I remain here to guard my honour." + +"You surely are not trying to live up to that absurd fable!" + +"Why not, when my wife has this moment left you?" + +"You have sharp eyes, Colonel," replied the Secretary, turning on his +heel, and walking towards the house. + +"I need to have, Mr. Stanley," remarked the other, as he watched him go. + + * * * * * + +"Kent-Lauriston," said the Secretary, when they were alone after lunch, +"affairs have taken a startling turn since I last saw you." + +"I think so myself." + +"Have you been making discoveries?" + +"I don't know that they can be dignified by that name; but tell me of +yours." + +"Madame Darcy assures me that the letters which she holds, and on which +she bases her case against her husband, are in the same handwriting as +the name of Lady Isabelle, in the parish register." + +"Lady Isabelle!" + +"Yes. It's absurd, isn't it?" + +"Perfectly so--you may take my word for it. But do you assure me that +she said 'Lady Isabelle'?" + +"We mentioned no names, of course. She said that the bride's signature +corresponded--it's the same thing." + +"Ah, I see. I think you've made a little mistake about this affair, my +boy. I've seen the register myself." + +"Good Heavens! You don't mean--you can't----!" exclaimed Stanley, a +sickening suspicion dominating his mind. + +"I mean," replied Kent-Lauriston, "that the maiden name of the bride, as +written there, is not Isabelle McLane, but Isabelle Fitzgerald." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +TWO QUESTIONS + + +Kent-Lauriston fully realised that the strong hold which he possessed +over the Secretary rested, more than anything else, on the fact that his +opinions were entirely reliable; and it was most important that +Stanley's confidence in his friend's _dicta_ should remain unimpaired, +if that friend hoped to be able to guide him. Therefore, much as the +Englishman would have liked to voice his suspicions for the Secretary's +benefit, he determined to keep silence till he had full verification of +his conjectures, and for this purpose he sought out Madame Darcy. + +He found her at home, and she welcomed him courteously. + +"Will you think me very presuming," he said, "to have called on you in +the interests of a mutual friend of ours, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Any friend of Mr. Stanley's can claim and receive friendship of me," +she replied, a beautiful light coming over her expressive face, "for he +has done me kindnesses that I can never forget or repay." + +"It is in virtue of that, that I've ventured to intrude myself upon you +this afternoon. You have, like myself, a great interest in his welfare, +I'm sure, and I am come to make common cause with you for his good." + +"You could have come to no one more willing--but will you do me the +honour to accept a seat in the garden, where we can chat more at +leisure." + +"I shall be charmed," he said, and she led the way to a rustic bench, +under the spreading branches of a gnarled, old apple-tree. + +"Our friend makes no secrets of his own affairs from me, you must +understand," Kent-Lauriston began, after assuring himself that they were +alone, "and I imagine, from what he's said, that he's given you some +inkling of his heart troubles." + +"Yes," she said, "he hinted to me in London that he had some affair +under consideration; but I do not think he felt deeply--as he should +have felt. I trust it's not turned out seriously." + +"Not as yet, I'm glad to say--but he's in some danger; and, believe me, +you could not be doing him a greater service, than in helping to ward +off this peril, which would be the ruin of his life." + +"Indeed, yes,--but what means have I?" + +"I believe you have it in your power to prove that the woman who has +bewitched him, is unworthy of his love. Let him realise this and he is +saved." + +"But, surely, you're not alluding to the lady who formed our topic of +conversation this morning?" + +"I fear I am." + +"But Mr. Stanley assured me that she was nothing to him." + +"You were talking at cross purposes, and unintentionally deceiving each +other." + +"How so?" + +"Why, there are two versions of the story of that marriage. The version +Mr. Stanley had been told runs to this effect:--that Lieutenant +Kingsland married Lady Isabelle McLane." + +"But the register----" + +"Says she didn't. I know, I've seen it; but our young friend has not, or +had not when he last saw you." + +"Then he thought I was referring to Lady Isabelle?" + +"Exactly. No names were mentioned, he told me." + +"True--but this is most unfortunate! Do you see my position?" + +"Believe me, I'm fully informed on the matter, so that I'll not put you +to the pain of relating it." + +She bowed her silent thanks, and then continued:-- + +"The fact of this lady's marriage ties my hands. Deeply as she has +wronged me, have I any right to ruin her husband's life by her exposure? +If she has reformed----" + +"My dear Madame Darcy, pray disabuse your mind of two misconceptions: +the lady in question, Miss Fitzgerald, has not reformed, and I doubt if +the marriage is legal. There's some trick about it." + +"What you've told me leaves me free to act where my own honour is +concerned; but I naturally feel a delicacy about interfering in Mr. +Stanley's private affairs." + +"Believe me, I fully appreciate your hesitation; but that there may be +no misunderstanding between us regarding this important matter, let me +tell you something of my friend's present position. I ask you to accept +my word for it, that he's not as yet bound himself to Miss Fitzgerald; +but his high sense of honour may lead him to do so, if he knows nothing +definite against her." + +"I see, and you want me to show him these letters?" and she took a +little packet from her bosom. + +"No, I wouldn't subject you to such a trying ordeal. I ask you to let me +show the letters to him. Remember that you've told him that you have +them." + +"Yes," she said, after a moment's hesitation. "I think you're right. You +assure me that he does not love her, and that there's positive danger +that he may marry her from a sense of duty." + +"I assure you that such is the case." + +"Then take them," she said, giving him the letters; "but promise me that +no one besides yourselves shall see them, and that they shall be safely +returned to me by to-morrow." + +"I promise," he replied, "and take my assurance that in doing this +you've more than repaid him for any services he may have done you." + +"You cannot persuade me to believe that; but I'm thankful to help where +I'm able, though it be only a little, and I am even more thankful that +he has such a strong champion in you." + +Kent-Lauriston took her extended hand. + +"Thank you," he said heartily. "Stanley's a good fellow; too good and +too unsophisticated for the people he's thrown with, and I'm going to +save him from himself if I can, both now and in the future." + +She looked up at him with a wistful light in her eyes, saying: + +"Perhaps you'll be wishing to save him from me--who've already one +husband too many." + +"I don't know," replied Kent-Lauriston, with an English bluntness, of +which he was not often culpable. + +She laughed merrily, answering: + +"I hope you'll do so, if ever I give you cause." + +"Madame," he returned, "what can I do? You've disarmed me, even before +the first skirmish." + + * * * * * + +The feelings of Stanley on looking at the marriage register were +difficult to describe. In the first shock of the discovery his brain +whirled. The mystery had become a maze, and he felt the imperative need +of a solution of the subject to steady his mind. Accordingly, he had +that evening a fixed purpose in view, which dominated all matters of the +moment; and though at dinner he talked about something, he knew not +what, during the greater part of the meal his eyes and thoughts were +almost continually on the amiable blundering, little old pastor, whom he +had marked out as his prey. When the ladies left the table, and the men +adjourned to the smoking-room, he never lost sight of him; but the +dominie, as if warned by some instinct, contrived to slip out of the +Secretary's grasp, to elude him in corners, and, smiling, vanquish him +in every attempt at an interview. At last, however, the opportunity +came--a move was made to the drawing-room. In a fatal moment, the parson +lingered for one last whiff of his half-smoked and regretfully +relinquished cigar, and the Secretary saw, with a sigh of relief, the +last coat-tail vanish through the door, which he softly closed. + +The click of the latch brought the Reverend Reginald back to the present +with an uncomfortable start. + +"Oh," he cried, tumbling out of his chair, "I didn't see the others had +got away so quickly. Very kind of you to wait for me, I'm sure--very--we +must lose no time in joining the ladies, must we, eh?" + +"Only a little, a very little time, Mr. Lambert," replied the Secretary, +leaning squarely against the closed door, which formed the sole exit +from the room. "Just long enough to ask you one question." + +"Really, I'm sure," said the little man, becoming flustered. "Another +time perhaps-- I should have the greatest pleasure----" + +"You have, I know, performed the marriage ceremony in the last few +days," began Stanley calmly. + +"To be sure--yes, certainly--but this--permit me to suggest, is hardly +the place to discuss my parochial duties." + +"Of course anyone married from this house would have to be married by +you." + +"I'm in charge of this living, Mr. Stanley, there is no one else." + +"I know that, and also that your nearest colleague--excuse me if I use a +professional term--is some distance off." + +"Fifteen miles. And now that I've answered all of your questions, let us +waste no more time before joining the ladies." + +"Excuse me, Mr. Lambert, but I've not as yet asked you a question. I've +made a number of statements, and you've furnished me with a good deal of +gratuitous information, for which I'm deeply obliged. We now come to the +pith of the whole matter, which is simply this. Did you, or did you not, +marry Lady Isabelle McLane to Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"What! The lady to whom you're engaged?" + +"Could I be engaged to a married woman, Mr. Lambert?" + +"My dear sir, you may take my word for it, I did not. I shouldn't think +of such a thing. Let me assure you on the honour of my sacred office, +that Lady Isabelle is not, and cannot be married to Lieutenant +Kingsland." + +"Ah, then Kingsland _is_ married." + +The parson caught his breath in his relief at the escape from the +dreaded question, which he had supposed was inevitable. He had been too +confidential. + +"I did not say so, sir," he replied with dignity. + +"Quite true, Mr. Lambert, you did not say so," persisted his tormentor, +opening the door, "and so I suppose you'd prefer not to have me ask if +you married Miss Fitzgerald to Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"I would certainly prefer not to answer that question, and now I must +really go upstairs;" and without waiting for further parley, the little +man scuttled out of the room. + +Stanley was preparing to follow him at his leisure, when the door +opened, and Kent-Lauriston entered. + +"Kent-Lauriston!" he exclaimed. "You're the very man I want! I must +speak with you!" + +"I know it," replied his friend, "but not before I've had my smoke." + +"But this matter admits of no delay." + +"Oh yes, it does. That's one of the fallacies of modern civilisation. +Every important question _admits_ of delay, and most matters are all the +better for it." + +"But I've seen the register!" + +"Of course you have, but you haven't seen a deduction that is as plain +as the nose on your face, or you wouldn't now be trying to ruin my +digestion. I'll meet you here at ten o'clock this evening and then, and +not an instant sooner, will I discuss your private affairs." + +"You English are so irritatingly slow!" + +"My dear fellow, we've made our history--you're making yours. You can't +afford to miss a few days; we can easily spare a few centuries. Now be a +good boy, and leave me to peace and tobacco. Join the ladies, and pay a +little attention to one of your _fiancees_." + +So it was that Stanley found himself relegated to the drawing-room, and +feeling decidedly upset, he good-naturedly determined to see what he +could do towards upsetting the equanimity of the rest of the party. In +this, however, he was partially forestalled by the good parson, who had +not been wasting the few minutes of grace, which the Secretary's +conversation with Kent-Lauriston had allotted to him. + +No sooner had Mr. Lambert entered the drawing-room, than he sought out +Miss Fitzgerald, and confided to her an astonishing discovery he had +made in the church register. + +"Most careless of me, I assure you," he apologised. "I should have +noticed of course--people often make nervous mistakes at times like +those; but it was not till this morning that I discovered that Lady +Isabelle had written her name in the space reserved for the bride, and +you in the space reserved for the witness." + +"Well?" asked Miss Fitzgerald, her voice ringing hard and cold as steel. + +"Oh, it's all right, my dear," the old man quavered on. "Quite all +right, I corrected it myself. I can do a neat bit of work still, even if +my hands do tremble a little. I cut out the names, reversed them, and +put them back in their proper places, and I'd defy any but an expert to +see that they'd been tampered with. I'm sure that none of the people +who've seen the book since suspected the change." + +"Who has seen the book?" she asked, frozen with horror. + +"After I corrected the register?" + +"Yes! Yes! Who?" + +"Dear me--let me see! That was this morning. Now who was there? Ah!--I +remember. A strange lady in black, very beautiful, and Mr. +Kent-Lauriston." + +Miss Fitzgerald shuddered. + +"Dear, dear!" cried the parson. "You're cold--the draught from the +window--let me get you a wrap." + +"No, no, I'm quite warm, thank you. You're sure that no one else saw the +register?" + +"No one--except Mr. Stanley." + +"You must excuse me, Mr. Lambert," she said. "I'm not feeling very +well." + +"You are faint? Is there nothing I can do for you?" + +"Nothing more, thank you," and she swept past him across the room, to +where Lady Isabelle was seated on a sofa. + +"Nothing more," murmured the little man, after she had left him; "but I +hadn't begun to do anything; and she seemed quite faint. Dear, dear, +she looks strong, but to be so easily upset, I fear something must be +wrong--my daughter was never like that," and, shaking his head, he went +to join the Dowager, who had a _penchant_ for the clergy. + +"You've heard nothing from your husband?" asked Miss Fitzgerald of Lady +Isabelle, as she seated herself beside her. + +"Nothing beyond a telegram telling me of his safe arrival in London." + +"But surely his uncle was _in extremis_. He cannot live long." + +"I do not know," she replied, "but it's very awkward. Oh, why won't you +let me tell Mr. Stanley the truth?" + +"Sh! He's coming," murmured Miss Fitzgerald, and, indeed, the Secretary +was advancing deliberately towards them; a thing suggestive in itself, +considering how he had striven to avoid them all day long. + +"Miss Fitzgerald," he said very quietly, as he stood before them, "will +you permit me to ask you a question?" + +"If it's a proper question to ask, Mr. Stanley." + +"It is eminently proper and fitting," he replied, coldly. + +"Would you rather that I went?" suggested Lady Isabelle, half rising. + +"I would rather you stayed." + +"Don't be so dreadfully mysterious, Jimsy!" cried Miss Fitzgerald, with +a forced laugh that grated on the ears of both her hearers. "Out with +your dreadful question. What is it?" + +"It is this," he replied. "Are you Jack Kingsland's wife?" + +For a moment there was absolute silence. The Secretary stood looking +straight in the face of the Irish girl, without moving a muscle. Lady +Isabelle gave a smothered exclamation, and gripped her companion's wrist +with all her force, flushing red as she did so. Miss Fitzgerald bit her +lip, and stared hard at Stanley for the fraction of a minute; then, +breaking into her hard metallic laugh, she cried: + +"Why, you foolish boy! What can you be thinking of?" + +"You've not answered my question," he replied. + +"Why, what is there to answer?" + +"I ask you-- Are you Lieutenant Kingsland's wife?" he repeated +harshly--betraying the first sign of temper he had so far evinced, which +Miss Fitzgerald saw and was quick to profit by. Whatever was +coming--there was, in Lady Isabelle's presence, but one course open to +her--she looked her accuser boldly in the face and said: + +"No, I'm not Lieutenant Kingsland's wife." + +"You are quite sure of what you are saying?" + +"I repeat, I am not his wife. I have not married him, put it how you +please. Do you doubt my word? If you're so anxious to know whom +Lieutenant Kingsland married, ask your _fiancee_, Lady Isabelle; perhaps +she can tell you." + +"It's not necessary to ask Lady Isabelle if she is Lieutenant +Kingsland's wife--because----" + +"Because she has already told you so," broke in Miss Fitzgerald. + +"Because," continued Stanley, in the same colourless, dogged tone, +"because Mr. Lambert, the one person who could have made Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle man and wife, has solemnly assured me that he did not +perform the marriage ceremony between them----" and he turned on his +heel and left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +IN WHICH DEATH IS A RELIEF + + +After Stanley had left them, Isabelle Kingsland and Isabelle Fitzgerald +sat silent for a while, looking into each other's faces, the brain of +each throbbing with a tumult of agitating thoughts. The Englishwoman +voicing to herself a subtle suggestion of coming evil, which had been +omnipresent since her marriage day, an instinctive presentiment that all +was not well: the Irish girl feeling strongly irritated at this last of +the many annoying _contretemps_ of the week; and smarting under a sense +of injustice that, when she had merely practised a little harmless +deception for a friend's sake, that friend should leave the field and +the eminently disagreeable explanations to her. + +She vented her feelings by a shrug of the shoulders, which broke the +tension of the silence. + +"Tell me--on your honour, tell me," cried Lady Isabelle, "that he did +not speak the truth; that I am married to Lieutenant Kingsland!" + +"Of course you're married to Lieutenant Kingsland," replied Miss +Fitzgerald, with a little sigh of resignation. "You read your licence, +didn't you?" + +"Yes. But----" + +"But that's quite sufficient--and there's no occasion for a scene." + +"It's not sufficient, not nearly sufficient--there's something that's +being kept back from me, and I want to know the truth!" and Lady +Isabelle rose, becoming quite queenly in her indignant agitation. + +"I've been uneasy from the first about my marriage," she continued, +"because it was not open as I should have wished. I knew there was some +mystery about it. My husband admitted as much to me from the first, and +he did not need to tell me that you were the prime mover in the affair. +It is my right to know the truth." + +"The assertion of people's rights is responsible for most of the wrong +done in the world. Did your husband counsel you to insult his best +friend?" + +"He didn't wish me to speak to you on the subject, but I've determined +to take matters into my own hands. In the face of Mr. Stanley's charges, +I must know the truth." + +"You had better obey your husband." + +"I'm responsible to him for that matter, not to you, Miss Fitzgerald. +Now tell me, what did Mr. Stanley mean?" + +"He meant what he said." + +"But how could Mr. Lambert have told him an untruth?" + +"Mr. Lambert told him what he believed to be the truth; and that was, +that he had not married you and Jack--Lieutenant Kingsland, I mean." + +"Was that all he told him?" + +"I should think it highly probable that he added that he had married +your husband to me." + +"My husband to you!" + +"I told you we'd better let this matter alone." + +In a second Lady Isabelle's hands were on Miss Fitzgerald's shoulders, +and her eyes blazed into the eyes of the Irish girl. + +"The truth, woman, the truth! Is he my husband?" + +"Yes." + +"Then why does Mr. Lambert----?" + +"Because he believes that I was the bride." + +"Did you tell him so?" + +"No, but when I went to make the arrangements he blundered into the +mistake--and--well, I didn't take the trouble to correct him." + +"You dared!" + +"Yes," she replied. "I'd do a good deal for Jack--we used to care for +each other once." + +Her Ladyship's eyes flashed dangerously, and Miss Fitzgerald hastened to +add: + +"Of course that was all over long ago--I know Jack too well." + +"How dared you do it?" asked her accuser again. + +"It was risky, but our names were the same, and he's half blind and +somewhat deaf, and in his dotage. The chances of escaping detection were +good, as the event has proved." + +"How dared you do it?" + +"Of course it wasn't my affair whether Jack told you or not. It was +legal and that's the main thing." + +"How dared you do it?" + +"You needn't be so nasty about it; it was merely to be obliging. If you +think it amusing to be a dummy bride----" + +"Be silent!" + +The two women stood facing each other, breathing hard, as though resting +from physical combat; the face of one expressing infinite contempt, of +the other infinite anger. At this juncture a servant brought a telegram +to Lady Isabelle. + +Thankful for the relief from an awkward pause, she tore it open, and her +face lit up as she read its message. + + "Still in London. Uncle died this morning, leaving me his + heir. As preliminaries take some time to arrange, am + returning to you to-morrow. + + "JACK." + +"There!" she said, showing it to her antagonist. "I suppose it's wicked +to rejoice in any one's death; but it's a great relief, for it gives me +back my husband--and he shall defend me from you!" + +"I don't think your husband will be down on me." + +"He'll proclaim the truth about our marriage. It should never have been +concealed, least of all by dishonourable means." + +"You forget yourself, Lady Isabelle." + +"I remember what is due my position, and so will Mr. Lambert, when he +hears how grossly you've deceived him." + +"You mustn't tell him." + +"It will not be necessary. I've only to ask him to look at the marriage +register. That will bear witness to the truth, I know; for I signed in +the proper place for the bride." + +Miss Fitzgerald drew a quick, sharp breath. She had trusted to be spared +this last confession. + +"The register has been changed," she said. + +"Who has done this?" + +"Mr. Lambert, supposing there had been a mistake." + +"Then Mr. Lambert will change it back again, to-morrow morning!" + +"You mustn't speak to him of this." + +"I'll speak to him to-night." + +"No." + +"You've no right to interfere. You've no right to do anything, but +apologise to me for the great wrong you've done me!" + +"I forbid you to apprise Mr. Lambert of the true state of affairs till +your husband returns to-morrow!" + +"I've told you I shall see him to-night." + +"I forbid you, in your husband's interests." + +"You are insolent." + +"I'm in a position to be anything I choose." + +"Why?" + +"Because I have your husband in my power." + +"I do not believe it!" + +"If I choose to make public," she said, laughing insolently, "the manner +in which your husband is spending his time in London, I could have him +cashiered from the navy." + +Lady Isabelle drew herself up, and gave her adversary a look of +unutterable scorn and contempt, saying:-- + +"You will probably circulate any falsehood about my husband that you +please; it will simply prove to others, as it proves to me, that you +still _do_ love him, and that when he knew your true character he left +you," and turning from her astonished and indignant rival, she quietly +crossed the length of the drawing-room, to where the Dowager and the +parson were seated. + +"Mother," she said, "would you think me very rude if I asked for Mr. +Lambert's company for a few moments? I want to have a serious talk with +him." + +"Not at all, my dear. Just take my place. I promised to show Mrs. +Roberts a new embroidery stitch," replied the Dowager, acquiescing +joyfully in the proposal. + +Satisfactory on the whole as her child's training had been, on the point +of her religious convictions, the Marchioness had occasionally felt some +disturbing suspicions. I do not mean that Lady Isabelle was not firmly +grounded in her belief of the thirty-nine articles; indeed, she was, if +anything, a trifle too orthodox for her day and generation; but the +Dowager knew to her cost that missions were a tabooed subject. Her +daughter had even refused to _slum_ with the Viscountess +Thistledown, and worse than all, charity bazaars, though patronised by +Royalty, were her pet aversions. To the Marchioness, who no longer "sold +well," and whose ambition was to see Lady Isabelle tethered in the next +stall to a Princess, such heresies were naturally repugnant. Mr. Lambert +was very strong on all these points, and had just been suggesting to her +a scheme of his own, to raise money for a worthy object, conceived on +principles that would have put the authorities of Monte Carlo to the +blush. So she patted her daughter's hand, established her in her own +place, and murmuring that she was glad Isabelle felt the need of advice, +and that she might safely rely on "dear Mr. Lambert's wisdom +and--er--commonsense," betook herself to Kensington stitch and a remote +corner. + +But her daughter's confidences admitted of no publicity. + +"Suppose we go to the conservatory, Mr. Lambert," she suggested, "we're +quite sure of finding it unoccupied at this hour, and I've a confession +to make." + +"Certainly, my dear, certainly," he replied, following her in the +direction she suggested. "Though I'm sure," he added, "that Lady +Isabelle would have done nothing which she would not be willing that +anybody should know, if need were." + +"I hope not," she answered, and a moment later they were alone. + +"Come now," he said, "what is this terrible confession; not so great a +sin, I'm sure, that we cannot easily find a way for pardon or +reformation." + +"There's no sin to discuss," she replied, "at least, none that I've +committed, unless unconscious participation is a crime. I want to speak +to you about my marriage." + +"Ah, yes; with Mr. Stanley--a most desirable arrangement, I've been +given to understand." + +"No--not with Mr. Stanley--I'm speaking of my marriage with Lieutenant +Kingsland." + +"But, my dear young lady, that's impossible. Lieutenant Kingsland is +already married." + +"Yes, he's married to me." + +"To you? What? How can he be?" + +"Because you married him to me two days ago. + +"Nothing of the sort," cried the old man in irritated bewilderment. "I +married him to Miss Fitzgerald." + +"You married him to me, Mr. Lambert." + +"But I ought to know best whom I married, and to whom, Lady Isabelle." + +"You ought certainly; but, in this case, it seems you do not." + +"But Miss Fitzgerald said----" + +"Ah, that's just the point. What did Miss Fitzgerald say?" + +"Really, I can't remember the conversation, word for word; she came to +make the arrangements, and I inferred----" + +"Did she say that she was going to marry Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"She certainly gave me the impression that such was the case." + +"But did she actually _say_ so?" + +The old man was lost in thought for a moment, striving to recall some +direct admission, but at length shook his head sadly, saying:-- + +"No. I can't remember that she did, in so many words; but she led me to +suppose----" + +"You've _inferred_; you've been _given the impression_; you've been _led +to suppose_, Mr. Lambert, what did not exist. I have, however, held in +my hand and carefully examined the special licence under which you +performed the ceremony, and which was drawn for a marriage between +Lieutenant Kingsland and myself. I was the bride whom you married; it +was I who repeated the vows which you gave _me_; my name is Isabelle, +also, remember, and it was I who signed that name as 'bride' in your +register, where it should be now, if you had not changed it." + +"Bless my soul! This is most bewildering! You say I married you to +Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"Yes, Mr. Lambert, you did, and Miss Fitzgerald and Colonel Darcy were +the witnesses." + +"But this is a serious matter, a very serious matter, Lady Isabelle. +This wedding seems to have been performed under false pretences." + +"I imagine you would not find it difficult to prove that, Mr. Lambert; +but before we discuss the matter farther, I want first to right myself +in your eyes, to assure you earnestly and honestly that I was no party +to this deception, that I did not know till this evening, till just now +indeed, that you were not perfectly cognisant of all the facts. I was +informed at the time that all arrangements had been made with you, and I +believed of course that you knew everything. I was also told that I must +be heavily veiled as, owing to the proximity of the early service, I +might otherwise be seen; the signing in the vestry was hurried over as +you know, and it was only when, in response to a statement of Mr. +Stanley's, I made inquiries, that I discovered the truth. You believe +me, do you not, Mr. Lambert?" + +"Of course, my dear. I must believe you since you give me your word for +it." + +"Then set my mind at rest. Tell me this marriage was not illegal." + +"I think you may be easy on that score. The licence and the signatures +were regular; all the requirements were complied with; and the +principals, or you at least, acted in good faith; but the affair is most +unfortunate." + +"You will be glad to learn that any objection which my mother might have +had to my husband has now been removed." + +"I do not know what Lady Port Arthur will think of my part in this +deplorable matter, certainly very little consideration or courtesy has +been shown me," said the poor old man, to whom the Dowager's wrath was a +very terrible thing. + +"Have no apprehensions, Mr. Lambert, my mother shall know the truth of +this matter, and where the blame rests." + +"Then you really think that Miss Fitzgerald----?" + +"I'm sure of it, Mr. Lambert. She has confessed to me, that if she did +not actually say to you that she was going to marry Lieutenant +Kingsland, she purposely allowed you to believe the same; and then +assured my husband, whom I believe to be as innocent in the matter as I +am, that your consent had been gained, and all arrangements made." + +The old parson sat down on a rustic seat beside an elaborately natural, +sheet-iron water-fall, seemingly quite crushed by the blow. But the +spirit of the church militant was strong within him, and he was filled +with righteous anger at his unmerited treatment; so taking his +companion's hand, he rose presently, saying:-- + +"Come. Let us go to your mother and tell her the truth; we owe it to her +and to ourselves." + +"To-morrow, Mr. Lambert--pray wait till to-morrow." + +The preacher's face hardened; he was in no mood for leniency. + +"We have delayed too long already," he said, and took a step forward. + +"Believe me," she replied, laying her hand on his arm, "I do not ask it +from weakness, but my husband returns to-morrow, and thanks to an +inheritance from an uncle who died to-day, comes back a rich man, able +to support a wife. When my mother knows this, she will receive our news +very differently. See," and she handed him the telegram. + +"I will wait till your husband returns to speak to your mother," he +replied, "but as for that unhappy girl--if it is not too late to turn +her steps to the right path--I will spare no pains to bring her to a +realisation of what she has done. For this, no time is like the +present--no time too soon." + +"I hope you may succeed," said Lady Isabelle, "but I fear you'll find +her much worse than you imagine. However, I do not wish to discourage +you." + +"I'm not easy to discourage in any good work, I trust, Lady Isabelle +Kingsland." + +She started, as her new name was pronounced, and laying a detaining hand +upon him, as he would have left her, said, her voice breaking:-- + +"Forgive me, Mr. Lambert. Say you forgive me." + +"My poor child," he said sadly, placing one hand on her bowed head. "My +poor child, you are too much in need of forgiveness from others for me +to withhold mine. It is yours freely; but promise me that you'll show +your appreciation of it by coming to me in all your troubles." + +She seized his other hand in both of hers, and kissing it, burst into +tears. + +"And now," he said sternly, "I will seek out that miserable girl." + +But Miss Fitzgerald, dreading the tempest, had sought the haven of her +own room. + +She was not a picture of contrite repentance as she stood by the open +window, looking out into the night. + +"Fools all!" she mused. "So I am to blame--it is all my fault!" + +An amused sneer played about her lips. + +"Ah me! After all it is our faults that make life interesting to us--or +us interesting to others," and she tossed away her half-smoked cigarette +with a shrug. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +TWO LETTERS + + +Precisely as the clock struck ten, Kent-Lauriston entered the +smoking-room to find it in sole possession of Stanley, who stood leaning +against the mantelpiece, lost in thought--a cigar, long ago gone out, +hanging listlessly between his fingers. + +"I'm afraid I'm late," said his genial adviser, glancing at the clock, +"but I was just finishing a game of cribbage with Mr. Riddle." + +"I don't envy you his society," growled the Secretary, whose temper was +not improved by recent experiences. + +"You misjudge him," replied Kent-Lauriston. "He's a very good fellow, in +more senses of the word than one--he's just given Mr. Lambert a thumping +big cheque, for the restoration of his little church." + +"And made you the recipient of the fact of his generosity?" + +"Far from it; our gossiping little parson did that, in direct violation +of a pledge of secrecy; for Riddle never wishes his good works to be +known--he's not that kind." + +"I consider him a hypocrite," replied Stanley shortly. + +"Then you do him a great injustice, my dear boy; and allow me to say, +you'll never make a good diplomat till you've arrived at a better +knowledge of human nature; it's the keystone of the profession. But, to +change the subject, how have you been spending the evening?" + +"Oh, making a fool of myself, as usual." + +"So I suppose. What particular method did you adopt this time?" + +"First, I chivied our amiable parson from pillar to post, in this very +room, till I'd forced the admission of an important fact from him, and +the practical admission of another." + +"And then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "you went and tried the effect of +your statements on the young ladies." + +"I believe you're equipped with X-rays instead of eyes, Kent-Lauriston, +for you were smoking down here and couldn't have seen me!" + +"No, but I saw the ladies--afterwards." + +"To speak to?" + +"Oh, no. One of them at least has a rooted aversion to me. I know too +much." + +"What were they doing?" + +"Pulling each other's hair out, I should judge, or its equivalent in +polite society. What did you learn from the parson?" + +"That he had not married Kingsland to Lady Isabelle; that Kingsland had +been married to somebody; and a refusal to say that that somebody was +Miss Fitzgerald, which was tantamount to an admission of the fact." + +"Exactly, and what did you say to the young ladies?" + +"I asked Miss Fitzgerald if she was Lieutenant Kingsland's wife?" + +"And she denied it?" + +"Absolutely." + +"What else?" + +"I charged Lady Isabelle with not having married Kingsland." + +"And what was her answer?" + +"I didn't wait to receive it." + +"Had you done so, she would have denied it likewise." + +"You think so?" + +"I am certain of it, and, if it's any satisfaction to you, I can tell +you that by your action you ensured Miss Fitzgerald one of the worst +quarters of an hour at her Ladyship's hands that she is likely to +experience for a very long time." + +"But Mr. Lambert assured me solemnly, that he did not perform the +ceremony between Lady Isabelle and the Lieutenant." + +"He was quite right in doing so." + +"But they can't all be right!" + +"My dear fellow," said Kent-Lauriston, "it is very seldom, in this +complex age, that anyone is wholly right or wholly wrong. All these +people, except Miss Fitzgerald, know a part of the truth, and have +spoken honestly according to their lights. She alone knows it all, and, +believe me, she is much too clever to tell a lie on so important a +point. If she told you she was not married to Lieutenant Kingsland, you +may implicitly believe her." + +"Do you know that it is the truth?" + +"Yes, because I telegraphed to the man who has charge of the issue of +special licences, and have received a line from him, to the effect that +one has been issued in the last few days, for Lieutenant Kingsland and +Lady Isabelle McLane." + +"Then you convict Mr. Lambert of deception?" + +"Not at all. If he told you he had not married Lady Isabelle to the +Lieutenant, he told you what he believed to be the truth." + +"But is it possible that he could have married them without knowing it?" + +"It seems that it was possible." + +"How could he make such a mistake?" + +"A man who never makes a mistake makes little or nothing in this world." + +"And Miss Fitzgerald signed in the place of the bride, to divert +suspicion?" + +"It seems impossible to suppose that she would commit herself in that +way," said Kent-Lauriston. + +"But the register proves that she did," reported Stanley. + +"Ye-es. It rather savours of the paradox. Perhaps we'd better content +ourselves with the facts that Lady Isabelle did marry Kingsland, and +Miss Fitzgerald did not. How it was accomplished does not immediately +concern us, and, as I fear no very creditable means were used, we'd +better not try to find out what they were, especially as we've more +serious matters to consider." + +"You mean----" + +"I mean the charge unconsciously made by Madame Darcy." + +"I feared you were going to speak of that." + +"True, it is an unpleasant business; but you must remember that you owe +it to Miss Fitzgerald to ask her for a definite answer, or to give her +some explanation for declining to do so." + +"You think there's no escape from it?" + +"None that a gentleman can take." + +"What do you advise me to do?" + +"Find out where you stand in the first place." + +"How I stand?" + +"Yes. At least one serious charge has been made against the woman whom +you propose to make your wife. If true--for your own sake, for your +father's sake, you must surrender her. If false, you are equally bound, +by honour and chivalry, to disprove it." + +"How can I do this?" + +"The charge to which I refer is based on the direct evidence of certain +letters. See them, and judge for yourself." + +"That is easier said than done." + +"Here they are," replied Kent-Lauriston, handing him a little packet. + +"You have seen Madame Darcy?" + +"Yes." + +"And she has given you these letters, knowing they would be shown to +me?" + +"Yes, on my representation, that if they substantiated her charges, she +would be doing you the greatest kindness in her power." + +Stanley bowed, and opened the little packet. For a few moments there was +silence in the room, broken only by the occasional crackle of paper, as +he turned a page. Most of the dozen or so documents he read through +quickly, and laid upon the table at his side. A couple he re-read +several times. Finally he looked up, saying simply:-- + +"You've read these letters?" + +"Yes. I was given permission to do so." + +"What do you think of them?" + +"Two of them are suggestive." + +"The two most recent?" + +"Yes, they bear dates, you will observe, within the last three days." + +"And the others----?" + +"The others merely show the existence of some relationship between +Colonel Darcy and Miss Fitzgerald, which they wished kept secret. I +don't remember the exact wording. There's a letter which she writes from +London to him at his home, begging him to come to town and 'leave his +tiresome wife,' as they have 'matters of more importance' to attend to; +and again she writes that she cannot meet him at 5 P. M., 'because she +must account for her time to her "dragon,"'--alluding, I infer, to her +aunt--but that he must manage to 'meet her accidentally and take her +down to supper' at a party she is attending that night, 'so as not to +arouse suspicion.'" + +"All this proves nothing." + +"Perhaps not--but the extracts are significant. Now take the two most +recent." + +"They were written from here. How were they obtained?" + +"That doesn't concern us if they are genuine." + +"One is certainly in Miss Fitzgerald's hand." + +"The other was evidently torn from Darcy's letter-book. Read it." + +Stanley did so, with evident effort. + + "DEAREST BELLE: + + "I did not know, till after I had seen you the other + night----" + +"The night you proposed," interjected Kent-Lauriston. + +The Secretary nodded, and resumed his reading. + + "--the other night, how cleverly you got my letter out of + the Secretary's clutches. It quite retrieves your losing it + at the Hyde Park Club, and now I have lost it under the + secret door in the Hall, as you will probably have heard. If + A. R. cannot get a duplicate, which is doubtful, the door + must be opened. + + "I have entrusted you with all I hold most dear. You know + what that is. If my plans go well, it will mean a happy + future for us both. + + "Your affectionate old + "BOB." + +"Now read the other," commanded Kent-Lauriston; and, sick at heart, the +Secretary complied: + + "YOU OLD STUPID: + + "Is the report really true that you have lost that letter + under the secret door? There is no time to duplicate it, so + it must be recovered. Why didn't you write and tell me you + had lost it?----" + +"But he did," commented the reader. + +"Both letters were intercepted before delivery, I imagine," said +Kent-Lauriston, "but finish the note." + + "--Do not try to see me again," read Stanley; "it might + arouse suspicion, and you know how necessary it is for me to + play the role of the innocent. I am more afraid of Inez than + anyone else. I am sure she suspects there is something + between us. There is no danger in Little Diplomacy; he is + young enough to believe he knows everything, and that is a + great safeguard. I have found a trusty messenger for our + affairs in Jack Kingsland. + + "As ever, + "BELLE." + +The Secretary stopped reading; his throat was very dry. He took a glass +of Apollinaris, and then said:-- + +"These letters are not incriminating--in the way _you_ mean." + +"No, perhaps not in so many words; but you must ask yourself two +questions concerning them. Are they letters that an honourable or +refined woman would write to or receive from a married man, at any time, +and particularly when she herself was practically engaged?" + +"May I ask to what you imagine Darcy's expression, 'all I hold most +dear,' refers?" + +"Oh, his heart, or his love, or some such sentimental rubbish." + +"So I supposed; it hasn't occurred to you to take it in a more literal +sense?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, say that all he holds most dear refers to the five chests of +sovereigns." + +"You believe this?" + +"I know it to be so--and have known it all along--the fact that I tell +you confidentially, that I'm acting under secret instructions in this +matter, will, I'm sure, suffice not only to seal your lips, but to make +you understand that, for the present, you must be contented not to know +more." + +Kent-Lauriston nodded. + +"You'll see, then," continued the Secretary, "that what you supposed was +an intrigue turns out to be--shall we say--a commercial transaction." + +Kent-Lauriston shrugged his shoulders, remarking:-- + +"I'd better return the letters to Madame Darcy at once then?" + +"No, leave that to me, I shall ask her to let me keep them, if she +will; they may be useful--as evidence." + +"But, surely, any woman who could connect herself with so dishonourable +an affair, as I imagine this to be, is no fit wife for you. Give me your +word you'll break with her once and for all." + +"I've sources of information about Darcy which, as I have said before, +I'm not at liberty to reveal, but forty-eight hours may loose my tongue. +If I could tell Miss Fitzgerald what I know, she might throw him over +even now, for I still hope she's only his dupe. Give me two days to +prove her innocent; if I fail--I'll do what you please." + +Kent-Lauriston reluctantly acquiesced, and Stanley, putting the +incriminating letters carefully in an inside pocket, bade him +good-night, and left the smoking-room. In the hall he met Lady Isabelle. + +"I don't know what you'll think of me for coming to you, Mr. Stanley," +she said, "after what has passed this evening." + +"I think myself an infernal ass, for I've found out the truth of the +matter since I left you, and I think you're very good to overlook it, +and very condescending to speak to me at all." + +"Do not let us talk of that," she said. + +"Agreed," he replied. "Only permit me to say, I'd the parson's solemn +assurance that he'd not married you, and, however unadvisedly I may have +spoken, I spoke in good faith." + +"I quite understand," she returned. "But now you know the truth." + +"I do, and I'm very much ashamed of myself." + +She smiled, a trifle sadly, and changed the subject abruptly, saying:-- + +"I've come to ask you a great favour. In the face of the past I almost +hesitate to do so, but there's no one else to whom I can turn--and +so----" + +"Anything I can do----" he began. + +"I only want to ask you a question." + +"Only a question!" + +"Yet, I hesitate to ask even that--because it concerns a lady in whom +you're interested." + +"Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"Yes." + +"You need have no hesitation," he said coldly. + +"I'm sure you will not misunderstand me," she continued. + +He bowed silently. + +"After you left us, I questioned Miss Fitzgerald about the part she'd +played in my marriage." + +Stanley nodded. + +"You can understand that I was very angry. Whose feelings would not have +been outraged at discovering that they'd been so played upon? I'm sure +that my husband was as innocent of the deception as I." + +She paused a second, but the Secretary did not speak, and she continued, +afraid, perhaps, that he might say something to overthrow her theory. + +"I dare say I forgot myself--in fact I'm sure I did--and said things +that I now regret; but in the heat of the argument she taunted me with +the fact that she had it in her power to have my husband cashiered from +the navy, if she chose to tell what she knew. Is this true?" + +"Did she specify what he'd done?" asked Stanley, the horrid suspicion +that Belle was not innocent once more reasserting itself with increased +force. + +"No, but she said it was something he'd done in London, during his +present absence." + +"My God!" murmured the Secretary, as the full force and meaning of this +avowal became apparent to him, and he saw that Belle must be fully +cognisant of the plot. + +"Don't tell me it's true!" cried Lady Isabelle. + +"I'm afraid it is," he replied. + +"But that my husband could be guilty of----" + +"I didn't say that," he interjected. "He may be merely an innocent +instrument; but he might have difficulty in proving it, if the charges +were made." + +"But what are the charges?" + +"Ah! That you must not ask me." + +"You know?" + +"Perhaps, but you must be content to be sure that, had I the right to +tell you, I would do so." + +"But what is to be done?" + +"Nothing. The threat is an empty one. Miss Fitzgerald will make no +charges against your husband; I will guarantee that, and it may +transpire that the Lieutenant has done nothing worse than deliver some +cases, of the contents of which he was ignorant, to oblige a friend." + +"But if she could prove that he _did_ deliver them, he might be charged +with complicity?" + +"Exactly." + +"Can I not warn him?" + +"No, Lady Isabelle, you owe it to me to keep silence, at least for the +next few days. In telling you this, to relieve your anxiety, I have +exceeded my instructions, and placed my honour in your hands." + +"It shall be held sacred; but who is to warn my husband?" + +"I'll do so, if you wish." + +"I can never be sufficiently grateful, if you will." + +"Then we'll consider that settled," he said. + +"You've been a true friend to me," she replied, taking his hand, "and +I've ill repaid you for your kindness." + +"Don't think of that," he said, and turned away, heavy-hearted; for now +he fancied he knew the worst. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MISS FITZGERALD BURNS HER BOATS + + +"My dear," said the Secretary, as he shook hands with Madame Darcy over +the little wicket gate entwined with roses, which gave admittance to her +rustic abode, "I want to thank you for those letters." + +"To thank me?" + +"Yes. Why not?" + +"Why not? Why, I was almost ashamed to meet you face to face." + +"But why should you be?" + +"That I should have spoken of them at all, and to you." + +"But surely you cannot blame yourself for that. You thought they related +to quite a different person." + +"Now who would have supposed a man would have given me credit. But why +do I stand talking at the gate--come in, you've not perhaps had your +breakfast yet this morning?" + +"Yes, thanks, and a hearty one. Do you think I come to eat you out of +house and home?" + +"I think you come only to the gate." + +"Unfortunately, beggars must not be choosers--and I've just time for a +word. It's my busy day, as they say in the city." + +She was piqued, and showed it. + +"Do you not think I would willingly spend all day with you, if----" + +"I think," she replied, "that you're engaged to a certain young +lady--and you've told me that you're busy." + +"It's about her I wished to speak," he said, abruptly changing the +subject. "These letters have misled you." + +"You mean----" + +"I mean that they refer to the plot in which your husband and this young +lady are engaged." + +She looked at him searchingly. + +"You are speaking the truth to me. You know this to be so?" + +"On my honour. I am not trying to deceive you. I only ask you to believe +that your original suspicions were incorrect." + +"But you substitute something quite as bad." + +"Well, no--hardly that. In fact it may benefit you greatly." + +"How so?" + +"That I'm not at liberty to tell you just now; I hope I can in a day or +two. Meantime, may I ask you to keep silence about what I've said, and +trust your affairs to me--they shall not suffer in my hands." + +"Have I not trusted you, my friend?" + +"You have indeed, and I've appreciated it; but that you'll understand +better a little later--when I've been able to help you more." + +"You have done all for me; you have saved me, and I can never forget +it." + +"Nonsense, I've done nothing as yet." + +"You have given me your sympathy. Is not that something? You have been a +true friend to me." + +"For old friendship's sake--could I do less?" + +She flushed and said hurriedly. + +"My father will know how to thank you properly. When I see him----" and +she unburdened her heart to the Secretary, who gave her a willing ear. +Together they discussed her plans for the future, her return home, her +welcome; in short, a thousand and one pleasant anticipations, till +Stanley declared, regretfully, that he must go. + +"But you have stood already an hour," she murmured, "surely you will +come in and rest." + +"An hour!" he exclaimed, looking at his watch. "Impossible!" + +"No," she said. "Not impossible, I also have stood." + +He was overcome at his thoughtlessness, but she silenced his excuses by +throwing open the gate and saying: + +"Come." And he entered. + + * * * * * + +Miss Fitzgerald was seated at her ease in a West Indian chair on the +lawn. A white parasol shielded her from the sun, and a novel lay +unopened in her lap. As she leaned back looking up into the earnest +face of a man, with a supercilious smile and a veiled fire in her blue +eyes, she seemed to be at peace with herself and with the world. In +reality, she was enduring the last of three most disagreeable +encounters. + +Her first had been with her aunt, Mrs. Roberts, who, quite justly, +ascribed the occurrences which had interrupted the harmony of her +house-party to the machinations of her niece. + +"I invited you here at your own request," she had said, in a private +interview before breakfast, in the course of which much righteous wrath +was vented. "You assured me that Mr. Stanley was on the point of asking +your hand in marriage, and only needed an opportunity of doing so; which +I was the more willing to give, because I saw the extreme advisability +of such a step. His actions have belied your words, and moreover, have +made you the subject of unpleasant comment in my house, which has +greatly annoyed me. I do not wish to be unkind, but you must understand +that matters, for the rest of the time we are together, must run more +smoothly, or I shall be obliged to suggest your returning to London." + +It is hard enough to endure the faulty criticism of an elderly and +misguided person, when one is in the right; but when one is in the +wrong, and has hanging over one the probability, if not the certainty, +of coming disclosures, which will force threats to become realities, +such a state of things is unbearable, and Miss Fitzgerald partook of +her morning meal feeling that fate had been more than unkind. + +Immediately after breakfast she had been treated to an interview with +the outraged Mr. Lambert, of which a detailed account is unnecessary, +but which resulted in the unpalatable presentation of those obnoxious +criticisms known as "home truths." + +With all her faults, Miss Fitzgerald, like the parson, came of fighting +stock, and, game to the last, she began the dangerous experiment of +burning her boats behind her, by informing her hostess that she should +leave to-morrow afternoon in any event, as it was not her wish to stay +where she was unwelcome. Then, possessed by the spirit that has always +prompted heroic deeds, the determination to do or die, she sought and +found an interview with Mr. Stanley. She boldly opened the attack, by +calling that young gentleman to account for his neglect of the last +twenty-four hours. + +"I've hardly seen so much as your shadow, Jimsy, and I've been nearly +bored to death in consequence. What have you been doing with yourself?" + +"Trying to find out to whom you were married." + +"Ah! Have you succeeded?" + +"Yes, the parson has confirmed your assertions this morning." + +"Did you need his confirmation of my word?" + +Stanley said nothing, and his companion, considering the silence +dangerous, hastened to break it. + +"If I really were to marry you," she asked, "would you desert me as you +did yesterday?" + +"If you treated me as you've treated me these last few days, I should +probably desert you altogether." + +The situation was going from bad to worse, and something must be +effected or the cause was lost. + +"What have I done, Jim?" she asked piteously, taking the bull by the +horns, and allowing her eyes to fill with tears. + +"What have you done?" he said nonchalantly, with a flippancy which, in +the case of women, constituted his most dangerous weapon. "What have you +done? Oh, nothing out of the common, I suppose, only, you see, +unfortunately, we men are cursed with a certain, though defective, +standard of morals; and the amount of--well, prevarication you've +practised over this affair has shattered a number of cherished +illusions." + +"I wish you wouldn't wax so disgustingly moral, Jimsy. It's so easy to +be moral--and it bores me. Of course, I don't like saying what's not so, +any more than you do, but one must be consistent. I promised Kingsland +I'd arrange the match for him, and when that old fool of a parson put +obstacles in the way, and then assumed I was the bride,--I'll give you +my word I never told him so--why, it offered an easy solution of the +difficulty. There was nothing illegal about the marriage. I'm sure I'm +not responsible for every man who makes a fool of himself, and since +I'd undertaken the affair, I was bound, in common decency, to see it +through." + +"Do you consider 'common decency' just the word to apply to the +transaction?" + +"Don't pick up details and phrases in that way, Jimsy. They're +unimportant--but very irritating." + +"Do you think so? Details and phrases go far to make up the sum of life. +Why does Colonel Darcy still remain here?" + +"Why do you still persist in harping upon my friend's name?" + +"Because I loathe him, Belle. If you knew his true character, you'd cut +him the next time you met." + +"Ignorance is the only thing that makes life tolerable." + +"Nonsense." + +"Jim, answer me this question. If I were your wife, would you permit me +to keep up my intimacy with Colonel Darcy?" + +"No." + +"Then I must choose between you two?" + +"Do you love me so little that there can be a question of choice?" + +"You don't understand. It's easy for you to say, 'Throw him over'; the +reality is a very different matter. He's my oldest friend." + +"And I'm the man who has asked you to share his name and his honour. If +I could prove to you that Darcy was unworthy--would you give him up, for +my sake?" + +"Can you prove this?" + +"I'm not at liberty to say." + +She smiled faintly, and thought hard. She had learned in that last +speech what she most wanted to know--the measure of the Secretary's +knowledge. + +"Well?" he said, interrogatively. + +"I don't know how to answer," she replied. "My intuition says no; my +heart says--yes." + +The Secretary turned cold, as a new phase of the situation presented +itself to his view. + +"Do you love this man?" he asked. + +"Love Darcy--love him!" she cried. "I hate him more than any man in the +world, and yet----" + +"You're in his power?" + +"No!" + +"Then accept me." + +"Jim," she said earnestly, "you're asking me to decide my whole life. +Give me twenty-four hours to think it over." + +"Haven't you had sufficient time?" + +"To-morrow you shall have your answer." + +"Much may happen before to-morrow." + +"But you'll grant me this respite. I promise that to-morrow I'll +say--yes or no." + +"To-morrow I too may be able to speak more clearly; till then, promise +me you'll not see this man." + +"Can't you trust me, Jim? I trust you, and how little a woman can know +of a man's life." + +"I don't know," he said, and left her discomfited--praying to Heaven +that some power might intervene to reconcile her heart and conscience; +for this wild, wayward and desperate woman had a conscience, and so far +it had withheld her from committing an unpardonable sin. + +After lunch, as fate willed it, the Irish girl and the Dowager were left +a moment alone together. Being both inflammable substances, sparks flew, +and a conflagration ensued. + +The credit of starting the combustion must be accorded to the +Marchioness. She had observed the young lady's earnest conversation with +Stanley on the lawn in the morning, and coupling this with the +undemonstrative behaviour of that gentleman towards her daughter, had +jumped to the conclusion that Miss Fitzgerald was trying to rob her of +her rightful prize. Being possessed of this belief, and the +circumstances being exaggerated from much thinking, her wrath found +expression in the offender's presence, and she gratuitously insulted the +Irish girl; a dangerous thing to do, as she presently discovered. + +"How are you to-day?" asked the Dowager with irritating condescension. + +"Excessively trivial, thank you. An English Sunday is so serious, one +has to be trivial in self-defence." + +"It is different in your country, then?" + +"Rather." + +"You seemed nervous and absorbed, at lunch." + +"No. Simply absorbed with my luncheon. I find that eating is really +important in England. It takes one's mind off the climate." + +"I'm leaving to-morrow," continued Miss Fitzgerald, for the purpose of +breaking an awkward silence, which had already lasted several minutes. + +"I think it's the wisest thing you can do," replied the Dowager. + +Such provocation could not pass unnoticed. + +"Why?" queried her companion, outwardly calm, but with a dangerous gleam +in her eye. + +"Because if you were not leaving the house at once, I should feel it my +duty to take Lady Isabelle away--with young girls one must be careful." + +"Explain yourself, Lady Port Arthur." + +"I do not think it necessary, really; do you? Of course I can quite +understand that it's most advisable, perhaps necessary, for you to +marry; but common decency would prevent you from thrusting your +attentions on a man who----" + +"If you're alluding to Mr. Stanley, your Ladyship, I don't mind telling +you, if it'll make you feel easier, that I've about decided to refuse +him." + +"What!" + +"He proposed to me some days ago, but, as you say, one has to be +careful." + +"Impossible!" + +"As for marrying," continued her adversary, relentlessly, determined, +since Lady Isabelle's marriage must be known, to have the satisfaction +of imparting the news herself--"as for marrying--you're hardly qualified +to speak on that subject, if you will pardon my saying so, as you don't +even know the name of your daughter's husband." + +The Dowager gasped. She had no words to express her feelings. + +"You needn't get so agitated, for I shall probably leave you Mr. Stanley +to fall back upon, if this present marriage proves _illegal_. Lady +Isabelle would be provided with _some_ husband in any case." + +The Dowager gripped the handle of her sunshade until it seemed as if it +must snap, and turned purple in the face. + +"Don't tell me I lie," pursued her tormentor, "it's not good form, and +besides, if you want confirmation, look in Mr. Lambert's register at the +chapel next door, where your daughter was married two days ago." + +"Insolence!!!" gasped the Dowager. + +"I ought to know," continued Miss Fitzgerald, calmly, "as I was one of +the witnesses--you----" but she never finished her sentence, for the +Dowager had hoisted her sunshade and got under way for the church door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE TOP OF THE TOWER + + +After his disquieting interview with Miss Fitzgerald, Stanley felt the +imperative need of an entire change of subject to steady his mind. This +want, the secret of the old tower supplied. + +No time could have been better suited for his investigations. Lunch was +well over, the members of the house party were in their various rooms +for an hour at least. + +A few moments spent in measuring on the first floor in the great hall, +and the library, which ran parallel to it, proved the correctness of his +theory, that the space enclosed was smaller at the bottom than at the +top, as only six feet was unaccounted for. Evidently on this floor the +tower contained merely a staircase. + +He now carried his investigations to the second storey. The room over +the library had been assigned to Kent-Lauriston, and as the Secretary's +knock elicited no answer, he took the liberty of entering, finding, as +he supposed, that his friend had gone out. The inside measurements of +this room gave only ten feet, where they should have given twenty-five, +and brought up at a large fireplace, which had no existence in the +apartment below, and which was apparently much deeper than was really +the case. Around and behind this there was a secret chamber of +considerable dimensions, but half an hour's experiments brought the +Secretary no nearer effecting an entrance. The old blue glazed tiles of +the fireplace, and the bricks which composed its floor, were alike +immovable. There was only the roof left; if he failed there, he must +resign himself to the inevitable, and bend all his energies on trying to +open the secret door. + +At the risk of being thought prying and meddlesome, Stanley now +proceeded to search for some mode of ascent to the leads, and after many +mistakes and much wandering, he discovered at last a worm-eaten ladder. +This he climbed, at great bodily risk, and forcing a rusty scuttle, +emerged at last, safe and unperceived, on top of the house, amidst a +wilderness of peaks and undulations, which attested more to the +ingenuity of mediaeval builders, than gave promise of comfort to him who +attempted to traverse it. At last, however, by dint of much scrambling, +and several hair-breadth escapes from an undignified descent to the +lawn, he reached the point at which the tower sprang from the roof. It +rose sheer above him for almost forty feet, unbroken by any window or +excrescence, and thinly covered by ivy which, while it was too scattered +to conceal any outlet, at the same time afforded no foothold for ascent. + +It was dreadfully tantalising. Once on those crumbling battlements, he +persuaded himself he should have no trouble in entering through the +roof. The missing letter was then within reach, and the young man saw +the road to rapid promotion stretch glitteringly before him; saw that +Darcy would be in his power, with all that it implied; but saw that +forty feet of frowning masonry, which separated him from his hopes, and +cursed his luck. + +A ladder would solve the problem--but for numerous reasons it was a +solution not to be thought of. Above all things, he wished his +investigations to be absolutely unsuspected. If Darcy for an instant +imagined that the truth was known, he would be off like a flash. If the +Secretary was to conquer the secret of the tower, he must do it unaided, +and he was about to turn back and descend, baffled by the hopelessly +smooth surface of the structure, when his eye caught sight of a small +iron ring in the side of the tower, about two feet above the roof of the +house. Examining closely, he saw a second ring two feet above the first, +and others at like distances up, presumably to the top, though the ivy +had in some cases concealed them. His first conjecture was that at some +time there might have been a rope ladder arranged; but that would have +called for pairs of rings at the same level, and the closest scrutiny +failed to reveal more than one. + +Perhaps, thought Stanley, it might be possible to rig some sort of a +contrivance of rope to these, by means of which he might ascend; but it +was difficult to procure the necessary material, and still more +difficult to attach it to the tower without attracting observation. He +caught hold of the ring and gave it a good jerk towards him to be sure +it was firmly enough embedded to be of some service, when, to his utter +astonishment, not the staple, but the block of stone to which it was +attached, pulled out about six inches. Here was an unexpected +_denouement_. If the masonry was as rotten as all this, it was high +time, for the safety of the house, that it was pulled down. A moment's +examination, however, assured him that the tower was as solid as a rock. +Why then should this one stone be loose, and why could he pull it no +farther? He pushed it in again and pulled once more with all his +strength, but it came only the six inches, and then remained immovable. +He bent down and examined it closely. Then, as he perceived there was no +trace of mortar on its edges, he gave a shout of exultation, and seizing +the second ring, drew it towards him with a similar result. The stone to +which it was attached pulled slightly out. Unwittingly, he had stumbled +on to one secret of the tower. These stones formed nothing more or less +than a concealed staircase; perilous indeed, but quite possible of +ascent. Springing up on the first and second stones, he found they bore +his weight, and he was thus enabled not only to steady himself by the +rings above, but to pull them out in like manner. Having tested three or +four and pulled out six, he descended again to the roof, and returned +to his room to provide himself with certain necessaries for the trip, +among which were a small bicycle lamp and a match-box. He took off his +coat and waistcoat, and also his shoes, and set about making the attempt +in a more practical manner. For at least half the way up he would be +screened from view by the roofs, and for the remainder he must take his +chance of not being seen. Drawing a long breath, and placing his foot +firmly on the first stone, he commenced the ascent. For ten or fifteen +feet it seemed an easy matter, but as he cleared the intercepting roof +peaks, and the view opened out, he fully realised his perilous position, +and a gust of wind which swayed him on his airy perch made him feel all +the more insecure. Sternly resisting the temptation to look down, and +the no less dangerous desire to hasten his ascent, he kept his face +resolutely turned to the wall, and testing carefully each ring before +trusting himself to it, climbed slowly up and up. The way seemed +endless, and when but six feet remained, two sparrows, with a whir and +rush of wings, flew angrily round his head, at what they regarded as an +invasion of their nest, and almost caused him to lose his hold in an +attempt to drive them away. And now the battlements were just over him, +projecting awkwardly from the face of the wall, and proving much higher +than he had at first supposed. But he noticed, with relief, that +directly in the line of his ascent were a pair of projecting iron +stanchions not visible from below, but evidently intended to be used in +pulling oneself up and over the battlements; a supposition borne out by +the fact that they were placed each side of a break in the stonework, +which was ornamented with a lip or step of smooth stone, evidently +intended to afford an entrance to the roof of the tower. This lip had a +slight slant upwards, and might perhaps have served a double purpose as +a drain or broad spout. + +Fortunately Stanley's caution had not entirely deserted him, and he had +the good sense to reach up and test one of the stanchions before +trusting himself to it. It was well that he did so, for its fastenings +proved to be rotten with age, and the bolt giving way, it tore out in +his grasp, and flying from his hand fell with a loud clank on the roof, +forty feet below. The Secretary swayed out from the tower with the force +of the shock, and had not the topmost iron, to which he clung, held +firm, this narrative would have come to a sudden and a tragic ending. + +Having recovered his equipoise, he found himself face to face with a +serious if not an insurmountable obstacle. The natural entrance to the +roof was denied him; for even if the other stanchion held firm, he had +no mind to trust his entire weight to it, and without its mate it was of +little use for lifting himself up. Besides which, the lip or step, +which, by its slant towards him, would, with the aid of the stanchions, +have made access easy without them, rendered it, by reason of its angle, +the more difficult. The only practical way seemed to lean far to one +side, and seizing the rough stones of the battlement which projected +over his head, swing himself up and through one of the embrasures. The +last step would bring him breast high with them, but as they projected +nearly a foot beyond the face of the tower, he must bend his body +outward, and trust to them alone for support. If the stones of the +battlements were strong, his athletic training gave him no reason to +suppose that he would have any trouble in accomplishing the feat. Youth, +moreover, is apt to be venturous, and an aerial perch, eighty feet from +the ground, is not just the place one would choose for lengthy +consideration. + +Therefore, after reaching up and testing the masonry, as thoroughly as +he was able, he flung caution to the winds, a full assemblage of which +were whistling around him, and, making a desperate effort, clutched the +stones above him, and swung his body up and one leg over the +battlements. + +He was secure after all. Then, looking within, he received one of the +worst shocks which the events of his life had ever afforded him. There +was no roof in existence; at least, none where he had expected to find +it. He discovered that he was seated astride the rim of a circular well, +forty feet deep, whose bottom was the roof of the house. In other words, +the whole tower above the second story was a shell--a sham. A few +moments' observation was sufficient to assure him that there never had +been a roof at a higher level. An iron bar corroded with rust, round +which was wound a chain, stretched across the diameter of the well, and +had evidently furnished at one time support for a flag-staff, to further +keep up to the outside world the deception of a roof; but otherwise the +inside was perfectly smooth, even the holes where the steps were pulled +out not showing, which bore evidence to the fact that they worked in the +thickness of the wall. + +Down at the level of the roof two or three little beams of light marked +the location of certain gargoyles or antique water-spouts, which Stanley +had noticed on the outside, and marvelled that they should have been +placed in the middle instead of the top of the tower. These explained +the absence of water in the well. + +Looking down, as his eyes became accustomed to the gloom, he was able to +see something of the nature of the roof, which must enclose the secret +chamber. It was covered with dust and debris, but he was positive he +could distinguish certain little bumps or lumps, which he shrewdly +guessed to be thick diamond panes of glass, set in lead, and which, as +he conjectured, furnished light to the room beneath. Entrance to this +apartment seemed totally lacking from the roof, or else concealed by the +dust of centuries. No staircase could he discover on the inside of the +well, and he was about to relegate it to the limbo of unfathomable +mystery, when a startling discovery gave him the key to the whole +matter. It was, he saw, manifestly impossible to go down inside without +falling, after which, if not killed by the shock, he would be left to +starve at his leisure, while his friends searched the country-side for +him. But if to descend within was impossible, to descend without +presented almost as many difficulties. To go over the battlements as he +had come, was well-nigh hopeless; but if he could walk along their inner +rim for a foot or two, round the next embrasure, to the natural slanting +entrance which was directly over the first step, the descent would be, +comparatively speaking, easy. To rise from his present posture and +assume a standing position on the twelve-inch rim of a structure eighty +feet in the air requires a steady head, and though the Secretary was +possessed of this, he did not at all relish the undertaking. It had to +be done, however; but after his previous experience he determined to +take no more risks, and reaching out from his position of vantage, he +tested carefully every step of the way. At last only the slanting step +remained. Reaching far over he touched it with his hand, when, to his +horror, it practically revolved, now pointing down into the interior of +the tower, its outward end pointing up. He shuddered when he saw the +fate which the fortunate accident to the stanchion had caused him to +escape. Had he descended in the regular way and stepped upon the +slanting plate, the instant his foot passed its centre of equilibrium, +it would have revolved, and without a doubt flung him down into the +interior of the well. It was a cursed, mediaeval trick, a fitting +accompaniment to the inquisitorial horrors of those ages--an English +_oubliette_. If the fall did not finish the daring invader of the +tower--the inhabitants of the secret chamber doubtless had means to +insure his end, or perhaps he was merely left to starve. + +Touching the plate once more he pushed it back to its original position, +and found that it remained stationary. As long as he kept on the outward +side he was safe, and if the Secretary observed this rule he could +easily avail himself of the plate to descend by, for the perpetrators of +the villainous arrangement had evidently not thought it necessary to +make it entirely revolve, as one who had once gone up the tower was +never expected to come down the outside again. And now, with great +caution, he wormed his way to the treacherous step, and with still +greater care placed his foot on its outer edge; it held firm, and he +ventured to plant both his feet upon it. But, alas! he has forgotten how +slippery a flag of slate, polished by two hundred years' exposure to the +elements, may become. His feet slipped from under him, and in striving +to save himself he overbalanced the stone. Instantly it revolved, and a +second later he found himself suspended over the well, with only the +strength of a despairing grasp on the edges of the slate between him and +eternity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE SECRET OF THE DOOR + + +Miss Fitzgerald's disclosures to the Marchioness, as it turned out, +rather helped than hindered those principally concerned, for Mr. Lambert +met her Ladyship at the church, and his explanations took the keen edge +off the wrath which she vented on her daughter a little later, and in +the midst of which Lieutenant Kingsland arrived, with ample assurances +of worldly prosperity, which overcame her strongest objections, and went +far to reconcile her to the inevitable. Her disappointment, however, was +keen, and her temper suffered in consequence, so that dinner, at which +the Secretary's unaccountable absence formed the chief topic of +conversation, was distinctly not a success, and the ladies retired +early, leaving the gentlemen to their own devices. + +Miss Fitzgerald claimed to join in the general hegira, but her actions +belied her words, for shortly after she was supposed to have gone to her +room, her figure, its white dinner dress concealed by a long grey cloak, +might have been seen gliding across the lawn in the direction of the +inn. + +The night was pregnant with great events, though outwardly calm and +beautiful, and the great hall in which Mr. Riddle, Kent-Lauriston, and +the Lieutenant stood smoking, after having been dismissed from the +drawing-room, was flooded with moonlight. + +"I say," remarked Kingsland irrelevantly, after a long interval broken +only by the conscientious puffing of cigarettes, "how that mediaeval +prize puzzle shows up in the moonlight." + +"The secret door?" asked Kent-Lauriston. "Yes, it does. I heard the +butler making his plaint about it yesterday. It appears it's no joke to +keep those nails polished." + +"I shouldn't think it would be, and I dare say the bulk of the servants +wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. I wonder what's behind it, +anyway." + +Nobody said anything. + +"I wonder if Darcy'll ever get his letter?" asked Kent-Lauriston, +glancing at Mr. Riddle. "Anyway, it's as safe behind that portal as if +it was in the Bank of England. Safer, in fact, for he can't get it out +if he wants to." + +"I don't think there's much chance of anyone's opening it," said Mr. +Riddle. "Cleverer men than Colonel Darcy have tried to solve that +problem in the last two centuries, and failed. I imagine, however, if it +ever does come to be opened, that a certain theory will be proved +correct." + +"What is it?" asked Kingsland. + +"That the prophecy tells only half the story. To press the nails they +must be flexible, but they're firm and immovable." + +"Well?" + +"Well, it's evident that there is some catch or spring to be worked +first." + +"How do you make that out?" + +"These five nails we hear so much about are really the key to the lock, +but until the movable impediments--or, to give them their technical +name, the 'tumblers'--are so arranged as to release the key, the lock +cannot be opened." + +"It's a rum sort of key, with no keyhole," said Kingsland. + +"The key to open this lock is a mental one, rather than one of steel and +iron. In other words, a puzzle lock like this always has certain movable +parts, the movement of which constitutes the enigma." + +"Ever heard of any locks like this one?" + +"Not exactly, but the Russians, Hindoos and the Chinese have their +puzzle locks in the shape of birds or animals, and they're locked or +unlocked by pressing certain parts of their bodies. You can depend on +it, some spring must be worked first, which relieves the nails from +their tension and permits one to work the combination." + +"But no such catch or spring is visible." + +"Of course not. It would be the most carefully concealed of all the +mechanism; but some lucky fellow will stumble on it eventually, and if +he has presence of mind enough to press the nails also-- Presto! your +door will fly open." + +"And what will he find?" asked Kent-Lauriston. + +"From present appearances," replied Mr. Riddle, "a little pile of dust, +which some centuries before was a letter----" + +"I shouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a mouldering skeleton +in chains," said Kingsland. + +"Or a complicated astrological machine, such as one hears about in +Bulwer's grewsome ghost story," added Kent-Lauriston. + +"The inhabitants of this house are too unfeignedly easy-going and +comfortable to admit of such a supposition," replied Kingsland, and +turning to Kent-Lauriston, added: "What do you think is inside the +Tower?" + +"I don't know, and if I did, I shouldn't tell anyone." + +"Why not?" + +"Because if its contents are so unpleasant, that they had to shut it up +for ever, it certainly wouldn't prove a fit subject for conversation." + +"Well, anyhow," said the Lieutenant, "I trust the discoverer will be a +short man, or he'll hit his head a nasty crack, when he tries to go in." + +"Wrong again," said Mr. Riddle. "I think you'll admit that I'm medium +height for a man; but if I stood with my back to the door, my head +wouldn't hit the top of the arch." + +"Nonsense. Let's see." + +Riddle took up the position indicated, facing them. + +"You're right!" ejaculated the young officer. + +"I'm amazed! I supposed it was much lower. What do you measure?" + +"Five feet eight inches. But it is the extreme width of the portal which +makes it deceptive; it lowers it. I think, if I stretched out my arms, +straight from the shoulder, I should no more than touch the +side--see----" and he made a great cross of himself, against the black +oak. + +"What are you fumbling at?" asked Kingsland sharply. + +"My fingers hardly touch--it's a stretch. Ah! now they do." + +"You look ghastly in the moonlight; put your arms down and come away." + +"I'm very comfortable here, barring my back; those silver nails are +rather sharp," and he put his hands behind him. + +"Come away," said Kingsland, nervously, seeing something in his face he +did not like. "You look as if you'd been walled up a few months ago, by +some inquisition, and we'd just unearthed you in your niche." + +"By heavens! some of these nails are loose!" cried Riddle. + +"Nonsense!" retorted Kingsland. "You've thought so much about it, you'd +imagine anything. They're as firm as--well, nails. I tried them myself. +That door won't be opened in our lifetime, unless----" but the +Lieutenant never finished his sentence, for he had paused suddenly, in +open-mouthed astonishment. Without warning, and without a sound, the +portal, closed for centuries, swung slowly inward, carrying Riddle with +it; who, catching in vain at the sides of the door in an attempt to save +himself, fell heavily backwards down three steps into the secret +chamber. + +Seeing that he did not immediately rise, but turned over partially on +his side, Kingsland recollecting himself, sprang forward to his aid, +crying: + +"Have you hurt yourself?" + +"No, no," he replied, waving him off, and slowly rising from the floor, +covered with dust. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. "How did you ever do it?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure," replied Riddle, emerging from the portal, and +vigorously brushing himself. "As I told you, the nails, or some of them, +felt loose--I pushed them, and the next thing I knew the door revolved +and I was on the floor." + +"You're a genius!" exclaimed Kingsland. "But," peering down into the +darkness of the tower, "where's Darcy's letter?" + +"We need a little light on the subject," said Mr. Riddle. Stepping to +the fireplace, he lighted an old wrought-iron sconce, full of candles, +which stood on the broad mantelshelf, and approached the secret door. + +In the light of the candles, all could see that, except for the little +space into which he had fallen, the whole interior of the tower was +filled by a narrow stone staircase, which, in its ascent, half turned +upon itself. Of the missing document, however, there was not a trace. +The stillness in the great hall was oppressive. Even their own footsteps +on the stones seemed, to the hearers, preternaturally loud. + +Mr. Riddle raised the sconce above his head, and there burst on a sudden +a shimmering flash of a thousand prismatic colours from the head of the +staircase. He fell back a step, as did the others, and Kingsland +murmured in awe-struck tones:-- + +"What's that?" + +Riddle again raised the sconce, and again the burst of light from the +head of the stairs overwhelmed him, but this time he stood his ground. + +"What is it?" asked Kent-Lauriston. + +"I don't know." + +"Let us examine." + +"As far as I can make out, it's a flexible curtain of chain mail--hung +across the staircase." + +"I swear it moved," said the Lieutenant. + +"No, it was the light which moved," replied the discoverer. "You see," +and he swayed the sconce from side to side, making the curtain appear to +be moving silently. + +"If I take the light away," he continued, "there's nothing to be seen;" +and he removed the sconce, leaving only the black mass of the steel +curtain visible. + +"Nothing to be seen--isn't there? Look there!" whispered Kingsland, and, +following the direction of his eyes, the others saw a broad band of +blood-red light steal out of the blackness, across the steps at the +head of the staircase. + +"That room has been closed for centuries, and yet there is a light +burning," he continued hoarsely. "Shut the door, my dear fellow, and +let's get away." + +"It merely confirms another theory of mine," said Riddle, "which is, +that, as there are no windows on the outside of the tower, they must +have got their light and ventilation from the roof. I think it's fair to +suppose that they used red glass, and that the full moon is shining +through it." + +"Then you can go and prove it if you like, but if you take my advice, +you'd better leave it alone." + +"I don't like, my dear Kingsland, though I'm going, just the same. I +daresay I shall find something very nasty at the head of the stairs, but +it won't be supernatural. If I want you, I'll call you. If not, wait +till I come back." Putting down the sconce, he slipped off his dress +coat, and crossing the hall, picked up a stout hunting crop, the +property of the Lieutenant, while his two companions stood staring at +the blood-red band of light which lay across the steps, and which seemed +to their excited imagination to grow broader and deeper. + +"What do you think he'll find up there?" asked Kingsland. + +Kent-Lauriston shrugged his shoulders. + +"I don't wish to think," he replied. "But I'm certain that, to this very +day, there lie hidden away in some of our old country houses the +ghastliest secrets of mediaeval times, the fruit of crimes and passions, +of which, happily, even the names have perished." + +"What's that?" said the young officer, laying his hand on his +companion's arm, and in the silence both distinctly heard the click of a +latch, and facing round at the same moment, confronted the white face of +Colonel Darcy, framed in the hall door. + +In an instant he was at their side, drawing a quick hissing breath and +exclaiming:-- + +"It's open. Where's my letter?" + +"There is no letter," said Kingsland gruffly. "But you gave us a jolly +good start, creeping in. This ghost business sets one's nerves all on +edge." + +"Who opened the door?" + +"I did," said Mr. Riddle, coming up just at that moment. + +"Ah! Then you have my letter." + +"No, I haven't seen a trace of it. It may be up aloft." + +"I believe there's some living object up aloft," said Kingsland. "If you +take my advice, you'll shut the door, and leave it and the letter in +perpetual seclusion." + +"I don't care whether it's a man or a devil!" cried Darcy, who, whatever +else may be said of him, did not know the meaning of fear. And as he +spoke, he set one foot upon the lower step. + +"Hold on!" cried Kent-Lauriston. "There's something up there, and, +what's more, it's coming down." And as he spoke, a sound was heard in +the long closed chamber, and as the listeners held their breath, +something slowly approached the steel curtain, which swung out +noiselessly as if waving in a ghostly wind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +WITHIN THE TOWER + + +Stanley's first thought as he hung suspended over the gulf, when the +plate had so treacherously revolved, was of self-preservation. And, +indeed, he had need to think, for it seemed highly probable that within +the next few minutes he might be dashed to pieces on the floor of the +secret chamber, forty feet below. To pull himself up over that slippery +stone was, he found, a sheer impossibility. To let go of his precarious +hold and drop to the bottom of the well was certain death. Yet the sharp +edges of the plate were already cutting into his hands, and it could +only be a matter of a few moments when his arms would refuse to support +any longer the weight of his body. Evidently he must find some means of +escape from these two alternatives, and that right speedily, or for him +the end of all things would be at hand. Below him the wall stretched +smooth as glass. No vine grew upon it to which he might cling, no +crevice in which he might put his foot. He cast his eye round in a wild +search for some possible means of salvation, and, as he did so, he saw +one infinitesimal chance of escape. So slight was it, that no one, in +less desperate straits, would have dared to take the risk, but he had no +choice. + +He had noticed, when taking his precarious walk along the edge of the +battlements, that an old rusty iron chain was loosely twisted round the +bar which stretched across the diameter of the well, about on a level +with where he hung suspended. It might be possible, springing into the +air, to catch the end of this chain, which terminated in a ring. He had +done that sort of thing more than once in gymnasiums, though under very +much more favourable conditions. Even if he succeeded in catching the +ring in his flight, he might only find himself in a worse position. The +chain might refuse to unwind from the bar, or the whole contrivance, +rusted by years of exposure, might snap under his weight. But even if +this were so, he reflected, he could but drop to the bottom of the well, +which he was bound to do in any event, if he stayed where he was, while +every foot that the chain unrolled before breaking was twelve inches +less for him to fall. Evidently there was not an instant to lose, for +his fingers were already getting stiff and numb with the tension they +were undergoing. So, setting his teeth, he sprang into the air, on this +last desperate venture. For one horrid second he felt the ring which his +fingers touched, slipping through his grasp. Then with one supreme +effort, he crooked his hand through it, and swung suspended by one arm. +A moment later, he had brought his other hand to his aid. But scarcely +had he steadied himself, when the bar, round which the chain was wound, +and which evidently worked in a socket, began to revolve. It was rusty +and out of gear, and as it let him down, it gave him the most frightful +series of jerks, which seemed to dislocate every bone in his body. It +would let out three or four feet of chain at lightning speed, and then, +catching in its rusty gearings, would stop with a racking jerk, +remaining still perhaps a whole minute, before it moved on again, to +repeat the operation. Moreover, as he got farther and farther down the +well, and there was a greater length of chain above him, it began to +oscillate frightfully, twirling him round in one direction till his head +swam, and then reversing the operation. All tortures must come to an +end, however, and when he was ten feet from the bottom of the well, a +corroded link snapped, and he dropped the remaining distance like a log, +bringing down thirty feet of iron chain on top of him. + +The blow which he received rendered him instantly unconscious, and it +was hours later before he came to himself. His first knowledge of the +world and things in general was a realisation that in some mysterious +way the entire firmament was divided in half by a black band, and it was +only as his brain became a little clearer that he realised that he was +lying on his back looking up at the rim of the well. He sat up, and +examined himself critically. He had evidently cut his head slightly, for +it was still bleeding. Moreover, he was black and blue from head to +foot, but he was rejoiced to find, after a careful examination, that no +bones were broken, nor had he even suffered a sprain, and in a few +moments he was able to stand upright. + +His position, however, was none the less precarious. The breaking of the +chain had ended for ever any chance of his ascending the tower, and he +must either effect an entrance through the roof or depend on the very +uncertain chance of attracting notice from without, to escape +starvation. + +Lying face down on the floor of the roof, he tried to look out of the +little holes in the mouths of the gargoyles, but could see nothing, and +from the appearance of the sky over his head, he judged that it must be +growing dark. This reminded him of his bicycle lamp, which a hasty +examination proved to be intact, and feeling that he would at least have +light for his investigations, was a great source of comfort to him. + +His next procedure was to examine the roof. Here, fate once more +befriended him, for he very quickly found a trap-door and, moreover, was +able to lift it. Looking down he could see nothing but utter darkness. +However, this did not deter him, and he hastily made his arrangements +for further investigation, first taking the precaution to light a match +and drop it into the opening. It fell, about ten or twelve feet, +evidently striking the floor and burning there a minute or two before it +went out. It revealed nothing but surrounding darkness, but it apprised +him of the fact he was most desirous to know, that the atmosphere was +not mephitical. He determined, nevertheless, to take his time about +descending, and left the trap-door wide open, so that as much fresh air +might get in as possible. + +In the interval he amused himself by taking off one of his socks and +unravelling it as best he could. Weaving a cord with the thread thus +obtained, he lowered his bicycle lantern, which he had lighted, into the +room below, swinging it gently back and forwards. Its glancing rays told +him that the apartment was entirely bare and deserted, and showed him +also a narrow wooden ladder, black with age, leading up to the trap-door +above which he stood. Drawing up the light, he took it in his hand, and +being cautious after his recent experience, reached down and tested each +round of the ladder most carefully. To his surprise it held his weight, +and a moment later he was on the floor of the secret chamber. + +The apartment had no secrets to reveal. It was absolutely bare, and +empty of anything except a broken old sconce lying in a corner. The +whole room, however, was indescribably dusty and musty, and he was very +thankful to push aside a curtain of chain mail and descend the +staircase. + +At its foot he saw lying the coveted papers. Forgetful of everything +else, he sat down upon the lowest step, and by the light of his lantern +proceeded to examine them. They more than fulfilled his utmost +expectations. There was a complete cipher and its key, a full list of +the members of the cabinet who were to pass upon the treaty, with +comments on each, and a memorandum of the amounts to be given to certain +of them, coupled with suggestions as to the attitude which Darcy should +take towards others, together with precise instructions as to the +carrying out of the plot; the whole signed by Riddle in the interests of +the firm. The evidence was complete, and Stanley gasped as he realised +the advantage of this tremendous stroke of luck. One fact which his +perusal had elicited caused him to draw a long sigh of relief. Miss +Fitzgerald's name was not mentioned in the incriminating document, and +so much did he wish to believe her innocent, that in spite of all +accumulated evidence, he felt a sense of exultation that he could still, +if worst came to worst, shield her from the effects of her own folly. He +told himself that he might, after all, prove to the satisfaction of his +own conscience that she was innocent of criminal intent. Darcy he would +have no mercy for. He must be punished for his crime, and the fact of +his being the criminal would give Inez her freedom, and then---- Ah! but +if Belle Fitzgerald was innocent--was he not in honour bound to _her_? +And at that moment he realised that he had mistaken pity for love, that +Darcy possessed the woman in the world most worth having, and that he +was unworthy of her. + +His meditations were interrupted by the sound of voices near him. +Somebody laid a hand on the other side of the door. They were tampering +with it again, and, for more reasons than one, he wanted the fact of +his having gained entrance to the tower to remain a secret. Putting the +letter in his inside pocket, he softly retraced his steps to the upper +chamber. + +To his consternation, he had scarcely reached there when the door below +was opened. How this had been effected, he did not know. He had been so +interested in the documents, that he had had no time to examine the +mechanism of the portal. At first he heard only the voices of Riddle and +Kingsland. Fearing that the conspirators only were present, and that, +being three to one, he might be overpowered, and his precious evidence +wrested from him, he endeavoured, by the agitation of the steel curtain +and the red light of his lamp, to contrive such ghostly illusions, as +should serve to deter them from investigating the upper portions of the +tower. It can be imagined therefore what a welcome relief +Kent-Lauriston's tones were to him, and the instant he knew that his +friend was below, he felt perfectly safe from an attack by force. He +therefore lost no time in descending, his footsteps producing, as we +have seen, a most startling effect on those below. + +Kent-Lauriston was the first to recognise him, and seeing at a glance +that his clothes were torn and spotted with blood, he sprang forward to +assist his friend and helped him into the hall. + +"Where's my letter, you thief?" cried Darcy. + +"You've come too late," replied the Secretary, recovering himself. +"You've come too late. The treaty will go through." + +Darcy growled an oath as the measure of the Secretary's knowledge became +known to him. + +"I know who's put you on to it," he cried. "It's that cursed Irish----!" + +"Go!" cried Stanley, in a burst of wrath at this insult to a woman. "Go, +before I knock you down, and as you value your safety, meet me here at +eleven to-morrow morning. You've held the whip hand long enough. It's my +turn now." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE SHORT WAY OUT + + +"I suppose it's hardly necessary to ask if you found Darcy's letter?" +said Kent-Lauriston to the Secretary, as they were returning to the +house about an hour later from a trip to the telegraph office, whither +Stanley had gone to send a long message in cipher to his Chief. + +"Oh, yes," he said. "I have it in my possession." + +"Does it give you all the information you required?" + +"As a bit of evidence it's overwhelmingly complete--but it gives me some +additional information which is not so pleasant," replied the Secretary, +who had needed no second glance at the document to assure himself that +it was Mr. Riddle's letter and had been once before in his possession. + +"I've no desire to pry into your affairs, either private or diplomatic, +my dear fellow; but of course I'm able to infer a good deal, and if you +felt inclined to assure me, that this made you master of the situation, +and placed Darcy completely in your power, it would make me feel very +much easier." + +"Then you may be quite easy," returned the Secretary. "I hold all the +trumps. I could have the Colonel arrested to-night, if I chose, and my +evidence is of such a nature that it will practically banish him from +his country and from mine." + +"That's very satisfactory, but let me caution you to go slow. Darcy is a +man of many expedients. I should keep something in reserve, if I were +able." + +"My instructions insist on practically that course of action." + +"I'm very glad to hear it--as you grow older, you'll discover that the +shrewdest policy in the game of life, as in the game of whist, is always +to keep in hand a card of re-entry. And you may take my word for it, +that Darcy is the pivot on which all these little conspiracies revolve. +Hold him, and you can dictate terms to both Kingsland and Miss +Fitzgerald. By the way, have you succeeded in receiving your _conge_ +yet?" + +"I haven't yet received a definite answer." + +"Answer!--haven't you made it clear to her what that answer is to be?" + +"I hope so. In fact, I'm sure she must understand." + +"Then if she doesn't refuse you, you'll be quite justified in refusing +her." + +"I can't be too hard on a woman, Kent-Lauriston." + +"But you cannot marry her." + +"Not if my suspicions are true, and that my conference with the Colonel +to-morrow will prove. Now, don't say any more about it, for I want to +go to bed, and try not to think." + +Stanley slept little that night, and the arrival of an early telegram +from his Minister was a welcome relief. It contained only a brief word +of praise, and the information that John, the messenger, would arrive by +the ten o'clock train with a letter of instructions, pending the receipt +of which he was to take no action. This necessitated an early breakfast, +as the station was some distance away. Before leaving, however, he +sealed up the precious document he had found in the secret chamber, and +entrusted it to his friend's care; begging him, should he not return, +through any foul play of the Colonel's, to see it safely delivered to +his Chief in London. + +As he drove to the train he had plenty to occupy his thoughts. The +letter had been more damaging to the cause of the plotters than he could +have hoped. There was sufficient evidence to make out a complete case, +and only the intended forbearance of the government could shield the +Colonel from well-merited disgrace and condign punishment. In this +forbearance Stanley saw, so to speak, his card of re-entry: but he did +not see that fate was going to force him to play it in the first round +of the game. It was true he was here to bring Darcy to justice for +crimes committed against the State, but he must not be judged too +harshly for desiring to take advantage of his position to force the +Colonel to do justice in quarters not political. He had had great +provocation, and the man could be relied on to keep his word only when +the penalty for breaking it was actual rather than moral. + +Filled with these thoughts and impulses, he drew up for a moment on his +way to the station at Madame Darcy's cottage, but before he could get +down from the high dog-cart she came running out to meet him. + +"You have good news," she cried, "I can see it in your face." + +"Yes," he said. "I got down, or rather fell down, inside the old tower +last night, and I have the precious packet in my possession." + +"Ah," she said. "I do not know whether I should be glad or sorry. If it +contains what I suspect, it must mean so much to me in many ways." + +"It is just for that reason that I stopped to see you," he replied. "I +wanted to set your mind at rest." + +"Then it does not contain incriminating evidence?" she asked. + +"On the contrary, it puts everyone connected with the plot completely in +my power." + +"But then----" she began. + +"But then," he continued, taking up her words, "I hope to be able to +save your husband from the fruits of his folly." + +"But is that possible?" + +"I hope so. I shall tell better after I have seen him. We are to have an +interview this morning, and all I can say now is, that you must trust +implicitly in me and believe that everything will come out all right in +the end." + +"I am so selfish that your words make me very happy," said Madame Darcy, +"when my heart should be filled with sorrow at the troubles of my +friend. This discovery must be a sad blow to you." + +"How do you mean?" he said. + +"Why, in regard to Miss Fitzgerald." + +The Secretary bit his lip. + +"It seems impossible," he said tersely, "for us to have a conversation +without introducing her name. Surely by this time you must know----" + +"I only know what you have told me," she replied. + +The Secretary started to say something and then thought better of it, +and contented himself by remarking:-- + +"My eyes have been opened a good deal in the last few days, Inez." + +She reached up and took his hand in hers. + +"My friend," she said, "I understand." + +For a moment there was silence between them, and then pulling himself +together, he explained that he was on his way to an appointment. So he +left her, smiling at him through her tears, for in these few moments +Inez De Costa had found great sorrow and great joy. + + * * * * * + +The station, a small rustic affair, at which few trains stopped, seemed +at first glance to be bare of passengers, and on accosting a porter, +the Secretary was informed that he had yet nearly fifteen minutes to +wait. + +"She's in a siding in the next station now, sir, waiting for the London +express to pass; it goes through here in about five minutes, and as soon +as the line's clear she'll be along." + +Stanley thanked him for his information, and, after spending a minute or +two with the station-master, negotiating for a match, he lighted a +cigarette and emerged on the little platform. To his surprise he found +it tenanted by a solitary figure, and that none other than Mr. Arthur +Riddle. If he had any luggage it must have been in the luggage-room, for +he was without sign of impedimenta, excepting a stout stick. He wore a +long, black travelling cloak, and his white, drawn face and the dark +circles under his eyes gave evidence of either a sleepless night or +great mental anxiety, perhaps of both. He held in his mouth an unlighted +cigar, which he was nervously chewing to pieces. Both men became aware +of each other's presence at the same instant; both unconsciously +hesitated to advance, and then both came forward. Stanley was the first +to speak. + +"I wasn't aware that you were leaving, Mr. Riddle." + +The man looked at him, with the expression of a hunted animal driven to +bay; a fear of something worse than death in his eyes. + +"How could you think I should do otherwise, after your discoveries of +last night?" + +"I think you're making a mistake. But I shan't try to prevent you. I've +no fear of losing you even in London. I could lay hands on you where I +wished." + +"My journey is much farther afield than London." + +"There are extradition laws." + +"Not where I'm going," he said. + +A shrill whistle smote the air, and the porter came hurrying out on the +platform, crying:-- + +"The express, gentlemen, the express! Stand back, please!" + +Stanley noticed that unconsciously they had drawn rather near the edge. + +"Look out!" he said to Mr. Riddle. "The express is coming!" + +"In a moment," replied that gentleman. "I've just dropped my cigar," and +indeed it was lying at his feet. + +"Hurry up, then, the train is on us! You've no time to lose!" + +"I've time enough," he replied, bending deliberately forward. + +Some grim note in his voice awoke the Secretary to his true intentions. +There was only a second's leeway, the iron monster was even then +bursting out of the railway arch at the further end of the platform, +with the roar and rush of tremendous speed. Mr. Riddle was bending far +forward, overreaching his cigar, making no attempt to get it--was---- + +Stanley flung his arms about his adversary's waist, and made a +superhuman effort to drag him back. + +"You meddling fool, let me alone!" shouted the other. + +"No!" panted the Secretary. + +"Then come too!" he cried, and rising up, he threw his arms about him, +and gathered himself to spring on to the rails in front of the train. +All seemed over, the cry of the porter rang in Stanley's ears, the +rattle of the train deafened him, the hot breath of the engine seemed +blowing in his face. Then somehow his foot caught his opponent's, and +the next instant they were falling--to death or life--he could not tell. + +A second later they lay prone on the platform. The express had passed +them, and vanished in a cloud of dust. + +In a moment the porter was assisting them to arise. + +"A narrow escape for Mr. Riddle," said the Secretary to the porter, as +he picked himself up and recovered his hat, which had rolled to one +side. "A very narrow escape from what might have been a nasty accident." + +"_Accident!_" exclaimed the porter, with a sarcasm which spoke louder +than words. + +"I said accident," replied Stanley, slipping a sovereign into the man's +hand, and looking him straight in the eyes. + +"Oh, quite right, sir. _Accident_ it was. Thank ye, sir," and the porter +shuffled off, leaving them alone. + +"I suppose you think you've been very clever," said Mr. Riddle, when +they were by themselves, "but I'll cheat you yet, never fear," and his +hand unconsciously sought a hidden pocket. + +"You need be under no apprehensions," the Secretary replied calmly. "I +shan't interfere to save your life again, or to prevent you from taking +it. I was moved to act as I did solely for the reason that I couldn't +bear to see any man throw away so priceless a possession, owing to a +misapprehension." + +"A misapprehension!" he said, startled. + +"Yes. You were desperate enough to contemplate committing suicide, +because you supposed you would inevitably be disgraced and punished." + +Riddle nodded. + +"Well, supposing that this were not the case?" + +"What do you mean?" he cried, his face lighting up with the return of +hope. + +"I mean that it's in my power to let you go free." + +The man's face fell. + +"But there are conditions," he said. + +"There are no conditions." + +"How about the Company?" + +"It will not be proceeded against, out of a desire to avoid publicity. +Both governments will be informed confidentially of the true state of +affairs, and it will be carefully watched in the future. If the Company +is circumspect, it will be safe. We merely wish to ensure the passage +of the Treaty. That is done already. Of course, considering the hands to +which you have confided it, you will probably lose your L40,000." + +"I should refuse to receive it under the circumstances." + +"So I supposed. I'm expecting a messenger with important instructions +from London, so must await the arrival of the down train. If you'll take +a seat in the dog-cart, I'll join you presently." + +Mr. Riddle bowed, took a few steps in the direction desired, and then +pausing, swung round and faced the Secretary, saying:-- + +"What return can I make you for saving my life?" + +"I've only followed my instructions," he replied. "You owe me nothing. I +admit, though, that my impulse to save you arose strongly from the fact +that I believed you were fitted for better things." + +"I am, Mr. Stanley, I am. Believe me, with this exception, I've lived a +clean life. I was swept into this thing by the force of circumstances, +and in the hope of saving a rotten concern, whose downfall might have +ruined hundreds of innocent persons." + +"I believe you," said the Secretary. "Here comes the train. I shall +expect to find you in the dog-cart." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE DAY OF RECKONING + + +Stanley sat in his room. Before him lay an open letter; below in the +hall, John and the Colonel sat waiting his call. The faithful Legation +messenger being well informed that once Darcy was closeted with his +master, he was to receive the precious letter of evidence from +Kent-Lauriston, and return with all speed to London. + +But first the Secretary wished to read and re-read his Chief's +instructions. It was a clear, concise document, occupying only two +sheets of note-paper. Not a word wasted, yet all necessary information +given, it ran as follows:-- + + "Your satisfactory message received and telegraphed to the + Executive in cipher, without delay. I may inform you that it + is not the intention of the government to prosecute, if the + case presented is sufficiently strong to warrant submission + from the recalcitrant members of the cabinet. I leave it to + your discretion to arrest Darcy. Do not do so if you can + obtain his confession without it. We do not wish to proceed + against the agents, but against the principals. We will do + so, however, if you advise. The points we must prove are as + follows:-- + + "1st. Evidence of the names of members of the cabinet who + are to receive bribes. + + "2d. Evidence of the amounts to be received. + + "3d. Evidence relating to the Company offering the bribes. + + "Send proofs by John, at once, and report to me as soon as + possible. + + "As ever, + "X----" + +On a separate sheet of paper was the following:-- + + "_Private and Confidential._ + + "I have, in the foregoing, written you a letter which you + might show, if necessary, to any of the principals in this + affair, should such a course seem advisable. If you obtain + possession of the money, in round numbers, L40,000, use it + as your discretion suggests. We do not care to handle it + officially. You may find it useful in obtaining evidence. + + "I have also to inform you that your most satisfactory + conduct in this affair will certainly gain you immediate + promotion, though it seems desirable that you should return + home first, and almost at once, in the capacity of witness, + if you are needed. + + "_Entre nous_, I have received a cable from Senor De Costa, + requesting me to send his daughter, Madame Darcy, home, as + soon as suitable escort can be provided. I have replied, + nominating you for the post, an office which, I imagine, you + will not find irksome. Make this known to Madame Darcy, if + she is still in Sussex, and use your discretion in this + matter as in all other things. Do not act hastily in + anything. You have a great responsibility for one so young, + but I am confident you will discharge it to my satisfaction. + + "Cordially, + "X----" + +Stanley sat idly for a few minutes, fingering the papers before him. He +might seem to be wasting valuable time; as a matter of fact he was very +hard at work. + +Finally he arose, and, with an air of quick decision, as of one who had +made up his mind, he stepped to the opposite wall, and touched the bell. +A moment later there came a heavy step on the stairs, a knock, and +without waiting for an answer, Colonel Darcy entered the room, threw +himself into the most comfortable chair, and scrutinised keenly the +little bundle of papers, which the Secretary was in the act of putting +into an inside pocket. + +Stanley noticed the glance, and replied to the unspoken question, by +saying abruptly:-- + +"It may facilitate matters between us, if I tell you that the evidence +is no longer in my possession. It has been sent to the Legation." + +The Colonel nodded. + +"I should prefer this to be a purely business interview," continued the +young diplomat, "and to that end I will state my case and my conditions, +after which you can make any answers or comments you think best." + +Another nod from his companion was the only answer he received, so he +accordingly proceeded. + +"The Executive of my government received, some time ago, information of +a plot to defeat a treaty, now pending with Great Britain. The subject +of this treaty was an island and sand-bar, lying at the mouth of the +---- river, on which the ---- Company have erected large mills for the +manufacture of a staple product of my country. As long as we held the +island, they secured by government contracts a practical monopoly of the +article in question; by the cession of it to Great Britain their +business would be much impaired. Do I state the case clearly?" + +"I've never heard it put better," replied the Colonel, with a calmness +that was admirable. + +"Very well--we'll now proceed to the next point. The firm considered +that my government's grants were worth to them, the round sum of two +hundred thousand dollars, or forty thousand pounds." + +"In gold, sovereigns," acquiesced Darcy. + +"Yes, I've one of them in my possession." + +The Colonel nodded as usual. He evidently felt it idle to waste words in +the face of such incontrovertible evidence. + +"This amount was to be divided among a majority of the committee, who +would pass on the treaty, thus insuring its defeat. The names of the +members who would receive bribes, and the amount to be given to each, +being arranged beforehand--by you." + +Darcy's face was immovable. + +"I said by _you_." + +"I heard you." + +"You've nothing to say?" + +"The accused," said the Colonel, "is never required to convict himself." + +"You're quite within your rights; we'll let it pass. I make the +statement; you neither affirm or deny it." + +"Go on," said Darcy. + +"You then come to Sussex to receive the funds from Mr. Riddle, the most +important shareholder." + +"You're mistaken. Miss Fitzgerald received the money from Mr. Riddle," +remarked the Colonel. + +"You say nothing of your part in the transaction," commented the +Secretary, sternly. + +"I thought you wanted the truth of the matter." + +"I do--go on." + +"When the Company found, thanks to your conversation with, and +infatuation for, Miss Fitzgerald, that you had in all probability been +set to spy upon us, it was deemed better that I should play a +subordinate part," continued Darcy. "Accordingly she was selected to do +all the dirty work in this country--collect the money and forward it to +London." + +"What part did Kingsland play?" + +"None whatever, except that of carrier. I sounded him some weeks ago, +and found him too loose-tongued for our purposes. It was Belle's scheme +to let him take the treasure to town, and he actually believed the +cock-and-bull story she told him about the stereopticon slides." + +"As soon as you recovered your lost letter of instructions, you intended +to go to London, draw out the forty thousand pounds, embark for my +country, and distribute the bribes," resumed Stanley, "but, +unfortunately for you, your plans are upset entirely. I have in my +possession not only your letter of instructions, but also the name of +the bank in which the money now lies, and where it can be detained at my +orders." + +At this point the Colonel's reserve entirely broke down. + +"You hold all the trumps, damn you!" he cried. "Give me your terms and +conditions." + +"It's not the intention of my government to prosecute the corrupt +members of the cabinet for a variety of reasons, which, even with your +views on the subject of honour, you'll undoubtedly approve." + +Darcy flushed, but said nothing. + +"In the first place," continued the Secretary, "the Executive has no +desire to wash the government's dirty linen in public, and the story is +not so creditable that it should be spread abroad. All that is needed +is to insure the passage of the treaty; and it is thought, and thought +rightly, that a warning to the opposition, if the true facts are known, +and can be proved if necessary, would be quite sufficient to remove +their obstruction. Of course, the more overwhelming the proof, the more +potent the warning; and, while it's not necessary, understand that, I +should prefer your signed confession to round out my case." + +"What do you offer in return?" + +"Immunity from prosecution." + +"Is that all?" + +"_All!_ Colonel Darcy, I'd have you to know that it's left entirely to +my discretion how to proceed against you. I have it in my power to order +your arrest, with a certain term of imprisonment at hard labour." + +"Would my evidence be used publicly?" + +"I think I can assure against that in any case." + +"What assurance have I that your government will play me fair if I turn +state's evidence?" + +Stanley thought a moment, and then handed him the Minister's open +letter. + +The Colonel perused it, nodded quietly, and said:-- + +"It will do. I accept the terms. Damn it, I can't do otherwise! Give me +pen, ink, and paper. What do you want me to write?" + +"In substance what I've said to you." + +"Very well." + +"Kindly leave out all reference, by name, to Lieutenant Kingsland and +Miss Fitzgerald." + +"Ha! I suppose you still think she's an angel." + +"I know she is a woman, Colonel Darcy." + +For some time there was no sound in the room but the scratching of pen +to paper. At length, however, the Colonel raised his head from his work, +and, pushing it towards the Secretary, said laconically:-- + +"Will it do?" + +"Quite," replied Stanley, after perusing it. "Will you sign it, please? +Thanks, I'll witness." + +"There," said the Colonel, rising. "That closes our interview." + +"Not quite yet, Colonel. I've still an advantageous offer to make to +you, in reward for some further concessions of a different character. +The case for the government is closed. Our private affairs yet remain to +be settled." + +"By Gad! You're right there! They do!" + +"There is that little trifle of the forty thousand pounds. Suppose I was +to give you that amount." + +"What!!!" exclaimed his hearer, petrified with astonishment. "You mean +to say that you will give it to me?" + +"Never, Colonel, never! I shall go to the Victoria Street Branch of the +Bank of England in London, say the day after to-morrow, to warn them +about the money. If you draw it out before that time, why, it's my +misfortune. I'll be perfectly frank with you, Colonel Darcy. My +government doesn't want the handling of this coin, its disposal is left +to me. You see it's for everybody's interest to lose this large sum. +When the cabinet knows that the truth has been discovered--they know it +now, by the way--it was cabled in cipher--there's not one of them who +would touch a penny of it. The company can't receive it without giving a +receipt, which might prove damaging evidence; while neither government +can take it without becoming a party to the transaction. I'm willing to +give it to you, if you'll do two things in return. Two disagreeable +things, I admit, to a conscientious man; but they're each worth twenty +thousand pounds." + +"I'd sell my soul for that!" said he with a laugh. + +"My dear Colonel, are you sure you have it to sell?" + +"What are the conditions?" + +"First, that you consent to a divorce from Madame Darcy." + +"Humph! That's a nice thing to ask a man. Moreover, it's not worth +anything. In fact it's a clear loss. My wife's property, of which I have +the use, is worth far more than that." + +"But you don't have the use of it, Colonel." + +"Well, I should have to pay alimony--then." + +"I'll guarantee you against that. Moreover, she'd get her divorce in any +event, and then you'd have nothing." + +"You're quite right. A pretty woman, who knows how to have hysterics, +can get anything in a court of law. My wife's an expert in the latter +accomplishment, and she's good-looking enough to corrupt any jury that +was ever empanelled. I give in, it's no use playing a losing game. Now +for the second." + +"The second is purely confidential." + +"Go on." + +"I'd like to know exactly what you and Miss Fitzgerald expected to +receive for this transaction, and whether these letters," producing the +ones Madame Darcy had given him, "do not relate solely to it?" + +Darcy laughed. + +"You're paying rather a high price for that young lady's character," he +said. + +"A woman's character should be above any price, Colonel Darcy. We seem +to have differing standards of value, which does not, however, alter the +main question of whether you will accede to my conditions." + +"Certainly I will, and permit me to tell you that you're paying more +than either of them is worth." + +"That is for me to decide." + +"Quite so. Now how do you wish me to aid in my wife's divorce?" + +"A statement signed by you, to the effect that you would not contest a +suit for divorce--say on the grounds of incompatibility of temper, +coupled by your promise of non-interference, would be sufficient. As +Madame Darcy is not a Catholic, and her father is a power in his own +country, she would have no trouble, legal or religious, in using such +evidence." + +"Oh, is that all?" said the Colonel, manifestly relieved. "I supposed +you wanted statutory grounds." + +"I wish to save your wife as much pain and annoyance as possible, and it +would be well if you felt the same." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Darcy. "So that's the way the land lies, is it? A very +interesting way for a young man who is in love with one of the women, +and engaged to the other." + +"You'll please attend to business, and not discuss my affairs," broke in +the Secretary, sharply. + +"Quite right, quite right; pardon me--there, it's only a few lines, but +I think it will give my wife her freedom when she requires it," and he +handed him a paper, adding:--"Now let me go." + +"Two things you've forgotten," said Stanley. "Your promise not to appear +against your wife in her suit for divorce----" + +"That's understood!" + +"Do you give it?" + +"Yes. I promise not to appear against my wife in her suit for divorce, +or in any way to impede its progress. Does that satisfy you? You'll find +I'm a man of my word, Mr. Stanley, when I'm as well paid for it, as in +the present case." + +"Now what did you expect to receive from this transaction?" + +"Ten per cent. on the amount distributed--say four thousand pounds." + +"I see. And what did you propose to give to Miss Fitzgerald?" + +"I said I'd share it with her." + +"That is, you'd each have two thousand pounds." + +"Exactly--but she's such a mercenary, avaricious little baggage, she +struck for more; said she had the most dangerous part to perform, and by +Gad! they allotted her three-fourths." + +"Three thousand pounds. Quite a neat little sum." + +"Rather! I was only to receive one thousand pounds." + +"Now about those letters?" + +Darcy looked them over hurriedly, and remarked:-- + +"Purely commercial." + +"So I supposed. But how do you explain that sentence in your letter, in +which you refer to there being a happy future for both of you?" + +The Colonel thrust his hands in his pockets, and looked the Secretary +squarely in the face. + +"See here, Stanley," he said. "I'm not altogether a cad, and I'll be +damned if I explain any more." + +The Secretary flushed, and there was an awkward silence, which he broke +by speaking nervously. + +"That's all, I think," he continued, "except--I suppose you'll have no +trouble in getting the money?" + +Darcy laughed. + +"Give me twenty-four hours," he said. + +The Secretary nodded. + +"Well, I must be going," remarked the Colonel regretfully, as if he was +just bringing to a close a protracted, but delightful, interview. +"You've paid a high price for rather indifferent goods, young man, and +to show you that I'm dealing fair, I'll throw in a bit of advice. Drop +our Irish friend as soon as you know how. Take my word for it, she's a +thoroughly bad lot. I don't care what you're worth, she'd run through it +in five years, and then----" + +"Don't say it!" commanded the Secretary. + +"As you like, it's the truth. The money will be in the Victoria Street +Branch of the Bank of England till day after to-morrow? Yes. Thank you, +Mr. Stanley. Trust you're satisfied. I am. Good day." + +The door closed. He was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE PRICE OF KNOWLEDGE + + +"I can never thank you sufficiently for all you've done, old man," said +Stanley to Kent-Lauriston, as the latter stood beside him, a few moments +later. + +"Which means," said his friend, "that you are going to ask me to do you +another favour." + +"How well you understand human nature," replied the Secretary, smiling +sadly. "Yes, it's quite true; I want you to go to--_her_--you +understand, for me. I meant to go myself, but after what Darcy has told +me, it's impossible." + +"It's infinitely better to leave the affair in my hands. It will be +easier for both of you." + +"I'm sure of it. You once said to me, you may remember, that it required +more skill to break than to make an engagement, and I'm certain that +you'd do this with great tact, and that I should blunder. You'll make it +as easy for her as you can, I know--perhaps she'll save you any +awkwardness by breaking it off herself. From what she said yesterday, I +should think it possible." + +"I trust so." + +"Here are her letters to me--you'll take them back." + +"I will. Do you feel sure of yourself?" + +"You need have no fears on that account. I think Madame Darcy was right +when she told me once that she was certain that I'd never loved." + +"What reason did she give for that statement?" + +"Reason--that's just it, she said I'd reasoned about my love, therefore +it couldn't be real." + +"Madame Darcy is a very clever woman." + +"And a very charming one." + +"I fully agree with you, but of course she has her drawbacks." + +"You think so?" + +"Her present position is, to say the least, equivocal; and as a +divorcee----" + +"Oh, come, Kent-Lauriston, can't you let anyone alone? I never think of +those things in connection with her. She's just Madame Darcy--that's +all. She forms her own environment; one is so completely dominated by +her presence, that other circumstances connected with her don't occur to +one." + +"In other words, you do not reason." + +"Kent-Lauriston!" + +"There, I won't say it--only you admit that so far I've known you better +than you've known yourself.-- Yes?-- Well, do not forget what I once +told you before. You can never love a woman whom you cannot respect, and +no woman who respects herself would permit even a hint of a man's +affections until she was free to receive them. Any such premature +attempt would be fatal to his suit." + +"Thank you," said Stanley, "I won't forget;" and then, with a touch of +his old humour, which the responsibilities of the last few days had +nearly crushed out, he added: "You're not going to try to save me +again?" + +"No, thank you, one experience of that sort has been quite enough," +replied Kent-Lauriston, laughing. + +"Now about this present matter," continued the Secretary. "I don't want +you to think me callous or shallow, because I don't appear all broken +up; it has hit me very hard. I admit I was a fool, that I took for real +passion a sort of sentimentalism born of pity; but, nevertheless, I was +honest in my self-deception, and I assure you, even though you may laugh +at me, that could I restore her to the innocent girl I believed her to +be a few days ago; could I even be assured that she'd join this +conspiracy to help a friend, and not as a cold-blooded speculation; I'd +gladly marry her with all her faults, and give up my life to leading her +into better paths." + +"I do not laugh at you, my boy," said Kent-Lauriston. "I respect you for +it, I believe you, too; but, as I said in our first interview on this +subject, you're too good for her; and she has underrated what she is not +fitted to understand." + +"There, go now," said the Secretary. "If I talk of this any more, I +shall be unnerved, and I've need of all my self-control to-day. Go and +do the best you can. Be gentle and tender for my sake. I suppose I +ought to face the matter myself, but I can't bear to. I simply can't +look her in the face--now I know----" and he bent his head, choking back +a sob. + +His friend pressed his hand silently, and left the room. + + * * * * * + +"Just one moment, if you please, Colonel Darcy," Kent-Lauriston had +said, overtaking that officer as he was crossing the park, about an hour +after his interview with Stanley. + +"I can't stop just now, I'm in a hurry." + +"Oh, yes, you can--you can spare me a minute--a minute for an old +acquaintance, who knew you when you were only a Lieutenant, like our +friend Kingsland; a Lieutenant in Derbyshire, who had aspirations for +the hand of Lord ----'s daughter." + +"Which you frustrated, damn you! I haven't forgotten." + +"Or the evidence which led to such an unfortunate result? Affairs of +that sort are not outlawed by the lapse of years; you understand?" + +"What do you want of me? Speak! My time is of value." + +"Yes, I know--about forty thousand pounds." + +"Humph! Go on, will you. I'll tell you what you want, only be quick +about it." + +"I merely want to know the exact and real truth of Miss Fitzgerald's +connection with this bribery and corruption business." + +"I told your friend, the Secretary." + +"I know what you _told_ him, he's just retailed it to me; but you will +pardon me, if I state that, as an observer, of human nature, I don't +believe it." + +"I've said what I've said," replied the Colonel, surlily. + +"Let us see if we can't arrive at a mutual understanding," continued +Kent-Lauriston, suavely. "You wish to injure the girl and make her +marriage with my friend impossible, because you think she's betrayed +you. I wish to render the marriage impossible, because I don't care to +see this young man make a fool of himself by marrying a girl who's after +his money, and who has nothing to offer in return. Our ends are +identical, our motives only are different. Do you follow me?" + +The Colonel nodded. + +"Now," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "you've told a very clever circumstantial +story, which has ruined her in Stanley's eyes, and has stopped the +match, as we both wished. Its only flaw lies in the fact that it is not +true. If he finds this out, he'll marry her in spite of us; but he is +much less likely to find it out if I know the real state of the case, +and, as a corollary, the weak points of your narrative, and so am able +to prevent the discovery. Do you believe me?" + +"I never knew you to tell a lie--it's not in your line." + +"Quite so. Therefore, will you tell _me_ the truth?" + +"The truth, then, is that Belle didn't instigate the plot. I got her out +of a scrape some years ago, and she was grateful, and lent me a hand +with this, purely out of friendship. She doesn't expect to get a penny +in reward. It was her idea, however, of using Kingsland to forward the +stuff." + +"Kingsland knew nothing about it?" + +"Nothing at all. He thought the chests contained stereopticon slides." + +"That's the real truth then?" + +"Yes, but if you blow it to Stanley, I'll tell him your share in this +little arrangement." + +Kent-Lauriston looked at him, coldly. "You said you were in a hurry, +Colonel Darcy," he remarked. "Don't let me detain you." + + * * * * * + +"I consider it providential," said the Marchioness. + +Mrs. Roberts said nothing. It was this trait that rendered her so +admirable as a hostess and a friend. + +"Of course," continued her Ladyship, "I had long known that there was +some sentiment between my dear Isabelle and Lieutenant Kingsland, and if +I had supposed there was anything serious, they would at once have had +my blessing, and--er--a wedding in St. George's, and--everything that +religion requires. Their secret marriage was childish and +ridiculous--because it was not opposed." + +Mrs. Roberts still held her peace. + +"I say," continued the Dowager, "that it was not opposed; of course Mr. +Stanley----" + +"Ah," said her hostess, seeing that she was expected to intervene: "Mr. +Stanley--what of him?" + +"Well, you see, my dear Mrs. Roberts, he's a most excellent young man; +but he comes from a Catholic country--and--er--the influence is so +insidious, that, on consideration, I didn't really feel--that my duty as +a mother would permit me to countenance the match further." + +Mrs. Roberts said nothing, she had been ill-used in this particular, she +felt, and withheld her sympathy accordingly. + +The Dowager appreciated the position, and acted promptly. + +"Your dear niece, Miss Fitzgerald, such a charming girl," she continued, +"doubtless feels as I do. Her throwing Stanley over unreservedly was +most commendable, and reflected much credit on your influence, dear Mrs. +Roberts." + +Her hostess was mollified, and showed it. The Dowager's position +promised to turn defeat into triumph. + +"You're most kind, I'm sure," she murmured. "Belle was naturally guided +by me," and then changing a dangerous subject, she continued, "It is so +sad that Lieutenant Kingsland's honeymoon should be darkened by his +uncle's death." + +Her Ladyship dried an imaginary tear, and added:-- + +"If one believes in Providence, one must of course believe that these +things are for the best." + +"Here comes the Secretary," said Mrs. Roberts. "Does he know?" + +"I must tell him," replied the Dowager. "It's my painful duty." + +Mrs. Roberts precipitately left the room. + +"Dear Mr. Stanley," murmured the Dowager, "I was just on the point of +sending for you; you've come most opportunely. I feel I must speak to +you about my dear daughter. She is a sadly wilful girl, and I fear----" + +"Don't speak of it, your Ladyship. I know, that is, I've heard; and +permit me to offer my congratulations on your daughter's recent marriage +to Lieutenant Kingsland," he said, throwing into his voice what he +trusted might pass for a note of resignation. + +"Dear Mr. Stanley," said the Dowager, infinitely relieved, "you are so +tactful, so generous----" + +"I hope she'll be happy." + +"Oh yes--yes--we must hope so." And her Ladyship sighed deeply. "_You_, +of course, know what I wished from my heart." + +"I'm going away," he said abruptly, "this afternoon in fact. I'm +assigned on a diplomatic service, which, for the present, may take me +out of England, so you'll make my adieux to Lady Isabelle, will you +not?" + +"I--er--trust you do not contemplate doing anything--foolish?" + +"You may set your mind at rest on that score." + +"You relieve me immensely--you'll excuse me if I'm too frank. I've come +so near being a--er--mother to you, I feel a peculiar interest in your +welfare. May I venture to express the hope, that you'll not commit +yourself with that young Irish person?" + +"Your ladyship may feel quite easy-- Miss Fitzgerald and I have never +been more than friends, and in the future----" + +"Of course one must be kind; but a young man cannot be too careful. I +assure you in regard to the young woman in question, that I was told in +strict confidence--the most shocking----" + +"Pardon me," he interrupted, "but I couldn't think of violating your +strict confidence," and he passed by her out of the room. + +"That young man," said the Dowager, in summing him up to a friend, "has +tact, but lacks reserve." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE PRICE OF LOVE + + +"Have you come to insult me, Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" + +Isabelle Fitzgerald stood in a wooded recess of the park, beside a young +sapling; the one no more fair and tall and glorious with the joy of +living than the other. Kent-Lauriston was beside her, hat in hand, with +just the trace of a cynical smile about his parted lips; but serious +enough with it all, well realising the gravity of the task he had +undertaken, and pitying from his heart the fair girl who stood white and +scornful before him, her garden hat hanging from its ribbon, +unconsciously held in her hand. + +"Have you come to insult me, Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" She said it defiantly, +as if it were a gage of battle. + +"I have come to apologise to you," he replied quietly. + +"You tell me that _he_ has sent you to me. Well, I know what that means. +I _knew_ why you came to the Hall, I would have stopped you if I could. +You were my enemy, I felt it the moment I saw you. I _knew_ you would +have your way then. What chance had an unfortunate girl, whose only +hope rested in the love of the man she loved, as against one who has +made hundreds of matches, and broken hundreds of hearts? You owe me an +apology you think--it is very good of you, I appreciate it deeply," and +she made him an obeisance. + +"I've not come to apologise to you for any point that I've gained, but +for the means I must employ to gain it." + +"Really," she said, her eyes blazing. "This _is_ a condescension. Are +not any means good enough to cope with an adventuress like myself--a +young woman who is deterred by no conventions, and no maidenly reserve; +whose every art and wile is strained to lure on to their fate weak and +unsuspecting young men. Is it possible that such a person has any rights +that need be respected?" + +"Really, Miss Fitzgerald," said Kent-Lauriston, placidly, "you surprise +me. In addition to the numerous virtues, which I'm confident you +possess, I'd added in my own mind that paramount one, of cool +clear-headedness. This lady, I had told myself, is at all events +perfectly free from hysteria or nervous affections; she can discuss an +unpleasant subject, if necessary, in its practical bearings, without +flying into a fit of rage, and wandering hopelessly from the point. It +appears that I was mistaken." + +"No," she replied brusquely, "you are not; You've summed up my character +very well, but you must remember that you've nothing to gain or lose in +this matter. You're merely playing the game--directing the moves of the +pawns. The problem is interesting, amusing, if you like, but whether you +win or lose, you've nothing wagered on the result. But the pawn! Its +very existence is at stake--a false move is made, and it disappears from +the board." + +"Quite true! But the pawn has a better chance of life, if the moves are +considered calmly, than if played at random; it is then inevitably +lost." + +"You're right," she said, seating herself on a grassy bank near by: +"perfectly right. Let us talk this matter over calmly. I shan't forget +myself again." + +He seated himself beside her. + +"Now frankly," she continued, "before you saw me, or spoke to me, you'd +made up your mind to save your friend from my clutches, had you not? I +beg your pardon--doubtless, you'd disapprove of such an +expression--we'll say, you had determined to prevent him from marrying +me." + +"Frankly speaking, yes, I had." + +"But you knew nothing about me; you could know nothing about me, except +on hearsay." + +"Pardon me--I knew your late father, and I was at Colonel Belleston's, +when you ran off with his heir-apparent, and were not found till half +the country-side had been searched, and the dinner quite spoiled." + +"But Georgie Belleston was only eight, and I scarcely twelve. We had +determined, I remember, to join a circus--no, he wanted to fight +Indians; but it was childish nonsense." + +"The spirit was there, nevertheless. But in the present case I was +considering Mr. Stanley, I must confess, rather than yourself. The +world, my dear young lady, is an open market, a prosaic, mercantile +world." + +"Don't you suppose I know that?" + +"I'm willing to believe it if you wish me to do so. It will help us to +understand the commonsense proposition that marriageable young men, like +cabbages, have a market value, and that a young man like our friend, who +has a great deal to offer, should--shall I be perfectly plain, and +say--should expect a pretty handsome return for himself." + +"And you didn't think that I'd much to offer," she said, laughing. "In +other words, that you'd be selling your cabbages very cheap. Eh?" + +Kent-Lauriston said nothing, but she saw the impression she had +produced, and bit her lips in mortified rage. She wished at least to win +this man's respect, and she was showing herself to him in her very worst +light. + +"I had, as you say," she continued, "nothing to offer Mr. Stanley but my +love; but I dare say you don't believe in love, Mr. Kent-Lauriston." + +"Not believe in love? My dear young lady, it forms the basis of every +possible marriage." + +"Does it never form the _whole_ of such a union?" + +"Only too often, but these are the impossible marriages, and ninety-nine +per cent. of them prove failures, or worse." + +"I can't believe you--if one loves, nothing else counts." + +"Quite true for the time being, but God help the man or woman who +mistakes the passion aroused by a pretty face or form for the real +lasting article, and wagers his life on it." + +"You've never married; you can, therefore, talk as you please." + +"My dear Miss Fitzgerald, if I'd ever married, I should probably not +talk at all." + +"You don't regard our affair as serious?" + +"Not on Mr. Stanley's side?" + +"And on mine?" + +"That we shall see later on; but my young friend is in his salad days, +and he's not responsible, but he is almost too honest." + +"I suppose you'll say I tempted him." + +"N-o--but you let him fall." + +"However, you were at hand to rescue him. I wonder you should have +wasted your valuable time in going through the formality of consulting +me over so trivial an affair." + +"But it's not trivial. I thought it was till this morning, now I've +changed my mind. It's very serious. I've a right to save my friend from +making a fool of himself, when he only is the real sufferer; but it's a +very different question when the rights of another person are involved, +especially when that person is a woman." + +"So you've come to me?" + +"To persuade you, if possible, to relinquish those rights." + +"For his sake?" + +"No, for your own." + +"Really--that's a novel point of view to take of the matter." + +"You think so. I only want you to see the affair in its true light, to +realise that the game isn't worth the candle." + +"I think you'll find it difficult to prove that." + +"We shall see. Suppose I state the case. Here are you, a charming young +lady of good family, but no means, thrown on your own resources; in a +word, with the opportunity of marrying a--shall we say, _pliable_--young +man, of good official standing, and an undoubtedly large income and +principal; who is infatuated--thinks he's fallen in love with you, and +whom you really love. There, have I stated the case fairly?" + +"So fairly, that you'll find it difficult to prove your point." + +"Let me continue. Suppose you're married; grand ceremonial, great +_eclat_, delighted friends and relatives, handsome presents, diamonds +and all--he'd do the thing well--honeymoon, say, the Riviera--limit, +three months--what next? Where are you going to live? London? It won't +do. Property--that property you're so interested in--can't take care of +itself; the young heir of those broad plantations must go home and learn +the business. Your practical mind shows you the necessity of that. Do +you know the life of his native country? No? Your nearest neighbours +thirty miles away, and deadly dull at that; your climate a damp, sultry +fog; your amusements, sleeping in a hammock two-thirds of the day, when +the mosquitoes will let you, and your husband's society, as sole +company, the rest of the time. After two or three years, or perhaps four +or five--long enough to ruin your matchless complexion, and cause you +both to be forgotten by all your friends, except those who can't afford +to do so--you come back to London for a nice long visit--say three +months. How you will enjoy it! Let me see, what do you most like? +Horses, riding, hunting? Ever heard the Secretary's ideas on hunting?" + +She laughed nervously, and Kent-Lauriston pursued his subject. + +"Then he's so indefatigable at balls and parties; I've known him to stay +half an hour, when he's been feeling fit! His friends, too, such dear +old fogies, like your esteemed aunt, not like _your_ friends--you know +how fond he is of them. The Kingslands and Darcys of your acquaintance +would simply revel in the house of a man who never plays cards for +money, and can't tell an eighty from a ninety-eight champagne--and he'd +be master in his own house, too--you received an ultimatum yesterday. A +man who will do that to a woman to whom he isn't even quite engaged will +command his wife and see that she obeys him. You would have before you +the choice of living in an atmosphere and associating with people +entirely uncongenial to you, or living wholly apart from your husband; +either would be intolerable. Have I proved my point?" + +"You've forgotten to include in your charming sketch that I should still +have the comforts of life, and, what is more important, a house to cover +me, enough to eat and drink, and clothes to wear--things which I have +sometimes in the past found it pretty difficult to obtain." + +"True, but you'd be paying too high a price for them, much too high. +Take my word for it, again and again you'd long to be back in your +present state; yes, and in harder straits than you are now." + +"What you say to me could be equally well applied to Mr. Stanley, in +reverse." + +"Quite so; it sums up in the mere fact, that you two have nothing in +common except passion and sentimentality, very frail corner stones on +which to build a life's happiness. You're not even companionable. What +are you going to talk about for the rest of your lives? It's an +appalling prospect. I want to save you both from making a very bad +bargain." + +"I don't agree with you," she cried vehemently, springing to her feet, +"not at all; but what difference does it make? I know well enough I'm +not really to be consulted as to the issue; you'd never have had the +effrontery to speak to me as you have done, if you were not already sure +of the game. To use a commercial phrase, you've cornered the market, and +can make what terms you please. I must accede to them." + +"You entirely mistake the situation, Miss Fitzgerald," he said, calmly +rising, and facing her. "It is you who have cornered the market, and it +is I who must buy at your price." + +"Explain yourself! What do you mean?" she cried, a gleam of hope, almost +of triumph, lighting up her face. + +Kent-Lauriston was now playing a bold game. + +"I mean," he replied, "that circumstances have rendered me powerless to +prevent Mr. Stanley's marrying you, if you allow him to do so." + +"Tell me!----" she exclaimed abruptly. + +"It's for that purpose that I've sought you out." + +She nodded. She was watching him guardedly. + +"I've admitted that our young friend was in love with you. I don't say +you encouraged him, but you certainly excited his pity, a very dangerous +proceeding with a person of his nature." + +"What's all this to do with my position?" + +"A great deal," resumed Kent-Lauriston. "You see, I want you to +understand your hold over Mr. Stanley--it's really because he pities +you." The girl flushed painfully. "Excuse me if I speak things which are +unpleasant, but you most understand your weakness, and your strength. +You've nearly ruined yourself by being too clever, and now, by the +wildest stroke of luck, you're in a very strong position." + +"Would you mind speaking plainly?" + +"Certainly. In a word, the situation is just this. Within the last few +days, Mr. Stanley has made three discoveries about you, which have gone +far to destroy his sympathy for you, and make him believe that his pity +or his love, as he chooses to call it, has been misplaced. Two of these +discoveries I believe to be true; one--the worst--I know to be false. If +he discovers how shockingly you've been maligned, he'll probably forget +the past, and, in a burst of contrition at having so misjudged you, will +do what his common sense forbids--I mean, marry you." + +"You're really becoming interesting. I had underrated your abilities. +Pray be more explicit," she said, quite at her ease at these reassuring +words, and putting Kent-Lauriston down, mentally, as a fool for giving +the game away, when he need only have kept silent to have had it all in +his own hands. + +He read her thoughts and smiled quietly, for, by her expression, he +could gauge the depth of her subtlety. She was no match for him, if she +were innocent enough to believe him capable of such folly. + +"You compliment me," he returned, "but to go on--in the first place, he +learned of your connection with Lady Isabelle's marriage. It opened his +eyes somewhat." + +"She told him?" + +"She did. You forced her to do so, by your threat against her husband." + +Miss Fitzgerald bit her lip, and said nothing. + +"Lady Isabelle," continued Kent-Lauriston, "in appealing to the +Secretary to save her husband, gave him the clue he was searching for; +which resulted in his discovery of the friendly turn you had done the +Lieutenant, in making him unconsciously, shall we say, _particeps +criminis_?" + +"Ah!" + +"Have you seen Colonel Darcy to-day?" + +She paused for a moment, considering, and then decided it was better to +be straightforward, and replied: + +"Not since yesterday morning. I went to see him last evening, but found +him out." + +"I know you did." + +Miss Fitzgerald breathed a sigh of relief. It was well she had decided +not to lie to this man. + +"You're probably not aware, then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "that +Stanley succeeded in opening the secret door last night, and obtained +possession of Darcy's letter of instructions." + +The Irish girl turned very white, looking as if she were going to faint. + +"Then he knows everything," she whispered. + +"Everything," replied her tormentor. "The details of the plot he has +known for some time, being stationed here by the Legation to watch the +Colonel--but it was not till Darcy was brought to book this morning, and +in order to save himself, signed a written confession, that he really +knew the extent to which _you_ were incriminated." + +She burst into tears. Kent-Lauriston proceeded unconcernedly with his +story. + +"The Colonel's chivalry is not of such a nature as would cause him to +hesitate in shifting all the responsibility he could, on the shoulders +of a woman." + +She dried her tears at that, and her eyes fairly snapped. + +"The fact," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "that Stanley had on several +occasions tried to help you to clear yourself, and the fact that you'd +persistently--well--not done so--made matters all the worse. In short, +on these two counts alone, you had given evidence of an amount of deceit +and cold-blooded calculation that completely upset even such an optimist +as he. Still, I think he would have overlooked it, if properly +managed--if that had been the worst." + +"Can anything be worse?" + +"Yes, for this last charge against you is not true." + +"Go on." + +"You placed yourself in Darcy's power. A clever woman, a really clever +woman, my dear Miss Fitzgerald, would not have done that. It would be +easy for him to manufacture circumstantial evidence, to back any lie he +might choose to exploit, to your discredit. Say, for instance, that you +were the prime mover in this plot, and that you went into it for a +financial consideration, for three thousand pounds." + +"But Bob never would----" + +"Wouldn't he, when he was thirsting for revenge, believing that your +careless threat against Lieutenant Kingsland had ruined his hopes." + +"Did he do this?" + +"He did, and that is why I'm here this morning in Mr. Stanley's +place--commissioned to return to you your letters," and he handed her +the packet. + +"It's not true!" she cried. "Before Heaven, Mr. Kent-Lauriston, it is +not true!" + +"I know it's not true, for Darcy's confessed to me." + +"But Mr. Stanley does not know." + +"No." + +"Then he must be told." + +"If you tell him he'll fling prudence to the winds in an agony of +remorse, and you'll have won the game." + +"You mean he'll keep to his engagement?" + +"I mean he'll marry you." + +"And you dare to ask any woman to allow such a slander to live when she +can deny it?" + +"I ask you, for your own sake, for the reasons I've stated, for your +future happiness, and as an escape from certain misery--to let him go." + +"I tell you I love him." + +"Then I ask you for _his_ sake. A brilliant diplomatic career is just +opening before him, as the result of the discovery of this plot. Is his +government likely to repose confidence in him in the future, with you as +his wife--a woman who has practised treason? His father would never +receive you, and might disinherit him. Do you love this man so little +that you wish to ruin him?" + +"I tell you I love him--you do not understand." + +"I understand that you love him in one of two ways. If it's a great love +it's capable of sacrifice to prove its greatness. Show that it is so by +giving him up. If it's any other sort of love it will not stand the +strain to which you propose to subject it, and within six months after +your marriage you'll realise that you've ruined two lives, and are +yourself the chief sufferer. Come, prove that what you say is true, and +save him from himself." + +"But if I do, I do it at a fearful price. It means social ostracism." + +"Not at all. Who will know of this charge against you? Four people at +the most, and not one of them will ever speak of it. Darcy, who +originated the lie, will, for obvious reasons, keep silent. Stanley's +the soul of honour; he'd rather tear his tongue out than speak a word of +it. I've proved my discretion through several generations, and Kingsland +must be held in check by you." + +"Why do you include Lieutenant Kingsland?" + +"Because, I believe, he holds the only piece of evidence which could +appear to substantiate Darcy's trumped-up lie." + +"And that is?" + +"The receipt for the forty thousand pounds _in your name_." + +"And you wish me to ask Kingsland to proclaim my own shame!" + +"I wish you to ask him to give that receipt to the Secretary." + +"Now I see why you come to me, why you did not ruthlessly throw me +over; your little plot had a weak point, and you needed my co-operation +to complete my own degradation!" + +"Miss Fitzgerald is fast becoming a diplomatist!" + +"I'm a fool!" + +"Pardon me, you are nearer wisdom than you've ever been in your life." + +"If--I--do--this," she said very slowly, "you must help me to reinstate +myself in the eyes of the world." + +"I've told you it'll not be necessary." + +"Bah! I know the world better than you do, with all your cleverness. +Mine is a practical, not a theoretical, knowledge." + +Kent-Lauriston bowed. + +"They'll talk, no matter if it be truth or not. It will be believed. I +must have a few questions answered in any event." + +"Ask them." + +"Who is Mr. Stanley to marry?" + +"Madame Darcy." + +"But----" + +"Her husband has consented to the divorce." + +"On what grounds?" + +"Incompatibility of temper, I believe." + +"So you think the Secretary will marry her?" + +"I'll take charge of that matter." + +"I know they love each other!" she exclaimed, passionately. "It was love +at first sight. Then there was a misunderstanding. Now, one more +question. This sum of forty thousand pounds?" + +"Yes, what of it?" + +"Who's to have it?" + +"Darcy." + +"What!" + +"The Secretary told him he might draw it from the bank to-morrow, as, +well--as compensation for turning State's evidence." + +She laughed a harsh, unmusical laugh. + +"You've won," she said. "I will do what you wish--for his sake." + +"I believed that you would," he replied gravely, but one eyelid raised +just a trifle. She saw it, and turned on him like a flash. + +"No!" she cried, "it isn't for that reason! I've some good in me yet, +some pride! I tell you, it's not your cleverness that has done this! I +wouldn't surrender my good name for the sake of any man in the world! I +wouldn't allow the breath of suspicion to linger in the minds of my +friends, for the love of your friend, or any other weak fool, whom I can +turn round my fingers! No! the reason I surrender is because your last +words have told me how I can right myself before all the world, save one +man; and I'll consent to sacrifice my reputation in his eyes, because I +love him. But for all that, Robert Darcy cannot divorce the woman who +bears his name." + +"Why not?" + +"Because she's not his wife." + +"Not his wife! Who is his wife, then?" + +"I am." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE PRICE OF SILENCE + + +"You are Robert Darcy's wife," he said slowly, trying to adjust his +ideas to this altered state of affairs. Then, as some comprehension of +the results which would follow this declaration dawned upon him, he +continued:-- + +"Why have you told me this?" + +"Because I need your co-operation, and you're the only man I know whom I +can trust to keep the secret." + +"I've given you no pledge to do so." + +"Quite true, and I've asked for none; but I've misread you sadly, if you +can't keep a still tongue in your head, when the advantage to all +concerned by so doing can be made clear to you." + +"Can you prove your point?" + +"Yes, even to your satisfaction." + +"I'm all attention," he said. + +"In the first place," she began, "you must understand that Colonel Darcy +and I were secretly married four years ago, in Ireland. I'll show you my +marriage certificate, to prove my words, when we return to the house. I +always carry it with me in case of an emergency." + +Kent-Lauriston nodded, and she continued:-- + +"The Colonel married me under the impression that I was an heiress. I +married him because I thought I loved him. We both discovered our +mistakes within the first few days. No one knew of the step we had +taken, so we agreed to separate. This is a practical age. As Miss +Fitzgerald I'd hosts of friends; as Mrs. Darcy, a girl who had made a +worse than foolish marriage, I should have had none. The Colonel had +expected his wife to support him; he was in no condition to support her. +His regiment was ordered to India; if he resigned, his income was gone. +We decided to keep our secret. I remained Miss Fitzgerald. He went to +India. Three years later he was invalided home. Travelling for his +health, he returned by way of South America. There he met Inez De Costa, +and won her love. She combined the two things he most craved, position +and wealth. He had heard nothing from me for many months. He allowed his +inclinations to guide his reason, and, trusting that I was dead, or had +done something foolish, he married her and returned to England. We met. +My natural impulse was to denounce him, but sober second thought showed +the futility of such a course. I'd nothing to gain; everything to lose. +He sent me money. I returned it. Do you believe that?" + +"I believe you implicitly," replied Kent-Lauriston. + +"Then he came to see me; for I think he still loved me. He came, I say, +fearfully at first, lest I should betray him. Then growing bolder, he +threw off all reserve. Believing, fool that he was, because I didn't +denounce him, that I could ever forget or forgive the wrong he'd done +me. He mistook compliance for forgetfulness, even had the audacity to +suggest that I, too, should marry. + +"Then this scheme for defeating the treaty was proposed to him. He was +willing enough to undertake it, for his second matrimonial venture had +been a pecuniary failure, thanks to the wisdom of Senor De Costa in +tying up his daughter's property; but he lacked the brains to carry it +out, and, like the fool that he is, came to me for assistance. I had +lulled his suspicions, and he needed a confederate. He even held out +vague promises of a future for us both, as if I'd believe his attested +oath, after what had passed! I consented to help him, and would have +brought the matter to a successful issue, if it hadn't been for his +stupidity. What did I care about the success or failure of his plot? It +had put the man in my power, put him where I wanted to have him. At any +time within the last six weeks I could have forced him to publicly +recognise me, if need were." + +"What prevented you from doing this?" + +"I'd fallen in love with your friend. Yes, I admit it. It was weak, +pitiably weak. At first I played with him, then too late I understood my +own feelings." + +"But it could have come to nothing." + +"Can you suppose I didn't realise that keenly? Yet I hoped against hope +that Darcy would die; that he'd be apprehended and imprisoned, and +perish of the rigours of hard labour; anything that would set me free. +Then I saw that Stanley loved Inez De Costa. It was an added pang, but +it caused me to hesitate; because in taking my revenge, I should wreck +both their lives." + +"But you? Had you pity for Inez De Costa?" + +"Yes, incomprehensible as it may seem to you; for I'd learned to loathe +Darcy before he had committed bigamy. I never met her till that night at +the Hyde Park Club, and she asked me if I knew her husband. _Her +husband!_ I pitied her from that moment. She'd done me no wrong. Why +should I wreck her life, if it could be avoided?" + +"And now?" + +"Now you've solved the problem. Darcy won't dare to contest the suit for +divorce. He'll be glad to get rid of her, because he can't control her +money. Having the purse-strings, I can force him to recognise me as his +wife, after the divorce has been granted. I shall have an assured +position, and I can begin to pay back some of my debts," and her eyes +flashed. + +"And in all this, what is there to compel me to keep your secret?" + +"Because the marriage between Inez De Costa and Mr. Stanley might never +take place if they knew the truth. I'll keep the secret if you will. +She's in no way to blame. At first I hated her; now that I've known her, +my hate is turned to pity." + +"You're right," said Kent-Lauriston. "I'll keep your secret inviolate." + +"Now about the receipt for the forty thousand pounds." + +"Yes?" + +"I think Mr. Stanley had better see it, it'll save further awkwardness, +but I must have it back. It's my one hold over Darcy, my one chance of +righting myself." + +"There's a receipt for the amount," said Kent-Lauriston, tearing out a +leaf from his note-book, on which he wrote a few lines. "I'll be +responsible for its return to you. I can't do less." + +"Here comes Lieutenant Kingsland now," she said. "Don't say anything. +I'll manage this affair." + +"Jack!" she called, "come here a moment." + +The young officer approached. + +"Yes?" he said interrogatively. + +"You needn't hesitate to speak before Mr. Kent-Lauriston," she assured +him. "He's one of my _best_ friends. You've not forgotten the promise +which you made me, when I helped you about arranging your wedding, to do +anything I might request?" + +"No, and I'd do it if the occasion required," he replied heartily. + +"Good," she said, "the occasion is here." + +"What must I do?" + +"You hold in your possession a receipt from the Victoria Street Branch +of the Bank of England for the deposit in my name of five chests +belonging to Mr. Riddle." + +"Yes, I've been meaning to give it to you." + +"I wish you to give it to Mr. Stanley." + +"To Mr. Stanley?" + +"Yes." + +"Is that all?" + +"All, except that I charge you, on your honour, never to let him know I +asked you to do this. Tell him only that I gave you the chests, and how +you disposed of them, and place the receipt in his hands, as coming from +yourself. Not a syllable about me, mind!" + +"I'll follow your instructions literally; but how am I to have the +opportunity of doing this?" + +"Mr. Stanley will give you the opportunity, perhaps to-day. Then see +that you do it." + +"I promise." + +"Swear." + +"Well, I swear on my honour as an officer and a gentleman." + +"Good. One more word. Before to-night you may change your feelings +towards me, may feel absolved from all obligations to me; but whatever +events occur, do not forget that you have sworn to do this on your +honour as an officer and as a gentleman, without any mental reservations +whatsoever, and to do neither less nor more than this." + +"You can trust me, and if you think that anything my wife----" + +"No! no! I do trust you. Go now, and give Mr. Stanley a chance to see +you at once. You'll be serving me best so." + +He left them wondering, and, she, turning to Kent-Lauriston, said:-- + +"I tell you it is the greatest proof of my affection for him; for what +he thinks of me is worth all the criticism of the world and more. Oh, +you may scoff! I know you think him too good for me!" + +"Pardon me," interrupted Kent-Lauriston, taking off his hat, and bowing +his head over her hand, which he held, "I have misunderstood you." + + * * * * * + +It was nearly two hours later that the Secretary found time, amidst the +distractions of a hurried departure, for he had made his peace with his +hostess and was leaving for town that afternoon, to redeem his promise +to Lady Isabelle. + +"Is Lieutenant Kingsland in the house?" he asked of the servant, who +answered his summons. + +"He's in the billiard-room, sir." + +"Very well. Will you present my compliments to him, and ask him to be so +kind as to come to my room for a few minutes?" + +In less time than it takes to tell it, the young officer responded to +the summons, saying as he entered:-- + +"Here I am. Can I do anything for you?" + +"Perhaps. But I sent for you primarily for the purpose of doing you a +favour." + +"That sounds encouraging. By the way, did you know that your especial +admiration, Darcy, was planning to vacate at the earliest opportunity?" + +"Yes," replied the Secretary, drily. "I gave him leave to go, but he's +to all intents and purposes under arrest." + +"The devil!" + +"Quite so, there's the devil to pay, and I'm afraid you may have to foot +part of the bill, if you're not careful." + +"What do you mean?" cried the Lieutenant, starting uneasily. + +"I'll explain. That's why I sent for you; but you mustn't resent a +certain inquisitiveness on my part. It's only for your good." + +"Go on, go on!" + +"You went to London a few days ago, and executed a commission for +Darcy." + +"No--for Belle Fitzgerald." + +"It's the same thing." + +"I think not. There were some chests containing stereopticon slides, and +Belle asked me to put them in a bank for her." + +"The Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of England." + +"Exactly." + +"A good many slides, I imagine; rather heavy, weren't they?" + +"Gad, I should think they were. It took two porters to lift each chest." + +"I suppose you told the bank authorities what was in the chests?" + +"No, I was told there was nothing to say. I was only to surrender them, +and a sealed note, which would explain all." + +"Did they give you a receipt for it?" + +"Yes." + +"Can anybody get the chests out?" + +"No, only the person mentioned in the receipt." + +"Have you still got the receipt?" + +"Yes." + +"Very good," said the Secretary. "I see your luck has not deserted you." + +"And now," said Kingsland, "that I've answered all your questions, +perhaps you'll tell me what you mean." + +"This is what I mean," replied Stanley, handing him that first part of +his Minister's letter which he had shown to Darcy. + +The Lieutenant read it once, not understanding its purport; then again, +his brow becoming wrinkled with anxiety; and yet again, with a very +white face. + +"What is it?" he gasped. + +"It looks dangerously like treason, doesn't it?" returned the Secretary. + +"But what is this bribe?" + +"You ought to know that, as you carried it up to London, in sovereigns." + +"What--how much was it?" + +"Forty thousand pounds in gold." + +"Good heavens!" said the Lieutenant, and mopped his brow. "But I didn't +know anything about it!" + +"That doesn't prevent you from having participated in one of the most +rascally plots of your day and generation; from being a party in an +attempt to overthrow, by the most open and shameless bribery, a treaty +pending between the government you serve and mine." + +"But, if this gets out, I'll be cashiered from the navy." + +"Oh, I don't think they'd stop there," said the Secretary reassuringly. +"Not with the proof of that receipt." + +"Good Lord, I forgot that! Here, take it, will you?" + +"Certainly. Suppose we open it and see if it proves my assertion," and, +suiting the action to the word, he placed in the Lieutenant's shaking +hands a receipt of deposit in the Victoria Street Branch of the Bank of +England, by Miss Isabelle Fitzgerald, kindness of Lieutenant J. +Kingsland, of forty thousand pounds. + +"Can't you help me?" he asked. + +"It rests entirely with me." + +"Then you will?" + +"Tell me all you know. + +"But I don't know anything, except what I've told you. I give you my +word as an officer and a gentleman, that I've been let into this affair +in a most shameful manner, and that I'm entirely innocent, and ignorant +of everything connected with it." + +"I believe you, Lieutenant Kingsland." + +"And you won't prosecute?" + +"Not if you'll promise to drop this gang; they're a bad lot. Promise me +you'll cut loose from them as soon as possible, for your wife's sake." + +"I will," he said. "I will, old man. I can't thank you enough for what +you've done." + +"You've nothing to thank me for; I'm sure you are innocent, and so I +don't consider the circumstantial evidence; but you might not be as +lucky another time. I hope this will be a lesson to you. I need hardly +caution you to silence," and he appeared to peruse some papers to ease +the young officer's exit from the room. + +That evening in the privacy of the library, the Lieutenant confided the +news of his lucky escape to his wife, ending up with the question: + +"Do you think the Fitzgerald really loves him?" + +"My dear Jack," said Lady Isabelle, "a woman of that stamp does not know +what love means, she's simply scheming to marry him for his money. How +can people do such things?" + +"I'm sure I don't know, my dear," replied her spouse, yawning. The +subject was inopportune, and it bored him. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE PRICE OF A LIE + + +Stanley had made all his adieux, or at least all he wanted to make. He +was tired with the exciting events of the day, and longed for a little +peace and quiet before the exacting ordeal of a railway ride to London. +He had given up the time-table as a Chinese puzzle. "What with the +trains that go somewhere and those that don't," he protested, "I'm all +at sea!" He, therefore, sent Kent-Lauriston ahead in the trap, and +walked across the park to the station. + +That gentleman had convinced him of the propriety of restoring the order +for the forty thousand pounds to Miss Fitzgerald. He had pointed out +that she was the rightful owner of the document, and that Darcy was an +infernal rascal. The Secretary had acquiesced in his demand, and +promised, should he not see Belle before he left, an interview he much +wished to avoid, that he would mail it to her from the station. + +He had first, however, a far more pleasant commission to perform, and a +few minutes later was seated under the spreading branches of an old +apple tree with Inez Darcy. + +"I felt I must come and see you," he said. "I'm going away to-day, to +London, on important business." + +"Yes," she murmured. "You've been very good to me." + +"Some time ago," he continued, "you did me the honour to entrust your +affairs to my keeping, or, perhaps, to the keeping of the Legation." + +"To your keeping, I should prefer." + +"I fear that you may think I've been remiss, that other things have +taken my mind off them, that I've, in short, forgotten them, but it is +not so." + +"I never doubted you." + +"I hope to prove to you that you've not misplaced your confidence, in +evidence of which I bring you this," and he handed her a paper. + +"What is it?" she said. + +"A line from your husband," she started, "which gives you your freedom." + +"You mean a divorce?" + +"Yes." + +"But I do not understand." + +"He agreed to consent to your obtaining such a decree on any ground you +choose. I've decided on 'incompatibility of temper,' as being the least +embarrassing to you. He will not appear to contest the suit when it is +brought forward. This paper, signed in my presence, promises as much." + +"My husband is a bad man, he would never have surrendered unless he was +forced to do so; for he believes that by retaining the control of me, he +may yet obtain control of my property." + +"Perhaps he has seen the futility of these hopes." + +"No, no, his own self-conceit would have blinded him to the possibility +of being outwitted. You've forced this from him. How have you done so?" + +"I had hoped you would not press me for these reasons. Can't you accept +my assurance that whatever I've done, has been done in your interests +alone." + +"Don't think me ungrateful if I say no, but I've had to endure so many +mysteries, that, for once, my great desire is to be clear of them." + +"I hesitate to tell you, because it may give you pain." + +"I am used to that and can bear it." + +"Well, if you will have it. Colonel Darcy, as a result of his own +actions, was placed in my power." + +"You mean that it was your duty to have him arrested?" + +"That was left to my discretion." + +"And you forced his consent?" + +"No, I gave him a chance to purchase his freedom, and a substantial +reward, by a confession, and this----" and he touched the paper. + +"But had you a right----?" + +"I had a right to make any terms I pleased. I was given unlimited power +to impose my own conditions, and I'm sure, had my Chief known, he would +have wished you to derive any benefit possible from the transaction." + +"It's dearly bought with that man's disgrace. In the eyes of the world, +he will still be my husband." + +"There will be no disgrace." + +"I do not understand." + +"The government doesn't wish to punish Colonel Darcy; it merely wishes +for his evidence, to aid in the detection of others." + +"But his name will appear." + +"It is strictly stipulated that it shall not do so; be assured your +secret is safe." + +"And he could have sunk so low as to sell himself and those who trusted +him." + +"They were criminals." + +"It doesn't lessen his treachery." + +"Don't waste a thought on him, least of all any sentimental emotion. He +wasted little enough on you, and would have insulted you in my presence, +had I permitted it; he sold your freedom with less compunction than he +sold his honour or his friends." + +"Enough!" she cried, her eyes sparkling. "He is forgotten. We will speak +of something else. Let me use my time to better purpose, by trying to +thank you--to begin to thank you, for all you've done for me." + +"You can repay me if you like." + +"What is the payment, then, for which you ask?" + +"My Chief has received a request from your father this morning, that you +be put in charge of some responsible person, to come home to him." + +"Ah!" she said, "that is no favour, it is good news." + +"You must hear me out. Your father requested the Minister to nominate +your escort." + +"Well?" + +"He has nominated me." + +"What, are you going home?" + +"Almost at once. Will you trust yourself in my hands?" + +"Trust you! I will go with you anywhere! I will trust you always!" + +"Perhaps," he said, looking down into her eyes, as he stood before her, +"I shall ask you to fulfil those promises some day." + +"Perhaps," she replied, rising and standing by his side, "I shall then +be free to answer you," and a radiant smile lit up her face. + +They took each other's hands, and stood silent for a long time. Then he +bade her good-bye, and resumed his walk to the station. + +Midway in his path, a figure lying prone in the tall grass roused itself +into action at his coming, sprang up and stood facing him, flushed, +defiant, and on the verge of tears. + +It was the last person in the world Stanley wished to see--Belle +Fitzgerald. He had felt it was impossible to meet her again; that she +had put herself beyond the pale of his recognition; that it was not even +decent that she should face him; that he should have been left to +forget; and she, seeing all this in his face, and more--longed to throw +her good resolutions to the winds, and cry out against this great +injustice. But as they stood there, her subtle woman's instinct told her +that, even were her innocence proclaimed with the trumpet, the thought +that it had been otherwise would stand between them as an insurmountable +barrier for ever, and she hardened her heart for his sake. + +"You are going away," she said. + +"Yes," he replied, looking down at the road. She told herself +passionately, that he would look anywhere rather than at her. + +"Some of your property has come into my possession," he said. "I wish to +return it to you," and he handed her the receipt for the forty thousand +pounds. + +"I'll trust you'll see," he continued, in a strained voice, "that +Colonel Darcy has his proper share." + +"He shall have what he deserves," she replied coldly; and then she burst +out, her words tumbling one over the other, now that she had found +speech: "You ought to know, you must know, that when Colonel Darcy is +free, we shall be man and wife." + +"I'm very glad," he said, and he said it from his heart. + +There was an awkward pause, neither seemed able to speak. At length he +remarked, more to break the silence than anything:-- + +"You know, I always thought, that, in your heart, you loved Darcy, +before anyone else." + +She laughed her hard, cold laugh, saying:-- + +"You diplomats know everything." + +The Secretary bowed silently and passed on, well satisfied to close the +interview; his thoughts full of the brilliant future which was opening +before him, unconscious that behind him, face down in the grass, a woman +was sobbing her heart out. + + + + +The Dollar Library +of American Fiction + + * * * * * + +TWO GUINEAS, post free, for a SUBSCRIPTION of Twelve Volumes, or +separately in special binding at 4d. per Volume. + + * * * * * + +The American Copyright Act, during its nine years' life, has been of the +greatest benefit to American fiction, if not to American literature in +general. 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LAUT. + +THE CHRONIC LOAFER. +By NELSON LLOYD. + +HER MOUNTAIN LOVER. +By HAMLIN GARLAND. + + +The Dollar Library. +_A Monthly Series of American Fiction._ + + +LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN. +_And at all Booksellers and Bookstalls._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parlous Times, by David Dwight Wells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARLOUS TIMES *** + +***** This file should be named 34925.txt or 34925.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/2/34925/ + +Produced by Annie McGuire. 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