THE LION'S SKIN

By Rafael Sabatini

I. THE FANATIC

II. AT THE "ADAM AND EVE"

III. THE WITNESS

IV. Mr. GREEN

V. MOONSHINE

VI. HORTENSIA'S RETURN

VII. FATHER AND SON

VIII. TEMPTATION

IX. THE CHAMPION

X. SPURS TO THE RELUCTANT

XI. THE ASSAULT-AT-ARMS

XII. SUNSHINE AND SHADOW

XIII. THE FORLORN HOPE

XIV. LADY OSTERMORE

XV. LOVE AND RAGE

XVI. Mr. GREEN EXECUTES HIS WARRANT

XVII. AMID THE GRAVES

XVIII. THE GHOST OF THE PAST

XIX. THE END OF LORD OSTERMORE

XX. Mr. CARYLL'S IDENTITY

XXI. THE LION'S SKIN

XXII. THE HUNTERS

XXIII. THE LION

THE LION'S SKIN

CHAPTER I. THE FANATIC

Mr. Caryll, lately from Rome, stood by the window, looking out over therainswept, steaming quays to Notre Dame on the island yonder. Overheadrolled and crackled the artillery of an April thunderstorm, and Mr. Caryll, looking out upon Paris in her shroud of rain, under her pall ofthundercloud, felt himself at harmony with Nature. Over his heart, too, the gloom of storm was lowering, just as in his heart it was stilllittle more than April time. 

Behind him, in that chamber furnished in dark oak and leather of a reignor two ago, sat Sir Richard Everard at a vast writing-table all a-litterwith books and papers; and Sir Richard watched his adoptive son withfierce, melancholy eyes, watched him until he grew impatient of thispause. 

"Well?" demanded the old baronet harshly. "Will you undertake it, Justin, now that the chance has come?" And he added: "You'll neverhesitate if you are the man I have sought to make you. "

Mr. Caryll turned slowly. "It is because I am the man that you--that Godand you--have made me that I do hesitate. "

His voice was quiet and pleasantly modulated, and he spoke English withthe faintest slur--perceptible, perhaps, only to the keenest ear--ofa French accent. To ears less keen it would merely seem that hearticulated with a precision so singular as to verge on pedantry. 

The light falling full upon his profile revealed the rather singularcountenance that was his own. It was not in any remarkable beauty thatits distinction lay, for by the canons of beauty that prevail it was notbeautiful. The features were irregular and inclined to harshness, the nose was too abruptly arched, the chin too long and square, thecomplexion too pallid. Yet a certain dignity haunted that youthfulface, of such a quality as to stamp it upon the memory of the merestpasser-by. The mouth was difficult to read and full of contradictions;the lips were full and red, and you would declare them the lips of asensualist but for the line of stern, almost grim, determination inwhich they met; and yet, somewhere behind that grimness, there appearedto lurk a haunting whimsicality; a smile seemed ever to impend, butwhether sweet or bitter none could have told until it broke. The eyeswere as remarkable; wide-set and slow-moving, as becomes the eyes of anobservant man, they were of an almost greenish color, and so level intheir ordinary glance as to seem imbued with an uncanny penetration. His hair--he dared to wear his own, and clubbed it in a broad ribbonof watered silk--was almost of the hue of bronze, with here and there aglint of gold, and as luxuriant as any wig. 

For the rest, he was scarcely above the middle height, of an almostfrail but very graceful slenderness, and very graceful, too, in allhis movements. In dress he was supremely elegant, with the elegance ofFrance, that in England would be accounted foppishness. He wore a suitof dark blue cloth, with white satin linings that were revealed when hemoved; it was heavily laced with gold, and a ramiform pattern broideredin gold thread ran up the sides of his silk stockings of a paler blue. Jewels gleamed in the Brussels at his throat, and there were diamondbuckles on his lacquered, red-heeled shoes. 

Sir Richard considered him with anxiety and some chagrin. "Justin!" hecried, a world of reproach in his voice. "What can you need to ponder?"

"Whatever it may be, " said Mr. Caryll, "it will be better that I ponderit now than after I have pledged myself. "

"But what is it? What?" demanded the baronet. 

"I am marvelling, for one thing, that you should have waited thirtyyears. "

Sir Richard's fingers stirred the papers before him in an idle, absentmanner. Into his brooding eyes there leapt the glitter to be seen in theeyes of the fevered of body or of mind. 

"Vengeance, " said he slowly, "is a dish best relished when 'tis eatencold. " He paused an instant; then continued: "I might have crossed toEngland at the time, and slain him. Should that have satisfied me? Whatis death but peace and rest?"

"There is a hell, we are told, " Mr. Caryll reminded him. 

"Ay, " was the answer, "we are told. But I dursn't risk its being falsewhere Ostermore is concerned. So I preferred to wait until I could brewhim such a cup of bitterness as no man ever drank ere he was glad todie. " In a quieter, retrospective voice he continued: "Had we prevailedin the '15, I might have found a way to punish him that had been worthyof the crime that calls for it. We did not prevail. Moreover, I wastaken, and transported. 

"What think you, Justin, gave me courage to endure the rigors of theplantations, cunning and energy to escape after five such years of it ashad assuredly killed a stronger man less strong of purpose? What but thetask that was awaiting me? It imported that I should live and be freeto call a reckoning in full with my Lord Ostermore before I go to my ownaccount. 

"Opportunity has gone lame upon this journey. But it has arrivedat last. Unless--" He paused, his voice sank from the high note ofexaltation to which it had soared; it became charged with dread, as didthe fierce eyes with which he raked his companion's face. "Unless youprove false to the duty that awaits you. And that I'll not believe! Youare your mother's son, Justin. "

"And my father's, too, " answered Justin in a thick voice; "and the Earlof Ostermore is that same father. "

"The more sweetly shall your mother be avenged, " cried the other, andagain his eyes blazed with that unhealthy, fanatical light. "Whatfitter than the hand of that poor lady's son to pull your father down inruins?" He laughed short and fiercely. "It seldom chances in this worldthat justice is done so nicely. "

"You hate him very deeply, " said Mr. Caryll pensively, and the look inhis eyes betrayed the trend of his thoughts; they were of pity--but ofpity at the futility of such strong emotions. 

"As deeply as I loved your mother, Justin. " The sharp, rugged featuresof that seared old face seemed of a sudden transfigured and softened. The wild eyes lost some of their glitter in a look of wistfulness, as hepondered a moment the one sweet memory in a wasted life, a life wreckedover thirty years ago--wrecked wantonly by that same Ostermore of whomthey spoke, who had been his friend. 

A groan broke from his lips. He took his head in his hands, and, elbowson the table, he sat very still a moment, reviewing as in a flash theevents of thirty and more years ago, when he and Viscount Rotherby--asOstermore was then--had been young men at the St. Germain's Court ofJames II. 

It was on an excursion into Normandy that they had met Mademoisellede Maligny, the daughter of an impoverished gentleman of the chetivenoblesse of that province. Both had loved her. She had preferred--aswomen will--the outward handsomeness of Viscount Rotherby to the sounderheart and brain that were Dick Everard's. As bold and dominant as anyruffler of them all where men and perils were concerned, young Everardwas timid, bashful and without assertiveness with women. He hadwithdrawn from the contest ere it was well lost, leaving an easy victoryto his friend. 

And how had that friend used it? Most foully, as you shall learn. 

Leaving Rotherby in Normandy, Everard had returned to Paris. The affairsof his king gave him cause to cross at once to Ireland. For three yearshe abode there, working secretly in his master's interest, to littlepurpose be it confessed. At the end of that time he returned to Paris. Rotherby was gone. It appeared that his father, Lord Ostermore, hadprevailed upon Bentinck to use his influence with William on the errantyouth's behalf. Rotherby had been pardoned his loyalty to the fallendynasty. A deserter in every sense, he had abandoned the fortunes ofKing James--which in Everard's eyes was bad enough--and he had abandonedthe sweet lady he had fetched out of Normandy six months before hisgoing, of whom it seemed that in his lordly way he was grown tired. 

From the beginning it would appear they were ill-matched. It was herbeauty had made appeal to him, even as his beauty had enamoured her. Elementals had brought about their union; and when these elementalsshrank with habit, as elementals will, they found themselves without atie of sympathy or common interest to link them each to the other. Shewas by nature blythe; a thing of sunshine, flowers and music, who craveda very poet for her lover; and by "a poet" I mean not your mere rhymer. He was downright stolid and stupid under his fine exterior; the worsttype of Briton, without the saving grace of a Briton's honor. And so shehad wearied him, who saw in her no more than a sweet loveliness that hadcloyed him presently. And when the chance was offered him by Bentinckand his father, he took it and went his ways, and this sweet flowerthat he had plucked from its Normandy garden to adorn him for a briefsummer's day was left to wilt, discarded. 

The tale that greeted Everard on his return from Ireland was that, broken-hearted, she had died--crushed neath her load of shame. For itwas said that there had been no marriage. 

The rumor of her death had gone abroad, and it had been carried toEngland and my Lord Rotherby by a cousin of hers--the last livingMaligny--who crossed the channel to demand of that stolid gentlemansatisfaction for the dishonor put upon his house. All the satisfactionthe poor fellow got was a foot or so of steel through the lungs, ofwhich he died; and there, may it have seemed to Rotherby, the matterended. 

But Everard remained--Everard, who had loved her with a great and almostsacred love; Everard, who swore black ruin for my Lord Rotherby--therumor of which may also have been carried to his lordship and stimulatedhis activities in having Everard hunted down after the Braemar fiasco of1715. 

But before that came to pass Everard had discovered that the rumorof her death was false--put about, no doubt, out of fear of that samecousin who had made himself champion and avenger of her honor. Everardsought her out, and found her perishing of want in an attic in theCour des Miracles some four months later--eight months after Rotherby'sdesertion. 

In that sordid, wind-swept chamber of Paris' most abandoned haunt, a sonhad been born to Antoinette de Maligny two days before Everard had comeupon her. Both were dying; both had assuredly died within the week butthat he came so timely to her aid. And that aid he rendered like thenoble-hearted gentleman he was. He had contrived to save his fortunefrom the wreck of James' kingship, and this was safely invested inFrance, in Holland and elsewhere abroad. With a portion of it herepurchased the chateau and estates of Maligny, which on the death ofAntoinette's father had been seized upon by creditors. 

Thither he sent her and her child--Rotherby's child--making that nobledomain a christening-gift to the boy, for whom he had stood sponsor atthe font. And he did his work of love in the background. He was the godin the machine; no more. No single opportunity of thanking him did heafford her. He effaced himself that she might not see the sorrow sheoccasioned him, lest it should increase her own. 

For two years she dwelt at Maligny in such peace as the broken-heartedmay know, the little of life that was left her irradiated by Everard'snoble friendship. He wrote to her from time to time, now from Italy, nowfrom Holland. But he never came to visit her. A delicacy, which mayor may not have been false, restrained him. And she, respecting whatinstinctively she knew to be his feelings, never bade him come to her. In their letters they never spoke of Rotherby; not once did his namepass between them; it was as if he had never lived or never crossedtheir lives. Meanwhile she weakened and faded day by day, despite allthe care with which she was surrounded. That winter of cold and want inthe Cour des Miracles had sown its seeds, and Death was sharpening hisscythe against the harvest. 

When the end was come she sent urgently for Everard. He came at once inanswer to her summons; but he came too late. She died the evening beforehe arrived. But she had left a letter, written days before, against thechance of his not reaching her before the end. That letter, in her fineFrench hand, was before him now. 

"I will not try to thank you, dearest friend, " she wrote. "For the thingthat you have done, what payment is there in poor thanks? Oh, Everard, Everard! Had it but pleased God to have helped me to a wiser choicewhen it was mine to choose!" she cried to him from that letter, andpoor Everard deemed that the thin ray of joy her words sent through hisanguished soul was payment more than enough for the little that he haddone. "God's will be done!" she continued. "It is His will. He knows whyit is best so, though we discern it not. But there is the boy; thereis Justin. I bequeath him to you who already have done so much for him. Love him a little for my sake; cherish and rear him as your own, andmake of him such a gentleman as are you. His father does not so much asknow of his existence. That, too, is best so, for I would not have himclaim my boy. Never let him learn that Justin exists, unless it be topunish him by the knowledge for his cruel desertion of me. "

Choking, the writing blurred by tears that he accounted no disgrace tohis young manhood, Everard had sworn in that hour that Justin shouldbe as a son to him. He would do her will, and he set upon it a moredefinite meaning than she intended. Rotherby should remain in ignoranceof his son's existence until such season as should make the knowledge avery anguish to him. He would rear Justin in bitter hatred of the foulvillain who had been his father; and with the boy's help, when the timeshould be ripe, he would lay my Lord Rotherby in ruins. Thus should mylord's sin come to find him out. 

This Everard had sworn, and this he had done. He had told Justin thestory almost as soon as Justin was of an age to understand it. He hadrepeated it at very frequent intervals, and as the lad grew, Everardwatched in him--fostering it by every means in his power--the growth ofhis execration for the author of his days, and of his reverence for thesweet, departed saint that had been his mother. 

For the rest, he had lavished Justin nobly for his mother's sake. Therepurchased estates of Maligny, with their handsome rent roll, remainedJustin's own, administered by Sir Richard during the lad's minority andvastly enriched by the care of that administration. He had sent thelad to Oxford, and afterwards--the more thoroughly to complete hiseducation--on a two years' tour of Europe; and on his return, a grownand cultured man, he had attached him to the court in Rome of thePretender, whose agent he was himself in Paris. 

He had done his duty by the boy as he understood his duty, always withthat grim purpose of revenge for his horizon. And the result had been astranger compound than even Everard knew, for all that he knew thelad exceedingly well. For he had scarcely reckoned sufficiently uponJustin's mixed nationality and the circumstance that in soul and mindhe was entirely his mother's child, with nothing--or an imperceptiblelittle--of his father. As his mother's nature had been, so wasJustin's--joyous. But Everard's training of him had suppressed allinborn vivacity. The mirth and diablerie that were his birthright hadbeen overlaid with British phlegm, until in their stead, and throughthe blend, a certain sardonic humor had developed, an ironical attitudetoward all things whether sacred or profane. This had been helped onby culture, and--in a still greater measure--by the odd training inworldliness which he had from Everard. His illusions were shattered erehe had cut his wisdom teeth, thanks to the tutelage of Sir Richard, who in giving him the ugly story of his own existence, taught him themisanthropical lesson that all men are knaves, all women fools. Hedeveloped, as a consequence, that sardonic outlook upon the world. Hesought to take vos non vobis for his motto, affected to a spectator inthe theatre of Life, with the obvious result that he became the greatestactor of them all. 

So we find him even now, his main emotion pity for Sir Richard, who satsilent for some moments, reviewing that thirty-year dead past, untilthe tears scalded his old eyes. The baronet made a queer noise inhis throat, something between a snarl and a sob, and he flung himselfsuddenly back in his chair. 

Justin sat down, a becoming gravity in his countenance. "Tell me all, "he begged his adoptive father. "Tell me how matters stand precisely--howyou propose to act. "

"With all my heart, " the baronet assented. "Lord Ostermore, havingturned his coat once for profit, is ready now to turn it again for thesame end. From the information that reaches me from England, it wouldappear that in the rage of speculation that has been toward in London, his lordship has suffered heavily. How heavily I am not prepared to say. But heavily enough, I dare swear, to have caused this offer to return tohis king; for he looks, no doubt, to sell his services at a price thatwill help him mend the wreckage of his fortunes. A week ago a gentlemanwho goes between his majesty's court at Rome and his friends here inParis brought me word from his majesty that Ostermore had signified tohim his willingness to rejoin the Stuart cause. 

"Together with that information, this messenger brought me letters fromhis majesty to several of his friends, which I was to send to Englandby a safe hand at the first opportunity. Now, amongst theseletters--delivered to me unsealed--is one to my Lord Ostermore, makinghim certain advantageous proposals which he is sure to accept if hiscircumstances be as crippled as I am given to understand. Atterbury andhis friends, it seems, have already tampered with my lord's loyalty toDutch George to some purpose, and there is little doubt but that thisletter"--and he tapped a document before him--"will do what else is tobe done. 

"But, since these letters were left with me, come you with his majesty'sfresh injunctions that I am to suppress them and cross to England atonce myself, to prevail upon Atterbury and his associates to abandon theundertaking. "

Mr. Caryll nodded. "Because, as I have told you, " said he, "King Jamesin Rome has received positive information that in London the plot isalready suspected, little though Atterbury may dream it. But what hasthis to do with my Lord Ostermore?"

"This, " said Everard slowly, leaning across toward Justin, and layinga hand upon his sleeve. "I am to counsel the Bishop to stay his handagainst a more favorable opportunity. There is no reason why you shouldnot do the very opposite with Ostermore. "

Mr. Caryll knit his brows, his eyes intent upon the other's face; but hesaid no word. 

"It is, " urged Everard, "an opportunity such as there may never beanother. We destroy Ostermore. By a turn of the hand we bring him to thegallows. " He chuckled over the word with a joy almost diabolical. 

"But how--how do we destroy him?" quoth Justin, who suspected yet darednot encourage his suspicions. 

"How? Do you ask how? Is't not plain?" snapped Sir Richard, and whathe avoided putting into words, his eloquent glance made clear to hiscompanion. 

Mr. Caryll rose a thought quickly, a faint flush stirring in his cheeks, and he threw off Everard's grasp with a gesture that was almost ofrepugnance. "You mean that I am to enmesh him.... "

Sir Richard smiled grimly. "As his majesty's accredited agent, " heexplained. "I will equip you with papers. Word shall go ahead of you toOstermore by a safe hand to bid him look for the coming of a messengerbearing his own family name. No more than that; nothing that canbetray us; yet enough to whet his lordship's appetite. You shall bethe ambassador to bear him the tempting offers from the king. You willobtain his answers--accepting. Those you will deliver to me, and I shalldo the trifle that may still be needed to set the rope about his neck. "

A little while there was silence. Outside, the rain, driven by gusts, smote the window as with a scourge. The thunder was grumbling in thedistance now. Mr. Caryll resumed his chair. He sat very thoughtful, but with no emotion showing in his face. British stolidity was in theascendant with him then. He felt that he had the need of it. 

"It is... Ugly, " he said at last slowly. 

"It is God's own will, " was the hot answer, and Sir Richard smote thetable. 

"Has God taken you into His confidence?" wondered Mr. Caryll. 

"I know that God is justice. "

"Yet is it not written that 'vengeance is His own'?"

"Aye, but He needs human instruments to execute it. Such instruments arewe. Can you--Oh, can you hesitate?"

Mr. Caryll clenched his hands hard. "Do it, " he answered through setteeth. "Do it! I shall approve it when 'tis done. But find other handsfor the work, Sir Richard. He is my father. "

Sir Richard remained cool. "That is the argument I employ for insistingupon the task being yours, " he replied. Then, in a blaze ofpassion, he--who had schooled his adoptive son so ably inself-control--marshalled once more his arguments. "It is your duty toyour mother to forget that he is your father. Think of him only as theman who wronged your mother; the man to whom her ruined life, her earlydeath are due--her murderer and worse. Consider that. Your father, yousay!" He mocked almost. "Your father! In what is he your father? Youhave never seen him; he does not know that you exist, that you everexisted. Is that to be a father? Father, you say! A word, a name--nomore than that; a name that gives rise to a sentiment, and a sentimentis to stand between you and your clear duty; a sentiment is to set aprotecting shield over the man who killed your mother!

"I think I shall despise you, Justin, if you fail me in this. I havelived for it, " he ran on tempestuously. "I have reared you for it, andyou shall not fail me!"

Then his voice dropped again, and in quieter tones

"You hate the very name of John Caryll, Earl of Ostermore, " said he, "asmust every decent man who knows the truth of what the life of that satyrholds. If I have suffered you to bear his name, it is to the end that itshould remind you daily that you have no right to it, that you have noright to any name. "

When he said that he thrust his finger consciously into a raw wound. Hesaw Justin wince, and with pitiless cunning he continued to prod thattender place until he had aggravated the smart of it into a very agony. 

"That is what you owe your father; that is the full extent of what liesbetween you--that you are of those at whom the world is given to sneerand point scorn's ready finger. "

"None has ever dared, " said Mr. Caryll. 

"Because none has ever known. We have kept the secret well. You displayno coat of arms that no bar sinister may be displayed. But the timemay come when the secret must out. You might, for instance, think ofmarrying a lady of quality, a lady of your own supposed station. Whatshall you tell her of yourself? That you have no name to offer her; thatthe name you bear is yours by assumption only? Ah! That brings home yourown wrongs to you, Justin! Consider them; have them ever present in yourmind, together with your mother's blighted life, that you may not shrinkwhen the hour strikes to punish the evildoer. "

He flung himself back in his chair again, and watched the younger manwith brooding eye. Mr. Caryll was plainly moved. He had paled a little, and he sat now with brows contracted and set teeth. 

Sir Richard pushed back his chair and rose, recapitulating. "He is yourmother's destroyer, " he said, with a sad sternness. "Is the ruin of thatfair life to go unpunished? Is it, Justin?"

Mr. Caryll's Gallic spirit burst abruptly through its British glaze. He crushed fist into palm, and swore: "No, by God! It shall not, SirRichard!"

Sir Richard held out his hands, and there was a fierce joy in his gloomyeyes at last. "You'll cross to England with me, Justin?"

But Mr. Caryll's soul fell once more into travail. "Wait!" he cried. "Ah, wait!" His level glance met Sir Richard's in earnestness andentreaty. "Answer me the truth upon your soul and conscience: Do you inyour heart believe that it is what my mother would have had me do?"

There was an instant's pause. Then Everard, the fanatic of vengeance, the man whose mind upon that one subject was become unsound with excessof brooding, answered with conviction: "As I have a soul to be saved, Justin, I do believe it. More--I know it. Here!" Trembling hands took upthe old letter from the table and proffered it to Justin. "Here is herown message to you. Read it again. "

And what time the young man's eyes rested upon that fine, pointedwriting, Sir Richard recited aloud the words he knew by heart, the wordsthat had been ringing in his ears since that day when he had seen herlowered to rest: "'Never let him learn that Justin exists unless it beto punish him by the knowledge for his cruel desertion of me. ' Itis your mother's voice speaking to you from the grave, " the fanaticpursued, and so infected Justin at last with something of hisfanaticism. 

The green eyes flashed uncannily, the white young face grew cruellysardonic. "You believe it?" he asked, and the eagerness that nowinvested his voice showed how it really was with him. 

"As I have a soul to be saved, " Sir Richard repeated. 

"Then gladly will I set my hand to it. " Fire stirred through Justin now, a fire of righteous passion. "An idea--no more than an idea--daunted me. You have shown me that. I cross to England with you, Sir Richard, andlet my Lord Ostermore look to himself, for my name--I who have no rightto any name--my name is judgment!"

The exaltation fell from him as suddenly as it had mounted. He droppedinto a chair, thoughtful again and slightly ashamed of his suddenoutburst. 

Sir Richard Everard watched with an eye of gloomy joy the man whom hehad been at such pains to school in self-control. 

Overhead there was a sudden crackle of thunder, sharp and staccato as apeal of demoniac laughter. 

CHAPTER II. AT THE "ADAM AND EVE"

Mr. Caryll, alighted from his traveling chaise in the yard of the "Adamand Eve, " at Maidstone, on a sunny afternoon in May. Landed at Doverthe night before, he had parted company with Sir Richard Everard thatmorning. His adoptive father had turned aside toward Rochester, todischarge his king's business with plotting Bishop Atterbury, what timeJustin was to push on toward town as King James' ambassador to the Earlof Ostermore, who, advised of his coming, was expecting him. 

Here at Maidstone it was Mr. Caryll's intent to dine, resuming hisjourney in the cool of the evening, when he hoped to get at least as faras Farnborough ere he slept. 

Landlady, chamberlain, ostler and a posse of underlings hastened togive welcome to so fine a gentleman, and a private room above-stairs wasplaced at his disposal. Before ascending, however, Mr. Caryll saunteredinto the bar for a whetting glass to give him an appetite, and furtherfor the purpose of bespeaking in detail his dinner with the hostess. Itwas one of his traits that he gave the greatest attention to detail, andheld that the man who left the ordering of his edibles to his servantswas no better than an animal who saw no more than nourishment in food. Nor was the matter one to be settled summarily; it asked thought andtime. So he sipped his Hock, listening to the landlady's proposals, andamending them where necessary with suggestions of his own, and what timehe was so engaged, there ambled into the inn yard a sturdy cob bearing asturdy little man in snuff-colored clothes that had seen some wear. 

The newcomer threw his reins to the stable-boy--a person of all theimportance necessary to receive so indifferent a guest. He got downnimbly from his horse, produced an enormous handkerchief of many colors, and removed his three-cornered hat that he might the better mop hisbrow and youthful, almost cherubic face. What time he did so, a pair ofbright little blue eyes were very busy with Mr. Caryll's carriage, from which Leduc, Mr. Caryll's valet, was in the act of removing aportmantle. His mobile mouth fell into lines of satisfaction. 

Still mopping himself, he entered the inn, and, guided by the drone ofvoices, sauntered into the bar. At sight of Mr. Caryll leaning there, his little eyes beamed an instant, as do the eyes of one who espies afriend, or--apter figure--the eyes of the hunter when they sight thequarry. 

He advanced to the bar, bowing to Mr. Caryll with an air almostapologetic, and to the landlady with an air scarcely less so, as heasked for a nipperkin of ale to wash the dust of the road from histhroat. The hostess called a drawer to serve him, and departed herselfupon the momentous business of Mr. Caryll's dinner. 

"A warm day, sir, " said the chubby man. 

Mr. Caryll agreed with him politely, and finished his glass, the othersipping meanwhile at his ale. 

"A fine brew, sir, " said he. "A prodigious fine brew! With all respect, sir, your honor should try a whet of our English ale. "

Mr. Caryll, setting down his glass, looked languidly at the man. "Why doyou exclude me, sir, from the nation of this beverage?" he inquired. 

The chubby man's face expressed astonishment. "Ye're English, sir! Ecod!I had thought ye French!"

"It is an honor, sir, that you should have thought me anything. "

The other abased himself. "'Twas an unwarrantable presumption, Codso!which I hope your honor'll pardon. " Then he smiled again, his littleeyes twinkling humorously. "An ye would try the ale, I dare swear yourhonor would forgive me. I know ale, ecod! I am a brewer myself. Green ismy name, sir--Tom Green--your very obedient servant, sir. " And he drankas if pledging that same service he professed. 

Mr. Caryll observed him calmly and a thought indifferently. "Ye'redetermined to honor me, " said he. "I am your debtor for your reflectionsupon whetting glasses; but ale, sir, is a beverage I don't affect, norshall while there are vines in France. "

"Ah!" sighed Mr. Green rapturously. "'Tis a great country, France; is itnot, sir?"

"'Tis not the general opinion here at present. But I make no doubt thatit deserves your praise. "

"And Paris, now, " persisted Mr. Green. "They tell me 'tis a great city;a marvel o' th' ages. There be those, ecod! that say London's but akennel to't. "

"Be there so?" quoth Mr. Caryll indifferently. 

"Ye don't agree with them, belike?" asked Mr. Green, with eagerness. 

"Pooh! Men will say anything, " Mr. Caryll replied, and added pointedly:"Men will talk, ye see. "

"Not always, " was the retort in a sly tone. "I've known men to beprodigious short when they had aught to hide. "

"Have ye so? Ye seem to have had a wide experience. " And Mr. Caryllsauntered out, humming a French air through closed lips. 

Mr. Green looked after him with hardened eyes. He turned to the drawerwho stood by. "He's mighty close, " said he. "Mighty close!"

"Ye're not perhaps quite the company he cares for, " the drawer suggestedcandidly. 

Mr. Green looked at him. "Very like, " he snapped. "How long does he stayhere?"

"Ye lost a rare chance of finding out when ye let him go withoutinquiring, " said the drawer. 

Mr. Green's face lost some of its chubbiness. "When d'ye look to marrythe landlady?" was his next question. 

The man stared. "Cod!" said he. "Marry the--Are ye daft?"

Mr. Green affected surprise. "I'm mistook, it seems. Ye misled me byyour pertness. Get me another nipperkin. "

Meanwhile Mr. Caryll had taken his way above stairs to the room setapart for him. He dined to his satisfaction, and thereafter, hisshapely, silk-clad legs thrown over a second chair, his waistcoatall unbuttoned, for the day was of an almost midsummer warmth--he satmightily at his ease, a decanter of sherry at his elbow, a pipe in onehand and a book of Mr. Gay's poems in the other. But the ease went nofurther than the body, as witnessed the circumstances that his pipe wascold, the decanter tolerably full, and Mr. Gay's pleasant rhymes andquaint conceits of fancy all unheeded. The light, mercurial spirit whichhe had from nature and his unfortunate mother, and which he had retainedin spite of the stern training he had received at his adoptive father'shands, was heavy-fettered now. 

The mild fatigue of his journey through the heat of the day had led himto look forward to a voluptuous hour of indolence following upon dinner, with pipe and book and glass. The hour was come, the elements werethere, but since he could not abandon himself to their dominion thevoluptuousness was wanting. The task before him haunted him withanticipatory remorse. It hung upon his spirit like a sick man's dream. It obtruded itself upon his constant thought, and the more he ponderedit the more did he sicken at what lay before him. 

Wrought upon by Everard's fanaticism that day in Paris some three weeksago, infected for the time being by something of his adoptive father'sfever, he had set his hands to the task in a glow of passionateexaltation. But with the hour, the exaltation went, and reaction startedin his soul. And yet draw back he dared not; too long and sedulously hadEverard trained his spirit to look upon the avenging of his mother asa duty. Believing that it was his duty, he thirsted on the one hand tofulfill it, whilst, on the other, he recoiled in horror at thethought that the man upon whom he was to wreak that vengeance was hisfather--albeit a father whom he did not know, who had never seen him, who was not so much as aware of his existence. 

He sought forgetfulness in Mr. Gay. He had the delicate-minded man'sinherent taste for verse, a quick ear for the melody of words, theaesthete's love of beauty in phrase as of beauty in all else; andculture had quickened his perceptions, developed his capacity forappreciation. For the tenth time he called Leduc to light his pipe;and, that done, he set his eye to the page once more. But it was likeharnessing a bullock to a cart; unmindful of the way it went and overwhat it travelled, his eye ambled heavily along the lines, and when hecame to turn the page he realized with a start that he had no impressionof what he had read upon it. 

In sheer disgust he tossed the book aside, and kicking away the secondchair, rose lythely. He crossed to the window, and stood there gazingout at nothing, nor conscious of the incense that came to him fromgarden, from orchard, and from meadow. 

It needed a clatter of hoofs and a cloud of dust approaching from thenorth to draw his mind from its obsessing thoughts. He watched theyellow body of the coach as it came furiously onward, its four horsesstretched to the gallop, postillion lusty of lungs and whip, and thegreat trail of dust left behind it spreading to right and left over theflowering hedge-rows to lose itself above the gold-flecked meadowland. On it came, to draw up there, at the very entrance to Maidstone, at thesign of the "Adam and Eve. "

Mr. Caryll, leaning on the sill of his window, looked down with interestto see what manner of travellers were these that went at so red-hot apace. From the rumble a lackey swung himself to the rough cobbles of theyard. From within the inn came again landlady and chamberlain, and fromthe stable ostler and boy, obsequious all and of no interest to Mr. Caryll. 

Then the door of the coach was opened, the steps were let down, andthere emerged--his hand upon the shoulder of the servant--a very ferretof a man in black, with a parson's bands and neckcloth, a coal-blackfull-bottomed wig, and under this a white face, rather drawn andhaggard, and thin lips perpetually agrin to flaunt two rows of yellowteeth disproportionately large. After him, and the more remarkable bycontrast, came a tall, black-faced fellow, very brave in buff-coloredcloth, with a fortune in lace at wrist and throat, and a heavilypowdered tie-wig. 

Lackey, chamberlain and parson attended his alighting, and then hejoined their ranks to attend in his turn--hat under arm--the last ofthese odd travellers. 

The interest grew. Mr. Caryll felt that the climax was about to bepresented, and he leaned farther forward that he might obtain a betterview of the awaited personage. In the silence he caught a rustle ofsilk. A flowered petticoat appeared--as much of it as may be seen fromthe knee downwards--and from beneath this the daintiest foot conceivablewas seen to grope an instant for the step. Another second and the restof her emerged. 

Mr. Caryll observed--and be it known that he had the very shrewdest eyefor a woman, as became one of the race from which on his mother's sidehe sprang--that she was middling tall, chastely slender, having, as hejudged from her high waist, a fine, clean length of limb. All this heobserved and approved, and prayed for a glimpse of the face which hersilken hood obscured and screened from his desiring gaze. She raisedit at that moment--raised it in a timid, frightened fashion, as one wholooks fearfully about to see that she is not remarked--and Mr. Caryllhad a glimpse of an oval face, pale with a warm pallor--like the pallorof the peach, he thought, and touched, like the peach, with a faint hintof pink in either cheek. A pair of eyes, large, brown, and gentle asa saint's, met his, and Mr. Caryll realized that she was beautiful andthat it might be good to look into those eyes at closer quarters. 

Seeing him, a faint exclamation escaped her, and she turned away insudden haste to enter the inn. The fine gentleman looked up and scowled;the parson looked up and trembled; the ostler and his boy looked up andgrinned. Then all swept forward and were screened by the porch from thewondering eyes of Mr. Caryll. 

He turned from the window with a sigh, and stepped back to the table forthe tinder-box, that for the eleventh time he might relight his pipe. He sat down, blew a cloud of smoke to the ceiling, and considered. Hisnature triumphed now over his recent preoccupation; the matter of themoment, which concerned him not at all, engrossed him beyond any othermatter of his life. He was intrigued to know in what relation one to theother stood the three so oddly assorted travellers he had seen arrive. He bethought him that, after all, the odd assortment arose from thepresence of the parson; and he wondered what the plague should anyChristian--and seemingly a gentleman at that--be doing travelling with aparson. Then there was the wild speed at which they had come. 

The matter absorbed and vexed him. I fear he was inquisitive by nature. There came a moment when he went so far as to consider making his waybelow to pursue his investigations in situ. It would have been at greatcost to his dignity, and this he was destined to be spared. 

A knock fell upon his door, and the landlady came in. She was genial, buxom and apple-faced, as becomes a landlady. 

"There is a gentleman below--" she was beginning, when Mr. Caryllinterrupted her. 

"I would rather that you told me of the lady, " said

"La, sir!" she cried, displaying ivory teeth, her eyes cast upwards, hands upraised in gentle, mirthful protest. "La, sir! But I come fromthe lady, too. "

He looked at her. "A good ambassador, " said he, "should begin with thebest news; not add it as an afterthought. But proceed, I beg. You giveme hope, mistress. "

"They send their compliments, and would be prodigiously obliged if youwas to give yourself the trouble of stepping below. "

"Of stepping below?" he inquired, head on one side, solemn eyes uponthe hostess. "Would it be impertinent to inquire what they may want withme?"

"I think they want you for a witness, sir. "

"For a witness? Am I to testify to the lady's perfection of face andshape, to the heaven that sits in her eyes, to the miracle she callsher ankle? Are these and other things besides of the same kind what Iam required to witness? If so, they could not have sent for one morequalified. I am an expert, ma'am. "

"Oh, sir, nay!" she laughed. "'Tis a marriage they need you for. "

Mr. Caryll opened his queer eyes a little wider. "Soho!" said he. "Theparson is explained. " Then he fell thoughtful, his tone lost its note offlippancy. "This gentleman who sends his compliments, does he send hisname?"

"He does not, sir; but I overheard it. "

"Confide in me, " Mr. Caryll invited her. 

"He is a great gentleman, " she prepared him. 

"No matter. I love great gentlemen. "

"They call him Lord Rotherby. "

At that sudden and utterly unexpected mention of his half-brother'sname--his unknown half-brother--Mr. Caryll came to his feet with analacrity which a more shrewd observer would have set down to some causeother than mere respect for a viscount. The hostess was shrewd, but notshrewd enough, and if Mr. Caryll's expression changed for an instant, it resumed its habitual half-scornful calm so swiftly that it would haveneeded eyes of an exceptional quickness to have read it. 

"Enough!" he said. "Who could deny his lordship?"

"Shall I tell them you are coming?" she inquired, her hand already uponthe door. 

"A moment, " he begged, detaining her. "'Tis a runaway marriage this, eh?"

Her full-hearted smile beamed on him again; she was a very woman, with ataste for the romantic, loving love. "What else, sir?" she laughed. 

"And why, mistress, " he inquired, eying her, his fingers plucking at hisnether lip, "do they desire my testimony?"

"His lordship's own man will stand witness, for one; but they'll needanother, " she explained, her voice reflecting astonishment at hisquestion. 

"True. But why do they need me?" he pressed her. "Heard you no reasongiven why they should prefer me to your chamberlain, your ostler or yourdrawer?"

She knit her brows and shrugged impatient shoulders. Here was a dealof pother about a trifling affair. "His lordship saw you as he entered, sir, and inquired of me who you might be. "

"His lordship flatters me by this interest. My looks pleased him, let ushope. And you answered him--what?"

"That your honor is a gentleman newly crossed from France. "

"You are well-informed, mistress, " said Mr. Caryll, a thought tartly, for if his speech was tainted with a French accent it was in so slight adegree as surely to be imperceptible to the vulgar. 

"Your clothes, sir, " the landlady explained, and he bethought him, then, that the greater elegance and refinement of his French apparel mustindeed proclaim his origin to one who had so many occasions of seeingtravelers from Gaul. That might even account for Mr. Green's attemptsto talk to him of France. His mind returned to the matter of the bridalpair below. 

"You told him that, eh?" said he. "And what said his lordship then?"

"He turned to the parson. 'The very man for us, Jenkins, ' says he. "

"And the parson--this Jenkins--what answer did he make?"

"'Excellently thought, ' he says, grinning. "

"Hum! And you yourself, mistress, what inference did you draw?"

"Inference, sir?"

"Aye, inference, ma'am. Did you not gather that this was not onlya runaway match, but a clandestine one? My lord can depend upon thediscretion of his servant, no doubt; for other witness he would prefersome passer-by, some stranger who will go his ways to-morrow, and not belike to be heard of again. "

"Lard, sir!" cried the landlady, her eyes wide with astonishment. 

Mr. Caryll smiled enigmatically. "'Tis so, I assure ye, ma'am. My LordRotherby is of a family singularly cautious in the unions it contracts. In entering matrimony he prefers, no doubt, to leave a back door openfor quiet retreat should he repent him later. "

"Your honor has his lordship's acquaintance, then?" quoth the landlady. 

"It is a misfortune from which Heaven has hitherto preserved me, butwhich the devil, it seems, now thrusts upon me. It will, nevertheless, interest me to see him at close quarters. Come, ma'am. "

As they were going out, Mr. Caryll checked suddenly. "Why, what'so'clock?" said he. 

She stared, so abruptly came the question. "Past four, sir, " sheanswered. 

He uttered a short laugh. "Decidedly, " said he, "his lordship must beviewed at closer quarters. " And he led the way downstairs. 

In the passage he waited for her to come up with him. "You had bestannounce me by name, " he suggested. "It is Caryll. "

She nodded, and, going forward, threw open a door, inviting him toenter. 

"Mr. Caryll, " she announced, obedient to his injunction, and as he wentin she closed the door behind him. 

From the group of three that had been sitting about the polished walnuttable, the tall gentleman in buff and silver rose swiftly, and advancedto the newcomer; what time Mr. Caryll made a rapid observation of thisbrother whom he was meeting under circumstances so odd and by a chanceso peculiar. 

He beheld a man of twenty-five, or perhaps a little more, tall andwell made, if already inclining to heaviness, with a swarthy face, full-lipped, big-nosed, black-eyed, an obstinate chin, and a deplorablebrow. At sight, by instinct, he disliked his brother. He wonderedvaguely was Lord Rotherby in appearance at all like their common father;but beyond that he gave little thought to the tie that bound them. Indeed, he has placed it upon record that, saving in such momentsof high stress as followed in their later connection, he never couldremember that they were the sons of the same parent. 

"I thought, " was Rotherby's greeting, a note almost of irritation in hisvoice, "that the woman said you were from France. "

It was an odd welcome, but its oddness at the moment went unheeded. Hisswift scrutiny of his brother over, Mr. Caryll's glance passed onto become riveted upon the face of the lady at the table's head. Inaddition to the beauties which from above he had descried, he nowperceived that her mouth was sensitive and kindly, her whole expressionone of gentle wistfulness, exceeding sweet to contemplate. What did shein this galley, he wondered; and he has confessed that just as at sighthe had disliked his brother, so from that hour--from the very instant ofhis eyes' alighting on her there--he loved the lady whom his brother wasto wed, felt a surpassing need of her, conceived that in the meeting oftheir eyes their very souls had met, so that it was to him as if hehad known her since he had known anything. Meanwhile there was hislordship's question to be answered. He answered it mechanically, hiseyes upon the lady, and she returning the gaze of those queer, greenisheyes with a sweetness that gave place to no confusion. 

"I am from France, sir. "

"But not French?" his lordship continued. 

Mr. Caryll fetched his eyes from the lady's to meet Lord Rotherby's. "More than half French, " he replied, the French taint in his accentgrowing slightly more pronounced. "It was but an accident that my fatherwas an Englishman. "

Rotherby laughed softly, a thought contemptuously. Foreigners werethings which in his untraveled, unlettered ignorance he despised. Thedifference between a Frenchman and a South Sea Islander was a thingnever quite appreciated by his lordship. Some subtle difference hehad no doubt existed; but for him it was enough to know that both wereforeigners; therefore, it logically followed, both were kin. 

"Your words, sir, might be oddly interpreted. 'Pon honor, they might!"said he, and laughed softly again with singular insolence. 

"If they have amused your lordship I am happy, " said Mr. Caryll in sucha tone that Rotherby looked to see whether he was being roasted. "Youwanted me, I think. I beg that you'll not thank me for having descended. It was an honor. "

It occurred to Rotherby that this was a veiled reproof for the illmanners of the omission. Again he looked sharply at this man who wasscanning him with such interest, but he detected in the calm, high-bredface nothing to suggest that any mockery was intended. Belatedly he fellto doing the very thing that Mr. Caryll had begged him to leave undone:he fell to thanking him. As for Mr. Caryll himself, not even thequeer position into which he had been thrust could repress hischaracteristics. What time his lordship thanked him, he looked about himat the other occupants of the room, and found that, besides the parson, sitting pale and wide-eyed at the table, there was present in thebackground his lordship's man--a quiet fellow, quietly garbed ingray, with a shrewd face and shrewd, shifty eyes. Mr. Caryll saw, andregistered, for future use, the reflection that eyes that are overshrewdare seldom wont to look out of honest heads. 

"You are desired, " his lordship informed him, "to be witness to amarriage. "

"So much the landlady had made known to me. "

"It is not, I trust, a task that will occasion you any scruples. "

"None. On the contrary, it is the absence of the marriage might dothat. " The smooth, easy tone so masked the inner meaning of the answerthat his lordship scarce attended to the words. 

"Then we had best get on. We are in haste. "

"'Tis the characteristic rashness of folk about to enter wedlock, " saidMr. Caryll, as he approached the table with his lordship, his eyes as hespoke turning full upon the bride. 

My lord laughed, musically enough, but overloud for a man of brains orbreeding. "Marry in haste, eh?" quoth he. 

"You are penetration itself, " Mr. Caryll praised him. 

"'Twill take a shrewd rogue to better me, " his lordship agreed. 

"Yet an honest man might worst you. One never knows. But the lady'spatience is being taxed. "

It was as well he added that, for his lordship had turned with intent toask him what he meant. 

"Aye! Come, Jenkins. Get on with your patter. Gaskell, " he called to hisman, "stand forward here. " Then he took his place beside the lady, whohad risen, and stood pale, with eyes cast down and--as Mr. Caryll alonesaw--the faintest quiver at the corners of her lips. This served toincrease Mr. Caryll's already considerable cogitations. 

The parson faced them, fumbling at his book, Mr. Caryll's eyes watchinghim with that cold, level glance of theirs. The parson looked up, metthat uncanny gaze, displayed his teeth in a grin of terror, fell totrembling, and dropped the book in his confusion. Mr. Caryll, smilingsardonically, stooped to restore it him. 

There followed a fresh pause. Mr. Jenkins, having lost his place, seemedat some pains to find it again--amazing, indeed, in one whose professionshould have rendered him so familiar with its pages. 

Mr. Caryll continued to watch him, in silence, and--as an observer mighthave thought, as, indeed, Gaskell did think, though he said nothing atthe time--with wicked relish. 

CHAPTER III. THE WITNESS

At last the page was found again by Mr. Jenkins. Having found it, hehesitated still a moment, then cleared his throat, and in the manner ofone hurling himself forward upon a desperate venture, he began to read. 

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God, " he read, and on in a nasal, whining voice, which not only was the very voice youwould have expected from such a man, but in accordance, too, with soundclerical convention. The bridal pair stood before him, the groom with aslight flush on his cheeks and a bright glitter in his black eyes, whichwere not nice to see; the bride with bowed head and bosom heaving as inresponse to inward tumult. 

The cleric came to the end of his exordium, paused a moment, andwhether because he gathered confidence, whether because he realizedthe impressive character of the fresh matter upon which he entered, heproceeded now in a firmer, more sonorous voice: "I require and chargeyou both as ye will answer on the dreadful day of judgment. "

"Ye've forgot something, " Mr. Caryll interrupted blandly. 

His lordship swung round with an impatient gesture and an impatientsnort; the lady, too, looked up suddenly, whilst Mr. Jenkins seemed tofall into an utter panic. 

"Wha--what?" he stammered. "What have I forgot?"

"To read the directions, I think. "

His lordship scowled darkly upon Mr. Caryll, who heeded him not at all, but watched the lady sideways. 

Mr. Jenkins turned first scarlet, then paler than he had been before, and bent his eyes to the book to read in a slightly puzzled voicethe italicized words above the period he had embarked upon. "And alsospeaking unto the persons that shall be married, he shall say:" he read, and looked up inquiry, his faintly-colored, prominent eyes endeavoringto sustain Mr. Caryll's steady glance, but failing miserably. 

"'Tis farther back, " Mr. Caryll informed him in answer to that mutequestion; and as the fellow moistened his thumb to turn back the pages, Mr. Caryll saved him the trouble. "It says, I think, that the manshould be on your right hand and the woman on your left. Ye seem to havereversed matters, Mr. Jenkins. But perhaps ye're left-handed. "

"Stab me!" was Mr. Jenkins' most uncanonical comment. "I vow I amover-flustered. Your lordship is so impatient with me. This gentleman isright. But that I was so flustered. Will you not change places with hislordship, ma'am?"

They changed places, after the viscount had thanked Mr. Caryll shortlyand cursed the parson with circumstance and fervor. It was well done onhis lordship's part, but the lady did not seem convinced by it. Her facelooked whiter, and her eyes had an alarmed, half-suspicious expression. 

"We must begin again, " said Mr. Jenkins. And he began again. 

Mr. Caryll listened and watched, and he began to enjoy himselfexceedingly. He had not reckoned upon so rich an entertainment when hehad consented to come down to witness this odd ceremony. His sense ofhumor conquered every other consideration, and the circumstance thatLord Rotherby was his brother, if remembered at all, served but to add aspice to the situation. 

Out of sheer deviltry he waited until Mr. Jenkins had labored for asecond time through the opening periods. Again he allowed him to getas far as "I charge and require you both-, " before again he interruptedhim. 

"There is something else ye've forgot, " said he in that sweet, quietvoice of his. 

This was too much for Rotherby. "Damn you!" he swore, turning a lividface upon Mr. Caryll, and failed to observe that at the sound of thatharsh oath and at the sight of his furious face, the lady recoiled fromhim, the suspicion lately in her face turning first to conviction andthen to absolute horror. 

"I do not think you are civil, " said Mr. Caryll critically. "It was inyour interests that I spoke. "

"Then I'll thank you, in my interests, to hold your tongue!" hislordship stormed. 

"In that case, " said Mr. Caryll, "I must still speak in the interestsof the lady. Since you've desired me to be a witness, I'll do my duty byyou both and see you properly wed. "

"Now, what the devil may you mean by that?" demanded his lordship, betraying himself more and more at every word. 

Mr. Jenkins, in a spasm of terror, sought to pour oil upon these waters. "My lord, " he bleated, teeth and eyeballs protruding from his pallidface. "My lord! Perhaps the gentleman is right. Perhaps--Perhaps--" Hegulped, and turned to Mr. Caryll. "What is't ye think we have forgotnow?" he asked. 

"The time of day, " Mr. Caryll replied, and watched the puzzled look thatcame into both their faces. 

"Do ye deal in riddles with us?" quoth his lordship. "What have we to dowith the time of day?"

"Best ask the parson, " suggested Mr. Caryll. 

Rotherby swung round again to Jenkins. Jenkins spread his hands in mutebewilderment and distress. Mr. Caryll laughed silently. 

"I'll not be married! I'll not be married!"

It was the lady who spoke, and those odd words were the first that Mr. Caryll heard from her lips. They made an excellent impression uponhim, bearing witness to her good sense and judgment--although belatedlyaroused--and informing him, although the pitch was strained just now;that the rich contralto of her voice was full of music. He was a judgeof voices, as of much else besides. 

"Hoity-toity!" quoth his lordship, between petulance and simulatedamusement. "What's all the pother? Hortensia, dear--"

"I'll not be married!" she repeated firmly, her wide brown eyes meetinghis in absolute defiance, head thrown back, face pale but fearless. 

"I don't believe, " ventured Mr. Caryll, "that you could be if youdesired it. Leastways not here and now and by this. " And he jerked acontemptuous thumb sideways at Mr. Jenkins, toward whom he had turnedhis shoulder. "Perhaps you have realized it for yourself. "

A shudder ran through her; color flooded into her face and out again, leaving it paler than before; yet she maintained a brave front thatmoved Mr. Caryll profoundly to an even greater admiration of her. 

Rotherby, his great jaw set, his hands clenched and eyes blazing, stoodirresolute between her and Mr. Caryll. Jenkins, in sheer terror, nowsank limply to a chair, whilst Gaskell looked on--a perfect servant--asimmovable outwardly and unconcerned as if he had been a piece offurniture. Then his lordship turned again to Caryll. 

"You take a deal upon yourself, sir, " said he menacingly. 

"A deal of what?" wondered Mr. Caryll blandly. 

The question nonplussed Rotherby. He swore ferociously. "By God!" hefumed, "I'll have you make good your insinuations. You shall disabusethis lady's mind. You shall--damn you!--or I'll compel you!"

Mr. Caryll smiled very engagingly. The matter was speedingexcellently--a comedy the like of which he did not remember to haveplayed a part in since his student days at Oxford, ten years and moreago. 

"I had thought, " said he, "that the woman who summoned me to bea witness of this--this--ah wedding"--there was a whole volume ofcriticism in his utterance of the word--"was the landlady of the 'Adamand Eve. ' I begin to think that she was this lady's good angel; Fate, clothed, for once, matronly and benign. " Then he dropped the easy, bantering manner with a suddenness that was startling. Gallic fireblazed up through British training. "Let us speak plainly, my LordRotherby. This marriage is no marriage. It is a mockery and a villainy. And that scoundrel--worthy servant of his master--is no parson; no, notso much as a hedge-parson is he. Madame, " he proceeded, turning now tothe frightened lady, "you have been grossly abused by these villains. "

"Sir!" blazed Rotherby at last, breaking in upon his denunciation, handclapped to sword. "Do ye dare use such words to me?"

Mr. Jenkins got to his feet, in a slow, foolish fashion. He put out ahand to stay his lordship. The lady, in the background, looked on withwide eyes, very breathless, one hand to her bosom as if to control itsheave. 

Mr. Caryll proceeded, undismayed, to make good his accusation. He haddropped back into his slightly listless air of thinly veiled persiflage, and he appeared to address the lady, to explain the situation to her, rather than to justify the charge he had made. 

"A blind man could have perceived, from the rustling of his prayerbook when he fumbled at it, that the contents were strange to him. Andobserve the volume, " he continued, picking it up and flaunting it aloft. "Fire-new; not a thumbmark anywhere; purchased expressly for this foulventure. Is there aught else so clean and fresh about the scurvy thief?"

"You shall moderate your tones, sir--" began his lordship in a snarl. 

"He sets you each on the wrong side of him, " continued Mr. Caryll, allimperturbable, "lacking even the sense to read the directions which thebook contains, and he has no thought for the circumstance that the timeof day is uncanonical. Is more needed, madame?"

"So much was not needed, " said she, "though I am your debtor, sir. "

Her voice was marvelously steady, ice-cold with scorn, a royal angerincreasing the glory of her eyes. 

Rotherby's hand fell away from his sword. He realized that blusterwas not the most convenient weapon here. He addressed Mr. Caryll veryhaughtily. "You are from France, sir, and something may be excused you. But not quite all. You have used expressions that are not to be offeredto a person of my quality. I fear you scarcely apprehend it. "

"As well, no doubt, as those who avoid you, sir, " answered Mr. Caryll, with cool contempt, his dislike of the man and of the business in whichhe had found him engaged mounting above every other consideration. 

His lordship frowned inquiry. "And who may those be?"

"Most decent folk, I should conceive, if this be an example of yourways. "

"By God, sir! You are a thought too pert. We'll mend that presently. Iwill first convince you of your error, and you, Hortensia. "

"It will be interesting, " said Mr. Caryll, and meant it. 

Rotherby turned from him, keeping a tight rein upon his anger; and somuch restraint in so tempestuous a man was little short of wonderful. "Hortensia, " he said, "this is fool's talk. What object could I seek toserve?" She drew back another step, contempt and loathing in her face. "This man, " he continued, flinging a hand toward Jenkins, and checkedupon the word. He swung round upon the fellow. "Have you fooled me, knave?" he bawled. "Is it true what this man says of you--that ye're noparson at all?"

Jenkins quailed and shriveled. Here was a move for which he was allunprepared, and knew not how to play to it. On the bridegroom's part itwas excellently acted; yet it came too late to be convincing. 

"You'll have the license in your pocket, no doubt, my lord, " put inMr. Caryll. "It will help to convince the lady of the honesty of yourintentions. It will show her that ye were abused by this thief for thesake of the guinea ye were to pay him. "

That was checkmate, and Lord Rotherby realized it. There remained himnothing but violence, and in violence he was exceedingly at home--beinga member of the Hell Fire Club and having served in the Bold Bucks underhis Grace of Wharton. 

"You damned, infernal marplot! You blasted meddler!" he swore, andsome other things besides, froth on his lips, the veins of his browcongested. "What affair was this of yours?"

"I thought you desired me for a witness, " Mr. Caryll reminded him. 

"I did, let me perish!" said Rotherby. "And I wish to the devil I hadbit my tongue out first. "

"The loss to eloquence had been irreparable, " sighed Mr. Caryll, hiseyes upon a beam of the ceiling. 

Rotherby stared and choked. "Is there no sense in you, you gibberingparrot?" he inquired. "What are you--an actor or a fool?"

"A gentleman, I hope, " said Mr. Caryll urbanely. "What are you?"

"I'll learn you, " said his lordship, and plucked at his sword. 

"I see, " said Mr. Caryll in the same quiet voice that thinly veiled hisinward laughter--"a bully!"

With more oaths, my lord heaved himself forward. Mr. Caryll was withoutweapons. He had left his sword above-stairs, not deeming that he wouldbe needing it at a wedding. He never moved hand or foot as Rotherby boredown upon him, but his greenish eyes grew keen and very watchful. He began to wonder had he indulged his amusement overlong, andimperceptibly he adjusted his balance for a spring. 

Rotherby stretched out to lunge, murder in his inflamed eyes. "I'llsilence you, you--"

There was a swift rustle behind him. His hand--drawn back to thrust--wassuddenly caught, and ere he realized it the sword was wrenched fromfingers that held it lightly, unprepared for this. 

"You dog!" said the lady's voice, strident now with anger and disdain. She had his sword. 

He faced about with a horrible oath. Mr. Caryll conceived that he wasbecoming a thought disgusting. 

Hoofs and wheels ground on the cobbles of the yard and came to a haltoutside, but went unheeded in the excitement of the moment. Rotherbystood facing her, she facing him, the sword in her hand and a look inher eyes that promised she would use it upon him did he urge her. 

A moment thus--of utter, breathless silence. Then, as if her passionmounted and swept all aside, she raised the sword, and using it as awhip, she lashed him with it until at the third blow it rebounded to thetable and was snapped. Instinctively his lordship had put up his handsto save his face, and across one of them a red line grew and grew andoozed forth blood which spread to envelop it. 

Gaskell advanced with a sharp cry of concern. But Rotherby waved himback, and the gesture shook blood from his hand like raindrops. His facewas livid; his eyes were upon the woman he had gone so near betrayingwith a look that none might read. Jenkins swayed, sickly, against thetable, whilst Mr. Caryll observed all with a critical eye and came tothe conclusion that she must have loved this villain. 

The hilt and stump of sword clattered in the fireplace, whither shehurled it. A moment she caught her face in her hands, and a sob shookher almost fiercely. Then she came past his lordship, across the room toMr. Caryll, Rotherby making no shift to detain her. 

"Take me away, sir! Take me away, " she begged him. 

Mr. Caryll's gloomy face lightened suddenly. "Your servant, ma'am, " saidhe, and made her a bow. "I think you are very well advised, " he addedcheerfully and offered her his arm. She took it, and moved a step or twotoward the door. It opened at that moment, and a burly, elderly man camein heavily. 

The lady halted, a cry escaped her--a cry of pain almost--and she fellto weeping there and then. Mr. Caryll was very mystified. 

The newcomer paused at the sight that met him, considered it with adull blue eye, and, for all that he looked stupid, it seemed he had witenough to take in the situation. 

"So!" said he, with heavy mockery. "I might have spared myself thetrouble of coming after you. For it seems that she has found you out intime, you villain!"

Rotherby turned sharply at that voice. He fell back a step, his browseeming to grow blacker than it had been. "Father!" he exclaimed; butthere was little that was filial in the accent. 

Mr. Caryll staggered and recovered himself. It had been indeed astaggering shock; for here, of course, was his own father, too. 

CHAPTER IV. Mr. GREEN

There was a quick patter of feet, the rustle of a hooped petticoat, andthe lady was in the arms of my Lord Ostermore. 

"Forgive me, my lord!" she was crying. "Oh, forgive me! I was a littlefool, and I have been punished enough already!"

To Mr. Caryll this was a surprising development. The earl, whose armsseemed to have opened readily enough to receive her, was patting hersoothingly upon the shoulder. "Pish! What's this? What's this?" hegrumbled; yet his voice, Mr. Caryll noticed, was if anything kindly; butit must be confessed that it was a dull, gruff voice, seldom indicatingany shade of emotion, unless--as sometimes happened--it was raised inanger. He was frowning now upon his son over the girl's head, his bushy, grizzled brows contracted. 

Mr. Caryll observed--and with what interest you should wellimagine--that Lord Ostermore was still in a general way a handsome man. Of a good height, but slightly excessive bulk, he had a face that stillretained a fair shape. Short-necked, florid and plethoric, he had theair of the man who seldom makes a long illness at the end. His eyes werevery blue, and the lids were puffed and heavy, whilst the mouth, Mr. Caryll remarked in a critical, detached spirit, was stupid rather thansensuous. He made his survey swiftly, and the result left him wondering. 

Meanwhile the earl was addressing his son, whose hand was being bandagedby Gaskell. There was little variety in his invective. "You villain!"he bawled at him. "You damned villain!" Then he patted the girl's head. "You found the scoundrel out before you married him, " said he. "I amglad on't; glad on't!"

"'Tis such a reversing of the usual order of things that it calls forwonder, " said Mr. Caryll. 

"Eh?" quoth his lordship. "Who the devil are you? One of his friends?"

"Your lordship overwhelms me, " said Mr. Caryll gravely, making a bow. Heobserved the bewilderment in Ostermore's eyes, and began to realize atthat early stage of their acquaintance that to speak ironically to theEarl of Ostermore was not to speak at all. 

It was Hortensia--a very tearful Hortensia now who explained. "Thisgentleman saved me, my lord, " she said. 

"Saved you?" quoth he dully. "How did he come to save you?"

"He discovered the parson, " she explained. 

The earl looked more and more bewildered. "Just so, " said Mr. Caryll. "It was my privilege to discover that the parson is no parson. "

"The parson is no parson?" echoed his lordship, scowling more and more. "Then what the devil is the parson?"

Hortensia freed herself from his protecting arms. "He is a villain, " shesaid, "who was hired by my Lord Rotherby to come here and pretend to bea parson. " Her eyes flamed, her cheeks were scarlet. "God help me for afool, my lord, to have put my faith in that man! Oh!" she choked. "Theshame--the burning shame of it! I would I had a brother to punish him!"

Lord Ostermore was crimson, too, with indignation. Mr. Caryll wasrelieved to see that he was capable of so much emotion. "Did I not warnyou against him, Hortensia?" said he. "Could you not have trusted thatI knew him--I, his father, to my everlasting shame?" Then he swungupon Rotherby. "You dog!" he began, and there--being a man of littleinvention--words failed him, and wrath alone remained, very intense, butentirely inarticulate. 

Rotherby moved forward till he reached the table, then stood leaningupon it, scowling at the company from under his black brows. "'Tis yourlordship alone is to blame for this, " he informed his father, with avain pretence at composure. 

"I am to blame!" gurgled his lordship, veins swelling at his brow. "Iam to blame that you should have carried her off thus? And--by God!--hadyou meant to marry her honestly and fittingly, I might find it in myheart to forgive you. But to practice such villainy! To attempt to putthis foul trick upon the child!"

Mr. Caryll thought for an instant of another child whose child he was, and a passion of angry mockery at the forgetfulness of age welled upfrom the bitter soul of him. Outwardly he remained a very mirror forplacidity. 

"Your lordship had threatened to disinherit me if I married her, " saidRotherby. 

"'Twas to save her from you, " Ostermore explained, entirelyunnecessarily. "And you thought to--to--By God! sir, I marvel you havethe courage to confront me. I marvel!"

"Take me away, my lord, " Hortensia begged him, touching his arm. 

"Aye, we were best away, " said the earl, drawing her to him. Then heflung a hand out at Rotherby in a gesture of repudiation, of anathema. "But 'tis not the end on't for you, you knave! What I threatened, I willperform. I'll disinherit you. Not a penny of mine shall come to you. Yeshall starve for aught I care; starve, and--and--the world be well ridof a villain. I--I disown you. Ye're no son of mine. I'll take oathye're no son of mine!"

Mr. Caryll thought that, on the contrary, Rotherby was very much hisfather's son, and he added to his observations upon human nature thereflection that sinners are oddly blessed with short memories. He wasentirely dispassionate again by now. 

As for Rotherby, he received his father's anger with a scornful smileand a curling lip. "You'll disinherit me?" quoth he in mockery. "Andof what, pray? If report speaks true, you'll be needing to inheritsomething yourself to bear you through your present straitness. " Heshrugged and produced his snuff-box with an offensive simulationof nonchalance. "Ye cannot cut the entail, " he reminded his almostapoplectic sire, and took snuff delicately, sauntering windowwards. 

"Cut the entail? The entail?" cried the earl, and laughed in a mannerthat seemed to bode no good. "Have you ever troubled to ascertain whatit amounts to? You fool, it wouldn't keep you in--in--in snuff!"

Lord Rotherby halted in his stride, half-turned and looked at his fatherover his shoulder. The sneering mask was wiped from his face, whichbecame blank. "My lord--" he began. 

The earl waved a silencing hand, and turned with dignity to Hortensia. 

"Come, child, " said he. Then he remembered something. "Gad!" heexclaimed. "I had forgot the parson. I'll have him gaoled! I'll have himhanged if the law will help me. Come forth, man!"

Ignoring the invitation, Mr. Jenkins scuttled, ratlike, across theroom, mounted the window-seat, and was gone in a flash through the openwindow. He dropped plump upon Mr. Green, who was crouching underneath. The pair rolled over together in the mould of a flowerbed; then Mr. Green clutched Mr. Jenkins, and Mr. Jenkins squealed like a trappedrabbit. Mr. Green thrust his fist carefully into the mockparson's mouth. 

"Sh! You blubbering fool!" he snapped in his ear. "My business is notwith you. Lie still!"

Within the room all stood at gaze, following the sudden flight of Mr. Jenkins. Then Lord Ostermore made as if to approach the winnow, butHortensia restrained him. 

"Let the wretch go, " she said. "The blame is not his. What is he but mylord's tool?" And her eyes scorched Rotherby with such a glance ofscorn as must have killed any but a shameless man. Then turning to thedemurely observant gentleman who had done her such good service, "Mr. Caryll" she said, "I want to thank you. I want my lord, here, to thankyou. "

Mr. Caryll bowed to her. "I beg that you will not think of it, " said he. "It is I who will remain in your debt. "

"Is your name Caryll, sir?" quoth the earl. He had a trick of fasteningupon the inconsequent, though that was scarcely the case now. 

"That, my lord, is my name. I believe I have the honor of sharing itwith your lordship. "

"Ye'll belong to some younger branch of the family, " the earl supposed. 

"Like enough--some outlying branch, " answered the imperturbableCaryll--a jest which only himself could appreciate, and that bitterly. 

"And how came you into this?"

Rotherby sneered audibly--in self-mockery, no doubt, as he came toreflect that it was he, himself, had had him fetched. 

"They needed another witness, " said Mr. Caryll, "and hearing there wasat the inn a gentleman newly crossed from France, his lordship no doubtopined that a traveller, here to-day and gone for good tomorrow, wouldbe just the witness that he needed for the business he proposed. Thatcircumstance aroused my suspicions, and--"

But the earl, as usual, seemed to have fastened upon the minor point, although again it was not so. "You are newly crossed from France?" saidhe. "Ay, and your name is the same as mine. 'Twas what I was advised. "

Mr. Caryll flashed a sidelong glance at Rotherby, who had turned tostare at his father, and in his heart he cursed the stupidity of my LordOstermore. If this proposed to be a member of a conspiracy, Heaven helpthat same conspiracy!

"Were you, by any chance, going to seek me in town, Mr. Caryll?"

Mr. Caryll suppressed a desire to laugh. Here was a way to deal withState secrets. "I, my lord?" he inquired, with an assumed air ofsurprise. 

The earl looked at him, and from him to Rotherby, bethought himself, andstarted so overtly that Rotherby's eyes grew narrow, the lines of hismouth tightened. "Nay, of course not; of course not, " he blusteredclumsily. 

But Rotherby laughed aloud. "Now what a plague is all this mystery?" heinquired. 

"Mystery?" quoth my lord. "What mystery should there be?"

"'Tis what I would fain be informed, " he answered in a voice that showedhe meant to gain the information. He sauntered forward towards Caryll, his eye playing mockingly over this gentleman from France. "Now, sir, "said he, "whose messenger may you be, eh? What's all this--"

"Rotherby!" the earl interrupted in a voice intended to be compelling. "Come away, Mr. Caryll, " he added quickly. "I'll not have any gentlemanwho has shown himself a friend to my ward, here, affronted by thatrascal. Come away, sir!"

"Not so fast! Not so fast, ecod!"

It was another voice that broke in upon them. Rotherby started round. Gaskell, in the shadows of the cowled fireplace jumped in sheer alarm. All stared at the window whence the voice proceeded. 

They beheld a plump, chubby-faced little man, astride the sill, a pistoldisplayed with ostentation in his hand. 

Mr. Caryll was the only one with the presence of mind to welcome him. "Ha!" said he, smiling engagingly. "My little friend, the brewer ofale. "

"Let no one leave this room, " said Mr. Green with a great dignity. Then, with rather less dignity, he whistled shrilly through his fingers, andgot down lightly into the room. 

"Sir, " blustered the earl, "this is an intrusion; an impertinence. Whatdo you want?"

"The papers this gentleman carries, " said Mr. Green, indicating Caryllwith the hand that held the pistol. The earl looked alarmed, which wasfoolish in him, thought Mr. Caryll. Rotherby covered his mouth with hishand, after the fashion of one who masks a smile. 

"Ye're rightly served for meddling, " said he with relish. 

"Out with them, " the chubby man demanded. "Ye'll gain nothing byresistance. So don't be obstinate, now. "

"I could be nothing so discourteous, " said Mr. Caryll. "Would it beprying on my part to inquire what may be your interest in my papers?"

His serenity lessened the earl's anxieties, but bewildered him; and ittook the edge off the malicious pleasure which Rotherby was beginning toexperience. 

"I am obeying the orders of my Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State, "said Mr. Green. "I was to watch for a gentleman from France with lettersfor my Lord Ostermore. He had a messenger a week ago to tell him to lookfor such a visitor. He took the messenger, if you must know, and--well, we induced him to tell us what was the message he had carried. There isso much mystery in all this that my Lord Carteret desires more knowledgeon the subject. I think you are the gentleman I am looking for. "

Mr. Caryll looked him over with an amused eye, and laughed. "Itdistresses me, " said he, "to see so much good thought wasted. "

Mr. Green was abashed a moment. But he recovered quickly; no doubt hehad met the cool type before. "Come, come!" said he. "No blustering. Outwith your papers, my fine fellow. "

The door opened, and a couple of men came in; over their shoulders, erethe door closed again, Mr. Caryll had a glimpse of the landlady's rosyface, alarm in her glance. The newcomers were dirty rogues; tipstaves, recognizable at a glance. One of them wore a ragged bob-wig--thecast-off, no doubt, of some gentleman's gentleman, fished out of thesixpenny tub in Rosemary Lane; it was ill-fitting, and wisps of thefellow's own unkempt hair hung out in places. The other wore no wig atall; his yellow thatch fell in streaks from under his shabby hat, whichhe had the ill-manners to retain until Lord Ostermore knocked it fromhis head with a blow of his cane. Both were fierily bottle-nosed, andneither appeared to have shaved for a week or so. 

"Now, " quoth Mr. Green, "will you hand them over of your own accord, ormust I have you searched?" And a wave of the hand towards the advancingmyrmidons indicated the searchers. 

"You go too far, sir, " blustered the earl. 

"Ay, surely, " put in Mr. Caryll. "You are mad to think a gentleman isto submit to being searched by any knave that comes to him with acock-and-bull tale about the Secretary of State. "

Mr. Green leered again, and produced a paper. "There, " said he, "is myLord Carteret's warrant, signed and sealed. "

Mr. Caryll glanced over it with a disdainful eye. "It is in blank, " saidhe. 

"Just so, " agreed Mr. Green. "Carte blanche, as you say over the water. If you insist, " he offered obligingly, "I'll fill in your name before weproceed. "

Mr. Caryll shrugged his shoulders. "It might be well, " said he, "if youare to search me at all. "

Mr. Green advanced to the table. The writing implements provided for thewedding were still there. He took up a pen, scrawled a name across theblank, dusted it with sand, and presented it again to Mr. Caryll. Thelatter nodded. 

"I'll not trouble you to search me, " said he. "I would as soon not havethese noblemen of yours for my valets. " He thrust his hands into thepockets of his fine coat, and brought forth several papers. Thesehe proffered to Mr. Green, who took them between satisfaction andamazement. Ostermore stared, too stricken for words at this meeksurrender; and well was it for Mr. Caryll that he was so stricken, forhad he spoken he had assuredly betrayed himself. 

Hortensia, Mr. Caryll observed, watched his cowardly yielding with aneye of stern contempt. Rotherby looked on with a dark face that betrayednothing. 

Meanwhile Mr. Green was running through the papers, and as fast as heran through them he permitted himself certain comments that passed forhumor with his followers. There could be no doubt that in his own socialstratum Mr. Green must have been accounted something of a wag. 

"Ha! What's this? A bill! A bill for snuff! My Lord Carteret'll snuffyou, sir. He'll tobacco you, ecod! He'll smoke you first, and snuff youafterwards. " He flung the bill aside. "Phew!" he whistled. "Verses! 'ToTheocritus upon sailing for Albion. ' That's mighty choice! D'ye writeverses, sir?"

"Heyday! 'Tis an occupation to which I have succumbed in moments ofweakness. I crave your indulgence, Mr. Green. "

Mr. Green perceived that here was a weak attempt at irony, and went onwith his investigations. He came to the last of the papers Mr. Caryllhad handed him, glanced at it, swore coarsely, and dropped it. 

"D'ye think ye can bubble me?'" he cried, red in the face. 

Lord Ostermore heaved a sigh of relief; the hard look had faded fromHortensia's eyes. 

"What is't ye mean, giving me this rubbish?"

"I offer you my excuses for the contents of my pockets, " said Mr. Caryll. "Ye see, I did not expect to be honored by your inquisition. HadI but known--"

Mr. Green struck an attitude. "Now attend to me, sir! I am a servant ofHis Majesty's Government. "

"His Majesty's Government cannot be sufficiently congratulated, " saidMr. Caryll, the irrepressible. 

Mr. Green banged the table. "Are ye rallying me, ecod!"

"You have upset the ink, " Mr. Caryll pointed out to him. 

"Damn the ink!" swore the spy. "And damn you for a Tom o' Bedlam! I askyou again--what d'ye mean, giving me this rubbish?"

"You asked me to turn out my pockets. "

"I asked you for the letter ye have brought Lord Ostermore. "

"I am sorry, " said Mr. Caryll, and eyed the other sympathetically. "Iam sorry to disappoint you. But, then, you assumed too much when youassumed that I had such a letter. I have obliged you to the fullestextent in my power. I do not think you show a becoming gratitude. "

Mr. Green eyed him blankly a moment; then exploded. "Ecod, sir! You arecool. "

"It is a condition we do not appear to share. "

"D'ye say ye've brought his lordship no letter from France?" thunderedthe spy. "What else ha' ye come to England for?"

"To study manners, sir, " said Mr. Caryll, bowing. 

That was the last drop in the cup of Mr. Green's endurance. He waved hismen towards the gentleman from France. "Find it, " he bade them shortly. 

Mr. Caryll drew himself up with a great dignity, and waved the bailiffsback, his white face set, an unpleasant glimmer in his eyes. "A moment!"he cried. "You have no authority to go to such extremes. I make noobjection to being searched; but every objection to being soiled, andI'll not have the fingers of these scavengers about my person. "

"And you are right, egad!" cried Lord Ostermore, advancing. "Harkee, youdirty spy, this is no way to deal with gentlemen. Be off, now, and takeyour carrion-crows with you, or I'll have my grooms in with their whipsto you. "

"To me?" roared Green. "I represent the Secretary of State. "

"Ye'll represent a side of raw venison if you tarry here, " the earlpromised him. "D'ye dare look me in the eye? D'ye dare, ye rogue? D'yeknow who I am? And don't wag that pistol, my fine fellow! Be off, now!Away with you!"

Mr. Green looked his name. The rosiness was all departed from hischeeks; he quivered with suppressed wrath. "If I go--giving way toconstraint--what shall you say to my Lord Carteret?" he asked. 

"What concern may that be of yours, sirrah?''

"It will be some concern of yours, my lord. "

Mr. Caryll interposed. "The knave is right, " said he. "It were toimplicate your lordship. It were to give color to his silly suspicions. Let him make his search. But be so good as to summon my valet. He shallhand you my garments that you may do your will upon them. But unless youjustify yourself by finding the letter you are seeking, you shall haveto reckon with the consequences of discomposing a gentleman for nothing. Now, sir! Is it a bargain?" Mr. Green looked him over, and if hewas shaken by the calm assurance of Mr. Caryll's tone and manner, heconcealed it very effectively. "We'll make no bargains, " said he. "I have my duty to do. " He signed to one of the bailiffs. "Fetch thegentleman's servant, " said he. 

"So be it, " said Mr. Caryll. "But you take too much upon yourself, sir. Your duty, I think, would have been to arrest me and carry me toLord Carteret's, there to be searched if his lordship considered itnecessary. "

"I have no cause to arrest you until I find it, " Mr. Green snappedimpatiently. 

"Your logic is faultless. "

"I am following my Lord Carteret's orders to the letter. I am to effectno arrest until I have positive evidence. "

"Yet you are detaining me. What does this amount to but an arrest?"

Mr. Green disdained to answer. Leduc entered, and Mr. Caryll turned toLord Ostermore. 

"There is no reason why I should detain your lordship, " said he, "andthese operations--The lady--" He waved an expressive hand, bent anexpressive eye upon the earl. 

Lord Ostermore seemed to waver. He was not--he had never been--a man tothink for others. But Hortensia cut in before he could reply. 

"We will wait, " she said. "Since you are travelling to town, I am surehis lordship will be glad of your company, sir. "

Mr. Caryll looked deep into those great brown eyes, and bowed histhanks. "If it will not discompose your lordship--"

"No, no, " said Ostermore, gruff of voice and manner. "We will wait. Ishall be honored, sir, if you will journey with us afterwards. "

Mr. Caryll bowed again, and went to hold the door for them, Mr. Green'seyes keenly alert for an attempt at evasion. But there was none. Whenhis lordship and his ward had departed, Mr. Caryll turned to Rotherby, who had taken a chair, his man Gaskell behind him. He looked from theviscount to Mr. Green. 

"Do we require this gentleman?" he asked the spy. 

A smile broke over Rotherby's swam face. "By your leave, sir, I'llremain to see fair play. You may find me useful, Mr. Green. I have nocause to wish this marplot well, " he explained. 

Mr. Caryll turned his back upon him, took off his coat and waistcoat. Hesat down while Mr. Green spread the garments upon the table, emptied outthe pockets, turned down the cuffs, ripped up the satin linings. He didit in a consummate fashion, very thoroughly. Yet, though he partedthe linings from the cloth, he did so in such a manner as to leave thegarments easily repairable. 

Mr. Caryll watched him with interest and appreciation, and what time hewatched he was wondering might it not be better straightway to placethe spy in possession of the letter, and thus destroy himself and LordOstermore, at the same time--and have done with the task on which hewas come to England. It seemed almost an easy way out of the affair. Hisbetrayal of the earl would be less ugly if he, himself, were to sharethe consequences of that betrayal. 

Then he checked his thoughts. What manner of mood was this? Besides, his inclination was all to become better acquainted with this odd familyupon which he had stumbled in so extraordinary a manner. Down in hisheart of hearts he had a feeling that the thing he was come to do wouldnever be done--leastways, not by him. It was in vain that he mightattempt to steel himself to the task. It repelled him. It went not witha nature such as his. 

He thought of Everard, afire with the idea of vengence and to such anextent that he had succeeded in infecting Justin himself with a sparkof it. He thought of him with pity almost; pity that a man should obsesshis life by such a phantasm as this same vengeance must have been tohim. Was it worth while? Was anything worth while, he wondered. 

Lord Rotherby approached the table, and took up the garments upon whichMr. Green had finished. He turned them over and supplemented Mr. Green'ssearch. 

"Ye're welcome to all that ye can find, " sneered Mr. Green, and turnedto Mr. Caryll. "Let us have your shoes, sir. "

Mr. Caryll removed his shoes, in silence, and Mr. Green proceeded toexamine them in a manner that provoked Mr. Caryll's profound admiration. He separated the lining from the Spanish leather, and probed slowlyand carefully in the space between. He examined the heels very closely, going over to the window for the purpose. That done, he dropped them. 

"Your breeches now, " said he laconically. 

Meanwhile Leduc had taken up the coat, and with a needle and threadwherewith he had equipped himself he was industriously restoring thestitches that Mr. Green had taken out. 

Mr. Caryll surrendered his breeches. His fine Holland shirt went next, his stockings and what other trifles he wore, until he stood as naked asAdam before the fall. Yet all in vain. 

His garments were restored to him, one by one, and one by one, withLeduc's aid, he resumed them. Mr. Green was looking crestfallen. 

"Are you satisfied?" inquired Mr. Caryll pleasantly, his good temperinexhaustible. 

The spy looked at him with a moody eye, plucking thoughtfully at his lipwith thumb and forefinger. Then he brightened suddenly. "There's yourman, " said he, flashing a quick eye upon Leduc, who looked up with aquiet smile. 

"True, " said Mr. Caryll, "and there's my portmantle above-stairs, andmy saddle on my horse in the stables. It is even possible, for aught youknow, that there may be a hollow tooth or two in my head. Pray let yoursearch be thorough. "

Mr. Green considered him again. "If you had it, it would be upon yourperson. "

"Yet consider, " Mr. Caryll begged him, holding out his foot that Leducmight put on his shoe again, "I might have supposed that you wouldsuppose that, and disposed accordingly. You had better investigate tothe bitter end. "

Mr. Green's small eyes continued to scrutinize Leduc at intervals. Thevalet was a silent, serious-faced fellow. "I'll search your servant, leastways, " the spy announced. 

"By all means. Leduc, I beg that you will place yourself at thisinteresting gentleman's disposal. "

What time Mr. Caryll, unaided now, completed the resumption of hisgarments, Leduc, silent and expressionless, submitted to being searched. 

"You will observe, Leduc, " said Mr. Caryll, "that we have not cometo this country in vain. We are undergoing experiences that would beinteresting if they were not quite so dull, amusing if they entailedless discomfort to ourselves. Assuredly, it was worth while to crossto England to study manners. And there are sights for you that youwill never see in France. You would not, for instance, had you not comehither, have had an opportunity of observing a member of the noblesseseconding and assisting a tipstaff in the discharge of his duty. Anddoing it just as a hog wallows in foulness--for the love of it. 

"The gentlemen in your country, Leduc, are too fastidious to enjoy lifeas it should be enjoyed; they are too prone to adhere to the amusementsof their class. You have here an opportunity of perceiving how deeplythey are mistaken, what relish may lie in setting one's rank on oneside, in forgetting at times that by an accident--a sheer, incredibleaccident, I assure you, Leduc--one may have been born to a gentleman'sestate. "

Rotherby had drawn himself up, his dark face crimsoning. 

"D'ye talk at me, sir?" he demanded. "D'ye dare discuss me with yourlackey?"

"But why not, since you search me with my tipstaff! If you can perceivea difference, you are too subtle for me, sir. "

Rotherby advanced a step; then checked. He inherited mental sluggishnessfrom his father. "You are insolent!" he charged Caryll. "You insult me. "

"Indeed! Ha! I am working miracles. "

Rotherby governed his anger by an effort. "There was enough between uswithout this, " said he. 

"There could not be too much between us--too much space, I mean. "

The viscount looked at him furiously. "I shall discuss this further withyou, " said he. "The present is not the time nor place. But I shall knowwhere to look for you. "

"Leduc, I am sure, will always be pleased to see you. He, too, isstudying manner's. "

Rotherby ignored the insult. "We shall see, then, whether you can doanything more than talk. "

"I hope that your lordship, too, is master of other accomplishments. Asa talker, I do not find you very gifted. But perhaps Leduc will be lessexigent than I. "

"Bah!" his lordship flung at him, and went out, cursing him profusely, Gaskell following at his master's heels. 

CHAPTER V. MOONSHINE

My Lord Ostermore, though puzzled, entertained no tormenting anxietyon the score of the search to which Mr. Caryll was to be submitted. Heassured himself from that gentleman's confident, easy manner--being aman who always drew from things the inference that was obvious--thateither he carried no such letter as my lord expected, or else he had sodisposed of it as to baffle search. 

So, for the moment, he dismissed the subject from his mind. WithHortensia he entered the parlor across the stone-flagged passage, towhich the landlady ushered them, and turned whole-heartedly to thematter of his ward's elopement with his son. 

"Hortensia, " said he, when they were alone. "You have been foolish; veryfoolish. " He had a trick of repeating himself, conceiving, no doubt, that the commonplace achieves distinction by repetition. 

Hortensia sat in an arm-chair by the window, and sighed, looking outover the downs. "Do I not know it?" she cried, and the eyes which wereaverted from his lordship were charred with tears--tears of hot anger, shame and mortification. "God help all women!" she added bitterly, aftera moment, as many another woman under similar and worse circumstanceshas cried before and since. 

A more feeling man might have conceived that this was a moment in whichto leave her to herself and her own thoughts, and in that it is possiblethat a more feeling man had been mistaken. Ostermore, stolid andunimaginative, but not altogether without sympathy for his ward, of whomhe was reasonably fond--as fond, no doubt, as it was his capacity to befor any other than himself--approached her and set a plump hand upon theback of her chair. 

"What was it drove you to this?"

She turned upon him almost fiercely. "My Lady Ostermore, " she answeredhim. 

His lordship frowned, and his eyes shifted uneasily from her face. Inhis heart he disliked his wife excessively, disliked her because she wasthe one person in the world who governed him, who rode rough-shod overhis feelings and desires; because, perhaps, she was the mother of hisunfeeling, detestable son. She may not have been the only person livingto despise Lord Ostermore; but she was certainly the only one with thecourage to manifest her contempt, and that in no circumscribed terms. And yet, disliking her as he did, returning with interest her contemptof him, he veiled it, and was loyal to his termagant, never sufferinghimself to utter a complaint of her to others, never suffering others tocensure her within his hearing. This loyalty may have had its roots inpride--indeed, no other soil can be assigned to them--a pride that wouldallow no strangers to pry into the sore places of his being. He frownednow to hear Hortensia's angry mention of her ladyship's name; and if hisblue eyes moved uneasily under his beetling brows, it was because thesituation irked him. How should he stand as judge between MistressWinthrop--towards whom, as we have seen, he had a kindness--and hiswife, whom he hated, yet towards whom he would not be disloyal?

He wished the subject dropped, since, did he ask the obviousquestion--in what my Lady Ostermore could have been the cause ofHortensia's flight--he would provoke, he knew, a storm of censure fromhis wife. Therefore he fell silent. 

Hortensia, however, felt that she had said too much not to say more. 

"Her ladyship has never failed to make me feel my position--my--mypoverty, " she pursued. "There is no slight her ladyship has not put uponme, until not even your servants use me with the respect that is dueto my father's daughter. And my father, " she added, with a reproachfulglance, "was your friend, my lord. "

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, deploring now the question withwhich he had fired the train of feminine complaint. "Pish, pish!" hedeprecated, "'tis fancy, child--pure fancy!"

"So her Ladyship would say, did you tax her with it. Yet your lordshipknows I am not fanciful in other things. Should I, then, be fanciful inthis?"

"But what has her ladyship ever done, child?" he demanded, thinkingthus to baffle her--since he was acquainted with the subtlety of herladyship's methods. 

"A thousand things, " replied Hortensia hotly, "and yet not one uponwhich I may fasten. 'Tis thus she works: by words, half-words, looks, sneers, shrugs, and sometimes foul abuse entirely disproportionate tothe little cause I may unwittingly have given. "

"Her ladyship is a little hot, " the earl admitted, "but a good heart;'tis an excellent heart, Hortensia. "

"For hating-ay, my lord. "

"Nay, plague on't! That's womanish in you. 'Pon honor it is! Womanish!"

"What else would you have a woman? Mannish and raffish, like my LadyOstermore?"

"I'll not listen to you, " he said. "Ye're not just, Hortensia. Ye'reheated; heated! I'll not listen to you. Besides, when all is said, whatreasons be these for the folly ye've committed?"

"Reasons?" she echoed scornfully. "Reasons and to spare! Her ladyshiphas made my life so hard, has so shamed and crushed me, put suchindignities upon me, that existence grew unbearable under your roof. Itcould not continue, my lord, " she pursued, rising under the sway of herindignation. "It could not continue. I am not of the stuff that goesto making martyrs. I am weak, and--and--as your lordship hassaid--womanish. "

"Indeed, you talk a deal, " said his lordship peevishly. But she did notheed the sarcasm. 

"Lord Rotherby, " she continued, "offered me the means to escape. Heurged me to elope with him. His reason was that you would never consentto our marriage; but that if we took the matter into our hands, and weremarried first, we might depend upon your sanction afterwards; that youhad too great a kindness for me to withhold your pardon. I was weak, mylord--womanish, " (she threw the word at him again) "and it happened--Godhelp me for a fool!--that I thought I loved Lord Rotherby. And so--andso--"

She sat down again, weakly, miserably, averting her face that she mighthide her tears. He was touched, and he even went so far as to showsomething of his sympathy. He approached her again, and laid a benignhand lightly upon her shoulder. 

"But--but--in that case--Oh, the damned villain!--why this mock-parson?"

"Does your lordship not perceive? Must I die of shame? Do you not see?"

"See? No!" He was thoughtful a second; then repeated, "No!"

"I understood, " she informed him, a smile--a cruelly bittersmile--lifting and steadying the corner of her lately quivering lip, "when he alluded to your lordship's straitened circumstances. He has nodisinheritance to fear because he has no inheritance to look for beyondthe entail, of which you cannot disinherit him. My Lord Rotherby sets ahigh value upon himself. He may--I do not know--he may have been inlove with me--though not as I know love, which is all sacrifice, allself-denial. But by his lights he may have cared for me; he must havedone, by his lights. Had I been a lady of fortune, not a doubt but hewould have made me his wife; as it was, he must aim at a more profitablemarriage, and meanwhile, to gratify his love for me--base as it was--hewould--he would--O God! I cannot say it. You understand, my lord. "

My lord swore strenuously. "There is a punishment for such a crime asthis. "

"Ay, my lord--and a way to avoid punishment for a gentleman in yourson's position, even did I flaunt my shame in some vain endeavor to havejustice--a thing he knew I never could have done. "

My lord swore again. "He shall be punished, " he declared emphatically. 

"No doubt. God will see to that, " she said, a world of faith in herquivering voice. 

My lord's eyes expressed his doubt of divine intervention. He preferredto speak for himself. "I'll disown the dog. He shall not enter my houseagain. You shall not be reminded of what has happened here. Gad! Youwere shrewd to have smoked his motives so!" he cried in a burst ofadmiration for her insight. "Gad, child! Shouldst have been a lawyer! Alawyer!"

"If it had not been for Mr. Caryll--" she began, but to what else shesaid he lent no ear, being suddenly brought back to his fears at themention of that gentleman's name. 

"Mr. Caryll! Save us! What is keeping him?" he cried. "Can they--canthey--"

The door opened, and Mr. Caryll walked in, ushered by the hostess. Bothturned to confront him, Hortensia's eyes swollen from her weeping. 

"Well?" quoth his lordship. "Did they find nothing?"

Mr. Caryll advanced with the easy, graceful carriage that was one of hismain charms, his clothes so skilfully restored by Leduc that none couldhave guessed the severity of the examination they had undergone. 

"Since I am here, and alone, your lordship may conclude such to be thecase. Mr. Green is preparing for departure. He is very abject;very chap-fallen. I am almost sorry for Mr. Green. I am by naturesympathetic. I have promised to make my complaint to my Lord Carteret. And so, I trust there is an end to a tiresome matter. "

"But then, sir?" quoth his lordship. "But then--are you the bearer of noletter?"

Mr. Caryll shot a swift glance over his shoulder at the door. Hedeliberately winked at the earl. "Did your lordship expect letters?"he inquired. "That was scarcely reason enough to suppose me a courier. There is some mistake, I imagine. "

Between the wink and the words his lordship was bewildered. 

Mr. Caryll turned to the lady, bowing. Then he waved a hand over thedowns. "A fine view, " said he airily, and she stared at him. "I shalltreasure sweet memories of Maidstone. " Her stare grew stonier. Didhe mean the landscape or some other matter? His tone was difficult toread--a feature peculiar to his tone. 

"Not so shall I, sir, " she made answer. "I shall never think of it otherthan with burning cheeks--unless it be with gratitude to your shrewdnesswhich saved me. "

"No more, I beg. It is a matter painful to you to dwell on. Let meexhort you to forget it. I have already done so. "

"That is a sweet courtesy in you. "

"I am compounded of sweet courtesy, " he informed her modestly. 

His lordship spoke of departure, renewing his offer to carry Mr. Caryllto town in his chaise. Meanwhile, Mr. Caryll was behaving curiously. Hewas tiptoeing towards the door, along the wall, where he was out of linewith the keyhole. He reached it suddenly, and abruptly pulled it open. There was a squeal, and Mr. Green rolled forward into the room. Mr. Caryll kicked him out again before he could rise, and called Leducto throw him outside. And that was the last they saw of Mr. Green atMaidstone. 

They set out soon afterwards, Mr. Caryll travelling in his lordship'schaise, and Leduc following in his master's. 

It was an hour or so after candle-lighting time when they reachedCroydon, the country lying all white under a full moon that sailed ina clear, calm sky. His lordship swore that he would go no farther thatnight. The travelling fatigued him; indeed, for the last few milesof the journey he had been dozing in his corner of the carriage, conversation having long since been abandoned as too great an efforton so bad a road, which shook and jolted them beyond endurance. Hislordship's chaise was of an old-fashioned pattern, and the springsfar from what might have been desired or expected in a nobleman'sconveyance. 

They alighted at the "Bells. " His lordship bespoke supper, invited Mr. Caryll to join them, and, what time the meal was preparing, went into anoisy doze in the parlor's best chair. 

Mistress Winthrop sauntered out into the garden. The calm and fragranceof the night invited her. Alone with her thoughts, she paced the lawn awhile, until her solitude was disturbed by the advent of Mr. Caryll. He, too, had need to think, and he had come out into the peace of the nightto indulge his need. Seeing her, he made as if to withdraw again; butshe perceived him, and called him to her side. He went most readily. Yetwhen he stood before her in an attitude of courteous deference, she wasat a loss what she should say to him, or, rather, what words she shouldemploy. At last, with a half-laugh of nervousness, "I am by nature veryinquisitive, sir, " she prefaced. 

"I had already judged you to be an exceptional woman, " Mr. Caryllcommented softly. 

She mused an instant. "Are you never serious?" she asked him. 

"Is it worth while?" he counter-questioned, and, whether intent oraccident, he let her see something of himself. "Is it even amusing--tobe serious?"

"Is there in life nothing but amusement?"

"Oh, yes--but nothing so vital. I speak with knowledge. The gift oflaughter has been my salvation. "

"From what, sir?"

"Ah--who shall say that? My history and my rearing have been such thathad I bowed before them, I had become the most gloomy, melancholy manthat steps this gloomy, melancholy world. By now I might have foundexistence insupportable, and so--who knows? I might have set a term toit. But I had the wisdom to prefer laughter. Humanity is a delectablespectacle if we but have the gift to observe it in a dispassionatespirit. Such a gift have I cultivated. The squirming of the human wormis interesting to observe, and the practice of observing it has thisadvantage, that while we observe it we forget to squirm ourselves. "

"The bitterness of your words belies their purport. "

He shrugged and smiled. "But proves my contention. That I might explainmyself, you made me for a moment serious, set me squirming in my turn. "

She moved a little, and he fell into step beside her. A little whilethere was silence. 

Presently--"You find me, no doubt, as amusing as any other of your humanworms, " said she. 

"God forbid!" he answered soberly. 

She laughed. "You make an exception in my case, then. That is a subtleflattery!"

"Have I not said that I had judged you to be an exceptional woman?"

"Exceptionally foolish, not a doubt. "

"Exceptionally beautiful; exceptionally admirable, " he corrected. 

"A clumsy compliment, devoid of wit!"

"When we grow truthful, it may be forgiven us if we fall short of wit. "

"That were an argument in favor of avoiding truth. "

"Were it necessary, " said he. "For truth is seldom so intrusive as toneed avoiding. But we are straying. There was a score upon whichyou were inquisitive, you said; from which I take it that you soughtknowledge at my hands. Pray seek it; I am a well, of knowledge. "

"I desired to know--Nay, but I have asked you already. I desired to knowdid you deem me a very pitiful little fool?"

They had reached the privet hedge, and turned. They paused now beforeresuming their walk. He paused, also, before replying. Then:

"I should judge you wise in most things, " he answered slowly, critically. "But in the matter to which I owe the blessing of havingserved you, I do not think you wise. Did you--do you love LordRotherby?"

"What if so?"

"After what you have learned, I should account you still less wise. "

"You are impertinent, sir, " she reproved him. 

"Nay, most pertinent. Did you not ask me to sit in judgment upon thismatter? And unless you confess to me, how am I to absolve you?"

"I did not crave your absolution. You take too much upon yourself. "

"So said Lord Rotherby. You seem to have something in common when all issaid. "

She bit her lip in chagrin. They paced in silence to the lawn's end, andturned again. Then: "You treat me like a fool, " she reproved him. 

"How is that possible, when, already I think I love you. "

She started from him, and stared at him for a long moment. "You insultme!" she cried angrily, conceiving that she understood his mind. "Doyou think that because I may have committed a folly I have forfeited allclaim to be respected--that I am a subject for insolent speeches?"

"You are illogical, " said Mr. Caryll, the imperturbable. "I have toldyou that I love you. Should I insult the woman I have said I love?"

"You love me?" She looked at him, her face very white in the whitemoonlight, her lips parted, a kindling anger in her eyes. "Are you mad?"

"I a'n't sure. There have been moments when I have almost feared it. This is not one of them. "

"You wish me to think you serious?" She laughed a thought stridently inher indignation. "I have known you just four hours, " said she. 

"Precisely the time I think I have loved you. "

"You think?" she echoed scornfully. "Oh, you make that reservation! Youare not quite sure?"

"Can we be sure of anything?" he deprecated. 

"Of some things, " she answered icily. "And I am sure of one--that I ambeginning to understand you. "

"I envy you. Since that is so, help me--of your charity!--to understandmyself. "

"Then understand yourself for an impudent, fleering coxcomb, " she flungat him, and turned to leave him. 

"That is not explanation, " said Mr. Caryll thoughtfully. "It is mereabuse. "

"What else do you deserve?" she asked him over her shoulder. "That youshould have dared!" she withered him. 

"To love you quite so suddenly?" he inquired, and misquoted: "'Whoeverloved at all, that loved not at first sight?' Hortensia!"

"You have not the right to my name, sir. "

"Yet I offer you the right to mine, " he answered, with humble reproach. 

"You shall be punished, " she promised him, and in high dudgeon left him. 

"Punished? Oh, cruel! Can you then be--

 "'Unsoft to him who's smooth to thee? Tigers and bears, I've heard some say, For proffered love will love repay. "'

But she was gone. He looked up at the moon, and took it into hisconfidence to reproach it. "'Twas your white face beglamored me, "he told it aloud. "See, how execrable a beginning I've made, and, therefore, how excellent!" And he laughed, but entirely without mirth. 

He remained pacing in the moonlight, very thoughtful, and, for once, it seemed, not at all amused. His life appeared to be tangling itselfbeyond unravelling, and his vaunted habit of laughter scarce served atpresent to show him the way out. 

CHAPTER VI. HORTENSIA'S RETURN

Mr. Caryll needs explaining as he walks there in the moonlight; thatis, if we are at all to understand him--a matter by no means easy, considering that he has confessed he did not understand himself. Didever man make a sincere declaration of sudden passion as flippantly ashe had done, or in terms-better calculated to alienate the regard hesought to win? Did ever man choose his time with less discrimination, or his words with less discretion? Assuredly not. To suppose that Mr. Caryll was unaware of this, would be to suppose him a fool, and that hemost certainly was not. 

His mood was extremely complex; its analysis, I fear, may baffle us. It must have seemed to you--as it certainly seemed to MistressWinthrop--that he made a mock of her; that in truth he was the impudent, fleering coxcomb she pronounced him, and nothing more. Not so. Mock hemost certainly did; but his mockery was all aimed to strike himself onthe recoil--himself and the sentiments which had sprung to being in hissoul, and to which--nameless as he was, pledged as he was to a task thatwould most likely involve his ruin--he conceived that he had no right. He gave expression to his feelings, yet chose for them the expressionbest calculated to render them barren of all consequence where MistressWinthrop was concerned. Where another would have hidden those emotions, Mr. Caryll elected to flaunt them half-derisively, that Hortensia mighttrample them under foot in sheer disgust. 

It was, perhaps, the knowledge that did he wait, and come to her as anhonest, devout lover, he must in honesty tell her all there was to knowof his odd history and of his bastardy, and thus set up between them abarrier insurmountable. Better, he may have thought, to make from theoutset a mockery of a passion for which there could be no hope. And so, under that mocking, impertinent exterior, I hope you catch some glimpseof the real, suffering man--the man who boasted that he had the gift oflaughter. 

He continued a while to pace the dewy lawn after she had left him, anda deep despondency descended upon the spirit of this man who accountedseriousness a folly. Hitherto his rancor against his father had been atheoretical rancor, a thing educated into him by Everard, and acceptedby him as we accept a proposition in Euclid that is proved to us. In itsway it had been a make-believe rancor, a rancor on principle, for he hadbeen made to see that unless he was inflamed by it, he was not worthyto be his mother's son. Tonight had changed all this. No longer was hisgrievance sentimental, theoretical or abstract. It was suddenly becomereal and very bitter. It was no longer a question of the wrong done hismother thirty years ago; it became the question of a wrong done himselfin casting him nameless upon the world, a thing of scorn to cruel, unjust humanity. Could Mistress Winthrop have guessed the bitterself-derision with which he had, in apparent levity, offered her hisname, she might have felt some pity for him who had no pity for himself. 

And so, to-night he felt--as once for a moment Everard had made himfeel--that he had a very real wrong of his own to avenge upon hisfather; and the task before him lost much of the repugnance that it hadheld for him hitherto. 

All this because four hours ago he had looked into the brown depths ofMistress Winthrop's eyes. He sighed, and declaimed a line of Congreve's:

"'Woman is a fair image in a pool; who leaps at it is sunk. '"

The landlord came to bid him in to supper. He excused himself. Sent hislordship word that he was over-tired, and went off to bed. 

They met at breakfast, at an early hour upon the morrow, MistressWinthrop cool and distant; his lordship grumpy and mute; Mr. Caryllairy and talkative as was his habit. They set out soon afterwards. Butmatters were nowise improved. His lordship dozed in a corner of thecarriage, while Mistress Winthrop found more interest in the floweringhedgerows than in Mr. Caryll, ignored him when he talked, and did notanswer him when he set questions; till, in the end, he, too, lapsed intosilence, and as a solatium for his soreness assured himself by lengthy, wordless arguments that matters were best so. 

They entered the outlying parts of London some two hours later, and itstill wanted an hour or so to noon when the chaise brought up inside therailings before the earl's house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. 

There came a rush of footmen, a bustle of service, amid which theyalighted and entered the splendid residence that was part of the littlethat remained Lord Ostermore from the wreck his fortunes had suffered onthe shoals of the South Sea. 

Mr. Caryll paused a moment to dismiss Leduc to the address in Old PalaceYard where he had hired a lodging. That done, he followed his lordshipand Hortensia within doors. 

From the inner hall a footman ushered him across an ante-chamber toa room on the right, which proved to be the library, and was hislordship's habitual retreat. It was a spacious, pillared chamber, veryrichly panelled in damask silk, and very richly furnished, having longFrench windows that opened on a terrace above the garden. 

As they entered there came a swift rustle of petticoats at their heels, and Mr. Caryll stood aside, bowing, to give passage to a tall lady whoswept by with no more regard for him than had he been one of thehouse's lackeys. She was, he observed, of middle-age, lean andaquiline-featured, with an exaggerated chin, that ended squarely asboot. Her sallow cheeks were raddled to a hectic color, a monstroushead-dress--like that of some horse in a lord mayor's show--coiffedher, and her dress was a mixture of extravagance and incongruity, thepetticoat absurdly hooped. 

She swept into the room like a battleship into action, and let fly herfirst broadside at Mistress Winthrop from the threshold. 

"Codso!" she shrilled. "You have come back! And for what have you comeback? Am I to live in the same house with you, you shameless madam--thathave no more thought for your reputation than a slut in a smock-race?"

Hortensia raised indignant eyes from out of a face that was very pale. Her lips were tightly pressed--in resolution, thought Mr. Caryll, whowas very observant of her--not to answer her ladyship; for Mr. Caryllhad little doubt as to the identity of this dragon. 

"My love--my dear--" began his lordship, advancing a step, his tone avery salve. Then, seeking to create a diversion, he waved a hand towardsMr. Caryll. "Let me present--"

"Did I speak to you?" she turned to bombard him. "Have you not done harmenough? Had you been aught but a fool--had you respected me as a husbandshould--you had left well alone and let her go her ways. "

"There was my duty to her father, to say aught of--"

"And what of your duty to me?" she blazed, her eyes puckering mostmalignantly. She reminded Mr. Caryll of nothing so much as a vulture. "Had ye forgotten that? Have ye no thought for decency--no respect foryour wife?"

Her strident voice was echoing through the house and drawing a littlecrowd of gaping servants to the hall. To spare Mistress Winthrop, Mr. Caryll took it upon himself to close the door. The countess turned atthe sound. 

"Who is this?" she asked, measuring the elegant figure with an evil eye. And Mr. Caryll felt it in his bones that she had done him the honor todislike him at sight. 

"It is a gentleman who--who--" His lordship thought it better, apparently, not to explain the exact circumstances under which he hadmet the gentleman. He shifted ground. "I was about to present him, my love. It is Mr. Caryll--Mr. Justin Caryll. This, sir, is my LadyOstermore. "

Mr. Caryll made her a profound bow. Her ladyship retorted with a sniff. 

"Is it a kinsman of yours, my lord?" and the contempt of the questionwas laden with a suggestion that smote Mr. Caryll hard. What she impliedin wanton offensive mockery was no more than he alone present knew to bethe exact and hideous truth. 

"Some remote kinsman, I make no doubt, " the earl explained. "Untilyesterday I had not the honor of his acquaintance. Mr. Caryll is fromFrance. "

"Ye'll be a Jacobite, no doubt, then, " were her first, uncompromisingwords to the guest. 

Mr. Caryll made her another bow. "If I were, I should make no secretof it with your ladyship, " he answered with that irritating suavity inwhich he clothed his most obvious sarcasms. 

Her ladyship opened her eyes a little wider. Here was a tone she wasunused to. "And what may your business with his lordship be?"

"His lordship's business, I think, " answered Mr. Caryll in a tone ofsuch exquisite politeness and deference that the words seemed purged ofall their rudeness. 

"Will you answer me so, sir?" she demanded, nevertheless, her voicequivering. 

"My love!" interpolated his lordship hurriedly, his florid face aflush. "We are vastly indebted to Mr. Caryll, as you shall learn. It was he whosaved Hortensia. "

"Saved the drab, did he? And from what, pray?"

"Madam!" It was Hortensia who spoke. She had risen, pale with anger, andshe made appeal now to her guardian. "My lord, I'll not remain to be sospoken of. Suffer me to go. That her ladyship should so speak of me tomy face--and to a stranger!"

"Stranger!" crowed her ladyship. "Lard! And what d'ye suppose willhappen? Are you so nice about a stranger hearing what I may have to sayof you--you that will be the talk of the whole lewd town for this fineescapade? And what'll the town say of you?"

"My love!" his lordship sought again to soothe her. "Sylvia, let meimplore you! A little moderation! A little charity! Hortensia has beenfoolish. She confesses so much, herself. Yet, when all is said, 'tis notshe is to blame. "

"Am I?"

"My love! Was it suggested?"

"I marvel it was not. Indeed, I marvel! Oh, Hortensia is not to blame, the sweet, pure dove! What is she, then?"

"To be pitied, ma'am, " said his lordship, stirred to sudden anger, "thatshe should have lent an ear to your disreputable son. "

"My son? My son?" cried her ladyship, her voice more and more strident, her face flushing till the rouge upon it was put to shame, revealed inall its unnatural hideousness. "And is he not your son, my lord?"

"There are moments, " he answered hardily, "when I find it difficult tobelieve. "

It was much for him to say, and to her ladyship, of all people. It waspure mutiny. She gasped for air; pumped her brain for words. Meantime, his lordship continued with an eloquence entirely unusual in him andprompted entirely by his strong feelings in the matter of his son. "Heis a disgrace to his name! He always has been. When a boy, he was a liarand a thief, and had he had his deserts he had been lodged in Newgatelong ago--or worse. Now that he's a man, he's an abandoned profligate, abrawler, a drunkard, a rakehell. So much I have long known him for; butto-day he has shown himself for something even worse. I had thought thatmy ward, at least, had been sacred from his villainy. That is the lastdrop. I'll not condone it. Damn me! I can't condone it. I'll disown him. He shall not set foot in house of mine again. Let him keep the companyof his Grace of Wharton and his other abandoned friends of the Hell FireClub; he keeps not mine. He keeps not mine, I say!"

Her ladyship swallowed hard. From red that she had been, she was nowashen under her rouge. "And, is this wanton baggage to keep mine? Is sheto disgrace a household that has grown too nice to contain your son?"

"My lord! Oh, my lord, give me leave to go, " Hortensia entreated. 

"Ay, go, " sneered her ladyship. "Go! You had best go--back to him. Whatfor did ye leave him? Did ye dream there could be aught to return to?"

Hortensia turned to her guardian again appealingly. But her ladyshipbore down upon her, incensed by this ignoring; she caught the girl'swrist in her claw-like hand. "Answer me, you drab! What for did youreturn? What is to be done with you now that y' are soiled goods? Whereshall we find a husband for you?"

"I do not want a husband, madam, " answered Hortensia. 

"Will ye lead apes in hell, then? Bah! 'Tis not what ye want, my finemadam; 'tis what we can get you; and where shall we find you a husbandnow?"

Her eye fell upon Mr. Caryll, standing by one of the windows, a lookof profound disgust overplaying the usually immobile face. "Perhaps thegentleman from France--the gentleman who saved you, " she sneered, "willpropose to take the office. "

"With all my heart, ma'am, " Mr. Caryll startled them and himselfby answering. Then, perceiving that he had spoken too much uponimpulse--given utterance to what was passing in his mind--"I but mentionit to show your ladyship how mistaken are your conclusions, " he added. 

The countess loosed her hold of Hortensia's wrist in her amazement, and looked the gentleman from France up and down in a mighty scornfulmanner. "Codso!" she swore, "I may take it, then, that your savingher--as ye call it--was no accident. "

"Indeed it was, ma'am--and a most fortunate accident for your son. "

"For my son? As how?"

"It saved him from hanging, ma'am, " Mr. Caryll informed her, and gaveher something other than the baiting of Hortensia to occupy her mind. 

"Hang?" she gasped. "Are you speaking of Lord Rotherby?"

"Ay, of Lord Rotherby--and not a word more than is true, " put in theearl. "Do you know--but you do not--the extent of your precious son'svillainy? At Maidstone, where I overtook them--at the Adam and Eve--hehad a make-believe parson, and he was luring this poor child into amock-marriage. "

Her ladyship stared. "Mock-marriage?" she echoed. "Marriage? La!" Andagain she vented her unpleasant laugh. "Did she insist on that, theprude? Y' amaze me!"

"Surely, my love, you do not apprehend. Had Lord Rotherby's parson notbeen detected and unmasked by Mr. Caryll, here--"

"Would you ha' me believe she did not know the fellow was no parson?"

"Oh!" cried Hortensia. "Your ladyship has a very wicked soul. May Godforgive you!"

"And who is to forgive you?" snapped the countess. 

"I need no forgiveness, for I have done no wrong. A folly, I confess to. I was mad to have heeded such a villain. "

Her ladyship gathered forces for a fresh assault. But Mr. Caryllanticipated it. It was no doubt a great impertinence in him; but hesaw Hortensia's urgent need, and he felt, moreover, that not even LordOstermore would resent his crossing swords a moment with her ladyship. 

"You would do well, ma'am, to remember, " said he, in his singularlyprecise voice, "that Lord Rotherby even now--and as things have fallenout--is by no means quit of all danger. "

She looked at this smooth gentleman, and his words burned themselvesinto her brain. She quivered with mingling fear and anger. 

"Wha'--what is't ye mean?" quoth she. 

"That even at this hour, if the matter were put about, his lordshipmight be brought to account for it, and it might fare very ill withhim. The law of England deals heavily with an offense such as LordRotherby's, and the attempt at a mock-marriage, of which there is nolack of evidence, would so aggravate the crime of abduction, if he wereinformed against, that it might go very hard with him. "

Her jaw fell. She caught more than an admonition in his words. It almostseemed to her that he was threatening. 

"Who--who is to inform?" she asked point-blank, her tone a challenge;and yet the odd change in it from its recent aggressiveness was almostludicrous. 

"Ah--who?" said Mr. Caryll, raising his eyes and fetching a sigh. "Itwould appear that a messenger from the Secretary of State--on anothermatter--was at the Adam and Eve at the time with two of his catchpolls, and he was a witness of the whole affair. Then again, " and he waveda hand doorwards, "servants are servants. I make no doubt they arelistening, and your ladyship's voice has scarce been controlled. You cannever say when a servant may cease to be a servant, and become an activeenemy. "

"Damn the servants!" she swore, dismissing them from consideration. "Whois this messenger of the secretary's? Who is he?"

"He was named Green. 'Tis all I know. "

"And where may he be found?"

"I cannot say. "

She turned to Lord Ostermore. "Where is Rotherby?" she inquired. She wasa thought breathless. 

"I do not know, " said he, in a voice that signified how little he cared. 

"He must be found. This fellow's silence must be bought. I'll not havemy son disgraced, and gaoled, perhaps. He must be found. "

Her alarm was very real now. She moved towards the door, thenpaused, and turned again. "Meantime, let your lordship consider whatdispositions you are to make for this wretched girt who is the cause ofall this garboil. "

And she swept out, slamming the door violently after her. 

CHAPTER VII. FATHER AND SON

Mr. Caryll stayed to dine at Stretton House. Although they had journeyedbut from Croydon that morning, he would have preferred to have gonefirst to his lodging to have made--fastidious as he was--a suitablechange in his apparel. But the urgency that his task dictated caused himto waive the point. 

He had a half-hour or so to himself after the stormy scene with herladyship, in which he had played again--though in a lesser degree--thepart of savior to Mistress Winthrop, a matter for which the lady hadrewarded him, ere withdrawing, with a friendly smile, which caused himto think her disposed to forgive him his yesternight's folly. 

In that half-hour he gave himself again very seriously to thecontemplation of his position. He had no illusions on the score of LordOstermore, and he rated his father no higher than he deserved. But hewas just and shrewd in his judgment, and he was forced to confess thathe had found this father of his vastly different from the man he hadbeen led to expect. He had looked to find a debauched old rake, a vilecreature steeped in vice and wickedness. Instead, he found a weak, easy-natured, commonplace fellow, whose worst sin seemed to bethe selfishness that is usually inseparable from those othercharacteristics. If Ostermore was not a man of the type that inspiresstrong affection, neither was he of the type that provokes strongdislike. His colorless nature left one indifferent to him. 

Mr. Caryll, somewhat to his dismay, found himself inclined to extendthe man some sympathy; caught himself upon the verge of pitying him forbeing burdened with so very unfilial a son and so very cursed a wife. Itwas one of his cherished beliefs that the evil that men do has a trickof finding them out in this life, and here, he believed, as shrew-riddenhusband and despised father, the Earl of Ostermore was being made toexpiate that sin of his early years. 

Another of Mr. Caryll's philosophies was that, when all is said, man islittle of a free agent. His viciousness or sanctity is temperamental;and not the man, but his nature--which is not self-imbued--must bear theresponsibility of a man's deeds, be they good or bad. 

In the abstract such beliefs are well enough; they are excellentstandards by which to judge where other sufferers than ourselves areconcerned. But when we ourselves are touched, they are discounted by themeasure in which a man's deeds or misdeeds may affect us. And althoughto an extent this might be the case now with Mr. Caryll, yet, in spiteof it, he found himself excusing his father on the score of the man'sweakness and stupidity, until he caught himself up with the reflectionthat this was a disloyalty to Everard, to his training, and to hismother. And yet--he reverted--in such a man as Ostermore, sheerstupidity, a lack of imagination, of insight into things as they reallyare, a lack of feeling that would disable him from appreciating theextent of any wrong he did, seemed to Mr. Caryll to be extenuatingcircumstances. 

He conceived that he was amazingly dispassionate in his judgment, andhe wondered was he right or wrong so to be. Then the thought of histask arose in his mind, and it bathed him in a sweat of horror. Over inFrance he had allowed himself to be persuaded, and had pledged himselfto do this thing. Everard, the relentless, unforgiving fanatic ofvengeance, had--as we have seen--trained him to believe that theavenging of his mother's wrongs was the only thing that could justifyhis own existence. Besides, it had all seemed remote then, and easy asremote things are apt to seem. But now--now that he had met in the fleshthis man who was his father--his hesitation was turned to very horror. It was not that he did not conceive, in spite of his odd ideas upontemperament and its responsibilities, that his mother's' wrongs criedout for vengeance, and that the avenging of them would be a righteous, fitting deed; but it was that he conceived that his own was not the handto do the work of the executioner upon one who--after all--was still hisown father. It was hideously unnatural. 

He sat in the library, awaiting his lordship and the announcement ofdinner. There was a book before him; but his eyes were upon the window, the smooth lawns beyond, all drenched in summer sunshine, and histhoughts were introspective. He looked into his shuddering soul, and sawthat he could not--that he would not--do the thing which he was come todo. He would await the coming of Everard, to tell him so. There wouldbe a storm to face, he knew. But sooner that than carry this vile thingthrough. It was vile--most damnably vile--he now opined. 

The decision taken, he rose and crossed to the window. His mind had beenin travail; his soul had known the pangs of labor. But now that thisstrong resolve had been brought forth, an ease and peace were his thatseemed to prove to him how right he was, how wrong must aught else havebeen. 

Lord Ostermore came in. He announced that they would be dining alonetogether. "Her ladyship, " he explained, "has gone forth in person toseek Lord Rotherby. She believes that she knows where to find him--insome disreputable haunt, no doubt, whither her ladyship would havebeen better advised to have sent a servant. But women are waywardcattle--wayward, headstrong cattle! Have you not found them so, Mr. Caryll?"

"I have found that the opinion is common to most husbands, " said Mr. Caryll, then added a question touching Mistress Winthrop, and wonderedwould she not be joining them at table. 

"The poor child keeps her chamber, " said the earl. "She isoverwrought--overwrought! I am afraid her ladyship--" He broke offabruptly, and coughed. "She is overwrought, " he repeated in conclusion. "So that we dine alone. "

And alone they dined. Ostermore, despite the havoc suffered by hisfortunes, kept an excellent table and a clever cook, and Mr. Caryll wasglad to discover in his sire this one commendable trait. 

The conversation was desultory throughout the repast; but when the clothwas raised and the table cleared of all but the dishes of fruit andthe decanters of Oporto, Canary and Madeira, there came a moment ofexpansion. 

Mr. Caryll was leaning back in his chair, fingering the stem of hiswine-glass, watching the play of sunlight through the ruddy amber of thewine, and considering the extraordinarily odd position of a man sittingat table, by the merest chance, almost, with a father who was not awarethat he had begotten him. A question from his lordship came to stir himpartially from the reverie into which he was beginning to lapse. 

"Do you look to make a long sojourn in England, Mr. Caryll?"

"It will depend, " was the vague and half-unconscious answer, "upon thesuccess of the matter I am come to transact. "

There ensued a brief pause, during which Mr. Caryll fell again into hisabstraction. 

"Where do you dwell when in France, sir?" inquired my lord, as if tomake polite conversation. 

Mr. Caryll lulled by his musings into carelessness, answered truthfully, "At Maligny, in Normandy. "

The next moment there was a tinkle of breaking glass, and Mr. Caryllrealized his indiscretion and turned cold. 

Lord Ostermore, who had been in the act of raising his glass, fetchedit down again so suddenly that the stem broke in his fingers, and themahogany was flooded with the liquor. A servant hastened forward, andset a fresh glass for his lordship. That done, Ostermore signed to theman to withdraw. The fellow went, closing the door, and leaving thosetwo alone. 

The pause had been sufficient to enable Mr. Caryll to recover, and forall that his pulses throbbed more quickly than their habit, outwardly hemaintained his lazily indifferent pose, as if entirely unconscious thatwhat he had said had occasioned his father the least disturbance. 

"You--you dwelt at Maligny?" said his lordship, the usual high color allvanished from his face. And again: "You dwelt at Maligny, and--and--yourname is Caryll. "

Mr. Caryll looked up quickly, as if suddenly aware that his lordship wasexpressing surprise. "Why, yes, " said he. "What is there odd in that?"

"How does it happen that you come to live there? Are you at allconnected with the family of Maligny? On your mother's side, perhaps?"

Mr. Caryll took up his wine-glass. "I take it, " said he easily, "thatthere was some such family at some time. But it is clear it must havefallen upon evil days. " He sipped at his wine. "There are none leftnow, " he explained, as he set down his glass. "The last of them died, I believe, in England. " His eyes turned full upon the earl, but theirglance seemed entirely idle. "It was in consequence of that that myfather was enabled to purchase the estate. "

Mr. Caryll accounted it no lie that he suppressed the fact that thefather to whom he referred was but his father by adoption. 

Relief spread instantly upon Lord Ostermore's countenance. Clearly, he saw, here was pure coincidence, and nothing more. Indeed, what elseshould there have been? What was it that he had feared? He did not know. Still he accounted it an odd matter, and said so. 

"What is odd?" inquired Mr. Caryll. "Does it happen that your lordshipwas acquainted at any time with that vanished family?"

"I was, sir--slightly acquainted--at one time with one or two of itsmembers. 'Tis that that is odd. You see, sir, my name, too, happens tobe Caryll. "

"True--yet I see nothing so oddly coincident in the matter, particularlyif your acquaintance with these Malignys was but slight. "

"Indeed, you are right. You are right. There is no such greatcoincidence, when all is said. The name reminded me of a--a folly of myyouth. 'Twas that that made impression. "

"A folly?" quoth Mr. Caryll, his eyebrows raised. 

"Ay, a folly--a folly that went near undoing me, for had it come tomy father's ears, he had broke me without mercy. He was a hard man, myfather; a puritan in his ideas. "

"A greater than your lordship?" inquired Mr. Caryll blandly, masking therage that seethed in him. 

His lordship laughed. "Ye're a wag, Mr. Caryll--a damned wag!" Thenreverting to the matter that was uppermost in his mind. "'Tis a fact, though--'pon honor. My father would ha' broke me. Luckily she died. "

"Who died?" asked Mr. Caryll, with a show of interest. 

"The girl. Did I not tell you there was a girl? 'Twas she was thefolly--Antoinette de Maligny. But she died--most opportunely, egad!'Twas a very damned mercy that she did. It--cut the--the--what d'ye callit--knot?"

"The Gordian knot?" suggested Mr. Caryll. 

"Ay--the Gordian knot. Had she lived and had my father smoked theaffair--Gad! he would ha' broke me; he would so!" he repeated, andemptied his glass. 

Mr. Caryll, white to the lips, sat very still a moment. Then he did acurious thing; did it with a curious suddenness. He took a knife fromthe table, and hacked off the lowest button from his coat. This hepushed across the board to his father. 

"To turn to other matters, " said he; "there is the letter you wereexpecting from abroad. "

"Eh? What?" Lord Ostermore took up the button. It was of silk, interwoven with gold thread. He turned it over in his fingers, lookingat it with a heavy eye, and then at his guest. "Eh? Letter?" hemuttered, puzzled. 

"If your lordship will cut that open, you will see what his majesty hasto propose. " He mentioned the king in a voice charged with suggestion, so that no doubt could linger on the score of the king he meant. 

"Gad!" cried his lordship. "Gad! 'Twas thus ye bubbled Mr. Green?Shrewd, on my soul. And you are the messenger, then?"

"I am the messenger, " answered Mr. Caryll coldly. 

"And why did you not say so before?"

For the fraction of a second Mr. Caryll hesitated. Then: "Because I didnot judge that the time was come, " said he. 

CHAPTER VIII. TEMPTATION

His lordship ripped away the silk covering of the button with apenknife, and disembowelled it of a small packet, which consisted of asheet of fine and very closely-folded and tightly-compressed paper. Thishe spread, cast an eye over, and then looked up at his companion, whowas watching him with simulated indolence. 

His lordship had paled a little, and there was about the lines of hismouth a look of preternatural gravity. He looked furtively towards thedoor, his heavy eyebrows lowering. 

"I think, " he said, "that we shall be more snug in the library. Will youbear me company, Mr. Caryll?"

Mr. Caryll rose instantly. The earl folded the letter, and turned togo. His companion paused to pick up the fragments of the button and slipthem into his pocket. He performed the office with a smile on his lipsthat was half pity, half contempt. It did not seem to him that therewould be the least need to betray Lord Ostermore once his lordshipwas wedded to the Stuart faction. He would not fail to betray himselfthrough some act of thoughtless stupidity such as this. 

In the library--the door, and that of the ante-room beyond it, carefullyclosed--his lordship unlocked a secretaire of walnut, very handsomelyinlaid, and, drawing up a chair, he sat down to the perusal of theking's letter. When he had read it through, he remained lost in thoughta while. At length he looked up and across towards Mr. Caryll, who wasstanding by one of the windows. 

"You are no doubt a confidential agent, sir, " said he. "And you will befully aware of the contents of this letter that you have brought me. "

"Fully, my lord, " answered Mr. Caryll, "and I venture to hope that hismajesty's promises will overcome any hesitation that you may feel. "

"His majesty's promises?" said my lord thoughtfully. "His majesty maynever have a chance of fulfilling them. "

"Very true, sir. But who gambles must set a stake upon the board. Your lordship has been something of a gamester already, and--or so Igather--with little profit. Here is a chance to play another game thatmay mend the evil fortunes of the last. "

The earl scanned him in surprise. "You are excellent well informed, "said he, between surprise and irony. 

"My trade demands it. Knowledge is my buckler. "

His lordship nodded slowly, and fell very thoughtful, the letter beforehim, his eyes wandering ever and anon to con again some portion of it. "It is a game in which I stake my head, " he muttered presently. 

"Has your lordship anything else to stake?" inquired Mr. Caryll. 

The earl looked at him again with a gloomy eye, and sighed, but saidnothing. Mr. Caryll resumed. "It is for your lordship to declare, " hesaid quite coolly, "whether his majesty has covered your stake. If youthink not, it is even possible that he may be induced to improve hisoffer. Though if you think not, for my own part I consider that you settoo high a value on that same head of yours. "

Touched in his vanity, Ostermore looked up at him with a sudden frown. "You take a bold tone, sir, " said he, "a very bold tone!"

"Boldness is the attribute next to knowledge most essential to mycalling, " Mr. Caryll reminded him. 

His lordship's eye fell before the other's cold glance, and again helapsed into thoughtfulness, his cheek now upon his hand. Suddenly helooked up again. "Tell me, " said he. "Who else is in this thing? Men saythat Atterbury is not above suspicion. Is it--"

Mr. Caryll bent forward to tap the king's letter with a rigidforefinger. "When your lordship tells me that you are ready to concertupon embarking your fortunes in this bottom, you shall find me disposed, perhaps, to answer questions concerning others. Meanwhile, our concernis with yourself. "

"Dons and the devil!" swore his lordship angrily. "Is this a way tospeak to me?" He scowled at the agent. "Tell me, my fine fellow, whatwould happen if I were to lay this letter you have brought me before thenearest justice?"

"I cannot say for sure, " answered Mr. Caryll quietly, "but it is veryprobable it would help your lordship to the gallows. For if you willgive yourself the trouble of reading it again--and more carefully--youwill see that it makes acknowledgment of the offer of services you wrotehis majesty a month or so ago. "

His lordship's eyes dropped to the letter again. He caught his breath insudden fear. 

"Were I your lordship, I should leave the nearest justice to enjoy hisdinner in peace, " said Mr. Caryll, smiling. 

His lordship laughed in a sickly manner. He felt foolish--a rarecondition in him, as in most fools. "Well, well, " said he gruffly. "Thematter needs reflection. It needs reflection. "

Behind them the door opened noiselessly, and her ladyship appeared incloak and wimple. She paused there, unperceived by either, arrested bythe words she had caught, and waiting in the hope of hearing more. 

"I must sleep on't, at least, " his lordship was continuing. "'Tis toograve a matter to be determined thus in haste. "

A faint sound caught the keen ears of Mr. Caryll. He turned witha leisureliness that bore witness to his miraculous self-control. Perceiving the countess, he bowed, and casually put his lordship on hisguard. 

"Ah!" said he. "Here is her ladyship returned. "

Lord Ostermore gasped audibly and swung round in an alarm than whichnothing could have betrayed him more effectively. "My--my love!" hecried, stammering, and by his wild haste to conceal the letter that heheld, drew her attention to it. 

Mr. Caryll stepped between them, his back to his lordship, that he mightact as a screen under cover of which to dispose safely of that dangerousdocument. But he was too late. Her ladyship's quick eyes had flashedto it, and if the distance precluded the possibility of her discoveringanything that might be written upon it, she, nevertheless, could see thecurious nature of the paper, which was of the flimsiest tissue of a sortextremely uncommon. 

"What is't ye hide?" said she, as she came forward. "Why, we are veryclose, surely! What mischief is't ye hatch, my lord?"'

"Mis--mischief, my love?" He smiled propitiatingly--hating her more thanever in that moment. He had stuffed the letter into an inner pocketof his coat, and but that she had another matter to concern her at themoment she would not have allowed the question she had asked to be soput aside. But this other matter upon her mind touched her very closely. 

"Devil take it, whatever it may be! Rotherby is here. "

"Rotherby?" His demeanor changed; from conciliating it was of a suddentransformed to indignant. "What makes he here?" he demanded. "Did I notforbid him my house?"

"I brought him, " she answered pregnantly. 

But for once he was not to be put down. "Then you may take him henceagain, " said he. "I'll not have him under my roof--under the same roofwith that poor child he used so infamously. I'll not suffer it!"

The Gorgon cannot have looked more coldly wicked than her ladyship justthen. "Have a care, my lord!" she muttered threateningly. "Oh, have acare, I do beseech you. I am not so to be crossed!"

"Nor am I, ma'am, " he rejoined, and then, before more could be said, Mr. Caryll stepped forward to remind them of his presence--which they seemedto stand in danger of forgetting. 

"I fear that I intrude, my lord, " said he, and bowed in leave-taking. "Ishall wait upon your lordship later. Your most devoted. Ma'am, your veryhumble servant. " And he bowed himself out. 

In the ante-room he came upon Lord Rotherby, striding to and fro, hisbrow all furrowed with care. At sight of Mr. Caryll, the viscount'sscowl grew blacker. "Oons and the devil!" he cried. "What make youhere?"

"That, " said Mr. Caryll pleasantly, "is the very question your father isasking her ladyship concerning yourself. Your servant, sir. " And airy, graceful, smiling that damnable close smile of his, he was gone, leavingRotherby very hot and angry. 

Outside Mr. Caryll hailed a chair, and had himself carried to hislodging in Old Palace Yard, where Leduc awaited him. As his bearersswung briskly along, Mr. Caryll sat back and gave himself up to thought. 

Lord Ostermore interested him vastly. For a moment that day the earl hadaroused his anger, as you may have judged from the sudden resolve uponwhich he had acted when he delivered him that letter, thus embarkingat the eleventh hour upon a task which he had already determined toabandon. He knew not now whether to rejoice or deplore that he had actedupon that angry impulse. He knew not, indeed, whether to pity or despisethis man who was swayed by no such high motives as must haveaffected most of those who were faithful to the exiled James. Thosemotives--motives of chivalry and romanticism in most cases--LordOstermore would have despised if he could have understood them; for hewas a man of the type that despises all things that are not essentiallypractical, whose results are not immediately obvious. Being all butruined by his association with the South Sea Company, he was willing forthe sake of profit to turn traitor to the king de facto, even as thirtyyears ago, actuated by similar motives, he had turned traitor to theking de jure. 

What was one to make of such a man, wondered Mr. Caryll. If he wereequipped with wit enough to apprehend the baseness of his conduct, hewould be easily understood and it would be easy to despise him. But Mr. Caryll perceived that he was dealing with one who never probed into thedeeps of anything--himself and his own conduct least of all--and thata deplorable lack of perception, of understanding almost, deprived hislordship of the power to feel as most men feel, to judge as most menjudge. And hence was it that Mr. Caryll thought him a subject for pityrather than contempt. Even in that other thirty-year-old matter that soclosely touched Mr. Caryll, the latter was sure that the same pitifulshortcomings might be urged in the man's excuse. 

Meanwhile, behind him at Stretton House, Mr. Caryll had left a scene ofstrife between Lady Ostermore and her son on one side and Lord Ostermoreon the other. Weak and vacillating as he was in most things, it seemedthat the earl could be strong in his dislike of his son, and firm in hisdetermination not to condone the infamy of his behavior toward HortensiaWinthrop. 

"The fault is yours, " Rotherby sought to excuse himself again--employingthe old argument, and in an angry, contemptuous tone that was entirelyunfilial. "I'd ha' married the girl in earnest, but for your threats todisinherit me. "

"You fool!" his father stormed at him, "did you suppose that if I shoulddisinherit you for marrying her, I should be likely to do less for yourluring her into a mock marriage? I've done with you! Go your ways fora damned profligate--a scandal to the very name of gentleman. I've donewith you!"

And to that the earl adhered in spite of all that Rotherby and hismother could urge. He stamped out of the library with a final command tohis son to quit his house and never disgrace it again by his presence. Rotherby looked ruefully at his mother. 

"He means it, "' said he. "He never loved me. He was never a father tome. "

"Were you ever greatly a son to him?" asked her ladyship. 

"As much as he would ha' me be, " he answered, his black face verysullen. "Oh, 'sdeath! I am damnably used by him. " He paced the chamber, storming. "All this garboil about nothing!", he complained. "Was henever young himself? And when all is said, there's no harm done. Thegirl's been fetched home again. "

"Pshaw! Ye're a fool, Rotherby--a fool, and there's an end on't, " saidhis mother. "I sometimes wonder which is the greater fool--you or yourfather. And yet he can marvel that you are his son. What do ye thinkwould have happened if you had had your way with that bread-and-buttermiss? It had been matter enough to hang you. "

"Pooh!" said the viscount, dropping into a chair and staring sullenly atthe carpet. Then sullenly he added: "His lordship would have been gladon't--so some one would have been pleased. As it is--"

"As it is, ye'd better find the man Green who was at Maidstone, and stophis mouth with guineas. He is aware of what passed. "

"Bah! Green was there on other business. " And he told her of thesuspicions the messenger entertained against Mr. Caryll. 

It set her ladyship thinking. "Why, " she said presently, "'twill bethat!"

"'Twill be what, ma'am?" asked Rotherby, looking up. 

"Why, this fellow Caryll must ha' bubbled the messenger in spite of thesearch he may have made. I found the popinjay here with your father, thepair as thick as thieves--and your father with a paper in his hand asfine as a cobweb. 'Sdeath! I'll be sworn he's a damned Jacobite. "

Rotherby was on his feet in an instant. He remembered suddenly all thathe had overheard at Maidstone. "Oho!" he crowed. "What cause have ye tothink that?"

"Cause? Why, what I have seen. Besides, I feel it in my bones. My everyinstinct tells me 'tis so. "

"If you should prove right! Oh, if you should prove right! Death! I'dfind a way to settle the score of that pert fellow from France, and todictate terms to his lordship at the same time. "

Her ladyship stared at him. "Ye're an unnatural hound, Rotherby. Wouldye betray your own father?"

"Betray him? No! But I'll set a term to his plotting. Egad! Has he notlost enough in the South Sea Bubble, without sinking the little that isleft in some wild-goose Jacobite plot?"

"How shall it matter to you, since he's sworn to disinherit you?"

"How, madam?" Rotherby laughed cunningly. "I'll prevent the one and theother--and pay off Mr. Caryll at the same time. Three birds with onestone, let me perish!" He reached for his hat. "I must find this fellowGreen. "

"What will you do?" she asked, a slight anxiety trembling in her voice. 

"Stir up his suspicions of Caryll. He'll be ready enough to act afterhis discomfiture at Maidstone. I'll warrant he's smarting under it. If once we can find cause to lay Caryll by the heels, the fear of theconsequences should bring his lordship to his senses. 'Twill be my turnthen. "

"But you'll do nothing that--that will hurt your father?" she enjoinedhim, her hand upon his shoulder. 

"Trust me, " he laughed, and added cynically: "It would hardly sort withmy interests to involve him. It will serve me best to frighten him intoreason and a sense of his paternal duty. "

CHAPTER IX. THE CHAMPION

Mr. Caryll was well and handsomely housed, as became the man of fashion, in the lodging he had taken in Old Palace Yard. Knowing him from abroad, it was not impossible that the government--fearful of sedition sincethe disturbance caused by the South Sea distress, and aware of anundercurrent of Jacobitism--might for a time, at least, keep an eye uponhim. It behooved him, therefore, to appear neither more nor less thana lounger, a gentleman of pleasure who had come to London in quest ofdiversion. To support this appearance, Mr. Caryll had sought out somefriends of his in town. There were Stapleton and Collis, who had beenat Oxford with him, and with whom he had ever since maintained acorrespondence and a friendship. He sought them out on the very eveningof his arrival--after his interview with Lord Ostermore. He had thesatisfaction of being handsomely welcomed by them, and was plunged undertheir guidance into the gaieties that the town afforded liberally forpeople of quality. 

Mr. Caryll was--as I hope you have gathered--an agreeable fellow, veryfree, moreover, with the contents of his well-equipped purse; and soyou may conceive that the town showed him a very friendly, cordialcountenance. He fell into the habits of the men whose company hefrequented; his days were as idle as theirs, and spent at the parade, the Ring, the play, the coffeehouse and the ordinary. 

But under the gay exterior he affected he carried a spirit of most vileunrest. The anger which had prompted his impulse to execute, after all, the business on which he was come, and to deliver his father the letterthat was to work his ruin, was all spent. He had cooled, and cool itwas idle for him to tell himself that Lord Ostermore, by his heartlessallusion to the crime of his early years, had proved himself worthy ofnothing but the pit Mr. Caryll had been sent to dig for him. There weremoments when he sought to compel himself so to think, to steel himselfagainst all other considerations. But it was idle. The reflection thatthe task before him was unnatural came ever to revolt him. To gain ease, the most that he could do--and he had the faculty of it developed ina preternatural degree--was to put the business from him for the time, endeavor to forget it. And he had another matter to consider and toplague him--the matter of Hortensia Winthrop. He thought of her a greatdeal more than was good for his peace of mind, for all that he pretendedto a gladness that things were as they were. Each morning that helounged at the parade in St. James's Park, each evening that he visitedthe Ring, it was in the hope of catching some glimpse of her among thefashionable women that went abroad to see and to be seen. And on thethird morning after his arrival the thing he hoped for came to pass. 

It had happened that my lady had ordered her carriage that morning, dressed herself with the habitual splendor, which but set off theshortcomings of her lean and angular person, egregiously coiffed, pulvilled and topknotted, and she had sent a message amounting to acommand to Mistress Winthrop that she should drive in the park with her. 

Poor Hortensia, whose one desire was to hide her face from the town'suncharitable sight just then, fearing, indeed, that Rumor's unscrupuloustongue would be as busy about her reputation as her ladyship hadrepresented, attempted to assert herself by refusing to obey thecommand. It was in vain. Her ladyship dispensed with ambassadors, and went in person to convey her orders to her husband's ward, and toenforce them. 

"What's this I am told?" quoth she, as she sailed into Hortensia's room. "Do my wishes count for nothing, that you send me pert answers by mywoman?"

Hortensia rose. She had been sitting by the window, a book in her lap. "Not so, indeed, madam. Not pert, I trust. I am none so well, and I fearthe sun. "

"'Tis little wonder, " laughed her ladyship; "and I'm glad on't, for itshows ye have a conscience somewhere. But 'tis no matter for that. Iam tender for your reputation, mistress, and I'll not have you shunningdaylight like the guilty thing ye know yourself to be. "

"'Tis false, madam, " said Hortensia, with indignation. "Your ladyshipknows it to be false. "

"Harkee, ninny, if you'd have the town believe it false, you'll showyourself--show that ye have no cause for shame, no cause to hide youfrom the eyes of honest folk. Come, girl; bid your woman get your hoodand tippet. The carriage stays for us. "

To Hortensia her ladyship's seemed, after all, a good argument. Did shehide, what must the town think but that it confirmed the talk that shemade no doubt was going round already. Better to go forth and brave it, and surely it should disarm the backbiters if she showed herself in thepark with Lord Rotherby's own mother. 

It never occurred to her that this seeming tenderness for her reputationmight be but wanton cruelty on her ladyship's part; a gratifying of herspleen against the girl by setting her in the pillory of public sightto the end that she should experience the insult of supercilious glancesand lips that smile with an ostentation of furtiveness; a desire to putdown her pride and break the spirit which my lady accounted insolent andstubborn. 

Suspecting naught of this, she consented, and drove out with herladyship as she was desired to do. But understanding of her ladyship'scruel motives, and repentance of her own acquiescence, were not long infollowing. Soon--very soon--she realized that anything would have beenbetter than the ordeal she was forced to undergo. 

It was a warm, sunny morning, and the park was crowded with fashionableloungers. Lady Ostermore left her carriage at the gates, and entered theenclosure on foot, accompanied by Hortensia and followed at a respectfuldistance by a footman. Her arrival proved something of a sensation. Hatswere swept off to her ladyship, sly glances flashed at her companion, who went pale, but apparently serene, eyes looking straight before her;and there was an obvious concealing of smiles at first, which later grewto be all unconcealed, and, later still, became supplemented by remarksthat all might hear, remarks which did not escape--as they were meantnot to escape--her ladyship and Mistress Winthrop. 

"Madam, " murmured the girl, in her agony of shame, "we were notwell-advised to come. Will not your ladyship turn back?"

Her ladyship displayed a vinegary smile, and looked at her companionover the top of her slowly moving fan. "Why? Is't not pleasant here?"quoth she. "'Twill be more agreeable under the trees yonder. The sunwill not reach you there, child. "

"'Tis not the sun I mind, madam, " said Hortensia, but received noanswer. Perforce she must pace on beside her ladyship. 

Lord Rotherby came by, arm in arm with his friend, the Duke of Wharton. It was a one-sided friendship. Lord Rotherby was but one of the manyof his type who furnished a court, a valetaille, to the gay, dissolute, handsome, witty duke, who might have been great had he not preferred hisvices to his worthier parts. 

As they went by, Lord Rotherby bared his head and bowed, as did hiscompanion. Her ladyship smiled upon him, but Hortensia's eyes lookedrigidly ahead, her face a stone. She heard his grace's insolent laughas they passed on; she heard his voice--nowise subdued, for he was a manwho loved to let the world hear what he might have to say. 

"Gad! Rotherby, the wind has changed! Your Dulcinea flies with you o'Wednesday, and has ne'er a glance for you o' Saturday! I' faith! yedeserve no better. Art a clumsy gallant to have been overtaken, and themaid's in the right on't to resent your clumsiness. "

Rotherby's reply was lost in a splutter of laughter from a group ofsycophants who had overheard his grace's criticism and were but tooready to laugh at aught his grace might deign to utter. Her cheeksburned; it was by an effort that she suppressed the tears that anger wasforcing to her eyes. 

The duke, 'twas plain, had set the fashion. Emulators were not wanting. Stray words she caught; by instinct was she conscious of the oglings, the fluttering of fans from the women, the flashing of quizzing-glassesfrom the men. And everywhere was there a suppressed laugh, a stifledexclamation of surprise at her appearance in public--yet not so stifledbut that it reached her, as it was intended that it should. 

In the shadow of a great elm, around which there was a seat, a littlegroup had gathered, of which the centre was the sometime toast of thetown and queen of many Wells, the Lady Mary Deller, still beautiful andstill unwed--as is so often the way of reigning toasts--but alreadypast her pristine freshness, already leaning upon the support of art tomaintain the endowments she had had from nature. She was accounted wittyby the witless, and by some others. 

Of the group that paid its court to her and her companions--two gigglingcousins in their first season were Mr. Caryll and his friends, Sir HarryCollis and Mr. Edward Stapleton, the former of whom--he was the lady'sbrother-in-law--had just presented him. Mr. Caryll was dressed with evenmore than his ordinary magnificence. He was in dove-colored cloth, hiscoat very richly laced with gold, his waistcoat--of white brocadewith jeweled buttons, the flower-pattern outlined in finest goldthread--descended midway to his knees, whilst the ruffles at his wristsand the Steinkirk at his throat were of the finest point. He cut afigure of supremest elegance, as he stood there, his chestnut headslightly bowed in deference as my Lady Mary spoke, his hat tucked underhis arm, his right hand outstretched beside him to rest upon the goldhead of his clouded-amber cane. 

To the general he was a stranger still in town, and of the sort thatdraws the eye and provokes inquiry. Lady Mary, the only goal of whoseshallow existence was the attention of the sterner sex, who loved tobreak hearts as a child breaks toys, for the fun of seeing how they lookwhen broken--and who, because of that, had succeeded in breaking farfewer than she fondly imagined--looked up into his face with the "mostperditiously alluring" eyes in England--so Mr. Craske, the poet, whostood at her elbow now, had described them in the dedicatory sonnet ofhis last book of poems. (Wherefore, in parenthesis be it observed, shehad rewarded him with twenty guineas, as he had calculated that shewould. )

There was a sudden stir in the group. Mr. Craske had caught sight ofLady Ostermore and Mistress Winthrop, and he fell to giggling, a flimsyhandkerchief to his painted lips. "Oh, 'Sbud!" he bleated. "Let me die!The audaciousness of the creature! And behold me the port and glance ofher! Cold as a vestal, let me perish!"

Lady Mary turned with the others to look in the direction he waspointing--pointing openly, with no thought of dissembling. 

Mr. Caryll's eyes fell upon Mistress Winthrop, and his glance was oddlyperceptive. He observed those matters of which Mr. Craske had seemedto make sardonic comment: the erect stiffness of her carriage, the eyesthat looked neither to right nor left, and the pallor of her face. He observed, too, the complacent air with which her ladyship advancedbeside her husband's ward, her fan moving languidly, her head noddingto her acquaintance, as in supreme unconcern of the stir her coming hadeffected. 

Mr. Caryll had been dull indeed, knowing what he knew, had he notunderstood to the full the humiliation to which Mistress Hortensia wasbeing of purpose set submitted. 

And just then Rotherby, who had turned, with Wharton and another now, came by them again. This time he halted, and his companions with him, for just a moment, to address his mother. She turned; there was anexchange of greetings, in which Mistress Hortensia standing rigid asstone--took no part. A silence fell about; quizzing-glasses went up; alleyes were focussed upon the group. Then Rotherby and his friends resumedtheir way. 

"The dog!" said Mr. Caryll, between his teeth, but went unheard byany, for in that moment Dorothy Deller--the younger of the Lady Mary'scousins--gave expression to the generous and as yet unsullied littleheart that was her own. 

"Oh, 'tis shameful!" she cried. "Will you not go speak with her, Molly?"

The Lady Mary stiffened. She looked at the company about her with anapologetic smile. "I beg that ye'll not heed the child, " said she. "'Tis not that she is without morals--but without knowledge. An innocentlittle fool; no worse. "

"'Tis bad enough, I vow, " laughed an old beau, who sought fame as a manof a cynical turn of humor. 

"But fortunately rare, " said Mr. Caryll dryly. "Like charity, almostunknown in this Babylon. "

His tone was not quite nice, although perhaps the Lady Mary was the onlyone to perceive the note of challenge in it. But Mr. Craske, thepoet, diverted attention to himself by a prolonged, malicious chuckle. Rotherby was just moving away from his mother at that moment. 

"They've never a word for each other to-day!" he cried. "Oh, 'Sbud! notso much as the mercy of a glance will the lady afford him. " And he burstinto the ballad of King Francis:

 "Souvent femme varie, Bien, fol est qui s'y fie!"

and laughed his prodigious delight at the aptness of his quotation. 

Mr. Caryll put up his gold-rimmed quizzing-glass, and directed throughthat powerful weapon of offence an eye of supreme displeasure upon thesinger. He could not contain his rage, yet from his languid tone nonewould have suspected it. "Sir, " said he, "ye've a singular unpleasantvoice. "

Mr. Craske, thrown out of countenance by so much directness, couldonly stare; the same did the others, though some few tittered, forMr. Craske, when all was said, was held in no great esteem by thediscriminant. 

Mr. Caryll lowered his glass. "I've heard it said by the uncharitablethat ye were a lackey before ye became a plagiarist. 'Tis a rumor Ishall contradict in future; 'tis plainly a lie, for your voice betraysyou to have been a chairman. "

"Sir--sir--" spluttered the poetaster, crimson with anger andmortification. "Is this--is this--seemly--between gentlemen?"

"Between gentlemen it would not be seemly, " Mr. Caryll agreed. 

Mr. Craske, quivering, yet controlling himself, bowed stiffly. "I havetoo much respect for myself--" he gasped. 

"Ye'll be singular in that, no doubt, " said Mr. Caryll, and turned hisshoulder upon him. 

Again Mr. Craske appeared to make an effort at self-control; again hebowed. "I know--I hope--what is due to the Lady Mary Deller, to--toanswer you as--as befits. But you shall hear from me, sir. You shallhear from me. "

He bowed a third time--a bow that took in the entire company--andwithdrew in high dudgeon and with a great show of dignity. A pauseensued, and then the Lady Mary reproved Mr. Caryll. 

"Oh, 'twas cruel in you, sir, " she cried. "Poor Mr. Craske! And to dubhim plagiarist! 'Twas the unkindest cut of all!"

"Truth, madam, is never kind. "

"Oh, fie! You make bad worse!" she cried. 

"He'll put you in the pillory of his verse for this, " laughed Collis. "Ye'll be most scurvily lampooned for't. "

"Poor Mr. Craske!" sighed the Lady Mary again. 

"Poor, indeed; but not in the sense to deserve pity. An upstart impostorsuch as that to soil a lady with his criticism!"

Lady Mary's brows went up. "You use a singular severity, sir, " sheopined, "and I think it unwise in you to grow so hot in the defence of areputation whose owner has so little care for it herself. "

Mr. Caryll looked at her out of his level gray-green eyes; a hot answerquivered on his tongue, an answer that had crushed her venom for sometime and had probably left him with a quarrel on his hands. Yet hissmile, as he considered her, was very sweet, so sweet that her ladyship, guessing nothing of the bitterness it was used to cover, went as near asmirk as it was possible for one so elegant. He was, she judged, anothervictim ripe for immolation on the altar of her goddessship. And Mr. Caryll, who had taken her measure very thoroughly, seeing something ofhow her thoughts were running, bethought him of a sweeter vengeance. 

"Lady Mary, " he cried, a soft reproach in his voice, "I have been soremistook in you if you are one to be guided by the rabble. " And he waveda hand toward the modish throng. 

She knit her fine brows, bewildered. 

"Ah!" he cried, interpreting her glance to suit his ends, "perish thethought, indeed! I knew that I could not be wrong. I knew that one sopeerless in all else must be peerless, too, in her opinions; judgingfor herself, and standing firm upon her judgment in disdain of meanersouls--mere sheep to follow their bell-wether. "

She opened her mouth to speak, but said nothing, being too intriguedby this sudden and most sweet flattery. Her mere beauty had oft beenpraised, and in terms that glowed like fire. But what was that comparedwith this fine appreciation of her less obvious mental parts--and thatfrom one who had seen the world?

Mr. Caryll was bending over her. "What a chance is here, " he wasmurmuring, "to mark your lofty detachment--to show how utter is yourindifference to what the common herd may think. "

"As--as how?" she asked, blinking up at him. 

The others stood at gaze, scarce yet suspecting the drift of so muchtalk. 

"There is a poor lady yonder, of whose fair name a bubble is being blownand pricked. I dare swear there's not a woman here durst speak to her. Yet what a chance for one that dared! How fine a triumph would be hers!"He sighed. "Heigho! I almost wish I were a woman, that I might make thattriumph mine and mark my superiority to these painted dolls that haveneither wit nor courage. "

The Lady Mary rose, a faint color in her cheeks, a sparkle in her fineeyes. A great joy flashed into Mr. Caryll's in quick response; a joy inher--she thought with ready vanity--and a heightening admiration. 

"Will you make it yours, as it should be--as it must ever be--to leadand not to follow?" he cried, flattering incredibility trembling in hisvoice. 

"And why not, sir?" she demanded, now thoroughly aroused. 

"Why not, indeed--since you are you?" quoth he. "It is what I had hopedin you, and yet--and yet what I had almost feared to hope. "

She frowned upon him now, so excellently had he done his work. "Whyshould you have feared that?"

"Alas! I am a man of little faith--unworthy, indeed, your good opinionsince I entertained a doubt. It was a blasphemy. "

She smiled again. "You acknowledge your faults with such a grace, " saidshe, "that we must needs forgive them. And now to show you how muchyou need forgiveness. Come, children, " she bade her cousins--for whoseinnocence she had made apology but a moment back. "Your arm, Harry, " shebegged her brother-in-law. 

Sir Harry obeyed her readily, but without eagerness. In his heart hecursed his friend Caryll for having set her on to this. 

Mr. Caryll himself hung upon her other side, his eyes toward LadyOstermore and Hortensia, who, whilst being observed by all, were beingapproached by few; and these few confined themselves to an exchangeof greetings with her ladyship, which constituted a worse offence toMistress Winthrop than had they stayed away. 

Suddenly, as if drawn by his ardent gaze, Hortensia's eyes moved atlast from their forward fixity. Her glance met Mr. Caryll's across theintervening space. Instantly he swept off his hat, and bowed profoundly. The action drew attention to himself. All eyes were focussed upon him, and between many a pair there was a frown for one who should dare thusto run counter to the general attitude. 

But there was more to follow. The Lady Mary accepted Mr. Caryll'ssalutation of Hortensia as a signal. She led the way promptly, and thelittle band swept forward, straight for its goal, raked by the volleysfrom a thousand eyes, under which the Lady Mary already began to giggleexcitedly. 

Thus they reached the countess, the countess standing very rigid in heramazement, to receive them. 

"I hope I see your ladyship well, " said Lady Mary. 

"I hope your ladyship does, " answered the countess tartly. 

Mistress Winthrop's eyes were lowered; her cheeks were scarlet. Herdistress was plain, born of her doubt of the Lady Mary's purpose, andsuspense as to what might follow. 

"I have not the honor of your ward's acquaintance, Lady Ostermore, " saidLady Mary, whilst the men were bowing, and her cousins curtseying to thecountess and her companion collectively. 

The countess gasped, recovered, and eyed the speaker without any signof affection. "My husband's ward, ma'am, " she corrected, in a voice thatseemed to discourage further mention of Hortensia. 

"'Tis but a distinction, " put in Mr. Caryll suggestively. 

"Indeed, yes. Will not your ladyship present me?" The countess'malevolent eyes turned a moment upon Mr. Caryll, smiling demurely atLady Mary's elbow. In his face--as well as in the four words he haduttered--she saw that here was work of his, and he gained nothing in herfavor by it. Meanwhile there were no grounds--other than such as musthave been wantonly offensive to the Lady Mary, and so not to be dreamedof--upon which to refuse her request. The countess braced herself, andwith an ill grace performed the brief ceremony of presentation. 

Mistress Winthrop looked up an instant, then down again; it was apiteous, almost a pleading glance. 

Lady Mary, leaving the countess to Sir Harry Stapleton, Caryll and theothers, moved to Hortensia's side for a moment she was at loss what tosay, and took refuge in a commonplace. 

"I have long desired the pleasure of your acquaintance, " said she. 

"I am honored, madam, " replied Hortensia, with downcast eyes. Thenlifting them with almost disconcerting suddenness. "Your ladyship haschosen an odd season in which to gratify this desire with which youhonor me. "

Lady Mary laughed, as much at the remark as for the benefit of thosewhose eyes were upon her. She knew there would not be wanting many whowould condemn her; but these should be far outnumbered by those whowould be lost in admiration of her daring, that she could so fly in theface of public opinion; and she was grateful to Mr. Caryll for havingsuggested to her a course of such distinction. 

"I could have chosen no better season, " she replied, "to mark my scornof evil tongues and backbiters. "

Color stained Hortensia's cheek again; gratitude glowed in her eyes. "You are very noble, madam, " she answered with flattering earnestness. 

"La!" said the Lady Mary. "Is nobility, then, so easily achieved?" Andthereafter they talked of inconsequent trifles, until Mr. Caryll movedtowards them, and Lady Mary turned aside to speak to the countess. 

At Mr. Caryll's approach Hortensia's eyes had been lowered again, andshe made no offer to address him as he stood before her now, hat underarm, leaning easily upon his amber cane. 

"Oh, heart of stone!" said he at last. "Am I not yet forgiven?"

She misread his meaning--perhaps already the suspicion she now voicedhad been in her mind. She looked up at him sharply. "Was it--was it youwho fetched the Lady Mary to me?" she inquired. 

"Lo!" said he. "You have a voice! Now Heaven be praised! I was fearingit was lost for me--that you had made some awful vow never again torejoice my ears with the music of it. "

"You have not answered my question, " she reminded him. 

"Nor you mine, " said he. "I asked you am I not yet forgiven. "

"Forgiven what?"

"For being born an impudent, fleering coxcomb--twas that you called me, I think. "

She flushed deeply. "If you would win forgiveness, you should not remindme of the offence, " she answered low. 

"Nay, " he rejoined, "that is to confound forgiveness with forgetfulness. I want you to forgive and yet to remember. "

"That were to condone. "

"What else? 'Tis nothing less will satisfy me. "

"You expect too much, " she answered, with a touch that was almost ofsternness. 

He shrugged and smiled whimsically. "It is my way, " he saidapologetically. "Nature has made me expectant, and life, whilst showingme the folly of it, has not yet cured me. "

She looked at him, and repeated her earlier question. "Was it at yourbidding that Lady Mary came to speak with me?"

"Fie!" he cried. "What insinuations do you make against her?"

"Insinuations?"

"What else? That she should do things at my bidding!"

She smiled understanding. "You have a talent, sir, for crooked answers. "

"'Tis to conceal the rectitude of my behavior. "

"It fails of its object, then, " said she, "for it deludes no one. "She paused and laughed at his look of assumed blankness. "I am deeplybeholden to you, " she whispered quickly, breathing at once gratitude andconfusion. 

"Though I don't descry the cause, " said he, "'twill be something tocomfort me. "

More he might have added then, for the mad mood was upon him, awakenedby those soft brown eyes of hers. But in that moment the others of thatlittle party crowded upon them to take their leave of Mistress Winthrop. 

Mr. Caryll felt satisfied that enough had been done to curb the slanderconcerning Hortensia. But he was not long in learning how profound washis mistake. On every side he continued to hear her discussed, and insuch terms as made his ears tingle and his hands itch to be at work inher defence; for, with smirks and sneers and innuendoes, her escapadewith Lord Rotherby continued to furnish a topic for the town as herladyship had sworn it would. Yet by what right could he espouse hercause with any one of her defamers without bringing her fair name intostill more odious notoriety?

And meanwhile he knew that he was under strict surveillance from Mr. Green; knew that he was watched wherever he went; and nothing but hisconfidence that no evidence could be produced against him allowed him toremain, as he did, all unconcerned of this. 

Leduc had more than once seen Mr. Green about Old Palace Yard, besides acouple of his underlings, one or the other of whom was never absentfrom the place, no doubt with intent to observe who came and went at Mr. Caryll's. Once, indeed, during the absence of master and servant, Mr. Caryll's lodging was broken into, and on Leduc's return he found aconfusion which told him how thoroughly the place had been ransacked. 

If Mr. Caryll had had anything to hide, this would have given him thehint to take his precautions; but as he had nothing that was in theleast degree in incriminating, he went his ways in supremest unconcernof the vigilance exerted over him. He used, however, a greaterdiscretion in the resorts he frequented. And if upon occasion he visitedsuch Tory meeting-places as the Bell Tavern in King Street or theCocoa-Tree in Pall Mall, he was still more often to be found at White's, that ultra-Whig resort. 

It was at this latter house, one evening three or four days after hismeeting with Hortensia in the park, that the chance was afforded himat last of vindicating her honor in a manner that need not add to thescandal that was already abroad, nor serve to couple his name withhers unduly. And it was Lord Rotherby himself who afforded him theopportunity. 

The thing fell out in this wise: Mr. Caryll was at cards with HarryCollis and Stapleton and Major Gascoigne, in a room above-stairs. Therewere at least a dozen others present, some also at play, others merelylounging. Of the latter was his Grace of Wharton. He was a slender, graceful gentleman, whose face, if slightly effeminate and markedlydissipated, was nevertheless of considerable beauty. He was verysplendid in a suit of green camlett and silver lace, and he wore aflaxen periwig without powder. 

He was awaiting Rotherby, with whom--as he told the company--he wasfor a frolic at Drury Lane, where a ridotto was following the play. Hespoke, as usual, in a loud voice that all might hear, and his talk wasloose and heavily salted as became the talk of a rake of his exaltedrank. It was chiefly concerned with airing his bitter grievance againstMrs. Girdlebank, of the Theatre Royal, of whom he announced himself"devilishly enamoured. "

He inveighed against her that she should have the gross vulgarityto love her husband, and against her husband that he should have theaudacity to play the watchdog over her, and bark and growl at the duke'sapproach. 

"A plague on all husbands, say I, " ended the worthy president of theBold Bucks. 

"Nay, now, but I'm a husband myself, gad!" protested Mr. Sidney, who wasquite the most delicate, mincing man of fashion about town, and one ofthat valetaille that hovered about his Grace of Wharton's heels. 

"'Tis no matter in your case, " said the duke, with that contempt he usedtowards his followers. "Your wife's too ugly to be looked at. " And Mr. Sidney's fresh protest was drowned in the roar of laughter that wentup to applaud that brutal frankness. Mr. Caryll turned to the fop, whohappened to be standing at his elbow. 

"Never repine, man, " said he. "In the company you keep, such a wifemakes for peace of mind. To have that is to have much. "

Wharton resumed his railings at the Girdlebanks, and was still at themwhen Rotherby came in. 

"At last, Charles!" the duke hailed him, rising. "Another minute, and Ihad gone without you. "

But Rotherby scarce looked at him, and answered with unwonted shortness. His eyes had discovered Mr. Caryll. It was the first time he had runagainst him since that day, over a week ago, at Stretton House, and atsight of him now all Rotherby's spleen was moved. He stood and stared, his dark eyes narrowing, his cheeks flushing slightly under their tan. Wharton, who had approached him, observing his sudden halt, his suddenlook of concentration, asked him shortly what might ail him. 

"I have seen someone I did not expect to find in a resort of gentlemen, "said Rotherby, his eyes ever on Mr. Caryll, who--engrossed in hisgame--was all unconscious of his lordship's advent. 

Wharton followed the direction of his companion's gaze, and givingnow attention himself to Mr. Caryll, he fell to appraising his genteelappearance, negligent of the insinuation in what Rotherby had said. 

"'Sdeath!" swore the duke. "'Tis a man of taste--a travelled gentlemanby his air. Behold me the grace of that shoulder-knot, Charles, andthe set of that most admirable coat. Fifty guineas wouldn't buy hisSteinkirk. Who is this beau?"

"I'll present him to your grace, " said Rotherby shortly. He hadpretentions at being a beau himself; but his grace--supreme arbiter insuch matters--had never yet remarked it. 

They moved across the room, greetings passing as they went. At theirapproach, Mr. Caryll looked up. Rotherby made him a leg with anexcessive show of deference, arguing irony. "'Tis an unlooked-forpleasure to meet you here, sir, " said he in a tone that drew theattention of all present. 

"No pleasures are so sweet as the unexpected, " answered Mr. Caryll, withcasual amiability, and since he perceived at once the errand upon whichLord Rotherby was come to him, he went half-way to meet him. "Has yourlordship been contracting any marriages of late?" he inquired. 

The viscount smiled icily. "You have quick wits, sir, " said he, "whichis as it should be in one who lives by them. "

"Let your lordship be thankful that such is not your own case, " returnedMr. Caryll, with imperturbable good humor, and sent a titter round theroom. 

"A hit! A shrewd hit, 'pon honor!" cried Wharton, tapping his snuff-box. "I vow to Gad, Ye're undone, Charles. Ye'd better play at repartee withGascoigne, there. Ye're more of a weight. "

"Your grace, " cried Rotherby, suppressing at great cost his passion, "'tis not to be borne that a fellow of this condition should sit amongmen of quality. " And with that he swung round and addressed the companyin general. "Gentlemen, do you know who this fellow is? He has theeffrontery to take my name, and call himself Caryll. "

Mr. Caryll looked a moment at his brother in the silence that followed. Then, as in a flash, he saw his chance of vindicating Mistress Winthrop, and he seized it. 

"And do you know, gentlemen, who this fellow is?" he inquired, with anair of sly amusement. "He is--Nay, you shall judge for yourselves. Youshall hear the story of how we met; it is the story of his abductionof a lady whose name need not be mentioned; the story of his dastardlyattempt to cozen her into a mock-marriage. "

"Mock--mock-marriage?" cried the duke and a dozen others with him, somein surprise, but most in an unbelief that was already faintly tingedwith horror--which argued ill for my Lord Rotherby when the story shouldbe told. 

"You damned rogue--" began his lordship, and would have flung himselfupon Caryll, but that Collis and Stapleton, and Wharton himself, putforth hands to stay him by main force. 

Others, too, had risen. But Mr. Caryll sat quietly in his chair, idlyfingering the cards before him, and smiling gently, between amusementand irony. He was much mistaken if he did not make Lord Rotherbybitterly regret the initiative he had taken in their quarrel. 

"Gently, my lord, " the duke admonished the viscount. "This--thisgentleman has said that which touches your honor. He shall say more. He shall make good his words, or eat them. But the matter cannot restthus. "

"It shall not, by God!" swore Rotherby, purple now. "It shall not. I'llkill him like a dog for what he has said. "

"But before I die, gentlemen, " said Mr. Caryll, "it were well that youshould have the full story of that sorry adventure from an eye-witness. "

"An eye-witness? Were ye present?" cried two or three in a breath. 

"I desire to lay before you all the story of how we met my lord thereand I. It is so closely enmeshed with the story of that abductionand mock-marriage that the one is scarce to be distinguished from theother. "

Rotherby writhed to shake off those who held him. 

"Will ye listen to this fellow?" he roared. "He's a spy, I tell you--aJacobite spy!" He was beside himself with anger and apprehension, and henever paused to weigh the words he uttered. It was with him a questionof stopping his accuser's mouth with whatever mud came under his hands. "He has no right here. It is not to be borne. I know not by what meanshe has thrust himself among you, but--"

"That is a knowledge I can afford your lordship, " came Stapleton'ssteady voice to interrupt the speaker. "Mr. Caryll is here by myinvitation. "

"And by mine and Gascoigne's here, " added Sir Harry Collis, "and I willanswer for his quality to any man who doubts it. "

Rotherby glared at Mr. Caryll's sponsors, struck dumb by this sudden andunexpected refutation of the charge he had leveled. 

Wharton, who had stepped aside, knit his brows and flashed hisquizzing-glass--through sheer force of habit--upon Lord Rotherby. Then:

"You'll pardon me, Harry, " said he, "but you'll see, I hope, thatthe question is not impertinent; that I put it to the end that we mayclearly know with whom we have to deal and what consideration toextend him, what credit to attach to the communication he is to makeus touching my lord here. Under what circumstances did you becomeacquainted with Mr. Caryll?"

"I have known him these twelve years, " answered Collis promptly; "so hasStapleton, so has Gascoigne, so have a dozen other gentlemen who couldbe produced, and who, like ourselves, were at Oxford with him. Formyself and Stapleton, I can say that our acquaintance--indeed, I shouldsay our friendship--with Mr. Caryll has been continuous since then, andthat we have visited him on several occasions at his estate of Malignyin Normandy. That he habitually inhabits the country of his birth is thereason why Mr. Caryll has not hitherto had the advantage of your grace'sacquaintance. Need I say more to efface the false statement made by myLord Rotherby?"

"False? Do you dare give me the lie, sir?" roared Rotherby. 

But the duke soothed him. Under his profligate exterior his Grace ofWharton concealed--indeed, wasted--a deal of shrewdness, ability andinherent strength. "One thing at a time, my lord, " said the president ofthe Bold Bucks. "Let us attend to the matter of Mr. Caryll. "

"Dons and the devil! Does your grace take sides with him?"

"I take no sides. But I owe it to myself--we all owe it toourselves--that this matter should be cleared. "

Rotherby leered at him, his lip trembling with anger. "Does thepresident of the Bold Bucks pretend to administrate a court of honor?"he sneered heavily. 

"Your lordship will gain little by this, " Wharton admonished him, socoldly that Rotherby belatedly came to some portion of his senses again. The duke turned to Caryll. "Mr. Caryll, " said he, "Sir Harry has givenyou very handsome credentials, which would seem to prove you worthy thehospitality of White's. You have, however, permitted yourself certainexpressions concerning his lordship here, which we cannot allow toremain where you have left them. You must retract, sir, or make themgood. " His gravity, and the preciseness of his diction now, sorted mostoddly with his foppish airs. 

Mr. Caryll closed his snuff-box with a snap. A hush fell instantly uponthe company, which by now was all crowding about the little table atwhich sat Mr. Caryll and his three friends. A footman who entered atthe moment to snuff the candles and see what the gentlemen might berequiring, was dismissed the room. When the door had closed, Mr. Caryllbegan to speak. 

One more attempt was made by Rotherby to interfere, but this attempt wasdisposed of by Wharton, who had constituted himself entirely master ofthe proceedings. 

"If you will not allow Mr. Caryll to speak, we shall infer that you fearwhat he may have to say; you will compel us to hear him in your absence, and I cannot think that you would prefer that, my lord. "

My lord fell silent. He was breathing heavily, and his face was pale, his eyes angry beyond words, what time Mr. Caryll, in amiable, musicalvoice, with its precise and at moments slightly foreign enunciation, unfolded the shameful story of the affair at the "Adam and Eve, " atMaidstone. He told a plain, straightforward tale, making little attemptto reproduce any of its color, giving his audience purely and simply thefacts that had taken place. He told how he himself had been chosen as awitness when my lord had heard that there was a traveller from Francein the house, and showed how that slight circumstance had first awakenedhis suspicions of foul play. He provoked some amusement when he dealtwith his detection and exposure of the sham parson. But in the main hewas heard with a stern and ominous attention--ominous for Lord Rotherby. 

Rakes these men admittedly were with but few exceptions. No ordinarytale of gallantry could have shocked them, or provoked them to aught buta contemptuous mirth at the expense of the victim, male or female. Theywould have thought little the worse of a man for running off with thewife, say, of one of his acquaintance; they would have thought nothingof his running off with a sister or a daughter--so long as it was notof their own. All these were fair game, and if the husband, father orbrother could not protect the wife, sister or daughter that was his, themore shame to him. But though they might be fair game, the game had itsrules--anomalous as it may seem. These rules Lord Rotherby--if the taleMr. Caryll told was true--had violated. He had practiced a cheat, themore dastardly because the poor lady who had so narrowly escaped beinghis victim had nether father nor brother to avenge her. And in every eyethat was upon him Lord Rotherby might have read, had he had the wit todo so, the very sternest condemnation. 

"A pretty story, as I've a soul!" was his grace's comment, when Mr. Caryll had done. "A pretty story, my Lord Rotherby. I have a stomach forstrong meat myself. But--odds my life!--this is too nauseous!"

Rotherby glared at him. "'Slife! your grace is grown very nice on asudden!" he sneered. "The president of the Bold Bucks, the master of theHell Fire Club, is most oddly squeamish where the diversions of anotherare concerned. "

"Diversions?" said his grace, his eyebrows raised until they all butvanished under the golden curls of his peruke. "Diversions? Ha! Iobserve that you make no attempt to deny the story. You admit it, then?"

There was a stir in the group, a drawing back from his lordship. Heobserved it, trembling between chagrin and rage. "What's here?" hecried, and laughed contemptuously. "Oh, ah! You'll follow where hisgrace leads you! Ye've followed him so long in lewdness that now yellfollow him in conversion! But as for you, sir, " and he swung fiercelyupon Caryll, "you and your precious story--will you maintain it sword inhand?"

"I can do better, " answered Mr. Caryll, "if any doubts my word. "

"As how?"

"I can prove it categorically, by witnesses. "

"Well said, Caryll, " Stapleton approved him. 

"And if I say that you lie--you and your witnesses?"

"'T is you will be liar, " said Mr. Caryll. 

"Besides, it is a little late for that, " cut in the duke. 

"Your grace, " cried Rotherby, "is this affair yours?"

"No, I thank Heaven!" said his grace, and sat down. 

Rotherby scowled at the man who until ten minutes ago had been hisfriend and boon companion, and there was more of contempt than angerin his eyes. He turned again to Mr. Caryll, who was watching him with agleam of amusement--that infernally irritating amusement of his--in hisgray-green eyes. 

"Well?" he demanded foolishly, "have you naught to say?"

"I had thought, " returned Mr. Caryll, "that I had said enough. " And theduke laughed aloud. 

Rotherby's lip was curled. "Ha! You don't think, now, that you may havesaid too much?"

Mr. Caryll stifled a yawn. "Do you?" he inquired blandly. 

"Ay, by God! Too much for a gentleman to leave unpunished. "

"Possibly. But what gentleman is concerned in this?"

"I am!" thundered Rotherby. 

"I see. And how do you conceive that you answer the description?"

Rotherby swore at him with great choice and variety. "You shall learn, "he promised him. "My friends shall wait on you to-night. "

"I wonder who will carry his message?" ventured Collis to the ceiling. Rotherby turned on him, fierce as a rat. "It is a matter you maydiscover to your cost, Sir Harry, " he snarled. 

"I think, " put in his grace very languidly, "that you are troubling theharmony that is wont to reign here. "

His lordship stood still a moment. Then, quite suddenly, he snatchedup a candlestick to hurl at Mr. Caryll. But he had it wrenched from hishands ere he could launch it. 

He stood a moment, discomfited, glowering upon his brother. "My friendsshall wait on you to-night, " he repeated. 

"You said so before, " Mr. Caryll replied wearily. "I shall endeavor tomake them welcome. "

His lordship nodded stupidly, and strode to the door. His departurewas observed in silence. On every face he read his sentence. Thesemen--rakes though they were, professedly--would own him no more fortheir associate; and what these men thought to-night not a gentleman intown but would be thinking the same tomorrow. He had the stupidityto lay it all to the score of Mr. Caryll, not perceiving that he hadbrought it upon himself by his own aggressiveness. He paused, his handupon the doorknob, and turned to loose a last shaft at them. 

"As for you others, that follow your bell-wether there, " and heindicated his grace, whose shoulder was towards him, "this matter endsnot here. "

And with that general threat he passed out, and that snug room atWhite's knew him no more. 

Major Gascoigne was gathering up the cards that had been flung down whenfirst the storm arose. Mr. Caryll bent to assist him. And the last voiceLord Rotherby heard as he departed was Mr. Caryll's, and the words ituttered were: "Come, Ned; the deal is with you. "

His lordship swore through his teeth, and went downstairs heavily. 

CHAPTER X. SPURS TO THE RELUCTANT

Before Mr. Caryll left White's--which he did at a comparatively earlyhour, that he might be at home to receive Lord Rotherby's friends--nota man present but had offered him his services in the affair he had uponhis hands. Wharton, indeed, was not to be denied for one; and for theother Mr. Caryll desired Gascoigne to do him the honor of representinghim. 

It was a fine, dry night, and feeling the need for exercise, Mr. Caryllset out to walk the short distance from St. James's Street to hislodging, with a link-boy, preceding him, for only attendant. Arrivedhome, he was met by Leduc with the information that Sir Richard Everardwas awaiting him. He went in, and the next moment he was in the arms ofhis adoptive father. 

Greetings and minor courtesies disposed of, Sir Richard came straight tothe affair which he had at heart. "Well? How speeds the matter?"

Mr. Caryll's face became overcast. He sat down, a thought wearily. 

"So far as Lord Ostermore is concerned, it speeds--as you would wish it. So far as I am concerned"--he paused and sighed--"I would that it spednot at all, or that I was out of it. "

Sir Richard looked at him with searching eyes. "How?" he asked. "Whatwould you have me understand?"

"That in spite of all that has been said between us, in spite of all thearguments you have employed, and with which once, for a little while, you convinced me, this task is loathsome to me in the last degree. Ostermore is my father, and I can't forget it. "

"And your mother?" Sir Richard's tone was sad, rather than indignant;it spoke of a bitter disappointment, not at the events, but at this manwhom he loved with all a father's love. 

"It were idle to go over it all again. I know everything that youwould--that you could--say. I have said it all to myself again andagain, in a vain endeavor to steel myself to the business to which youplighted me. Had Ostermore been different, perhaps it had been easier. I cannot say. As it is, I see in him a weakling, a man of inferiorintellect, who does not judge things as you and I judge them, whoselife cannot have been guided by the rules that serve for men of strongerpurpose. "

"You find excuses for him? For his deed?" cried Sir Richard, and hisvoice was full of horror now; he stared askance at his adoptive son. 

"No, no! Oh, I don't know. On my soul and conscience, I don't know!"cried Mr. Caryll, like one in pain. He rose and moved restlessly aboutthe room. "No, " he pursued more calmly, "I don't excuse him. I blamehim--more bitterly than you can think; perhaps more bitterly even thando you, for I have had a look into his mind and see the exact place heldthere by my mother's memory. I can judge and condemn him; but I can'texecute him; I can't betray him. I don't think I could do it even if hewere not my father. "

He paused, and leaning his hands upon the table at which Sir Richardsat, he faced him, and spoke in a voice of earnest pleading. "SirRichard, this was not the task to give me; or, if you had planned togive it me, you should have reared me differently; you should not havesought to make of me a gentleman. You have brought me up to principlesof honor, and you ask me now to outrage them, to cast them off, and tobecome a very Judas. Is't wonderful I should rebel?"

They were hurtful words to Sir Richard--the poor fanatic whose mind wasall unsound on this one point, who had lived in contemplation of hisvengeance as a fasting monk lives through Lent in contemplation of theEaster plenty. The lines of sorrow deepened in his face. 

"Justin, " he said slowly, "you forget one thing. Honor is to be usedwith men of honor; but he who allows his honor to stand a barrierbetween himself and the man who has wronged him by dishonor, is nobetter than a fool. You speak of yourself; you think of yourself. Andwhat of me, Justin? The things you say of yourself apply in a likedegree--nay, even more--to me. "

"Ah, but you are not his son. Oh, believe me, I speak not hastily orlightly. I have been torn this way and that in these past days, untilat moments the burden has been heavier than I could bear. Once, fora little while, I thought I could do all and more than you expect ofme--the moment, indeed, in which I took the first step, and deliveredhim the letter. But it was a moment of wild heat. I cooled, andreflection followed, and since then, because so much was done, I havenot known an instant's peace of mind; I have endeavored to forget theposition in which I am placed; but I have failed. I cannot. And if I gothrough with this thing, I shall not know another hour in life that isnot poisoned by remorse. "

"Remorse?" echoed Sir Richard, between consternation and anger. "Remorse?" He laughed bitterly. "What ails thee, boy? Do you pretendthat Lord Ostermore should go unpunished? Do you go so far as that?"

"Not so. He has made others suffer, and it is just--as we understandjustice--that he should suffer in his turn. Though, when all is said, heis but a poor egotist, too dull-witted to understand the full vilenessof his sin. He is suffering, as it is--cursed in his son; for 'thefather of a fool hath no joy. ' He hates this son of his, and his sondespises him. His wife is a shrew, a termagant, who embitters every hourof his existence. Thus he drags out his life, unloving and unloved, athing to evoke pity. "

"Pity?" cried Sir Richard in a voice of thunder. "Pity? Ha! As I've asoul, Justin, he shall be more pitiful yet ere I have done with him. "

"Be it so, then. But--if you love me--find some other hand to do thework. "

"If I love you, Justin?" echoed the other, and his voice softened, hiseyes looked reproachfully upon his adoptive child. "Needs there an 'if'to that? Are you not all I have--my son, indeed?"

He held out his hands, and Justin took them affectionately and pressedthem in his own. 

"You'll put these weak notions from your mind, Justin, and prove worthythe noble lady who was your mother?"

Mr. Caryll moved aside again, hanging his head, his face pale andtroubled. Where Everard's arguments must fail, his own affection forEverard was like to conquer him. It was very weak in him, he toldhimself; but then his love for Everard was strong, and he would fainspare Everard the pain he knew he must be occasioning him. Still he didbattle, his repugnance up in arms. 

"I would you could see the matter as I see it, " he sighed. "This mangrown old, and reaping in his old age the fruits of the egotism he hassown. I do not believe that in all the world there is a single soulwould weep his lordship's death--if we except, perhaps, MistressWinthrop. "

"And do you pity him for that?" quoth Sir Richard coldly. "What righthas he to expect aught else? Who sows for himself, reaps for himself. I marvel, indeed, that there should be even one to bewail him--to sparehim a kind thought. "

"And even there, " mused Mr. Caryll, "it is perhaps gratitude rather thanaffection that inspires the kindness. "

"Who is Mistress Winthrop?"

"His ward. As sweet a lady, I think, as I have ever seen, " saidMr. Caryll, incautious enthusiasm assailing him. Sir Richard's eyesnarrowed. 

"You have some acquaintance with her?" he suggested. 

Very briefly Mr. Caryll sketched for the second time that evening thecircumstances of his first meeting with Rotherby. 

Sir Richard nodded sardonically. "Hum! He is his father's son, not adoubt of that. 'Twill be a most worthy successor to my Lord Ostermore. But the lady? Tell me of the lady. How comes she linked with them?"

"I scarce know, save from the scraps that I have heard. Her father, itwould seem, was Ostermore's friend, and, dying, he appointed Ostermoreher guardian. Her fortune, I take it, is very slender. Nevertheless, Ostermore, whatever he may have done by other people, appears in thiscase to have discharged his trust with zeal and with affection. But, indeed, who could have done other where that sweet lady was concerned?You should see her, Sir Richard!" He was pacing the room now as hespoke, and as he spoke he warmed to his subject more and more. "Sheis middling tall, of a most dainty slenderness, dark-haired, with a sosweet and saintly beauty of face that it must be seen to be believed. And eyes--Lord! the glory of her eyes! They are eyes that would lead aman into hell and make him believe it heaven, "'Love doth to her eyes repair To help him of his blindness. '"

Sir Richard watched him, displeasure growing in his face. "So!" he saidat last. "Is that the reason?"

"The reason of what?" quoth Mr. Caryll, recalled from his sweet rapture. 

"The reason of these fresh qualms of yours. The reason of all thissympathy for Ostermore; this unwillingness to perform the sacred dutythat is yours. "

"Nay--on my soul, you do me wrong!" cried Mr. Caryll indignantly. "Ifaught had been needed to spur me on, it had been my meeting with thislady. It needed that to make me realize to the bitter full the wrong myLord Ostermore has done me in getting me; to make me realize that I am aman without a name to offer any woman. "

But Sir Richard, watching him intently, shook his head and fetched asigh of sorrow and disdain. "Pshaw, Justin! How we befool ourselves! Youthink it is not so; you try to think it is not so; but to me it is veryplain. A woman has arisen in your life, and this woman, seen but once ortwice, unknown a week or so ago, suffices to eclipse the memory of yourmother and turns your aim in life--the avenging of her bitter wrongs--towater. Oh, Justin, Justin! I had thought you stronger. "

"Your conclusions are all wrong. I swear they are wrong!"

Sir Richard considered him sombrely. "Are you sure--quite, quite sure?"

Mr. Caryll's eyes fell, as the doubt now entered his mind for the firsttime that it might be indeed as Sir Richard was suggesting. He was notquite sure. 

"Prove it to me, Justin, " Everard pleaded. "Prove it by abandoning thisweakness where my Lord Ostermore is concerned. Remember only the wronghe has done. You are the incarnation of that wrong, and by your handmust he be destroyed. " He rose, and caught the younger man's hands againin his own, forced Mr. Caryll to confront him. "He shall know when thetime comes whose hand it was that pulled him down; he shall know theNemesis that has lain in wait for him these thirty years to smite him atthe end. And he shall taste hell in this world before he goes to it inthe next. It is God's own justice, boy! Will you be false to the dutythat lies before you? Will you forget your mother and her sufferingsbecause you have looked into the eyes of this girl, who--"

"No, no! Say no more!" cried Mr. Caryll, his voice trembling. 

"You will do it, " said Sir Richard, between question and assertion. 

"If Heaven lends me strength of purpose. But it asks much, " was thegloomy answer. "I am to see Lord Ostermore to-morrow to obtain hisanswer to King James' letter. "

Sir Richard's eyes gleamed. He released the other's hands, and turnedslowly to his chair again. "It is well, " he said slowly. "The thing asksdispatch, or else some of his majesty's real friends may be involved. "

He proceeded to explain his words. "I have talked in vain withAtterbury. He will not abandon the enterprise even at King James'commands. He urges that his majesty can have no conception of how thematter is advanced; that he has been laboring like Hercules, and thatthe party is being swelled by men of weight and substance every day;that it is too late to go back, and that he will go forward withthe king's consent or without it. Should he or his agents approachOstermore, in the meantime, it will be too late for us to take suchmeasures as we have concerted. For to deliver up Ostermore then wouldentail the betrayal of others, which is not to be dreamt of. So you'lluse dispatch. "

"If I do the thing at all, it shall be done to-morrow, " answered Mr. Caryll. 

"If at all?" cried Sir Richard, frowning again. "If at all?"

Caryll turned to him. He crossed to the table, and leaning across it, until his face was quite close to his adoptive father's. "Sir Richard, "he begged, "let us say no more to-night. My will is all to do the thing. It is my--my instincts that rebel. I think that the day will be carriedby my will. I shall strive to that end, believe me. But let us say nomore now. "

Sir Richard, looking deep into Mr. Caryll's eyes, was touched bysomething that he saw. "My poor Justin!" he said gently. Then, checkingthe sympathy as swiftly as it rose: "So be it, then, " he said briskly. "You'll come to me to-morrow after you have seen his lordship?"

"Will you not remain here?"

"You have not the room. Besides, Sir Richard Everard--is too well knownfor a Jacobite to be observed sharing your lodging. I have no right atall in England, and there is always the chance of my being discovered. I would not pull you down with me. I am lodged at the corner of MaidenLane, next door to the sign of Golden Flitch. Come to me there to-morrowafter you have seen Lord Ostermore. " He hesitated a moment. He wasimpelled to recapitulate his injunctions; but he forbore. He put out hishand abruptly. "Good-night, Justin. "

Justin took the hand and pressed it. The door opened, and Leduc entered. 

"Captain Mainwaring and Mr. Falgate are here, sir, and would speak withyou, " he announced. 

Mr. Caryll knit his brows a moment. His acquaintance with both men wasof the slightest, and it was only upon reflection that he bethought himthey would, no doubt, be come in the matter of his affair with Rotherby, which in the stress of his interview with Sir Richard had been quiteforgotten. He nodded. 

"Wait upon Sir Richard to the door, Leduc, " he bade his man. "Thenintroduce these gentlemen. "

Sir Richard had drawn back a step. "I trust neither of these gentlemenknows me, " he said. "I would not be seen here by any that did. It mightcompromise you. "

But Mr. Caryll belittled Sir Richard's fears. "Pooh! 'Tis very unlike, "said he; whereupon Sir Richard, seeing no help for it, went out quickly, Leduc in attendance. 

Lord Rotherby's friends in the ante-room paid little heed to him ashe passed briskly through. Surveillance came rather from an entirelyunsuspected quarter. As he left the house and crossed the square, afigure detached itself from the shadow of the wall, and set out tofollow. It hung in his rear through the filthy, labyrinthine streetswhich Sir Richard took to Charing Cross, followed him along the Strandand up Bedford Street, and took note of the house he entered at thecorner of Maiden Lane. 

CHAPTER XI. THE ASSAULT-AT-ARMS

The meeting was appointed by my Lord Rotherby for seven o'clock nextmorning in Lincoln's Inn Fields. It is true that Lincoln's Inn Fieldsat an early hour of the day was accounted a convenient spot for thetransaction of such business as this; yet, considering that it was inthe immediate neighborhood of Stretton House, overlooked, indeed, by thewindows of that mansion, it is not easy to rid the mind of a suspicionthat Rotherby appointed that place of purpose set, and with intent tomark his contempt and defiance of his father, with whom he supposed Mr. Caryll to be in some league. 

Accompanied by the Duke of Wharton and Major Gascoigne, Mr. Caryllentered the enclosure promptly as seven was striking from St. ClementDanes. They had come in a coach, which they had left in waiting at thecorner of Portugal Row. 

As they penetrated beyond the belt of trees they found that they werethe first in the field, and his grace proceeded with the major toinspect the ground, so that time might be saved against the coming ofthe other party. 

Mr. Caryll stood apart, breathing the freshness of the sunlit morning, but supremely indifferent to its glory. He was gloomy and preoccupied. He had slept ill that night after his interview with Sir Richard, tormented by the odious choice that lay before him of either breakingwith the adoptive father to whom he owed obedience and affection, orbetraying his natural father whom he had every reason to hate, yet whoremained his father. He had been able to arrive at no solution. Dutyseemed to point one way; instinct the other. Down in his heart he feltthat when the moment came it would be the behests of instinct that hewould obey, and, in obeying them, play false to Sir Richard and to thememory of his mother. It was the only course that went with honor; andyet it was a course that must lead to a break with the one friend he hadin the world--the one man who stood to him for family and kin. 

And now, as if that were not enough to plague him, there was thisquarrel with Rotherby which he had upon his hands. That, too, he hadbeen considering during the wakeful hours of that summer night. Had hereflected he must have seen that no other result could have followedhis narrative at White's last night; and yet it was a case in whichreflection would not have stayed him. Hortensia Winthrop's fair name wasto be cleansed of the smirch that had been cast upon it, and Justin wasthe only man in whose power it had lain to do it. More than that--ifmore were needed--it was Rotherby himself, by his aggressiveness, whohad thrust Mr. Caryll into a position which almost made it necessaryfor him to explain himself; and that he could scarcely have done by anyother than the means which he had adopted. Under ordinary circumstancesthe matter would have troubled him not at all; this meeting with such aman as Rotherby would not have robbed him of a moment's sleep. Butthere came the reflection--belatedly--that Rotherby was his brother, hisfather's son; and he experienced just the same degree of repugnance atthe prospect of crossing swords with him as he did at the prospect ofbetraying Lord Ostermore. Sir Richard would force upon him a parricide'stask; Fate a fratricide's. Truly, he thought, it was an enviableposition, his. 

Pacing the turf, on which the dew still gleamed and sparkleddiamond-like, he pondered his course, and wondered now, at the lastmoment, was there no way to avert this meeting. Could not the matter bearranged? He was stirred out of his musings by Gascoigne's voice, raisedto curse the tardiness of Lord Rotherby. 

"'Slife! Where does the fellow tarry? Was he so drunk last night thathe's not yet slept himself sober?"

"The streets are astir, " put in Wharton, helping himself to snuff. And, indeed, the cries of the morning hawkers reached them now from the foursides of the square. "If his lordship does not come soon, I doubt if wemay stay for him. We shall have half the town for spectators. "

"Who are these?" quoth Gascoigne, stepping aside and craning his neckto get a better view. "Ah! Here they come. " And he indicated a group ofthree that had that moment passed the palings. 

Gascoigne and Wharton went to meet the newcomers. Lord Rotherby wasattended by Mainwaring, a militia captain--a great, burly, scarredbully of a man--and a Mr. Falgate, an extravagant young buck of hisacquaintance. An odder pair of sponsors he could not have found had hebeen at pains to choose them so. 

"Adso!" swore Mr. Falgate, in his shrill, affected voice. "I vow 'tisa most ungenteel hour, this, for men of quality to be abroad. I had mybeauty sleep broke into to be here in time. Lard! I shall be dozing allday for't!" He took off his hat and delicately mopped his brow with asquare of lace he called a handkerchief. 

"Shall we come to business, gentlemen?" quoth Mainwaring gruffly. 

"With all my heart, " answered Wharton. "It is growing late. "

"Late! La, my dears!" clucked Mr. Falgate in horror. "Has your grace notbeen to bed yet?"

"To save time, " said Gascoigne, "we have made an inspection of theground, and we think that under the trees yonder is a spot not to bebettered. "

Mainwaring flashed a critical and experienced eye over the place. "Thesun is--So?" he said, looking up. "Yes; it should serve well enough, I--"

"It will not serve at all, " cried Rotherby, who stood a pace or twoapart. "A little to the right, there, the turf is better. "

"But there is no protection, " put in the duke. "You will be underobservation from that side of the square, including Stretton House. "

"What odds?" quoth Rotherby. "Do I care who overlooks us?" And helaughed unpleasantly. "Or is your grace ashamed of being seen in yourfriend's company?"

Wharton looked him steadily in the face a moment, then turned to hislordship's seconds. "If Mr. Caryll is of the same mind as his lordship, we had best get to work at once, " he said; and bowing to them, withdrewwith Gascoigne. 

"See to the swords, Mainwaring, " said Rotherby shortly. "Here, Fanny!"This to Falgate, whose name was Francis, and who delighted in thefeminine diminutive which his intimates used toward him. "Come help mewith my clothes. "

"I vow to Gad, " protested Mr. Falgate, advancing to the task. "I makebut an indifferent valet, my dear. "

Mr. Caryll stood thoughtful a moment when Rotherby's wishes had beenmade known to him. The odd irony of the situation--the key to which hewas the only one to hold--was borne in upon him. He fetched a sigh ofutter weariness. 

"I have, " said he, "the greatest repugnance to meeting his lordship. "

"'Tis little wonder, " returned his grace contemptuously. "But since 'tisforced upon you, I hope you'll give him the lesson in manners that heneeds. "

"Is it--is it unavoidable?" quoth Mr. Caryll. 

"Unavoidable?" Wharton looked at him in stern wonder. 

Gascoigne, too, swung round to stare. "Unavoidable? What can you mean, Caryll?"

"I mean is the matter not to be arranged in any way? Must the duel takeplace?"

His Grace of Wharton stroked his chin contemplatively, his eye ironical, his lip curling never so slightly. "Why, " said he, at length, "you maybeg my Lord Rotherby's pardon for having given him the lie. You mayretract, and brand yourself a liar and your version of the Maidstoneaffair a silly invention which ye have not the courage to maintain. Youmay do that, Mr. Caryll. For my own sake, let me add, I hope you willnot do it. "

"I am not thinking of your grace at all, " said Mr. Caryll, slightlypiqued by the tone the other took with him. "But to relieve your mind ofsuch doubts as I see you entertain, I can assure you that it is out ofno motives of weakness that I boggle at this combat. Though I confessthat I am no ferrailleur, and that I abhor the duel as a means ofsettling a difference just as I abhor all things that are stupid andinsensate, yet I am not the man to shirk an encounter where an encounteris forced upon me. But in this affair--" he paused, then ended--"thereis more than meets your grace's eye, or, indeed, anyone's. "

He was so calm, so master of himself, that Wharton perceived howgroundless must have been his first notion. Whatever might be Mr. Caryll's motives, it was plain from his most perfect composure thatthey were not motives of fear. His grace's half-contemptuous smile wasdissipated. 

"This is mere trifling, Mr. Caryll, " he reminded his principal, "andtime is speeding. Your withdrawal now would not only be damaging toyourself; it would be damaging to the lady of whose fair name you havemade yourself the champion. You must see that it is too late for doubtson the score of this meeting. "

"Ay--by God!" swore Gascoigne hotly. "What a pox ails you, Caryll?"

Mr. Caryll took off his hat and flung it on the ground behind him. "We must go on, then, " said he. "Gascoigne, see to the swords with hislordship's friend there. "

With a relieved look, the major went forward to make the finalpreparations, whilst Mr. Caryll, attended by Wharton, rapidly divestedhimself of coat and waistcoat, then kicked off his light shoes, andstood ready, a slight, lithe, graceful figure in white Holland shirt andpearl-colored small clothes. 

A moment later the adversaries were face to face--Rotherby, divested ofhis wig and with a kerchief bound about his close-cropped head, all atrembling eagerness; Mr. Caryll with a reluctance lightly masked by adangerous composure. 

There was a perfunctory salute--a mere presenting of arms--and theblades swept round in a half-circle to their first meeting. ButRotherby, without so much as allowing his steel to touch his opponent's, as the laws of courtesy demanded, swirled it away again into thehigher lines and lunged. It was almost like a foul attempt to take hisadversary unawares and unprepared, and for a second it looked as if itmust succeed. It must have succeeded but for the miraculous quicknessof Mr. Caryll. Swinging round on the ball of his right foot, lightly andgracefully as a dancing master, and with no sign of haste or fear in hisamazing speed, he let the other's hard-driven blade glance past him, tomeet nothing but the empty air. 

As a result, by the very force of the stroke, Rotherby found himselfover-reached and carried beyond his point of aim; while Mr. Caryll'ssideward movement brought him not only nearer his opponent, but entirelywithin his guard. 

It was seen by them all, and by none with such panic as Rotherbyhimself, that, as a consequence of his quasi-foul stroke, the viscountwas thrown entirely at the mercy of his opponent thus at the very outsetof the encounter, before their blades had so much as touched each other. A straightening of the arm on the part of Mr. Caryll, and the engagementwould have been at an end. 

Mr. Caryll, however, did not straighten his arm. He was observed tosmile as he broke ground and waited for his lordship to recover. 

Falgate turned pale. Mainwaring swore softly under his breath, in fearfor his principal; Gascoigne did the same in vexation at the opportunityMr. Caryll had so wantonly wasted. Wharton looked on with tight-pressedlips, and wondered. 

Rotherby recovered, and for a moment the two men stood apart, seemingto feel each other with their eyes before resuming. Then his lordshiprenewed the attack with vigor. 

Mr. Caryll parried lightly and closely, plying a beautiful weapon in thebest manner of the French school, and opposing to the ponderous forceof his antagonist a delicate frustrating science. Rotherby, a fineswordsman in his way, soon saw that here was need for all his skill, andhe exerted it. But the prodigious rapidity of his blade broke as upon acuirass against the other's light, impenetrable guard. 

His lordship broke ground, breathed heavily, and sweated under the glareof the morning sun, cursing this swordsman who, so cool and deliberate, husbanded his strength and scarcely seemed to move, yet by sheer skilland address more than neutralized his lordship's advantages of greaterstrength and length of reach. 

"You cursed French dog!" swore the viscount presently, between histeeth, and as he spoke he made a ringing parade, feinted, beat theground with his foot to draw off the other's attention, and went inagain with a full-length lunge. "Parry that, you damned maitre-d'armes"he roared. 

Mr. Caryll answered nothing; he parried; parried again; delivered ariposte whenever the opportunity offered, or whenever his lordship grewtoo pressing, and it became expedient to drive him back; but never oncedid he stretch out to lunge in his turn. The seconds were so lost inwonder at the beauty of this close play of his that they paid no heed towhat was taking place in the square about them. They never observed theopening windows and the spectators gathering at them--as Wharton hadfeared. Amongst these, had either of the combatants looked up, he wouldhave seen his own father on the balcony of Stretton House. A moment theearl stood there, Lady Ostermore at his side; then he vanished into thehouse again, to reappear almost at once in the street, with a couple offootmen hurrying after him. 

Meanwhile the combat went on. Once Lord Rotherby had attempted to fallback for a respite, realizing that he was winded. But Mr. Caryll deniedhim this, attacking now for the first time, and the rapidity of his playwas such that Rotherby opined--the end to be at hand, appreciated to thefull his peril. In a last desperate effort, gathering up what shredsof strength remained him, he repulsed Mr. Caryll by a vigorous counterattack. He saw an opening, feinted to enlarge it, and drove in quickly, throwing his last ounce of strength into the effort. This time it couldnot be said to have been parried. Something else happened. His blade, coming foible on forte against Mr. Caryll's, was suddenly enveloped. It was as if a tentacle had been thrust out to seize it. For the barestfraction of a second was it held so by Mr. Caryll's sword; then, easilybut irresistibly, it was lifted out of Rotherby's hand, and dropped onthe turf a half-yard or so from his lordship's stockinged feet. 

A cold sweat of terror broke upon him. He caught his breath with ahalf-shuddering sob of fear, his eyes dilating wildly--for Mr. Caryll'spoint was coming straight as an arrow at his throat. On it came and on, until it was within perhaps three inches of the flesh. 

There it was suddenly arrested, and for a long moment it was held therepoised, death itself, menacing and imminent. And Lord Rotherby, notdaring to move, rooted where he stood, looked with fascinated eyes alongthat shimmering blade into two gleaming eyes behind it that seemed towatch him with a solemnity that was grim to the point of mockery. 

Time and the world stood still, or were annihilated in that moment forthe man who waited. 

High in the blue overhead a lark was pouring out its song; but hislordship heard it not. He heard nothing, he was conscious of nothing butthat gleaming sword and those gleaming eyes behind it. 

Then a voice--the voice of his antagonist--broke the silence. "Is moreneeded?" it asked, and without waiting for a reply, Mr. Caryll loweredhis blade and drew himself upright. "Let this suffice, " he said. "Totake your life would be to deprive you of the means of profiting by thislesson. "

It seemed to Rotherby as if he were awaking from a trance. The worldresumed its way. He breathed again, and straightened himself, too, fromthe arrested attitude of his last lunge. Rage welled up from his blacksoul; a crimson flood swept into his pallid cheeks; his eyes rolled andblazed with the fury of the mad. 

Mr. Caryll moved away. In that quiet voice of his: "Take up your sword, "he said to the vanquished, over his shoulder. 

Wharton and Gascoigne moved towards him, without words to express theamazement that still held Rotherby glared an instant longer withoutmoving. Then, doing as Mr. Caryll had bidden him, he stooped to recoverhis blade. A moment he held it, looking after his departing adversary;then with swift, silent stealth he sprang to follow. His fell intent waswritten on his face. 

Falgate gasped--a helpless fool--while Mainwaring hurled himself forwardto prevent the thing he saw impended. Too late. Even as he flung out hishands to grapple with his lordship, Rotherby's arm drove straight beforehim and sent his sword through the undefended back of Mr. Caryll. 

All that Mr. Caryll realized at first was that he had been struck a blowbetween the shoulder blades; and then, ere he could turn to inquire intothe cause, he was amazed to see some three inches of steel come throughhis shirt in front. The next instant an exquisite, burning, searingpain went through and through him as the blade was being withdrawn. He coughed and swayed, then hurtled sideways into the arms of MajorGascoigne. His senses swam. The turf heaved and rolled as if anearthquake moved it; the houses fronting the square and the treesimmediately before him leaped and danced as if suddenly launched intogrotesque animation, while about him swirled a wild, incoherent noiseof voices, rising and falling, now loud, now silent, and reaching himthrough a murmuring hum that surged about his ears until it shut out allelse and consciousness deserted him. 

Around him, meanwhile, a wild scene was toward. 

His Grace of Wharton had wrenched away the sword from Rotherby, andmastered by an effort his own impulse to use it upon the murderer. Captain Mainwaring--Rotherby's own second, a man of quick, fiercepassions--utterly unable to control himself, fell upon his lordship andbeat him to the ground with his hands, cursing him and heapingabuse upon him with every blow; whilst delicate Mr. Falgate, in thebackground, sick to the point of faintness, stood dabbing his lipswith his handkerchief and swearing that he would rot before he allowedhimself again to be dragged into an affair of honor. 

"Ye damned cutthroat!" swore the militia captain, standing over the manhe had felled. "D'ye know what'll be the fruits of this? Ye'll swingat Tyburn like the dirty thief y' are. God help me! I'd give a hundredguineas sooner than be mixed in this filthy business. "

"'Tis no matter for that now, " said the duke, touching him on theshoulder and drawing him away from his lordship. "Get up, Rotherby. "

Heavily, mechanically, Rotherby got to his feet. Now that the fit ofrage was over, he was himself all stricken at the thing he had done. Helooked at the limp figure on the turf, huddled against the knee of MajorGascoigne; looked at the white face, the closed eyes and the stain ofblood oozing farther and farther across the Holland shirt, and, as whitehimself as the stricken man, he shuddered and his mouth was drawn widewith horror. 

But pitiful though he looked, he inspired no pity in the Duke ofWharton, who considered him with an eye of unspeakable severity. "If Mr. Caryll dies, " said he coldly, "I shall see to it that you hang, my lord. I'll not rest until I bring you to the gallows. "

And then, before more could be said, there came a sound of runningsteps and labored breathing, and his grace swore softly to himself as hebeheld no other than Lord Ostermore advancing rapidly, all out of breathand apoplectic of face, a couple of footmen pressing close upon hisheels, and, behind these, a score of sightseers who had followed them. 

"What's here?" cried the earl, without glancing at his son. "Is he dead?Is he dead?"

Gascoigne, who was busily endeavoring to stanch the bleeding, answeredwithout looking up: "It is in God's hands. I think he is very like todie. "

Ostermore swung round upon Rotherby. He had paled suddenly, and hismouth trembled. He raised his clenched hand, and it seemed that he wasabout to strike his son; then he let it fall again. "You villain!" hepanted, breathless from running and from rage. "I saw it! I saw it all. It was murder, and, as God's my life, if Mr. Caryll dies, I shall see toit that you hang--I, your own father. "

Thus assailed on every side, some of the cowering, shrinking mannerleft the viscount. His antagonism to his father spurred him to a proudercarriage. He shrugged indifferently. "So be it, " he said. "I have beentold that already. I don't greatly care. "

Mainwaring, who had been stooping over Mr. Caryll, and who had perhapsmore knowledge of wounds than any present, shook his head ominously. 

"'Twould be dangerous to move him far, " said he. "'Twill increase thehemorrhage. "

"My men shall carry him across to Stretton House, " said Lord Ostermore. "Lend a hand here, you gaping oafs. "

The footmen advanced. The crowd, which was growing rapidly and waswatching almost in silence, awed, pressed as close as it dared uponthese gentlemen. Mainwaring procured a couple of cloaks and improviseda stretcher with them. Of this he took one corner himself, Gascoigneanother, and the footmen the remaining two. Thus, as gently as might be, they bore the wounded man from the enclosure, through the crowd thathad by now assembled in the street, and over the threshold of StrettonHouse. 

A groom had been dispatched for a doctor, and his Grace of Wharton hadcompelled Rotherby to accompany them into his father's house, sternlythreatening to hand him over to a constable at once if he refused. 

Within the cool hall of Stretton House they were met by her ladyshipand Mistress Winthrop, both pale, but the eyes of each wearing a vastlydifferent expression. 

"What's this?" demanded her ladyship, as they trooped in. "Why do youbring him here?"

"Because, madam, " answered Ostermore in a voice as hard as iron, "itimports to save his life; for if he dies, your son dies as surely--andon the scaffold. "

Her ladyship staggered and flung a hand to her breast. But her recoverywas almost immediate. "'Twas a duel--" she began stoutly. 

"'Twas murder, " his lordship corrected, interrupting--"murder, as anyof these gentlemen can and will bear witness. Rotherby ran Mr. Caryllthrough the back after Mr. Caryll had spared his life. "

"'Tis a lie!" screamed her ladyship, her lips ashen. She turned toRotherby, who stood there in shirt and breeches and shoeless, as he hadfought. "Why don't you say that it is a lie?" she demanded. 

Rotherby endeavored to master himself. "Madam, " he said, "here is noplace for you. "

"But is it true? Is it true what is being said?"

He half-turned from her, with a despairing movement, and caught thesharp hiss of her indrawn breath. Then she swept past him to the side ofthe wounded man, who had been laid on a settle. "What is his hurt?" sheinquired wildly, looking about her. But no one spoke. Tragedy--morefar than the tragedy of that man's possible death--was in the air, andstruck them all silent. "Will no one answer me?" she insisted. "Is itmortal? Is it?"

His Grace of Wharton turned to her with an unusual gravity in his blueeyes. "We hope not, ma'am, " he said. "But it is as God wills. "

Her limbs seemed to fail her, and she sank down on her knees beside thesettle. "We must save him, " she muttered fearfully. "We must save hislife. Where is the doctor? He won't die! Oh, he must not die!"

They stood grouped about, looking on in silence, Rotherby in thebackground. Behind him again, on the topmost of the three steps that ledup into the inner hall, stood Mistress Winthrop, white of face, a wildhorror in the eyes she riveted upon the wounded and unconscious man. She realized that he was like to die. There was an infinite pity inher soul--and, maybe, something more. Her impulse was to go to him; herevery instinct urged her. But her reason held her back. 

Then, as she looked, she saw with a feeling almost of terror that hiseyes were suddenly wide open. 

"Wha--what?" came in feeble accents from his lips. 

There was a stir about him. 

"Never move, Justin, " said Gascoigne, who stood by his head. "You arehurt. Lie still. The doctor has been summoned. "

"Ah!" It was a sigh. The wounded man closed his eyes a moment, thenre-opened them. "I remember. I remember, " he said feebly. "It is--it isgrave?" he inquired. "It went right through me. I remember!" He surveyedhimself. "There's been a deal of blood lost. I am like to die, I takeit. "

"Nay, sir, we hope not--we hope not!" It was the countess who spoke. 

A wry smile twisted his lips. "Your ladyship is very good, " said he. "Ihad not thought you quite so much my well-wisher. I--I have done youa wrong, madam. " He paused for breath, and it was not plain whether hespoke in sincerity or in sarcasm. Then with a startling suddenness hebroke into a soft laugh and to those risen, who could not think what hadoccasioned it, it sounded more dreadful than any plaint he could haveuttered. 

He had bethought him that there was no longer the need for him to cometo a decision in the matter that had brought him to England, and hislaugh was almost of relief. The riddle he could never have solved forhimself in a manner that had not shattered his future peace of mind, wassolved and well solved if this were death. 

"Where--where is Rotherby?" he inquired presently. 

There was a stir, and men drew back, leaving an open lane to the placewhere Rotherby stood. Mr. Caryll saw him, and smiled, and his smile heldno tinge of mockery. "You are the best friend I ever had, Rotherby, " hestartled all by saying. "Let him approach, " he begged. 

Rotherby came forward like one who walks in his sleep. "I am sorry, " hesaid thickly, "cursed sorry. "

"There's scarce the need, " said Mr. Caryll. "Lift me up, Tom, " he beggedGascoigne. "There's scarce the need. You have cleared up something thatwas plaguing me, my lord. I am your debtor for--for that. It disposes ofsomething I could never have disposed of had I lived. " He turned to theDuke of Wharton. "It was an accident, " he said significantly. "You allsaw that it was an accident. "

A denial rang out. "It was no accident!" cried Lord Ostermore, and sworean oath. "We all saw what it was. "

"I'faith, then, your eyes deceived you. It was an accident, I say--andwho should know better than I?" He was smiling in that whimsicalenigmatic way of his. Smiling still he sank back into Gascoigne's arms. 

"You are talking too much, " said the Major. 

"What odds? I am not like to talk much longer. "

The door opened to admit a gentleman in black, wearing a grizzle wig andcarrying a gold-headed cane. Men moved aside to allow him to approachMr. Caryll. The latter, not noticing him, had met at last the gaze ofHortensia's eyes. He continued to smile, but his smile was now changedto wistfulness under that pitiful regard of hers. 

"It is better so, " he was saying. "Better so!"

His glance was upon her, and she understood what none other theresuspected--that those words were for her alone. 

He closed his eyes and swooned again, as the doctor stooped to removethe temporary bandages from his wound. 

Hortensia, a sob beating in her throat, turned and fled to her own room. 

CHAPTER XII. SUNSHINE AND SHADOW

Mr. Caryll was almost happy. 

He reclined on a long chair, supported by pillows cunningly set forhim by the deft hands of Leduc, and took his ease and indulged hisday-dreams in Lord Ostermore's garden. He sat within the cool, fragrantshade of a privet arbor, interlaced with flowering lilac and laburnum, and he looked out upon the long sweep of emerald lawn and the littlepatch of ornamental water where the water-lilies gaped their ivorychalices to the morning sun. 

He looked thinner, paler and more frail than was his habit, which is notwonderful, considering that he had been four weeks abed while his woundwas mending. He was dressed, again by the hands of the incomparableLeduc, in a deshabille of some artistry. A dark-blue dressing-gown offlowered satin fell open at the waist; disclosing sky-blue breeches andpearl-colored stockings, elegant shoes of Spanish leather with red heelsand diamond buckles. His chestnut hair had been dressed with as greatcare as though he were attending a levee, and Leduc had insisted uponplacing a small round patch under his left eye, that it might--saidLeduc--impart vivacity to a countenance that looked over-wan from hislong confinement. 

He reclined there, and, as I have said, was almost happy. 

The creature of sunshine that was himself at heart, had broken throughthe heavy clouds that had been obscuring him. An oppressive burden waslifted from his mind and conscience. That sword-thrust through the backa month ago had been guided, he opined, by the hand of a befriendingProvidence; for although he had, as you see, survived it, it had nonethe less solved for him that hateful problem he could never have solvedfor himself, that problem whose solution, --no matter which alternativehe had adopted--must have brought him untold misery afterwards. 

As it was, during the weeks that he had lain helpless, his life attachedto him by but the merest thread, the chance of betraying Lord Ostermorewas gone, nor--the circumstances being such as they were--could SirRichard Everard blame him that he had let it pass. 

Thus he knew peace; knew it as only those know it who have sustainedunrest and can appreciate relief from it. 

Nature had made him a voluptuary, and reclining there in an ease whichthe languor born of his long illness rendered the more delicious, inhaling the tepid summer air that came to him laden with a most sweetattar from the flowering rose-garden, he realized that with all itscares life may be sweet to live in youth and in the month of June. 

He sighed, and smiled pensively at the water-lilies; nor was hishappiness entirely and solely the essence of his material ease. Thiswas his third morning out of doors, and on each of the two mornings thatwere gone Hortensia had borne him company, coming with the charitableintent of lightening his tedium by reading to him, but remaining to talkinstead. 

The most perfect friendliness had prevailed between them; a camaraderiewhich Mr. Caryll had been careful not to dispel by any return to suchspeeches as those which had originally offended but which seemed nowmercifully forgotten. 

He was awaiting her, and his expectancy heightened for him the glory ofthe morning, increased the meed of happiness that was his. But there wasmore besides. Leduc, who stood slightly behind him, fussily, busy abouta little table on which were books and cordials, flowers and comfits, a pipe and a tobacco-jar, had just informed him for the first time thatduring the more dangerous period of his illness Mistress Winthrop hadwatched by his bedside for many hours together upon many occasions, andonce--on the day after he had been wounded, and while his fever was atits height--Leduc, entering suddenly and quietly, had surprised her intears. 

All this was most sweet news to Mr. Caryll. He found that betweenhimself and his half-brother there lay an even deeper debt than hehad at first supposed, and already acknowledged. In the deliciouscontemplation of Hortensia in tears beside him stricken all but to thepoint of death, he forgot entirely his erstwhile scruples that beingnameless he had no name to offer her. In imagination he conjured up thescene. It made, he found, a very pretty picture. He would smoke upon it. 

"Leduc, if you were to fill me a pipe of Spanish--"

"Monsieur has smoked one pipe already, " Leduc reminded him. 

"You are inconsequent, Leduc. It is a sign of advancing age. Repress it. The pipe!" And he flicked impatient fingers. 

"Monsieur is forgetting that the doctor--"

"The devil take the doctor, " said Mr. Caryll with finality. 

"Parfaitement!" answered the smooth Leduc. "Over the bridge we laughat the saint. Now that we are cured, the devil take the doctor by allmeans. "

A ripple of laughter came to applaud Leduc's excursion into irony. The arbor had another, narrower entrance, on the left. Hortensia hadapproached this, all unheard on the soft turf, and stood there now, aheavenly apparition in white flimsy garments, head slightly a-tilt, eyes mocking, lips laughing, a heavy curl of her dark hair fallingcaressingly into the hollow where white neck sprang from whitershoulder. 

"You make too rapid a recovery, sir, " said she. 

"It comes of learning how well I have been nursed, " he answered, makingshift to rise, and he laughed inwardly to see the red flush of confusionspread over the milk-white skin, the reproachful shaft her eyes letloose upon Leduc. 

She came forward swiftly to check his rising; but he was already on hisfeet, proud of his return to strength, vain to display it. "Nay, " shereproved him. "If you are so headstrong, I shall leave you. "

"If you do, ma'am. I vow here, as I am, I hope, a gentleman, that Ishall go home to-day, and on foot. "

"You would kill yourself, " she told him. 

"I might kill myself for less, and yet be justified. "

She looked her despair of him. "What must I do to make you reasonable?"

"Set me the example by being reasonable yourself, and let there beno more of this wild talk of leaving me the very moment you are come. Leduc, a chair for Mistress Winthrop!" he commanded, as though chairsabounded in a garden nook. But Leduc, the diplomat, had effaced himself. 

She laughed at his grand air, and, herself, drew forward the stool thathad been Leduc's, and sat down. Satisfied, Mr. Caryll made her a bow, and seated himself sideways on his long chair, so that he faced her. Shebegged that he would dispose himself more comfortably; but he scornedthe very notion. 

"Unaided I walked here from the house, " he informed her with a boastfulair. "I had need to begin to feel my feet again. You are pampering mehere, and to pamper an invalid is bad; it keeps him an invalid. Now I aman invalid no longer. "

"But the doctor--" she began. 

"The doctor, ma'am, is disposed of already, " he assured her. "Verydefinitely disposed of. Ask Leduc. He will tell you. "

"Not a doubt of that, " she answered. "Leduc talks too much. "

"You have a spite against him for the information he gave me on thescore of how and by whom I was nursed. So have I. Because he did nottell me before, and because when he told me he would not tell me enough. He has no eyes, this Leduc. He is a dolt, who only sees the half of whathappens, and only remembers the half of what he has seen. "

"I am sure of it, " said she. 

He looked surprised an instant. Then he laughed. "I am glad that weagree. "

"But you have yet to learn the cause. Had this Leduc used his eyes orhis ears to better purpose, he had been able to tell you something ofthe extent to which I am in your debt. "

"Ah?" said he, mystified. Then: "The news will be none the less welcomefrom your lips, ma'am, " said he. "Is it that you are interested in theravings of delirium, and welcomed the opportunity of observing them atfirst hand? I hope I raved engagingly, if so be that I did rave. Wouldit, perchance, be of a lady that I talked in my fevered wanderings?--ofa lady pale as a lenten rose, with soft brown eyes, and lips that--"

"Your guesses are all wild, " she checked him. "My debt is of a more realkind. It concerns my--my reputation. "

"Fan me, ye winds!" he ejaculated. 

"Those fine ladies and gentlemen of the town had made my name aby-word, " she explained in a low, tense voice, her eyelids lowered. "Myfoolishness in running off with my Lord Rotherby--that I might at allcost escape the tyranny of my Lady Ostermore" (Mr. Caryll's eyelidsflickered suddenly at that explanation)--"had made me a butt and a jestand an object for slander. You remember, yourself, sir, the sneers andoglings, the starings and simperings in the park that day when you madeyour first attempt to champion my cause, inducing the Lady Mary Dellerto come and speak to me. "

"Nay, nay--think of these things no more. Gnats will sting; 'tis intheir nature. I admit 'tis very vexing at the time; but it soon wearsoff if the flesh they have stung be healthy. So think no more on't. "

"But you do not know what follows. Her ladyship insisted that I shoulddrive with her a week after your hurt, when the doctor first proclaimedyou out of danger, and while the town was still all agog with theaffair. No doubt her ladyship thought to put a fresh and greaterhumiliation upon me; you would not be present to blunt the edge of theinsult of those creatures' glances. She carried me to Vauxhall, wherea fuller scope might be given to the pursuit of my shame andmortification. Instead, what think you happened?"

"Her ladyship, I trust, was disappointed. "

"The word is too poor to describe her condition. She broke a fan, beather black boy and dismissed a footman, that she might vent some of thespleen it moved in her. Never was such respect, never such homage shownto any woman as was shown to me that evening. We were all but mobbed bythe very people who had earlier slighted me. 

"'Twas all so mysterious that I must seek the explanation of it. AndI had it, at length, from his Grace of Wharton, who was at my side formost of the time we walked in the gardens. I asked him frankly to whatwas this change owing. And he told me, sir. "

She looked at him as though no more need be said. But his brows wereknit. "He told you, ma'am?" he questioned. "He told you what?"

"What you had done at White's. How to all present and to my LordRotherby's own face you had related the true story of what befell atMaidstone--how I had gone thither, an innocent, foolish maid, to bemarried to a villain, whom, like the silly child I was, I thought Iloved; how that villain, taking advantage of my innocence and ignorance, intended to hoodwink me with a mock-marriage. 

"That was the story that was on every lip; it had gone round the townlike fire; and it says much for the town that what between that and thefoul business of the duel, my Lord Rotherby was receiving on every handthe condemnation he deserves, while for me there was once more--and withheavy interest for the lapse from it--the respect which my indiscretionhad forfeited, and which would have continued to be denied me but foryour noble championing of my cause. 

"That, sir, is the extent to which. I am in your debt. Do you thinkit small? It is so great that I have no words in which to attempt toexpress my thanks. "

Mr. Caryll looked at her a moment with eyes that were very bright. Thenhe broke into a soft laugh that had a note of slyness. 

"In my time, " said he, "I have seen many attempts to change aninconvenient topic. Some have been artful; others artless; othersutterly clumsy. But this, I think, is the clumsiest of them all. Mistress Winthrop, 'tis not worthy in you. "

She looked puzzled, intrigued by his mood. 

"Mistress Winthrop, " he resumed, with an entire change of voice. "Tospeak of this trifle is but a subterfuge of yours to prevent me fromexpressing my deep gratitude for your care of me. "

"Indeed, no--" she began. 

"Indeed, yes, " said he. "How can this compare with what you have donefor me? For I have learnt how greatly it is to you, yourself, that I owemy recovery--the saving of my life. "

"Ah, but that is not true. It--"

"Let me think so, whether it be true or not, " he implored her, eyesbetween tenderness and whimsicality intent upon her face. "Let mebelieve it, for the belief has brought me happiness--the greatesthappiness, I think, that I have ever known. I can know but one greater, and that--"

He broke off suddenly, and she observed that the hand he had stretchedout trembled a moment ere it was abruptly lowered again. It was as a manwho had reached forth to grasp something that he craves, and checked hisdesire upon a sudden thought. 

She felt oddly stirred, despite herself, and oddly constrained. It mayhave been to disguise this that she half turned to the table, saying:"You were about to smoke when I came. " And she took up his pipe andtobacco--jar to offer them. 

"Ah, but since you've come, I would not dream, " he said. 

She looked at him. The complete change of topic permitted it. "If Idesired you so to do?" she inquired, and added: "I love the fragrance ofit. "

He raised his brows. "Fragrance?" quoth he. "My Lady Ostermore hasanother word for it. " He took the pipe and jar from her. "'Tis nohumoring, this, of a man you imagine sick--no silly chivalry of yours?"he questioned doubtfully. "Did I think that, I'd never smoke anotherpipe again. "

She shook her head, and laughed at his solemnity. "I love thefragrance, " she repeated. 

"Ah! Why, then, I'll pleasure you, " said he, with the air of oneconferring favors, and filled his pipe. Presently he spoke again in amusing tone. "In a week or so, I shall be well enough to travel. "

"'Tis your intent to travel?" she inquired. 

He set down the jar, and reached for the tinderbox. "It is time I wasreturning home, " he explained. 

"Ah, yes. Your home is in France. "

"At Maligny; the sweetest nook in Normandy. 'Twas my mother'sbirthplace, and 'twas there she died. "

"You have felt the loss of her, I make no doubt. "

"That might have been the case if I had known her, " answered he. "Butas it is, I never did. I was but two years old--she, herself, buttwenty--when she died. "

He pulled at his pipe in silence a moment or two, his face overcast andthoughtful. A shallower woman would have broken in with expressions ofregret; Hortensia offered him the nobler sympathy of silence. Moreover, she had felt from his tone that there was more to come; that what hehad said was but the preface to some story that he desired her to beacquainted with. And presently, as she expected, he continued. 

"She died, Mistress Winthrop, of a broken heart. My father had abandonedher two years and more before she died. In those years of repining--ay, and worse, of actual want--her health was broken so that, poor soul, shedied. "

"O pitiful!" cried Hortensia, pain in her face. 

"Pitiful, indeed--the more pitiful that her death was a source of someslight happiness to those who loved her; the only happiness they couldhave in her was to know that she was at rest. "

"And--and your father?"

"I am coming to him. My mother had a friend--a very noble, lofty-mindedgentleman who had loved her with a great and honest love before theprofligate who was my father came forward as a suitor. Recognizing inthe latter--as he thought in his honest heart--a man in better case tomake her happy, this gentleman I speak of went his ways. He came uponher afterwards, broken and abandoned, and he gathered up the poor shardsof her shattered life, and sought with tender but unavailing hands topiece them together again. And when she died he vowed to stand my friendand to make up to me for the want I had of parents. 'Tis by his bountythat to-day I am lord of Maligny that was for generations the propertyof my mother's people. 'Tis by his bounty and loving care that I am whatI am, and not what so easily I might have become had the seed sown by myfather been allowed to put out shoots. "

He paused, as if bethinking himself, and looked at her with a wistful, inquiring smile. "But why plague you, " he cried, "with this poor tale ofyesterday that will be forgot to-morrow?"

"Nay--ah, nay, " she begged, and put out a hand in impulsive sympathy totouch his own, so transparent now in its emaciation. "Tell me; tell me!"

His smile softened. He sighed gently and continued. "This gentleman whoadopted me lived for one single purpose, with one single aim in view--toavenge my mother, whom he had loved, upon the man whom she had lovedand who had so ill repaid her. He reared me for that purpose, as much, I think, as out of any other feeling. Thirty years have sped, and stillthe hand of the avenger has not fallen upon my father. It shouldhave fallen a month ago; but I was weak; I hesitated; and then thissword-thrust put me out of all case of doing what I had crossed fromFrance to do. "

She looked at him with something of horror in her face. "Were you--wereyou to have been the instrument?" she inquired. "Were you to haveavenged this thing upon your own father?"

He nodded slowly. "'Twas to that end that I was reared, " he answered, and put aside his pipe, which had gone out. "The spirit of revengewas educated into me until I came to look upon revenge as the best andholiest of emotions; until I believed that if I failed to wreak it Imust be a craven and a dastard. All this seemed so until the moment cameto set my hand to the task. And then--" He shrugged. 

"And then?" she questioned. 

"I couldn't. The full horror of it burst upon me. I saw the thing in itstrue and hideous proportions, and it revolted me. "

"It must have been so, " she approved him. 

"I told my foster-father; but I met with neither sympathy norunderstanding. He renewed his old-time arguments, and again he seemedto prove to me that did I fail I should be false to my duty and to mymother's memory--a weakling, a thing of shame. "

"The monster! Oh, the monster! He is an evil man for all that you havesaid of him. "

"Not so. There is no nobler gentleman in all the world. I who know him, know that. It is through the very nobility of it that this warp hascome into his nature. Sane in all things else, he is--I see it now, Iunderstand it at last--insane on this one subject. Much brooding hasmade him mad upon this matter--a fanatic whose gospel is Vengeance, and, like all fanatics, he is harsh and intolerant when resisted on the pointof his fanaticism. This is something I have come to realize in thesepast days, when I lay with naught else to do but ponder. 

"In all things else he sees as deep and clear as any man; in this hisvision is distorted. He has looked at nothing else for thirty years; canyou wonder that his sight is blurred?"

"He is to be pitied then, " she said, "deeply to be pitied. "

"True. And because I pitied him, because I valued his regard-howevermistaken he might be--above all else, I was hesitating again--thistime between my duty to myself and my duty to him. I was sohesitating--though I scarce can doubt which had prevailed in theend--when came this sword-thrust so very opportunely to put me out ofcase of doing one thing or the other. "

"But now that you are well again?" she asked. 

"Now that I am well again--I thank Heaven that it will be too late. Theopportunity that was ours is lost. His--my father should now be beyondour power. "

There ensued a spell of silence. He sat with eyes averted from herface--those eyes which she had never known other than whimsical andmocking, now full of gloom and pain--riveted upon the glare of sunshineon the pond out yonder. A great sympathy welled up from her heartfor this man whom she was still far from understanding, and who, nevertheless--because of it, perhaps, for there is much fascination inthat which puzzles--was already growing very dear to her. The story hehad told her drew her infinitely closer to him, softening her heart forhim even more perhaps than it had already been softened when she hadseen him--as she had thought--upon the point of dying. A wonder flittedthrough her mind as to why he had told her; then another questionsurged. She gave it tongue. 

"You have told me so much, Mr. Caryll, " she said, "that I am emboldenedto ask something more. " His eyes invited her to put her question. "Your--your father? Was he related to Lord Ostermore?"

Not a muscle of his face moved. "Why that?" he asked. 

"Because your name is Caryll, " said she. 

"My name?" he laughed softly and bitterly. "My name?" He reached for anebony cane that stood beside his chair. "I had thought you understood. "He heaved himself to his feet, and she forgot to caution him againstexertion. "I have no right to any name, " he told her. "My father was aman too full of worldly affairs to think of trifles. And so it befellthat before he went his ways he forgot to marry the poor lady who wasmy mother. I might take what name I chose. I chose Caryll. But you willunderstand, Mistress Winthrop, " and he looked her fully in the face, attempting in vain to dissemble the agony in his eyes--he who a littlewhile ago had been almost happy--"that if ever it should happen thatI should come to love a woman who is worthy of being loved, I who amnameless have no name to offer her. "

Revelation illumined her mind as in a flash. She looked at him. 

"Was--was that what you meant, that day we thought you dying, when yousaid to me--for it was to me you spoke, to me alone--that it was betterso?"

He inclined his head. "That is what I meant, " he answered. 

Her lids drooped; her cheeks were very white, and he remarked the swift, agitated surge of her bosom, the fingers that were plucking at oneanother in her lap. Without looking up, she spoke again. "If you had thelove to offer, what would the rest matter? What is a name that it shouldweigh so much?"

"Heyday!" He sighed, and smiled very wistfully. "You are young, child. In time you will understand what place the world assigns to such men asI. It is a place I could ask no woman to share. Such as I am, could Ispeak of love to any woman?"

"Yet you spoke of love once to me, " she reminded him, scarcely above herbreath, and stabbed him with the recollection. 

"In an hour of moonshine, an hour of madness, when I was a reckless foolthat must give tongue to every impulse. You reproved me then in just theterms my case deserved. Hortensia, " he bent towards her, leaning onhis cane, "'tis very sweet and merciful in you to recall it withoutreproach. Recall it no more, save to think with scorn of the fleeringcoxcomb who was so lost to the respect that is due to so sweet a lady. Ihave told you so much of myself to-day that you may. "

"Decidedly, " came a shrill, ironical voice from the arbor's entrance, "I may congratulate you, sir, upon the prodigious strides of yourrecovery. "

Mr. Caryll straightened himself from his stooping posture, turned andmade Lady Ostermore a bow, his whole manner changed again to that whichwas habitual to him. "And no less decidedly, my lady, " said he with atight-lipped smile, "may I congratulate your ladyship's son upon thathappy circumstance, which is--as I have learned--so greatly due to thesteps your ladyship took--for which I shall be ever grateful--to ensurethat I should be made whole again. "

CHAPTER XIII. THE FORLORN HOPE

Her ladyship stood a moment, leaning upon her cane, her head thrownback, her thin lip curling, and her eyes playing over Mr. Caryll with alook of dislike that she made no attempt to dissemble. 

Mr. Caryll found the situation redolent with comedy. He had a quickeye for such matters; so quick an eye that he deplored on the presentoccasion her ladyship's entire lack of a sense of humor. But forthat lamentable shortcoming, she might have enjoyed with himthe grotesqueness of her having--she, who disliked him soexceedingly--toiled and anguished, robbed herself of sleep, and hopedand prayed with more fervor, perhaps, than she had ever yet hoped andprayed for anything, that his life might be spared. 

Her glance shifted presently from him to Hortensia, who had risen andwho stood in deep confusion at having been so found by her ladyship, and in deep agitation still arising from the things he had said andfrom those which he had been hindered from adding by the coming of thecountess. 

The explanations that had been interrupted might never be renewed; shefelt they never would be; he would account that he had said enough;since he was determined to ask for nothing. And unless the matter werebroached again, what chance had she of combatting his foolish scruples;for foolish she accounted them; they were of no weight with her, unless, indeed, to heighten the warm feeling that already she had conceived forhim. 

Her ladyship moved forward a step or two, her fan going gently to andfro, stirring the barbs of the white plume that formed part of her tallhead-dress. 

"What were you doing here, child?" she inquired, very coldly. 

Mistress Winthrop looked up--a sudden, almost scared glance it was. 

"I, madam? Why--I was walking in the garden, and seeing Mr. Caryll here, I came to ask him how he did; to offer to read to him if he would haveme. "

"And the Maidstone matter not yet cold in its grave!" commented herladyship sourly. "As I'm a woman, it is monstrous I should be inflictedwith the care of you that have no care for yourself. "

Hortensia bit her lip, controlling herself bravely, a spot of red ineither cheek. Mr. Caryll came promptly to her rescue. 

"Your ladyship must confess that Mistress Winthrop has assisted nobly inthe care of me, and so, has placed your ladyship in her debt. "

"In my debt?" shrilled the countess, eyebrows aloft, head-dress nodding. "And what of yours?"

"In my clumsy way, ma'am, I have already attempted to convey my thanksto her. It might be graceful in your ladyship to follow my example. "

Mentally Mr. Caryll observed that it is unwise to rouge so heavily asdid Lady Ostermore when prone to anger and to paling under it. The falsecolor looks so very false on such occasions. 

Her ladyship struck the ground with her cane. "For what have I to thankher, sir? Will you tell me that, you who seem so very well informed. "

"Why, for her part in saving your son's life, ma'am, if you must haveit. Heaven knows, " he continued in his characteristic, half-banteringmanner, under which it was so difficult to catch a glimpse of his realfeelings, "I am not one to throw services done in the face of folk, buthere have Mistress Winthrop and I been doing our best for your son inthis matter; she by so diligently nursing me; I by responding to hernursing--and your ladyship's--and so, recovering from my wound. I donot think that your ladyship shows us a becoming gratitude. It is butnatural that we fellow-workers in your ladyship's and Lord Rotherby'sinterests, should have a word to say to each other on the score of thoselabors which have made us colleagues. "

Her ladyship measured him with a malignant eye. "Are you quite mad, sir?" she asked him. 

He shrugged and smiled. "It has been alleged against me on occasion. ButI think it was pure spite. " Then he waved his hand towards the long seatthat stood at the back of the arbor. "Will your ladyship not sit? Youwill forgive that I urge it in my own interest. They tell me that it isnot good for me to stand too long just yet. "

It was his hope that she would depart. Not so. "I cry you mercy!" saidshe acidly, and rustled to the bench. "Be seated, pray. " She continuedto watch them with her baleful glance. "We have heard fine things fromyou, sir, of what you have both done for my Lord Rotherby, " she gibed, mocking him with the spirit of his half-jest. "Shall I tell you moreprecisely what 'tis he owes you?"

"Can there be more?" quoth Mr. Caryll, smiling so amiably that he musthave disarmed a Gorgon. 

Her ladyship ignored him. "He owes it to you both that you haveestranged him from his father, set up a breach between them that isnever like to be healed. 'Tis what he owes you. "

"Does he not owe it, rather, to his abandoned ways?" asked Hortensia, ina calm, clear voice, bravely giving back her ladyship look for look. 

"Abandoned ways?" screamed the countess. "Is't you that speak ofabandoned ways, ye shameless baggage? Faith, ye may be some judge ofthem. Ye fooled him into running off with you. 'Twas that began allthis. Just as with your airs and simpers, and prettily-played innocencesyou fooled this other, here, into being your champion. "

"Madam, you insult me!" Hortensia was on her feet, eyes flashing, cheeksaflame. 

"I am witness to that, " said Lord Ostermore, coming in through theside-entrance. 

Mr. Caryll was the only one who had seen him approach. The earl's facethat had wont to be so florid, was now pale and careworn, and he seemedto have lost flesh during the past month. He turned to her ladyship. 

"Out on you!" he said testily, "to chide the poor child so!"

"Poor child!" sneered her ladyship, eyes raised to heaven to invoke itstestimony to this absurdity. "Poor child. "

"Let there be an end to it, madam, " he said with attempted sternness. "It is unjust and unreasonable in you. "

"If it were that--which it is not--it would be but following the examplethat you set me. What are you but unreasonable and unjust--to treat yourson as you are treating him?"

His lordship crimsoned. On the subject of his son he could be angry inearnest, even with her ladyship, as already we have seen. 

"I have no son, " he declared, "there is a lewd, drunken, bullyingprofligate who bears my name, and who will be Lord Ostermore some day. Ican't strip him of that. But I'll strip him of all else that's mine, Godhelping me. I beg, my lady, that you'll let me hear no more of this, I beg it. Lord Rotherby leaves my house to-day--now that Mr. Caryll isrestored to health. Indeed, he has stayed longer than was necessary. Heleaves to-day. He has my orders, and my servants have orders to see thathe obeys them. I do not wish to see him again--never. Let him go, andlet him be thankful--and be your ladyship thankful, too, since it seemsyou must have a kindness for him in spite of all he has done to disgraceand discredit us--that he goes not by way of Holborn Hill and Tyburn. "

She looked at him, very white from suppressed fury. "I do believe youhad been glad had it been so. "

"Nay, " he answered, "I had been sorry for Mr. Caryll's sake. "

"And for his own?"

"Pshaw!"

"Are you a father?" she wondered contemptuously. 

"To my eternal shame, ma'am!" he flung back at her. He seemed, indeed, a changed man in more than body since Mr. Caryll's duel with LordRotherby. "No more, ma'am--no more!" he cried, seeming suddenly toremember the presence of Mr. Caryll, who sat languidly drawing figureson the ground with the ferrule of his cane. He turned to ask theconvalescent how he did. Her ladyship rose to withdraw, and at thatmoment Leduc made his appearance with a salver, on which was a bowl ofsoup, a flask of Hock, and a letter. Setting this down in such a mannerthat the letter was immediately under his master's eyes, he furtherproceeded to draw Mr. Caryll's attention to it. It was addressed inSir Richard Everard's hand. Mr. Caryll took it, and slipped it into hispocket. Her ladyship's eyebrows went up. 

"Will you not read your letter, Mr. Caryll?" she invited him, with anamazingly sudden change to amiability. 

"It will keep, ma'am, to while away an hour that is less pleasantlyengaged. " And he took the napkin Leduc was proffering. 

"You pay your correspondent a poor compliment, " said she. 

"My correspondent is not one to look for them or need them, " he answeredlightly, and dipped his spoon in the broth. 

"Is she not?" quoth her ladyship. 

Mr. Caryll laughed. "So feminine!" said he. "Ha, ha! So veryfeminine--to assume the sex so readily. "

"'Tis an easy assumption when the superscription is writ in a woman'shand. "

Mr. Caryll, the picture of amiability, smiled between spoonfuls. "Yourladyship's eyes preserve not only their beauty but a keenness beyondbelief. "

"How could you have seen it from that distance, Sylvia?" inquired hispractical lordship. 

"Then again, " said her ladyship, ignoring both remarks, "there is theassiduity of this fair writer since Mr. Caryll has been in case toreceive letters. Five billets in six days! Deny it if you can, Mr. Caryll. "

Her playfulness, so ill-assumed, sat more awkwardly upon her than herusual and more overt malice towards him. 

"To what end should I deny it?" he replied, and added in his mostingratiating manner another of his two-edged compliments. "Your ladyshipis the model chatelaine. No happening in your household can escape yourknowledge. His lordship is greatly to be envied. "

"Yet, you see, " she cried, appealing to her husband, and even toHortensia, who sat apart, scarce heeding this trivial matter of which somuch was being made, "you see that he evades the point, avoids a directanswer to the question that is raised. "

"Since your ladyship perceives it, it were more merciful to spare myinvention the labor of fashioning further subterfuges. I am a sick manstill, and my wits are far from brisk. " He took up the glass of wineLeduc had poured for him. 

The countess looked at him again through narrowing eyelids, theplayfulness all vanished. "You do yourself injustice, sir, as I am awoman. Your wits want nothing more in briskness. " She rose, and lookeddown upon him engrossed in his broth. "For a dissembler, sir, " shepronounced upon him acidly, "I think it would be difficult to meet yourmatch. "

He dropped his spoon into the bowl with a clatter. He looked up, thevery picture of amazement and consternation. 

"A dissembler, I?" quoth he in earnest protest; then laughed and quoted, adapting, "'Tis not my talent to conceal my thoughts Or carry smiles and sunshine in my face Should discontent sit heavy at my heart. "

She looked him over, pursing her lips. "I've often thought you mighthave been a player, " said she contemptuously. 

"I'faith, " he laughed, "I'd sooner play than toil. "

"Ay; but you make a toil of play, sir. "

"Compassionate me, ma'am, " he implored in the best of humors. "I am buta sick man. Your ladyship's too keen for me. "

She moved across to the exit without answering him. "Come, child, " shesaid to Hortensia. "We are tiring Mr. Caryll, I fear. Let us leave himto his letter, ere it sets his pocket afire. "

Hortensia rose. Loath though she might be to depart, there was no reasonshe could urge for lingering. 

"Is not your lordship coming?" said she. 

"Of course he is, " her ladyship commanded. "I need to speak with you yetconcerning Rotherby, " she informed him. 

"Hem!" His lordship coughed. Plainly he was not at his ease. "I willfollow soon. Do not stay for me. I have a word to say to Mr. Caryll. "

"Will it not keep? What can you have to say to him that is so pressing?"

"But a word--no more. "

"Why, then, we'll stay for you, " said her ladyship, and threw him intoconfusion, hopeless dissembler that he was. 

"Nay, nay! I beg that you will not. "

Her ladyship's brows went up; her eyes narrowed again, and a frown camebetween them. "You are mighty mysterious, " said she, looking from one tothe other of the men, and bethinking her that it was not the first timeshe had found them so; bethinking her, too--jumping, woman-like, to rashconclusions--that in this mystery that linked them might lie the truesecret of her husband's aversion to his son and of his oath a month agoto see that same son hang if Mr. Caryll succumbed to the wound he hadtaken. With some women, to suspect a thing is to believe that thing. Herladyship was of these. She set too high value upon her acumen, upon thekeenness of her instincts. 

And if aught were needed to cement her present suspicions, Mr. Caryllhimself afforded that cement, by seeming to betray the same eagerness tobe alone with his lordship that his lordship was betraying to be alonewith him; though, in truth, he no more than desired to lend assistanceto the earl out of curiosity to learn what it was his lordship mighthave to say. 

"Indeed, " said he, "if you could give his lordship leave, ma'am, for afew moments, I should myself be glad on't. "

"Come, Hortensia, " said her ladyship shortly, and swept out, MistressWinthrop following. 

In silence they crossed the lawn together. Once only ere they reachedthe house, her ladyship looked back. "I would I knew what they areplotting, " she said through her teeth. 

"Plotting?" echoed Hortensia. 

"Ay--plotting, simpleton. I said plotting. I mind me 'tis not the firsttime I have seen them so mysterious together. It began on the day thatfirst Mr. Caryll set foot at Stretton House. There's a deal of mysteryabout that man--too much for honesty. And then these letters touchingwhich he is so close--one a day--and his French lackey always at hand topounce upon them the moment they arrive. I wonder what's at bottom on't!I wonder! And I'd give these ears to know, " she snapped in conclusion asthey went indoors. 

In the arbor, meanwhile, his lordship had taken the rustic seat herladyship had vacated. He sat down heavily, like a man who is weary inbody and in mind, like a man who is bearing a load too heavy for hisshoulders. Mr. Caryll, watching him, observed all this. 

"A glass of Hock?" he suggested, waving his hand towards the flask. "Letme play host to you out of the contents of your own cellar. "

His lordship's eye brightened at the suggestion, which confirmed theimpression Mr. Caryll had formed that all was far from well with hislordship. Leduc brimmed a glass, and handed it to my lord, who emptiedit at a draught. Mr. Caryll waved an impatient hand. "Away with you, Leduc. Go watch the goldfish in the pond. I'll call you if I need you. "

After Leduc had departed a silence fell between them, and endured somemoments. His lordship was leaning forward, elbows on knees, his face inshadow. At length he sat back, and looked at his companion across thelittle intervening space. 

"I have hesitated to speak to you before, Mr. Caryll, upon the matterthat you know of, lest your recovery should not be so far advanced thatyou might bear the strain and fatigue of conversing upon serious topics. I trust that that cause is now so far removed that I may put aside myscruples. "

"Assuredly--I am glad to say--thanks to the great care you have had ofme here at Stretton House. "

"There is no debt between us on that score, " answered his lordshipshortly, brusquely almost. "Well, then--" He checked, and looked abouthim. "We might be approached without hearing any one, " he said. 

Mr. Caryll smiled, and shook his head. "I am not wont to neglect suchdetails, " he observed. "The eyes of Argus were not so vigilant as myLeduc's; and he understands that we are private. He will give uswarning should any attempt to approach. Be assured of that, and believe, therefore, that we are more snug here than we should be even in yourlordship's closet. "

"That being so, sir--hem! You are receiving letters daily. Do theyconcern the business of King James?"

"In a measure; or, rather, they are from one concerned in it. "

Ostermore's eyes were on the ground again. There fell a pause, Mr. Caryll frowning slightly and full of curiosity as to what might becoming. 

"How soon, think you, " asked his lordship presently, "you will be incase to travel?"

"In a week, I hope, " was the reply. 

"Good. " The earl nodded thoughtfully. "That may be in time. I pray itmay be. 'Tis now the best that we can do. You'll bear a letter for me tothe king?"

Mr. Caryll passed a hand across his chin, his face very grave. "Youranswer to the letter that I brought you?"

"My answer. My acceptance of his majesty's proposals. "

"Ha!" Mr. Caryll seemed to be breathing hard. 

"Your letters, sir--the letters that you have been receiving will havetold you, perhaps, something of how his majesty's affairs are speedinghere?"

"Very little; and from that little I fear that they speed none too well. I would counsel your lordship, " he continued slowly--he was thinkingas he went--"to wait a while before you burn your boats. From what Igather, matters are in the air just now. "

The earl made a gesture, brusque and impatient. "Your information isvery scant, then, " said he. 

Mr. Caryll looked askance at him. 

"Pho, sir! While you have been abed, I have been up and doing; up anddoing. Matters are being pushed forward rapidly. I have seen Atterbury. He knows my mind. There lately came an agent from the king, it seems, toenjoin the bishop to abandon this conspiracy, telling him that the timewas not yet ripe. Atterbury scorns to act upon that order. He will workin the king's interests against the king's own commands even. "

"Then, 'tis possible he may work to his own undoing, " said Mr. Caryll, to whom this was, after all, no news. 

"Nay, nay; you have been sick; you do not know how things have spedin this past month. Atterbury holds, and he is right, I dare swear--heholds that never will there be such another opportunity. The financesof the country are still in chaos, in spite of all Walpole's effortsand fine promises. The South Sea bubble has sapped the confidence in thegovernment of all men of weight. The very Whigs themselves are shaken. 'Tis to King James, England begins to look for salvation from thistopsy-turveydom. The tide runs strongly in our favor. Strongly, sir!If we stay for the ebb, we may stay for good; for there may never beanother flow within our lifetime. "

"Your lordship is grown strangely hot upon this question, " said Caryll, very full of wonder. 

As he understood Ostermore, the earl was scarcely the sentimentalistto give way to such a passion of loyalty for a weaker side. Yet hislordship had spoken, not with the cold calm of the practical man whoseeks advantage, but with all the fervor of the enthusiast. 

"Such is my interest, " answered his lordship. "Even as the fortunes ofthe country are beggared by the South Sea Company, so are my own; evenas the country must look to King James for its salvation, so must I. Atbest 'tis but a forlorn hope, I confess; yet 'tis the only hope I see. "

Mr. Caryll looked at him, smiled to himself, and nodded. So! All thisfire and enthusiasm was about the mending of his personal fortunes--thegrubbing of riches for himself. Well, well! It was good matter wasted ona paltry cause. But it sorted excellently with what Mr. Caryll knewof the nature of this father of his. It never could transcend thepractical; there was no imagination to carry it beyond those narrowsordid confines, and Mr. Caryll had been a fool to have supposed thatany other springs were pushing here. Egotism, egotism, egotism! Itsname, he thought, was surely Ostermore. And again, as once before, underthe like circumstances, he found more pity than scorn awaking in hisheart. The whole wasted, sterile life that lay behind this man; theunhappy, loveless home that stood about him now in his declining yearswere the fruits he had garnered from that consuming love of self withwhich the gods had cursed him. 

The only ray to illumine the black desert of Ostermore's existencewas the affection of his ward, Hortensia Winthrop, because in that oneinstance he had sunk his egotism a little, sparing a crumb of pity--foronce in his life--for the child's orphanhood. Had Ostermore been otherthan the man he was, his existence must have proved a burden beyond hisstrength. It was so barren of good deeds, so sterile of affection. Yet encrusted as he was in that egotism of his--like the limpet inits shell--my lord perceived nothing of this, suffered nothing of it, understanding nothing. He was all-sufficient to himself. Giving nothing, he looked for nothing, and sought his happiness--without knowing thequest vain--in what he had. The fear of losing this had now in hisdeclining years cast, at length, a shadow upon his existence. 

Mr. Caryll looked at him almost sorrowfully. Then he put by histhoughts, and broke the silence. "All this I had understood when first Isought you out, " said he. "Yet your lordship did not seem to realize itquite so keenly. Is it that Atterbury and his friends--?"

"No, no, " Ostermore broke in. "Look'ee! I will be frank--quite frank andopen with you, Mr. Caryll. Things were bad when first you came tome. Yet not so bad that I was driven to a choice of evils. I had lostheavily. But enough remained to bear me through my time, though Rotherbymight have found little enough left after I had gone. While that was so, I hesitated to take a risk. I am an old man. It had been different had Ibeen young with ambitions that craved satisfying. I am an old man; andI desired peace and my comforts. Deeming these assured, I paused ere Irisked their loss against the stake which in King James's name you setupon the board. But it happens to-day that these are assured no longer, "he ended, his voice breaking almost, his eyes haggard. "They are assuredno longer. "

"You mean?" inquired Caryll. 

"I mean that I am confronted by the danger of beggary, ruin, shame, andthe sponging-house, at best. "

Mr. Caryll was stirred out of his calm. "My lord!" he cried. "How isthis possible? What can have come to pass?"

The earl was silent for a long while. It was as if he pondered how heshould answer, or whether he should answer at all. At last, in a lowvoice, a faint tinge reddening his face, his eyes averted, he explained. It shamed him so to do, yet must he satisfy that craving of weak mindsto unburden, to seek relief in confession. "Mine is the case of Craggs, the secretary of state, " he said. "And Craggs, you'll remember, shothimself. "

"My God, " said Mr. Caryll, and opened wide his eyes. "Did you-?" Hepaused, not knowing what euphemism to supply for the thing his lordshipmust have done. 

His lordship looked up, sneering almost in self-derision. "I did, " heanswered. "To tell you all--I accepted twenty thousand pounds' worth ofSouth Sea stock when the company was first formed, for which I did notpay other than by lending the scheme the support of my name at a timewhen such support was needed. I was of the ministry, then, you willremember. "

Mr. Caryll considered him again, and wondered a moment at theconfession, till he understood by intuition that the matter and itsconsequences were so deeply preying upon the man's mind that he couldnot refrain from giving vent to his fears. 

"And now you know, " his lordship added, "why my hopes are all in KingJames. Ruin stares me in the face. Ruin and shame. This forlorn Stuarthope is the only hope remaining me. Therefore, am I eager to embrace it. I have made all plain to you. You should understand now. "

"Yet not quite all. You did this thing. But the inspection of thecompany's books is past. The danger of discovery, at least, is averted. Or is it that your conscience compels you to make restitution?"

His lordship stared and gaped. "Do you suppose me mad?" he inquired, quite seriously. "Pho! Others were overlooked at the time. We didnot all go the way of Craggs and Aislabie and their fellow-sufferers. Stanhope was assailed afterward, though he was innocent. That filthyfellow, the Duke of Wharton, from being an empty fop turned himself on asudden into a Crown attorney to prosecute the peculators. It was an easyroad to fame for him, and the fool had a gift of eloquence. Stanhope'sdeath is on his conscience--or would be if he had one. That was sixmonths ago. When he discovered his error in the case of Stanhope and sawthe fatal consequences it had, he ceased his dirty lawyer's work. Buthe had good grounds upon which to suspect others as highly placed asStanhope, and had he followed his suspicions he might have turned theminto certainties and discovered evidence. As it was, he let the matterlie, content with the execution he had done, and the esteem into whichhe had so suddenly hoisted himself--the damned profligate!"

Mr. Caryll let pass, as typical, the ludicrous want of logic inOstermore's strictures of his Grace of Wharton, and the application byhim to the duke of opprobrious terms that were no whit less applicableto himself. 

"Then, that being so, what cause for these alarms some six monthslater?"

"Because, " answered his lordship in a sudden burst of passion thatbrought him to his feet, empurpled his face and swelled the veins of hisforehead, "because I am cursed with the filthiest fellow in England formy son. "

He said it with the air of one who throws a flood of light wheredarkness has been hitherto, who supplies the key that must resolve at aturn a whole situation. But Mr. Caryll blinked foolishly. 

"My wits are very dull, I fear, " said he. "I still cannot understand. "

"Then I'll make it all clear to you, " said his lordship. 

Leduc appeared at the arbor entrance. 

"What now?" asked Mr. Caryll. 

"Her ladyship is approaching, sir, " answered Leduc the vigilant. 

CHAPTER XIV. LADY OSTERMORE

Lord Ostermore and Mr. Caryll looked across the lawn towards the house, but failed to see any sign of her ladyship's approach. 

Mr. Caryll raised questioning eyes to his servant's stolid face, and inthat moment caught the faintest rustle of a gown behind the arbor. Hehalf-turned to my lord, and nodded slightly in the direction of thesound, a smile twisting his lips. With a gesture he dismissed Leduc, whoreturned to the neighborhood of the pond. 

His lordship frowned, angered by the interruption. Then: "If yourladyship will come inside, " said he, "you will hear better and withgreater comfort. "

"Not to speak of dignity, " said Mr. Caryll. 

The stiff gown rustled again, this time without stealth. The countessappeared, no whit abashed. Mr. Caryll rose politely. 

"You sit with spies to guard your approaches, " said she. 

"As a precaution against spies, " was his lordship's curt answer. 

She measured him with a cool eye. "What is't ye hide?" she asked him. 

"My shame, " he answered readily. Then after a moment's pause, he roseand offered her his seat. "Since you have thrust yourself in where youwere not bidden, you may hear and welcome, ma'am, " said he. "It may helpyou to understand what you term my injustice to my son. "

"Are these matters wherewith to importune a stranger--a guest?"

"I am proposing to say in your presence what I was about to say in yourabsence, " said he, without answering her question. "Be seated, ma'am. "

She sniffed, closed her fan with a clatter, and sat down. Mr. Caryllresumed his long chair, and his lordship took the stool. 

"I am told, " the latter resumed presently, recapitulating in part forher ladyship's better understanding, "that his Grace of Wharton isintending to reopen the South Sea scandal, as soon as he can findevidence that I was one of those who profited by the company's charter. "

"Profited?" she echoed, between scorn and bitter amusement. "Profited, did ye say? I think your dotage is surely upon you--you that have sunknigh all your fortune and all that you had with me in this thievingventure--d'ye talk of profits?"

"At the commencement I did profit, as did many others. Had I beencontent with my gains, had I been less of a trusting fool, it had beenwell. I was dazzled, maybe, by the glare of so much gold. I needed more;and so I lost all. That is evil enough. But there is worse. I may becalled upon to make restitution of what I had from the company withoutpaying for it--I may give all that's left me and barely cover theamount, and I may starve and be damned thereafter. "

Her ladyship's face was ghastly. Horror stared from her pale eyes. Shehad known, from the beginning, of that twenty thousand pounds' worth ofstock, and she had had--with his lordship--her anxious moments whenthe disclosures were being made six months ago that had brought theCraggses, Aislabie and a half-dozen others to shame and ruin. 

His lordship looked at her a moment. "And if this shipwreck comes, asit now threatens, " he continued, "it is my son I shall have to thankfor't. "

She found voice to ask: "How so?" courage to put the questionscornfully. "Is it not rather Rotherby you have to thank that thedisclosures did not come six months ago? What was it saved you but thefriendship his Grace of Wharton had for Charles?"

"Why, then, " stormed his lordship, "did he not see to't that hepreserved that friendship? It but needed a behavior of as much decencyand honor as Wharton exacts in his associates--and the Lord knows howmuch that is!" he sneered. "As it is, he has gone even lower than thatabandoned scourer; so low that even this rakehell duke must become hisenemy for his own credit's sake. He attempts mock-marriages with ladiesof quality; and he attempts murder by stabbing through the back agentleman who has spared his worthless life. Not even the president ofthe Hell Fire Club can countenance these things, strong stomach thoughhe have for villainy. It is something to have contrived to come so lowthat even his Grace of Wharton must turn upon him, and swear his ruin. And so that he may ruin him, his grace is determined to ruin me. Now youunderstand, madam--and you, Mr. Caryll. "

Mr. Caryll understood. He understood even more than his lordship meanthim to understand; more than his lordship understood, himself. So, too, did her ladyship, if we may judge from the reply she made him. 

"You fool, " she railed. "You vain, blind, selfish fool! To blameRotherby for this. Rather should Rotherby, blame you that by your damneddishonesty have set a weapon against him in his enemy's hands. "

"Madam!" he roared, empurpling, and coming heavily to his feet. "Do youknow who I am?"

"Ay--and what you are, which is something you will never know. God! Wasthere ever so self-centered a fool? Compassionate me, Heaven!" She rose, too, and turned to Mr. Caryll. "You, sir, " she said to him, "you havebeen dragged into this, I know not why. "

She broke off suddenly, looking at him, her eyes a pair of gimlets nowfor penetration. "Why have you been dragged into it?" she demanded. "What is here? I demand to know. What help does my lord expect fromyou that he tells you this? Does he--" She paused an instant, a cunningsmile breaking over her wrinkled, painted face. "Does he propose to sellhimself to the king over the water, and are you a secret agent come todo the buying? Is that the answer to this riddle?"

Mr. Caryll, imperturbable outwardly, but very ill at ease within, smiledand waved the delicate hand that appeared through the heavy ruffle athis wrist. "Madam, indeed--ah--your ladyship goes very fast. You leapso at conclusions for which no grounds can exist. His lordship is sooverwrought--as well he may be, alas!--that he cares not before whom hespeaks. Is it not plainly so?"

She smiled very sourly. "You are a very master of evasion, sir. But yourevasion gives me the answer that I lack--that and his lordship's face. I drew my bow at a venture; yet look, sir, and tell me, has my quarrelmissed its mark?"

And, indeed, the sudden fear and consternation written on my lord's facewas so plain that all might read it. He was--as Mr. Caryll had remarkedon the first occasion that they met--the worst dissembler that everset hand to a conspiracy. He betrayed himself at every step, if notpositively, by incautious words, why then by the utter lack of controlhe had upon his countenance. 

He made now a wild attempt to bluster. "Lies! Lies!" he protested. "Yourladyship's a-dreaming. Should I be making bad worse by plotting at mytime of life? Should I? What can King James avail me, indeed?"

"'Tis what I will ask Rotherby to help me to discover, " she informedhim. 

"Rotherby?" he cried. "Would you tell that villain what you suspect?Would you arm him with another weapon for my undoing?"

"Ha!" said she. "You admit so much, then?" And she laughed disdainfully. Then with a sudden sternness, a sudden nobility almost in the motherhoodwhich she put forward--"Rotherby is my son, " she said, "and I'll nothave my son the victim of your follies as well as of your injustice. Wemay curb the one and the other yet, my lord. "

And she swept out, fan going briskly in one hand, her long ebony caneswinging as briskly in the other. 

"O God!" groaned Ostermore, and sat down heavily. 

Mr. Caryll helped himself copiously to snuff. "I think, " said he, hisvoice so cool that it had an almost soothing influence, "I think yourlordship has now another reason why you should go no further in thismatter. "

"But if I do not--what other hopes have I? Damn me! I'm a ruined maneither way. "

"Nay, nay, " Mr. Caryll reminded him. "Assuming even that you arecorrectly informed, and that his Grace of Wharton is determined to moveagainst you, it is not to be depended that he will succeed in collectingsuch evidence as he must need. At this date much of the evidence thatmay once have been available will have been dissipated. You are rash todespair so soon. "

"There is that, " his lordship admitted thoughtfully, a little hopefully, even; "there is that. " And with the resilience of his nature--of menwho form opinions on slight grounds, and, therefore, are ready to changethem upon grounds as slight--"I' faith! I may have been running to meetmy trouble. 'Tis but a rumor, after all, that Wharton is for mischief, and--as you say--as like as not there'll be no evidence by now. Therewas little enough at the time. 

"Still, I'll make doubly sure. My letter to King James can do no harm. We'll talk of it again, when you are in case to travel. "

It passed through Mr. Caryll's mind at the moment that Lady Ostermoreand her son might between them brew such mischief as might seriouslyhinder him from travelling, and he was very near the truth. For alreadyher ladyship was closeted with Rotherby in her boudoir. 

The viscount was dressed for travelling, intent upon withdrawing to thecountry, for he was well-informed already of the feeling of thetown concerning him, and had no mind to brave the slights andcold-shoulderings that would await him did he penetrate to any of thehaunts of people of quality and fashion. He stood before his mother now, a tall, lank figure, his black face very gloomy, his sensual lipsthrust forward in a sullen pout. She, in a gilt arm-chair before hertoilet-table, was telling him the story of what had passed, his father'sfear of ruin and disgrace. He swore between his teeth when he heard thatthe danger threatened from the Duke of Wharton. 

"And your father's destitution means our destitution--yours and mine;for his gambling schemes have consumed my portion long since. "

He laughed and shrugged. "I marvel I should concern myself, " said he. "What can it avail me to save the rags that are left him of his fortune?He's sworn I shall never touch a penny that he may die possessed of. "

"But there's the entail, " she reminded him. "If restitution is demanded, the Crown will not respect it. 'Twill be another sop to throw thewhining curs that were crippled by the bubble, and who threaten todisturb the country if they are not appeased. If Wharton carries outthis exposure, we're beggars--utter beggars, that may ask an alms toquiet hunger. "

"'Tis Wharton's present hate of me, " said he thoughtfully, and swore. "The damned puppy! He'd make a sacrifice of me upon the altar ofrespectability, just as he made a sacrifice of the South Sea bubblers. What else was the stinking rakehell seeking but to put himself rightagain in the eyes of a town that was nauseated with him and hisexcesses? The self-seeking toad that makes virtue his profession--thevirtue of others--and profligacy his recreation!" He smote fist intopalm. "There's a way to silence him. "

"Ah?" she looked up quickly, hopefully. 

"A foot or so of steel, " Rotherby explained, and struck the hilt of hissword. "I might pick a quarrel with him. 'Twould not be difficult. Comeupon him unawares, say, and strike him. That should force a fight. "

"Tusk, fool! He's all empanoplied in virtue where you are concerned. He'd use the matter of your affair with Caryll as a reason not tomeet you, whatever you might do, and he'd set his grooms to punish anyindignity you might put upon him. "

"He durst not. "

"Pooh! The town would all approve him in it since your running Caryllthrough the back. What a fool you were, Charles. "

He turned away, hanging his head, full conscious, and with no littlebitterness, of how great had been his folly. 

"Salvation may lie for you in the same source that has brought you tothe present pass--this man Caryll, " said the countess presently. "Isuspect him more than ever of being a Jacobite agent. "

"I know him to be such. "

"You know it?"

"All but; and Green is assured of it, too. " He proceeded to tell herwhat he knew. "Ever since Green met Caryll at Maidstone has he suspectedhim, yet but that I kept him to the task he would have abandoned it. He's in my pay now as much as in Lord Carteret's, and if he can runCaryll to earth he receives his wages from both sides. "

"Well--well? What has he discovered? Anything?"

"A little. This Caryll frequented regularly the house of one Everard, who came to town a week after Caryll's own arrival. This Everard--SirRichard Everard is known to be a Jacobite. He is the Pretender'sParis agent. They would have laid him by the heels before, but thatby precipitancy they feared to ruin their chances of discovering thebusiness that may have brought him over. They are giving him rope atpresent. Meanwhile, by my cursed folly, Caryll's visits to him wereinterrupted. But there has been correspondence between them. "

"I know, " said her ladyship. "A letter was delivered him just now. Itried to smoke him concerning it. But he's too astute. "

"Astute or not, " replied her son, "once he leaves Stretton House itshould not be long ere he betrays himself and gives us cause to lay himby the heels. But how will that help us?"

"Do you ask how? Why, if there is a plot, and we can discover it, wemight make terms with the secretary of state to avoid any disclosureWharton may intend concerning the South Sea matter. "

"But that would be to discover my father for a Jacobite! What advantageshould we derive from that? 'Twould be as bad as t'other matter. "

"Let me die, but ye're a slow-witted clod, Charles. D'ye think we canfind no way to disclose the plot and Mr. Caryll--and Everard, too, ifyou choose--without including your father? My lord is timidly cautious, and you may depend he'll not have put himself in their hands to anyextent just yet. "

The viscount paced the chamber slowly in long strides, head bent inthought, hands clasped behind him. "It will need consideration, " saidhe. "But it may serve, and I can count upon Green. He is satisfied thatCaryll befooled him at Maidstone, and that he kept the papers he carrieddespite the thoroughness of Green's investigations. Moreover, he washandled with some roughness by Caryll. For that and the other matterhe asks redress--thirsts for it. He's a very willing tool, as I havefound. "

"Then see that you use him adroitly to your work, " said his mother. "Best not leave town at present, Charles. "

"Why, no, " said he. "I'll find me a lodging somewhere at hand, since myfond sire is determined I shall pollute no longer the sacrosanctity ofhis dwelling. Perhaps when I have pulled him out of this quicksand, hewill deign to mitigate the bitterness of his feelings for me. Though, faith, I find life endurable without the affection he should haveconsecrated to me. "

"Ay, " she said, looking up at him. "You are his son; too much his son, I fear. 'Tis why he dislikes you so intensely. He sees in you the faultsto which he is blind in himself. "

"Sweet mother!" said his lordship, bowing. 

She scowled at him. She could deal in irony herself--and loved to--butshe detested to have it dealt to her. 

He bowed again; gained the door, and would have passed out but that shedetained him. 

"'Tis a pity, on some scores, to dispose so utterly of this Caryll, "she said. "The pestilent coxcomb has his uses, and his uses, likeadversity's, are sweet. "

He paused to question her with his eyes. 

"He might have made a husband for Hortensia, and rid me of the companyof that white-faced changeling. "

"Might he so?" quoth the viscount, face and voice, expressionless. 

"They were made for each other, " her ladyship opined. 

"Were they so?"

"Ay--were they. And faith they've discovered it. I would you had seenthe turtles in the arbor an hour ago, when I surprised them. "

His lordship attempted a smile, but achieved nothing more than a wryface and a change of color. His mother's eyes, observing these signs, grew on a sudden startled. 

"Why, fool, " quoth she, "do you hold there still? Art not yet cured ofthat folly?"

"What folly, ma'am?"

"This folly that already has cost you so much. 'Sdeath! As I'm a woman, if you'd so much feeling for the girl, I marvel ye did not marry herhonestly and in earnest when the chance was yours. "

The pallor of his face increased. He clenched his hands. "I marvelmyself that I did not, " he answered passionately--and went out, slammingthe door after him, and leaving her ladyship agape and angry. 

CHAPTER XV. LOVE AND RAGE

Lord Rotherby, descending from that interview with his mother, espiedHortensia crossing the hall below. Forgetting his dignity, he quickenedhis movements, and took the remainder of the stairs two at a stride. But, then, his lordship was excited and angry, and considerations ofdignity did not obtain with him at the time. For that matter, theyseldom did. 

"Hortensia! Hortensia!" he called to her, and at his call she paused. 

Not once during the month that was past--and during which he had, for the most part, kept his room, to all intents a prisoner--had sheexchanged so much as a word with him. Thus, not seeing him, she had beenable, to an extent, to exclude him from her thoughts, which, naturallyenough, were reluctant to entertain him for their guest. 

Her calm, as she paused now in acquiescence to his bidding, was suchthat it almost surprised herself. She had loved him once--or thoughtso, a little month ago--and at a single blow he had slain that love. Nowlove so slain has a trick of resurrecting in the guise of hate; and so, she had thought at first had been the case with her. But this momentproved to her now that her love was dead, indeed, since of her erstwhileaffection not even a recoil to hate remained. Dislike she may have felt;but it was that cold dislike that breeds a deadly indifference, andseeks no active expression, asking no more than the avoidance of itsobject. 

Her calm, reflected in her face of a beauty almost spiritual, in everysteady line of her slight, graceful figure, gave him pause a moment, andhis hot glance fell abashed before the chill indifference that met himfrom those brown eyes. 

A man of deeper sensibilities, of keener perceptions, would have bowedand gone his way. But then a man of deeper sensibilities would neverhave sought this interview that the viscount was now seeking. Therefore, it was but natural that he should recover swiftly from his momentaryhalt, and step aside to throw open the door of a little room on theright of the hall. Bowing slightly, he invited her to enter. 

"Grant me a moment ere I go, Hortensia, " he said 'between command andexhortation. 

She stood cogitating him an instant, with no outward sign of what mightbe passing in her mind; then she slightly inclined her head, and wentforward as he bade her. 

It was a sunny room, gay with light color and dainty furnishings, havinglong window-doors that opened to the garden. An Aubusson carpet ofpalest green, with a festoon pattern of pink roses, covered two-thirdsof the blocked, polished floor. The empanelled walls were white, withhere a gilt mirror, flanked on either side by a girandole in ormolu. Aspinet stood open in mid-chamber, and upon it were sheets of music, a few books and a bowl of emerald-green ware, charged now with roses, whose fragrance lay heavy on the air. There were two or threesmall tables of very dainty, fragile make, and the chairs were indelicately-tinted tapestry illustrating the fables of La Fontaine. 

It was an apartment looked upon by Hortensia as her ownwithdrawing-room, set apart for her own use, and as that thehousehold--her very ladyship included--had ever recognized it. 

His lordship closed the door with care. Hortensia took her seat uponthe long stool that stood at the spinet, her back to the instrument, and with hands idle in her lap--the same cold reserve upon hercountenance-she awaited his communication. 

He advanced until he was close beside her, and stood leaning an elbowon the corner of the spinet, a long and not ungraceful figure, withthe black curls of his full-bottomed wig falling about his swarthy, big-featured face. 

"I have but my farewells to make, Hortensia, " said he. "I am leavingStretton House, to-day, at last. "

"I am glad, " said she, in a formal, level voice, "that things shouldhave fallen out so as to leave you free to go your ways. "

"You are glad, " he answered, frowning slightly, and leaning farthertowards her. "Ay, and why are you glad? Why? You are glad for Mr. Caryll's sake. Do you deny it?"

She looked up at him quite calm and fearlessly. "I am glad for your ownsake, too. "

His dark brooding eyes looked deep into hers, which did not falter underhis insistent gaze. "Am I to believe you?" he inquired. 

"Why not? I do not wish your death. "

"Not my death--but my absence?" he sneered. "You wish for that, do younot? You would prefer me gone? My room is better than my company justnow? 'Tis what you think, eh?"

"I have not thought of it at all, " she answered him with a pitilessfrankness. 

He laughed, soft and wickedly. "Is it so very hopeless, then? You havenot thought of it at all by which you mean that you have not thought ofme at all. "

"Is't not best so? You have given me no cause to think of you to youradvantage. I am therefore kind to exclude you from my thoughts. "

"Kind?" he mocked her. "You think it kind to put me from your mind--Iwho love you, Hortensia!"

She rose upon the instant, her cheeks warming faintly. "My lord, " saidshe, "I think there is no more to be said between us. "

"Ah, but there is, " he cried. "A deal more yet. " And he left his placeby the spinet to come and stand immediately before her, barring herpassage to the door. "Not only to say farewell was it that I desired tospeak with you alone here. " His voice softened amazingly. "I want yourpardon ere I go. I want you to say that you forgive me the vile thing Iwould have done, Hortensia. " Contrition quivered in his lowered voice. He bent a knee to her, and held out his hand. "I will not rise until youspeak my pardon, child. "

"Why, if that be all, I pardon you very readily, " she answered, stillbetraying no emotion. 

He frowned. "Too readily!" he cried. "Too readily for sincerity. I willnot take it so. "

"Indeed, my lord, for a penitent, you are very difficult to please. Ipardon you with all my heart. "

"You are sincere?" he cried, and sought to take her hands; but shewhipped them away and behind her. "You bear me no ill-will?"

She considered him now with a calm, critical gaze, before which he wasforced to lower his bold eyes. "Why should I bear you an ill-will?" sheasked him. 

"For the thing I did--the thing I sought to do. "

"I wonder do you know all that you did?" she asked him, musingly. "ShallI tell you, my lord? You cured me of a folly. I had been blind, and youmade me see. I had foolishly thought to escape one evil, and you made merealize that I was rushing into a worse. You saved me from myself. Youmay have made me suffer then; but it was a healing hurt you dealt me. And should I bear you an ill-will for that?"

He had risen from his knee. He stood apart, pondering her from underbent brows with eyes that were full of angry fire. 

"I do not think, " she ended, "that there needs more between us. Ihave understood you, sir, since that day at Maidstone--I think we werestrangers until then; and perhaps now you may begin to understand me. Fare you well, my lord. "

She made shift to go, but he barred her passage now in earnest, hishands clenched beside him in witness of the violence he did himself tokeep them there. "Not yet, " he said, in a deep, concentrated voice. "Notyet. I did you a wrong, I know. And what you say--cruel as it is--is nomore than I deserve. But I desire to make amends. I love you, Hortensia, and desire to make amends. "

She smiled wistfully. "'Tis overlate to talk of that. "

"Why?" he demanded fiercely, and caught her arms, holding her therebefore him. "Why is it overlate?"

"Suffer me to go, " she commanded, rather than begged, and made to freeherself of his grasp. 

"I want you to be my wife, Hortensia--my wedded wife. "

She looked at him, and laughed; a cold laugh, disdainful, yet notbitter. "You wanted that before, my lord; yet you neglected theopportunity my folly gave you. I thank you--you, after God--for thatsame neglect. "

"Ah, do not say that!" he begged, a very suppliant again. "Do not saythat! Child, I love you. Do you understand?"

"Who could fail to understand, after the abundant proof you haveafforded me of your sincerity and your devotion?"

"Do you rally me?" he demanded, letting through a flash of the angerthat was mounting in him. "Am I so poor a thing that you whet yourlittle wit upon me?"

"My lord, you are paining me. What can you look to gain by this? Sufferme to go. "

A moment yet he stood, holding her wrists and looking down into her eyeswith a mixture of pleading and ferocity in his. Then he made a soundin his throat, and caught her bodily to him; his arms, laced about her, held her bound and crushed against him. His dark, flushed face hoveredabove her own. 

Fear took her at last. It mounted and grew to horror. "Let me go, mylord, " she besought him, her voice trembling. "Oh, let me go!"

"I love you, Hortensia! I need you!" he cried, as if wrung by pain, andthen hot upon her brow and cheeks and lips his kisses fell, and shameturned her to fire from head to foot as she fought helplessly within hiscrushing grasp. 

"You dog!" she panted, and writhing harder, wrenched free a hand andarm. Blindly she beat upwards into that evil satyr's face. "You beast!You toad! You coward!"

They fell apart, each panting; she leaning faint against the spinet, herbosom galloping; he muttering oaths decent and other--for in the upwardthrusting of her little hand one of its fingers had prodded at aneye, and the pain of it--which had caused him to relax his hold ofher--stripped what little veneer remained upon the man's true nature. 

"Will you go?" she asked him furiously, outraged by the vileness of hisravings. "Will you go, or must I summon help?"

He stood looking at her, straightening his wig, which had becomedisarranged in the struggle, and forcing himself to an outward calm. "So, " he said. "You scorn me? You will not marry me? You realise thechance, eh? And why? Why?"

"I suppose it is because I am blind to the honor of the alliance, " shecontrolled herself to answer him. "Will you go?"

He did not move. "Yet you loved me once--"

"'Tis a lie!" she blazed. "I thought I did--to my undying shame. No morethan that, my lord--as I've a soul to be saved. "

"You loved Me, " he insisted. "And you would love me still but for thisdamned Caryll--this French coxcomb, who has crawled into your regardlike the slimy, creeping thing he is. "

"It sorts well with your ways, my lord, that you could say these thingsbehind his back. You are practiced at stabbing men behind. "

The gibe, with all the hurtful, stinging quality that only truthpossesses, struck his anger from him, leaving him limp and pale. Then herecovered. 

"Do you know who he is--what he is?" he asked. "I will tell you. He's aspy--a damned Jacobite spy, whom a word from me will hang. "

Her eyes lashed him with her scorn. "I were a fool did I believe you, "was her contemptuous answer. 

"Ask him, " he said, and laughed. He turned and strode to the door. Paused there, sardonic, looking back. "I shall be quits with you, ma'am. Quits! I'll hang this pretty turtle of yours at Tyburn. Tell him so fromme. "

He wrenched the door open, and went out on that, leaving her cold andsick with dread. 

Was it but an idle threat to terrorize her? Was it but that? Her impulsewas to seek Mr. Caryll upon the instant that she might ask him and allayher fears. But what right had she? Upon what grounds could she set aquestion upon so secret a matter? She conceived him raising his brows inthat supercilious way of his, and looking her over from head to toe asthough seeking a clue to the nature of this quaint thing that asked himquestions. She pictured his smile and the jest with which he would setaside her inquiry. She imagined, indeed, just what she believedwould happen did she ask him; which was precisely what would not havehappened. Imagining thus, she held her peace, and nursed her secretdread. And on the following day, his weakness so far overcome as toleave him no excuse to linger at Stretton House, Mr. Caryll took hisdeparture and returned to his lodging in Old Palace Yard. 

One more treasonable interview had he with Lord Ostermore in the libraryere he departed. His lordship it was who reopened again the question, to repeat much of what he had said in the arbor on the previous day, and Mr. Caryll replied with much the same arguments in favor ofprocrastination that he had already employed. 

"Wait, at least, " he begged, "until I have been abroad a day or two, andfelt for myself how the wind Is setting. "

"'Tis a prodigiously dangerous document, " he declared. "I scarce see theneed for so much detail. "

"How can it set but one way?"

"'Tis a question I shall be in better case to answer when I have hadan opportunity of judging. Meanwhile, be assured I shall not sail forFrance without advising you. Time enough then to give me your lettershould you still be of the same mind. "

"Be it so, " said the earl. "When all is said, the letter will be saferhere, meantime, than in your pocket. " And he tapped the secretaire. "Butsee what I have writ his majesty, and tell me should I alter aught. "

He took out a drawer on the right--took it out bodily--then introducedhis hand into the opening, running it along the inner side of the deskuntil, no doubt, he touched a spring; for suddenly a small trap wasopened. From this cavity he fished out two documents--one the flimsytissue on which King James' later was penned; the other on heaviermaterial Lord Ostermore's reply. He spread the latter before him, andhanded it to Mr. Caryll, who ran an eye over it. 

It was indited with stupid, characteristic incaution; concealment wasnever once resorted to; everywhere expressions of the frankest wereemployed, and every line breathed the full measure of his lordship'streason and betrays the existence of a plot. 

Mr. Caryll returned it. His countenance was grave. 

"I desire his majesty to know how whole-heartedly I belong to him. "

"'Twere best destroyed, I think. You can write another when the timecomes to dispatch it. "

But Ostermore was never one to take sensible advice. "Pooh! 'Twill besafe in here. 'Tis a secret known to none. " He dropped it, together withKing James' letter, back into the recess, snapped down the trap, andreplaced the drawer. Whereupon Mr. Caryll took his leave, promising toadvise his lordship of whatever he might glean, and so departed fromStretton House. 

My Lord Rotherby, meanwhile, was very diligent in the business uponwhich he was intent. He had received in his interview with Hortensiaan added spur to such action as might be scatheful to Mr. Caryll. Hislordship was lodged in Portugal Row, within a stone's throw of hisfather's house, and there, on that same evening of his moving thither, he had Mr. Green to see him, desiring news. 

Mr. Green had little to impart, but strong hope of much to be garneredpresently. His little eyes twinkling, his chubby face suffused insmiles, as though it were an excellent jest to be hunting knowledge thatshould hang a man, the spy assured Lord Rotherby that there was littledoubt Mr. Caryll could be implicated as soon as he was about again. 

"And that's the reason--after your lordship's own express wishes--whyso far I have let Sir Richard Everard be. It may come to trouble for mewith my Lord Carteret should it be smoked that I have been silent on thematters within my knowledge. But--"

"Oh, a plague on that!" said his lordship. "You'll be well paid for yourservices when you've rendered them. And, meanwhile, I understand thatnot another soul in London--that is, on the side of the government--isaware of Sir Richard's presence in town. So where is your danger?"

"True, " said Mr. Green, plump hand caressing plumper chin. "Had itnot been so, I should have been forced to apply to the secretary for awarrant before this. "

"Then you'll wait, " said his lordship, "and you'll act as I may directyou. It will be to your credit in the end. Wait until Caryll hasenmeshed himself by frequent visits to Sir Richard's. Then get yourwarrant--when I give the word--and execute it one fine night when Caryllhappens to be closeted with Everard. Whether we can get further evidenceagainst him or not, that circumstance of his being found with thePretender's agent should go some way towards hanging him. The rest wemust supply. "

Mr. Green smiled seraphically. "Ecod! I'd give my ears to have theslippery fellow safe. Codso! I would. He bubbled me at Maidstone, and Ilimped a fortnight from the kick he gave me. "

"He shall do a little more kicking--with both feet, " said his lordshipwith unction. 

CHAPTER XVI. MR. GREEN EXECUTES HIS WARRANT

Five days later, Mr. Caryll--whose recovery had so far progressed thathe might now be said to be his own man again--came briskly up fromCharing Cross one evening at dusk, to the house at the corner of MaidenLane where Sir Richard Everard was lodged. He observed three or fourfellows lounging about the corner of Chandos street and Bedford street, but it did not occur to him that from that point they could command SirRichard's door--nor that such could be their object--until, as he swungsharply round the corner, he hurtled violently into a man who was movingin the opposite direction without looking whither he was going. Theman stepped quickly aside with a murmured word of apology, to give Mr. Caryll the wall that he might pass on. But Mr. Caryll paused. 

"Ah, Mr. Green!" said he very pleasantly. "How d'ye? Have ye beensearching folk of late?"

Mr. Green endeavored to dissemble his startled expression in a grinthat revealed his white teeth. "Ye can't forgive me that blunder, Mr. Caryll, " said he. 

Mr. Caryll smiled fondly upon him. "From your manner I take it that onyour side you practice a more Christian virtue. It is plain that youforgive me the sequel. "

Mr. Green shrugged and spread his hands. "You were in the right, sir;you were in the right, " he explained. "Those are the risks a man of mycalling must run. I must suffer for my blunders. "

Mr. Caryll continued to smile. But that the light was failing, the spymight have observed a certain hardening in the lines of his mouth. "Here is a very humble mood, " said he. "It is like the crouch beforethe spring. In whom do you design to plant your claws?--yours and yourfriends yonder. " And he pointed with his cane across the street towardsthe loungers he had observed. 

"My friends?" quoth Mr. Green, in a voice of disgust. "Nay, your honor!No friends of mine, ecod! Indeed, no!"

"No? I am at fault, then. Yet they look as if they might be bumbailiffs. 'Tis the kind ye herd with, is't not? Give you good-even, Mr. Green. "And he went on, cool and unconcerned, and turned in through the narrowdoorway by the glover's shop to mount the stairs to Sir Richard'slodging. 

Mr. Green stood still to watch him go. Then he swore through his teeth, and beckoned one of those whose acquaintance he had disclaimed. 

"'Tis like him, ecod! to have gone in in spite of seeing me and you!He's cool! Damned cool! But he'll be cooler yet, codso!" Then, brisklyquestioning his satellite: "Is Sir Richard within, Jerry?"

"Ay, " answered Jerry--a rough, heavily-built tatterdemalion. "He's beenthere these two hours. "

"'Tis our chance to nab 'em both, then-our last chance, maybe. The gameis up. That fine gentleman has smoked it. " He was angry beyond measure. Their plans were far from ripe, and yet to delay longer now that theirvigilance was detected was, perhaps, to allow Sir Richard to slipthrough their fingers, as well as the other. "Have ye your barkers?" heasked harshly. 

Jerry tapped a heavily bulging pocket, and winked. Mr. Green thrust histhree-cornered hat a-cock over one eye, and with his hands behind thetails of his coat, stood pondering. "Ay, pox on't!" he grumbled. "Itmust be done to-night. I dursn't delay longer. We'll give the gentlementime to settle comfortably; then up we go to make things merry for 'em. "And he beckoned the others across. 

Meanwhile Mr. Caryll had gone up with considerable misgivings. The lastletter he had received from Sir Richard--that day at Stretton House--hadbeen to apprise him that his adoptive father was on the point of leavingtown but that he would be returned within the week. The business thathad taken him had been again concerned with Atterbury the obstinate. Upon another vain endeavor to dissuade the bishop from a scheme his kingdid not approve had Sir Richard journeyed to Rochester. He had had hispains for nothing. Atterbury had kept him there, entertaining him, and seeking in his turn to engulf the agent in the business that wastoward--business which was ultimately to suck down Atterbury and hisassociates. Sir Richard, however, was very firm. And when at last heleft Rochester to return to town and his adoptive son, a coolness markedthe parting of those two adherents of the Stuart dynasty. 

Returned to London--whence his absence had been marked with alarm by Mr. Green--Sir Richard had sent a message to Mr. Caryll, and the latter madehaste to answer it in person. 

His adoptive father received him with open arms, and such a joy in hisface, such a light in his old eyes as should have gladdened his visitor, yet only served sadden him the more. He sighed as Sir Richard thrust himback that he might look at him. 

"Ye're pale, boy, " he said, "and ye look thinner. " And with that he fellto reviling the deed that was the cause of this, Rotherby and the wholebrood of Ostermore. 

"Let be, " said Mr. Caryll, as he dropped into a chair. "Rotherby isundergoing his punishment. The town looks on him as a cut-throat who hasnarrowly escaped the gallows. I marvel that he tarries here. An I werehe, I think I'd travel for a year or two. "

"What weakness made you spare him when ye had him at the point of yoursword?"

"That which made me regret that I had him there; the reflection that heis my brother. "

Sir Richard looked at him in some surprise. "I thought you of sternerstuff, Justin, " he said presently, and sighed, passing a long white handacross his bony brow. "I thought I had reared you to a finer strength. But there! What of Ostermore himself?"

"What of him?"

"Have you not talked again with him of the matter of going over to KingJames?"

"To what end, since the chance is lost? His betrayal now would involvethe betrayal of Atterbury and the others--for he has been in touch withthem. "

"Has he though? The bishop said naught of this. "

"I have it from my lord himself--and I know the man. Were he takenthey'd wring out of him whatever happened to be in him. He has nodiscretion. Indeed, he's but a clod, too stupid even to be aware of hisown stupidity. "

"Then what is to be done?" inquired Sir Richard, frowning. 

"We'd best get home to France again. "

"And leave matters thus?" He considered a moment, and shook his head, smiling bitterly. "Could that content you, Justin? Could you go as youhave come--taking no more than you brought; leaving that man as youfound him? Could you?"

Mr. Caryll looked at the baronet, and wondered for a moment whether heshould persevere in the rule of his life and deal quite frankly withhim, telling him precisely what he felt. Then he realized that he wouldnot be understood. He could not combat the fanaticism that was SirRichard's in this matter. If he told him the truth; how he loathedthe task; how he rejoiced that circumstances had now put it beyondhis reach--all he would achieve would be to wound Sir Richard in histenderest place and to no purpose. 

"It is not a matter of what I would, " he answered slowly, wearilyalmost. "It is a matter of what I must. Here in England is no more tobe done. Moreover, there's danger for you in lingering, or I'm muchmistaken else. "

"Danger of what?" asked Sir Richard, with indifference. 

"You are being spied upon. "

"Pho! I am accustomed to it. I have been spied upon all my life. "

"Like enough. But this time the spies are messengers from the secretaryof state. I caught a glimpse of them lurking about your doorway--threeor four at least--and as I entered I all but fell over a Mr. Green--amost pertinacious gentleman with whom I have already some acquaintance. He is the very man who searched me at Maidstone; he has kept his eyeupon me ever since, which has not troubled me. But that he should keepan eye on you means that your identity is suspected, and if that beso--well, the sooner we are out of England the better for your health. "

Sir Richard shook his head calmly. The fine-featured, lean old faceshowed no sign of uneasiness. "A fig for all that!" said he. "I go notthus--empty-handed as I came. After all these years of waiting. "

A knock fell upon the door, and Sir Richard's man entered. His face waswhite, his eyes startled. 

"Sir Richard, " he announced, his voice lowered portentously, "there aresome men here who insist upon seeing you. "

Mr. Caryll wheeled in his chair. "Surely they did not ask for him byname?" he inquired in the same low key employed by the valet. 

The man nodded in silence. Mr. Caryll swore through his teeth. SirRichard rose. 

"I am occupied at present, " he said in a calm voice. "I can receivenobody. Desire to know their business. If it imports, bid them comeagain to-morrow. "

"It is over-urgent for that, Sir Richard Everard, " came the soft voiceof Mr. Green, who thrust himself suddenly forward past the servant. Other figures were seen moving behind him in the ante-room. 

"Sir, " cried Sir Richard angrily. "This is a most insolent intrusion. Bentley, show this fellow the door. "

Bentley set a hand on Mr. Green's shoulder. Mr. Green nimbly twistedout of it, and produced a paper. "I have here a warrant for yourapprehension, Sir Richard, from my Lord Carteret, the secretary ofstate. "

Mr. Caryll advanced menacingly upon the tipstaff. Mr. Green steppedback, and fell into a defensive attitude, balancing a short butformidable-looking life-preserver. 

"Keep your distance, sir, or 'twill be the worse for you, " hethreatened. "Hi!" he called. "Jerry! Beattie!"

Jerry, Beattie, and two other ruffians crowded to the doorway, butadvanced little beyond the threshold. Mr. Caryll turned to Sir Richard. But Mr. Green was the first to speak. 

"Sir Richard, " said he, "you'll see that we are but instruments of thelaw. It grieves me profoundly to have you for our object. But ye'llsee that 'tis no affair of ours, who have but to do the duty that we'reordered. Ye'll not give these poor fellows trouble, I trust. Ye'llsurrender quietly. "

Sir Richard's answer was to pull open a drawer in the writing-table, bywhich he was standing, and whip out a pistol. 

What exactly he may have intended, he was never allowed to announce. Anexplosion shook the room, coming from the doorway, upon which Mr. Caryllhad turned his shoulder; there was a spurt of flame, and Sir Richardcollapsed forward onto the table, and slithered thence to the ground. 

Jerry, taking fright at the sight of the pistol Sir Richard hadproduced, had forestalled what he supposed to be the baronet'sintentions by firing instantly upon him, with this disastrous result. 

Confusion ensued. Mr. Caryll, with no more thought for the tipstavesthan he had for the smoke in his eyes or the stench of powder in hisnostrils, sped to Sir Richard. In a passion of grief and anxiety, heraised his adoptive father, aided by Bentley, what time Mr. Green wasabusing Jerry, and Jerry was urging in exculpation how he had actedpurely in Mr. Green's interest, fearing that Sir Richard might have beenon the point of shooting him. 

The spy went forward to Mr. Caryll. "I am most profoundly sorry--" hebegan. 

"Take your sorrow to hell, " snarled Mr. Caryll, his face livid, his eyesblazing uncannily. "I believe ye've murdered him. "

"Ecod! the fool shall smart for't if Sir Richard dies, " grumbled Mr. Green. 

"What's that to me? You may hang the muckworm, and what shall thatprofit any one? Will it restore me Sir Richard's life? Send one of yourruffians for a doctor, man. And bid him hasten. "

Mr. Green obeyed with alacrity. Apart from his regrets at this happeningfor its own sake, it would suit his interests not at all that SirRichard should perish thus. Meanwhile, with the help of the valet, whowas blubbering like a child--for he had been with Sir Richard for overten years, and was attached to him as a dog to its master--they openedthe wounded man's sodden waistcoat and shirt, and reached the hurt, which was on the right side of the breast. 

Between them they lifted him up gently. Mr. Green would have lent ahand, but a snarl from Mr. Caryll drove him back in sheer terror, andalone those two bore the baronet into the next room and laid him onhis bed. Here they did the little that they could; propping him upand stemming the bleeding, what time they waited through what seemeda century for the doctor's coming, Mr. Caryll mad--stark mad for thetime--with grief and rage. 

The physician arrived at last--a small, bird-like man under a greatgray periwig, with pointed features and little eyes that beamed brightlybehind horn-rimmed spectacles. 

In the ante-room he was met by Mr. Green, who in in a few words toldhim what had happened. Then the doctor entered the bedchamber alone, anddeposing hat and cane, went forward to make his examination. 

Mr. Caryll and Bentley stood aside to give place to him. He stooped, felt the pulse, examined the lips of the wound, estimating the localityand direction of the bullet, and his mouth made a clucking sound as ofdeprecation. 

"Very deplorable, very deplorable!" he muttered. "So hale a man, too, despite his years. Very deplorable!" He looked up. "A Jacobite, ye sayhe is, sir?"

"Will he live?" inquired Mr. Caryll shortly, by way of recalling the manof medicine to the fact that politics was not the business on which hehad been summoned. 

The doctor pursed his lips, and looked at Mr. Caryll over the top of hisspectacles. "He will live--"

"Thank God!" breathed Mr. Caryll. 

"--perhaps an hour, " the doctor concluded, and never knew how near wasMr. Caryll to striking him. He turned again to his patient, producing aprobe. "Very deplorable!" Mr. Caryll heard him muttering, parrot-like. 

A pause ensued, and a silence broken only by occasional cluckings fromthe little doctor, and Mr. Caryll stood by, a prey to an anguish morepoignant than he had ever known. At last there was a groan from thewounded man. Mr. Caryll started forward. 

Sir Richard's eyes were open, and he was looking about him at thedoctor, the valet, and, lastly, at his adopted son. He smiled faintlyat the latter. Then the doctor touched Mr. Caryll's sleeve, and drew himaside. 

"I cannot reach the bullet, " he said. "But 'tis no matter for that. " Heshook his head solemnly. "The lung has been pierced. A little time now, and--I can do nothing more. "

Mr. Caryll nodded in silence, his face drawn with pain. With a gesturehe dismissed the doctor, who went out with Bentley. 

When the valet returned, Mr. Caryll was on his knees beside the bed, SirRichard's hand in his, and Sir Richard was speaking in a feeble, hoarsevoice--gasping and coughing at intervals. 

"Don't--don't grieve, Justin, " he was saying. "I am an old man. Mytime must have been very near. I--I am glad that it is thus. It is muchbetter than if they had taken me. They'd ha' shown me no mercy. 'Tisswifter thus, and--and easier. "

Silently Justin wrung the hand he held. 

"You'll miss me a little, Justin, " the old man resumed presently. "Wehave been good friends, lad--good friends for thirty years. "

"Father!" Justin cried, a sob in his voice. 

Sir Richard smiled. "I would I were your father in more than name, Justin. Hast been a good son to me--no son could have been more thanyou. "

Bentley drew nigh with a long glass containing a cordial the doctor hadadvised. Sir Richard drank avidly, and sighed content when he returnedthe glass. "How long yet, Justin?" he inquired. 

"Not long, father, " was the gloomy answer. 

"It is well. I am content. I am happy, Justin. Believe me, I am happy. What has my life been? Dissipated in the pursuit of a phantom. " Hespoke musingly, critically calm, as one who already upon the brink ofdissolution takes already but an impersonal interest in the course hehas run in life. 

Judging so, his judgment was clearer than it had yet been; it grew sane, and was freed at last from the hackles of fanaticism; and there wassomething that he saw in its true proportions. He sighed heavily. 

"This is a judgment upon me, " he said presently. He turned his greateyes full upon Justin, and their dance was infinitely wistful. "Do youremember, Justin, that night at your lodging--that first night on whichwe talked here in London of the thing you were come to do--the thing towhich I urged you? Do you recall how you upbraided me for having set youa task hat was unworthy and revolting?"

"I remember, " answered Justin, with an inward shudder, fearful of whatmight follow. 

"Oh, you were right, Justin; right, and I was entirely wrong--wickedlywrong. I should have left vengeance to God. He is wreaking it. Ostermore's whole life has been a punishment; his end will be apunishment. I understand it now. We do no wrong in life, Justin, forwhich in this same life payment is not exacted. Ostermore has beenpaying. I should have been content with that. After all, he is yourfather in the flesh, and it was not for you to raise your hand againsthim. 'Tis what you have felt, and I am glad you should have felt it, forit proves your worthiness. Can you forgive me?"

"Nay, nay, father! Speak not of forgiveness. "

"I have sore need of it. "

"Ah, but not from me; not from me! What is there I should forgive? Thereis a debt between us I had hoped to repay some day when you were growntruly old. I had looked to tend you in your old age, to be the comfortof it, and the support that you were to my infancy. "

"It had been sweet, Justin, " sighed Sir Richard, smiling upon hisadopted son, and putting forth an unsteady hand to stroke the white, drawn face. "It had been sweet. It is sweet to hear that you soproposed. "

A shudder convulsed him. He sank back coughing, and there was frothand blood on his lips. Reverently Justin wiped them, and signed for thecordial to Bentley, who stood, numbed, in the background. 

"It is the end, " said Sir Richard feebly. "God has been good to mebeyond my deserts, and this is a crowning mercy. Consider, Justin, itmight have been the gibbet and a crowd--instead of this snug bed, andyou and Bentley here--just two good friends. "

Bentley, losing all self-control at this mention of himself, sankweeping to his knees. Sir Richard put out a hand, and touched his head. 

"You will serve Mr. Caryll, Bentley. You'll find him a good master ifyou are as good a servant to him as you have been to me. "

Then suddenly he made the quick movement of one who bethinks himself ofsomething. He waved Bentley away. 

"There is a case in the drawer yonder, " he said, when the servant wasbeyond earshot. "It contains papers that concern you--certificates ofyour birth and of your mothers death. I brought them with me as proofsof your identity, against the time when the hour of vengeance uponOstermore should strike. They twill serve no purpose now. Burn them. They are best destroyed. "

Mr. Caryll nodded understanding, and on Sir Richard's part therefollowed another fight for breath, another attack of coughing, duringwhich Bentley instinctively approached again. 

When the paroxysm was past, Sir Richard turned once more to Justin, whowas holding him in his arms, upright, to ease his breathing. "Be good toBentley, " he murmured, his voice very faint and exhausted now. "You aremy heir, Justin. All that I have--I set all in order ere I left Paris. It--it is growing dark. You have not snuffed the candles, Bentley. Theyare burning very low. "

Suddenly he started forward, held as he was in Justin's arms. Hehalf-raised his arms, holding out his hands toward the foot of the bed. His eyes dilated; the expression of his livid face grew first surprised, then joyous--beatific. "Antoinette!" he cried in a loud voice. "Antoi--"

And thus, abruptly, but in great happiness, he passed. 

CHAPTER XVII. AMID THE GRAVES

What time Sir Richard had been dying in the inner room, Mr. Green andtwo of his acolytes had improved the occasion by making a thoroughsearch in Sir Richard's writing-table and a thorough investigation ofevery scrap of paper found there. From which you will understand howmuch Mr. Green was a gentleman who set business above every otherconsideration. 

The man who had shot Sir Richard had been ordered by Mr. Green to takehimself off, and had been urged to go down on his knees, for once ina way, and pray Heaven that his rashness might not bring him to thegallows as he so richly deserved. 

His fourth myrmidon Mr. Green had dispatched with a note to my LordRotherby, and it was entirely upon the answer he should receive that itmust depend whether he proceeded or not, forthwith, to the apprehensionof Mr. Caryll. Meanwhile the search went on amain, and was extendedpresently to the very bedroom where the dead Sir Richard lay. Everynook and cranny was ransacked; the very mattress under the dead man wasremoved, and investigated, and even Mr. Caryll and Bentley had tosubmit to being searched. But it all proved fruitless. Not a line oftreasonable matter was to be found anywhere. To the certificates uponMr. Caryll the searcher made the mistake of paying but little heed inview of their nature. 

But if there were no proofs of plots and treasonable dealings, therewas, at least, abundant proof of Sir Richard's identity, and Mr. Greenappropriated these against any awkward inquiries touching the manner inwhich the baronet had met his death. 

Of such inquiries, however, there were none. It was formally swornto Lord Carteret by Green and his men that the secretary's messenger, Jerry--the fellow owned no surname--had shot Sir Richard inself-defence, when Sir Richard had produced firearms upon being arrestedon a charge of high treason, for which they held the secretary's ownwarrant. 

At first Lord Carteret considered it a thousand pities that they shouldnot have contrived matters better so as to take Sir Richard alive; butupon reflection he was careful not to exaggerate to himself the lossoccasioned by his death, for Sir Richard, after all, was a notoriouslystubborn man, not in the least likely to have made any avowals worthhaving. So that his trial, whilst probably resulting sterile of suchresults as the government could desire, would have given publicity tothe matter of a plot that was hatching; and such publicity at a timeof so much unrest was the last thing the government desired. WhereJacobitism was concerned, Lord Carteret had the wise discretion toproceed with the extremest caution. Publicity might serve to fan thesmouldering embers into a blaze, whereas it was his cunning aim quietlyto stifle them as he came upon them. 

So, upon the whole, he was by no means sure but that Jerry had donethe state the best possible service in disposing thus summarily of thatnotorious Jacobite agent, Sir Richard Everard. And his lordship saw toit that there was no inquiry and that nothing further was heard of thematter. 

As for Lord Rotherby, had the affair transpired twenty-four hoursearlier, he would certainly have returned Mr. Green a message to effectthe arrest of Mr. Caryll upon suspicion. But as it chanced, he hadthat very afternoon received a visit from his mother, who came in greatexcitement to inform him that she had forced from Lord Ostermore anacknowledgment that he was plotting with Mr. Caryll to go over to KingJames. 

So, before they could move further against Mr. Caryll, it behoovedthem to ascertain precisely to what extent Lord Ostermore might not beincriminated, as otherwise the arrest of Caryll might lead to exposuresthat would ruin the earl more thoroughly than could any South Sea bubblerevelations. Thus her ladyship to her son. He turned upon her. 

"Why, madam, " said he, "these be the very arguments I used t'other daywhen we talked of this; and all you answered me then was to call me adull-witted clod, for not seeing how the thing might be done withoutinvolving my lord. "

"Tcha!" snapped her ladyship, beating her knuckles impatiently with herfan. "A dull-witted clod did I call you? 'Twas flattery--sheer flattery;for I think ye're something worse. Fool, can ye not see the differencethat lies betwixt your disclosing a plot to the secretary of state, andcausing this Caryll to disclose it--as might happen if he were seized?First discover the plot--find out in what it may consist, and then go toLord Carteret to make your terms. "

He looked at her, out of temper by her rebuke. "I may be as dull as yourladyship says--but I do not see in what the position now is differentfrom what it was. "

"It isn't different--but we thought it was different, " she explainedimpatiently. "We assumed that your father would not have betrayedhimself, counting upon his characteristic caution. But it seems we aremistook. He has betrayed himself to Caryll. And before we can move inthis matter, we must have proofs of a plot to lay before the secretaryof state. "

Lord Rotherby understood, and accounted himself between Scylla andCharybdis, and when that evening Green's messenger found him, he gnashedhis teeth in rage at having to allow this chance to pass, at beingforced to temporize until he should be less parlously situated. Hereturned Mr. Green an urgent message to take no steps concerning Mr. Caryll until they should have concerted together. 

Mr. Green was relieved. Mr. Caryll arrested might stir up mattersagainst the slayer of Sir Richard, and this was a business which Mr. Green had prevision enough to see his master, Lord Carteret, wouldprefer should not be stirred up. He had a notion, for the rest, thatif Mr. Caryll were left to go his ways, he would not be likely to givetrouble touching that same matter. And he was right in this. Before hisoverwhelming sense of loss, Mr. Caryll had few thoughts to bestow uponthe manner in which that loss had been sustained. Moreover, if he had aquarrel with any one on that account, it was with the government whoserepresentative had issued the warrant for Sir Richard's arrest, and nomore with the wretched tipstaff who had fired the pistol than with thepistol itself. Both alike were but instruments, of slightly differentdegrees of insensibility. 

For twenty-four hours Mr. Caryll's grief was overwhelming in itspoignancy. His sense of solitude was awful. Gone was the only living manwho had stood to him for kith and kin. He was left alone in the world;utterly alone. That was the selfishness of his sorrow--the considerationof Sir Richard's death as it concerned himself. 

Presently an alloy of consolation was supplied by the reflection ofSir Richard's own case--as Sir Richard himself had stated it uponhis deathbed. His life had not been happy; it had been poisoned by amonomania, which, like a worm in the bud, had consumed the sweetnessof his existence. Sir Richard was at rest. And since he had beendiscovered, that shot was, indeed, the most merciful end that could havebeen measured out to him. The alternative might have been the gibbetand the gaping crowd, and a moral torture to precede the end. Better--athousand times better--as it was. 

So much did all this weigh with him that when on the following Mondayhe accompanied the body to its grave, he found his erstwhile passionategrief succeeded by an odd thankfulness that things were as they were, although it must be confessed that a pang of returning anguish smote himwhen he heard the earth clattering down upon the wooden box that heldall that remained of the man who had been father, mother, brother andall else to him. 

He turned away at last, and was leaving the graveyard, when some onetouched him on the arm. It was a timid touch. He turned sharply, and found himself looking into the sweet face of Hortensia Winthrop, wondering how came she there. She wore a long, dark cloak and hood, buther veil was turned back. A chair was waiting not fifty paces from themalong the churchyard wall. 

"I came but to tell you how much I feel for you in this great loss, " shesaid. 

He looked at her in amazement. "How did you know?" he asked her. 

"I guessed, " said she. "I heard that you were with him at the end, andI caught stray words from her ladyship of what had passed. Lord Rotherbyhad the information from the tipstaff who went to arrest Sir RichardEverard. I guessed he was your--your foster-father, as you called him;and I came to tell you how deeply I sorrow for you in your sorrow. "

He caught her hands in his and bore them to his lips, reckless of whomight see the act. "Ah, this is sweet and kind in you, " said he. 

She drew him back into the churchyard again. Along the wall there wasan avenue of limes--a cool and pleasant walk wherein idlers lounged onSundays in summer after service. Thither she drew him. He went almostmechanically. Her sympathy stirred his sorrow again, as sympathy sooften does. 

"I have buried my heart yonder, I think, " said he, with a wave of hishand towards that spot amid the graves where the men were toiling withtheir shovels. "He was the only living being that loved me. "

"Ah, surely not, " said she, sorrow rather than reproach in her gentlevoice. 

"Indeed, yes. Mine is a selfish grief. It is for myself that I sorrow, for myself and my own loneliness. It is thus with all of us. When weargue that we weep the dead, it would be more true to say that we bewailthe living. For him--it is better as it is. No doubt it is better so formost men, when all is said, and we do wrong to weep their passing. "

"Do not talk so, " she said. "It hurts. "

"Ay--it is the way of truth to hurt, which is why, hating pain, we shuntruth so often. " He sighed. "But, oh, it was good in you to seek me, tobring me word with your own lips of your sweet sympathy. If aught couldlighten the gloom of my sorrow, surely it is that. "

They stepped along in silence until they came to the end of the avenue, and turned. It was no idle silence: the silence of two beings who havenaught to say. It was a grave, portentous silence, occasioned by theunutterable much in the mind of one, and by the other's apprehension ofit. At last she spoke, to ask him what he meant to do. 

"I shall return to France, " he said. "It had perhaps been better had Inever crossed to England. "

"I cannot think so, " she said, simply, frankly and with no touch of acoquetry that had been harshly at discord with time and place. 

He shot her a swift, sidelong glance; then stopped, and turned. "I amglad on't, " said he. "'Twill make my going the easier. "

"I mean not that, " she cried, and held out her hands to him. "I meantnot what you think--you know, you know what 'twas I meant. You know--youmust--what impulse brought me to you in this hour, when I knew you mustneed comfort. And in return how cruel, were you not--to tell me thatyonder lay buried the only living being that--that loved you?"

His fingers were clenched upon her arm. "Don't--don't!" he imploredhoarsely, a strange fire in his eyes, a hectic flush on either cheek. "Don't! Or I'll forget what I am, and take advantage of this midsummerfolly that is upon you. "

"Is it no more than folly, Justin?" she asked him, brown eyes looking upinto gray-green. 

"Ay, something more--stark madness. All great emotions are. It willpass, and you will be thankful that I was man enough--strong enough--toallow it the chance of passing. "

She hung her head, shaking it sorrowfully. Then very softly: "Is it nomore than the matter of--of that, that stands between us?" she inquired. 

"No more than that, " he answered, "and yet more than enough. I have noname to offer any woman. "

"A name?" she echoed scornfully. "What store do you think I lay by that?When you talk so, you obey some foolish prejudice; no more. "

"Obedience to prejudices is the whole art of living, " he answered, sighing. 

She made a gesture of impatience, and went on. "Justin, you said youloved me; and when you said so much, you gave me the right--or so Iunderstood it--to speak to you as I am doing now. You are alone inthe world, without kith or kin. The only one you had--the one whorepresented all for you--lies buried there. Would you return thus, lonely and alone, to France?"

"Ah, now I understand!" he cried. "Now I understand. Pity is the impulsethat has urged you--pity for my loneliness, is't not, Hortensia?"

"I'll not deny that without the pity there might not have been thecourage. Why should I--since it is a pity that gives you no offense, apity that is rooted firmly in--in love for you, my Justin?"

He set his hands upon her shoulders, and with glowing eyes regarded her. "Ah, sweet!" said he, "you make me very, very proud. "

And then his arms dropped again limply to his sides. He sighed, andshook his head drearily. "And yet--reflect. When I come to beg your handin marriage of your guardian, what shall I answer him of the questionshe will ask me of myself--touching my family, my parentage and all therest that he will crave to know?"

She observed that he was very white again. "Need you enter into that?A man is himself; not his father or his family. " And then she checked. "You make me plead too much, " she said, a crimson flood in her faircheeks. "I'll say no more than I have said. Already have I said morethan I intended. And you have wanted mercy that you could drive me toit. You know my mind--my--my inmost heart. You know that I care nothingfor your namelessness. It is yours to decide what you will do. Come, now; my chair is staying for me. "

He bowed; he sought again to convey some sense of his appreciation ofher great nobility; then led her through the gate and to her waitingchair. 

"Whatever I may decide, Hortensia" was the last thing he said to her, "and I shall decide as I account best for you, rather than for myself;and for myself there needs no thought or hesitation--whatever I maydecide, believe me when I say from my soul that all my life shall be thesweeter for this hour. "

CHAPTER XVIII. THE GHOST OF THE PAST

Temptation had seized Mr. Caryll in a throttling grip, and for two wholedays he kept the house, shunning all company and wrestling with thatsame Temptation. In the end he took a whimsical resolve, entirely worthyof himself. 

He would go to Lord Ostermore formally to ask in marriage the hand ofMistress Winthrop, and he would be entirely frank with the earl, statinghis exact condition, but suppressing the names of his parents. 

He was greatly taken with the notion. It would create a situationironical beyond any, grotesque beyond belief; and its development shouldbe stupendously interesting. It attracted him irresistibly. That heshould leave it to his own father to say whether a man born as he wasborn might aspire to marry his father's ward, had in it something thatsavored of tragi-comedy. It was a pretty problem, that once set couldnot be left unsolved by a man of Mr. Caryll's temperament. And, indeed, no sooner was the idea conceived than it quickened into a resolve uponwhich he set out to act. 

He bade Leduc call a chair, and, dressed in mourning, but with hishabitual care, he had himself carried to Lincoln's Inn Fields. 

Engrossed as he was in his own thoughts, he paid little heed to the humof excitement about the threshold of Stretton House. Within the railedenclosure that fronted the mansion two coaches were drawn up, and alittle knot of idlers stood by one of these in busy gossip. 

Paying no attention to them, Mr. Caryll mounted the steps, nor noticedthe gravity of the porter's countenance as he passed within. 

In the hall he found a little flock of servants gathered together, and muttering among themselves like conspirators in a tragedy; and soengrossed that they paid no heed to him as he advanced, nor until hehad tapped one of them on the shoulder with his cane--and tapped him athought peremptorily. 

"How now?" said he. "Does no one wait here?"

They fell apart a little, and stood at attention, with something curiousin their bearing, one and all. 

"My service to his lordship, and say that I desire to speak with him. "

They looked at one another in hesitation for a moment; then Humphries, the butler, came forward. "Your honor'll not have heard the news?" saidhe, a solemn gravity in face and tone. 

"News?" quoth Mr. Caryll sharply, intrigued by so much show of mystery. "What news?"

"His lordship is very ill, sir. He had a seizure this morning when theycame for him. "

"A seizure?" said Mr. Caryll. And then: "When they came for him?" heechoed, struck by something odd in the man's utterance of those fivewords. "When who came for him?"

"The messengers, sir, " replied the butler dejectedly. "Has your honornot heard?" And seeing the blank look on Mr. Caryll's face, he proceededwithout waiting for an answer: "His lordship was impeached yesterday byhis Grace of Wharton on a matter concerning the South Sea Company, andLord Carteret--the secretary of state, your honor--sent this morning toarrest him. "

"'Sdeath!" ejaculated Mr. Caryll in his surprise, a surprise that wastempered with some dismay. "And he had a seizure, ye say?"

"An apoplexy, your honor. The doctors are with him now; Sir James, himself, is here. They're cupping him--so I hear from Mr. Tom, hislordship's man. I'd ha' thought your honor would ha' heard. 'Tis towntalk, they say. "

Mr. Caryll would have found it difficult to have said exactly whatimpression this news made upon him. In the main, however, he feared itleft him cold. 

"'Tis very regrettable, " said he. He fell thoughtful a moment. Then:"Will you send word to Mistress Winthrop that I am here, and would speakwith her, Humphries?"

Humphries conducted Mr. Caryll to the little white and goldwithdrawing-room that was Hortensia's. There, in the little time thathe waited, he revolved the situation as it now stood, and the temptationthat had been with him for the past three days rose up now with agreater vigor. Should Lord Ostermore die, Temptation argued, he needno longer hesitate. Hortensia would be as much alone in the world ashe was; worse, for life at Stretton House with her ladyship--from whicheven in the earl's lifetime she had been led to attempt to escape--mustbe a thing unbearable, and what alternative could he suggest but thatshe should become his wife?

She came to him presently, white-faced and with startled eyes. As shetook his outstretched hands, she attempted a smile. "It is kind in youto come to me at such a time, " she said. 

"You mistake, " said he, "as is but natural. I had not heard what hadbefallen. I came to ask your hand in marriage of his lordship. "

Some faint color tinged her cheeks. "You had decided, then?"

"I had decided that his lordship must decide, " he answered. 

"And now?"

"And now it seems we must decide for ourselves if his lordship dies. "

Her mind swung to the graver matter. "Sir James has every hope, " shesaid, and added miserably: "I know not which to pray for, his recoveryor his death. "

"Why that?"

"Because if he survive it may be for worse. The secretary's agent iseven now seeking evidence against him among his own papers. He is in thelibrary at this moment, going through his lordship's desk. "

Mr. Caryll started. That mention of Ostermore's desk brought vividlybefore his mind the recollection of the secret drawer wherein the earlhad locked away the letter he had received from King James and hisown reply, all packed as it was, with treason. If that drawer werediscovered, and those papers found, then was Ostermore lost indeed, anddid he survive this apoplexy, it would be to surrender his head upon thescaffold. 

A moment he considered this, dispassionately. Then it broke upon hismind that were this to happen, Ostermore's blood would indirectly beupon his own head, since for the purpose of betrayal had he sought himout with that letter from the exiled Stuart--which, be it remembered, King James himself had no longer wished delivered. 

It turned him cold with horror. He could not remain idle and let mattersrun their course. He must avert these discoveries if it lay within hispower to do so, or else he must submit to a lifetime of remorse shouldOstermore survive to be attainted of treason. He had made an end--adefinite end--long since of his intention of working Ostermore's ruin;he could not stand by now and see that ruin wrought as a result of thelittle that already he had done towards encompassing it. 

"His papers must be saved, " he said shortly. "I'll go to the library atonce. "

"But the secretary's agent is there already, " she repeated. 

"'Tis no matter for that, " said he, moving towards the door. "His deskcontains that which will cost him his head if discovered. I know it, " heassured her, and left her cold with fear. 

"But, then, you--you?" she cried. "Is it true that you are a Jacobite?"

"True enough, " he answered. 

"Lord Rotherby knows it, " she informed him. "He told me it was so. If--if you interfere in this, it--it may mean your ruin. " She came tohim swiftly, a great fear written or her winsome face. 

"Sh, " said he. "I am not concerned to think of that at present. If LordOstermore perishes through his connection with the cause, it will meanworse than ruin for me--though not the ruin that you are thinking of. "

"But what can you do?"

"That I go to learn. "

"I will come with you, then. "

He hesitated a moment, looking at her; then he opened the door, andheld it for her, following after. He led the way across the hall to thelibrary, and they went in together. 

Lord Ostermore's secretaire stood open, and leaning over it, his backtowards them was a short, stiffly-built man in a snuff-colored coat. He turned at the sound of the closing door, and revealed the pleasant, chubby face of Mr. Green. 

"Ha!" said Mr. Caryll. "Mr. Green again. I declare, sir, ye've the giftof ubiquity. "

The spy stood up to regard him, and for all that his voice inclinedto sharpness when he spoke, the habitual grin sat like a mask upon themobile features. "What d'ye seek here?"

"Tis what I was about to ask you--what you are seeking; for that youseek is plain. I thought perhaps I might assist you. "

"I nothing doubt you could, " answered Mr. Green with a fresh leer, thatcontained this time something ironic. "I nothing doubt it! But by yourleave, I'll pursue my quest without your assistance. "

Mr. Caryll continued, nevertheless, to advance towards him, MistressHortensia remaining in the background, a quiet spectator, betrayingnothing of the anxieties by which she was being racked. 

"Ye're mighty curt this morning, Mr. Green, " said Mr. Caryll, very airy. "Ye're mighty curt, and ye're entirely wrong so to be. You might find mea very useful friend. "

"I've found you so before, " said Mr. Green sourly. 

"Ye've a nice sense of humor, " said Mr. Caryll, head on one side, contemplating the spy with admiration in his glance. 

"And a nicer sense of a Jacobite, " answered Mr. Green. 

"He will have the last word, you perceive, " said Mr. Caryll toHortensia. 

"Harkee, Mr. Caryll, " quoth Mr. Green, quite grimly now. "I'd ha' laidyou by the heels a month or more ago, but for certain friends o' minewho have other ends to serve. "

"Sir, what you tell me shocks me. It shakes the very foundations of myfaith in human nature. I have esteemed you an honest man, Mr. Green, and it seems--on your own confessing--that ye're no better than adamned rogue who neglects his duty to the state. I've a mind to see LordCarteret, and tell him the truth of the matter. "

"Ye shall have an opportunity before long, ecod!" said Mr. Green. "Good-morning to you! I've work to do. " And he turned back to the desk. 

"'Tis wasted labor, " said Mr. Caryll, producing his snuff-box, andtapping it. "You might seek from now till the crack of doom, and notfind what ye seek--not though you hack the desk to pieces. It has asecret, Mr. Green. I'll make a bargain with you for that secret. "

Mr. Green turned again, and his shrewd, bright eyes scanned more closelythat lean face, whose keenness was all dissembled now in an easy, languid smile. "A bargain?" grumbled the spy. "I' faith, then, thesecret's worthless. "

"Ye think that? Pho! 'Tis not like your usual wit, Mr. Green. The letterthat I carried into England, and that you were at such splendid painsto find at Maidstone, is in here. " And he tapped the veneered top of thesecretaire with his forefinger. "But ye'll not find it without my help. It is concealed as effectively--as effectively as it was upon my personwhen ye searched me. Now, sir, will ye treat with me? It'll save you aworld of labor. "

Mr. Green still looked at him. He licked his lips thoughtfully, cat-like. "What terms d'ye make?" he inquired, but his tone was verycold. His busy brain was endeavoring to conjecture what exactly mightbe Mr. Caryll's object in this frankness which Mr. Green was not foolenough to believe sincere. 

"Ah, " said Mr. Caryll. "That is more the man I know. " He tapped hissnuff-box, and in that moment memory rather than inspiration showed himthe thing he needed. "Did ye ever see 'The Constant Couple, ' Mr. Green?"he inquired. 

"'The Constant Couple'?" echoed Mr. Green, and though mystified, hemust air his little jest. "I never saw any couple that wasconstant--leastways, not for long. "

"Ha! Ye're a roguish wag! But 'The Constant Couple' I mean is a play. "

"Oh, a play! Ay, I mind me I saw it some years ago, when 'twas firstacted. But what has that to do with--"

"Ye'll understand in a moment, " said Mr. Caryll, with a smile the spydid not relish. "D'ye recall a ruse of Sir Harry Wildairs to ridhimself of the company of an intrusive old fool who was not wanted? D'yeremember what 'twas he did?"

Mr. Green, his head slightly on one side, was watching Mr. Caryll veryclosely, and not without anxiety. "I don't, " said he, and dropped ahand to the pocket where a pistol lay, that he might be prepared foremergencies. "What did he do?"

"I'll show you, " said Mr. Caryll. "He did this. " And with a swift upwardmovement, he emptied his snuff-box full into the face of Mr. Green. 

Mr. Green leapt back, with a scream of pain, hands to his eyes, andquite unconsciously set himself to play to the life the part of theintrusive old fellow in the comedy. Dancing wildly about the room, hiseyes smarting and burning so that he could not open them, he bellowedof hell-fire and other hot things of which he was being so intenselyreminded. 

"'Twill pass, " Mr. Caryll consoled him. "A little water, and all will bewell with you. " He stepped to the door as he spoke, and flung it open. "Ho, there! Who waits?" he called. 

Two or three footmen sprang to answer him. He took Mr. Green, stillblind and vociferous, by the shoulders, and thrust him into their care. "This gentleman has had a most unfortunate accident. Get him water towash his eyes--warm water. So! Take him. 'Twill pass, Mr. Green. 'Twillsoon pass, I assure you. "

He shut the door upon them, locked it, and turned to Hortensia, smilinggrimly. Then he crossed quickly to the desk, and Hortensia followed him. He sat down, and pulled out bodily the bottom drawer on the right insideof the upper part of the desk, as he had seen Lord Ostermore do thatday, a little over a week ago. He thrust his hand into the opening, andfelt along the sides for some moments in vain. He went over the groundagain slowly, inch by inch, exerting constant pressure, until he wassuddenly rewarded by a click. The small trap disclosed itself. He pulledit up, and took some papers from the recess. He spread them before him. They were the documents he sought--the king's letter to Ostermore, andOstermore's reply, signed and ready for dispatch. "These must be burnt, "he said, "and burnt at once, for that fellow Green may return, or he maysend others. Call Humphries. Get a taper from him. "

She sped to the door, and did his bidding. Then she returned. She wasplainly agitated. "You must go at once, " she said, imploringly. "Youmust return to France without an instant's delay. "

"Why, indeed, it would mean my ruin to remain now, " he admitted. "Andyet--" He held out his hands to her. 

"I will follow you, " she promised him. "I will follow you as soon as hislordship is recovered, or--or at peace. "

"You have well considered, sweetheart?" he asked her, holding her tohim, and looking down into her gentle eyes. 

"There is no happiness for me apart from you. "

Again his scruples took him. "Tell Lord Ostermore--tell him all, " hebegged her. "Be guided by him. His decision for you will represent thedecision of the world. "

"What is the world to me? You are the world to me, " she cried. 

There was a rap upon the door. He put her from him, and went to open. Itwas Humphries with a lighted taper. He took it, thanked the man with aword, and shut the door in his face, ignoring the fact that the fellowwas attempting to tell him something. 

He returned to the desk. "Let us make quite sure that this is all, " hesaid, and held the taper so that the light shone into the recess. Itseemed empty at first; then, as the light penetrated farther, he sawsomething that showed white at the back of the cachette. He thrust inhis hand, and drew out a small package bound with a ribbon that oncemight have been green but was faded now to yellow. He set it on thedesk, and returned to his search. There was nothing else. The recesswas empty. He closed the trap and replaced the drawer. Then he sat downagain, the taper at his elbow, Mistress Winthrop looking on, facing himacross the top of the secretaire, and he took up the package. 

The ribbon came away easily, and some half-dozen sheets fell out andscattered upon the desk. They gave out a curious perfume, half ofage, half of some essence with which years ago they had been imbued. Something took Mr. Caryll in the throat, and he could never explainwhether it was that perfume or some premonitory emotion, some propheticapprehension of what he was about to see. 

He opened the first of those folded sheets, and found it to be a letterwritten in French and in an ink that had paled to yellow with the yearsthat were gone since it had been penned. The fine, pointed writing wascuriously familiar to Mr. Caryll. He looked at the signature at thebottom of the page. It swam before his eyes--ANTOINETTE-"Celle quil'adore, Antoinette, " he read, and the whole world seemed blotted outfor him; all consciousness, his whole being, his every sense, seemedconcentrated into his eyes as they gazed upon that relic of a deludedwoman's dream. 

He did not read. It was not for him to commit the sacrilege of readingwhat that girl who had been his mother had written thirty years ago tothe man she loved--the man who had proved false as hell. 

He turned the other letters over; opened them one by one, to make surethat they were of the same nature as the first, and what time he did sohe found himself speculating upon the strangeness of Ostermore's havingso treasured them. Perhaps he had thrust them into that secret recess, and there forgotten them; 'twas an explanation that sorted better withwhat Mr. Caryll knew of his father, than the supposition that so dulland practical and self-centered a nature could have been irradiated bya gleam of such tenderness as the hoarding of those letters might haveargued. 

He continued to turn them over, half-mechanically, forgetful of theurgent need to burn the treasonable documents he had secured, forgetfulof everything, even Hortensia's presence. And meantime she watched himin silence, marvelling at this delay, and still more at the gray lookthat had crept into his face. 

"What have you found?" she asked at last. 

"A ghost, " he answered, and his voice had a strained, metallic ring. Heeven vented an odd laugh. "A bundle of old love-letters. "

"From her ladyship?"

"Her ladyship?" He looked up, an expression on his face which seemed toshow that he could not at the moment think who her ladyship might be. Then as the picture of that bedaubed, bedizened and harsh-featuredJezebel arose in his mind to stand beside the sweet girl--image ofhis mother--as he knew her from the portrait that hung at Maligny--helaughed again. "No, not from her ladyship, " said he. "From a woman wholoved him years ago. " And he turned to the seventh and last of thosepoor ghosts-the seventh, a fateful number. 

He spread it before him; frowned down on it a moment with a sharp hissof indrawn breath. Then he twisted oddly on his chair, and sat boltupright, staring straight before him with unseeing eyes. Presently hepassed a hand across his brow, and made a queer sound in his throat. 

"What is it?" she asked. 

But he did not answer; he was staring at the paper again. A while hesat thus; then with swift fevered fingers he took up once more the otherletters. He unfolded one, and began to read. A few lines he read, andthen--"O God!" he cried, and flung out his arms under stress of 'hisemotions. One of them caught the taper that stood upon the desk; andswept it, extinguished, to the floor. He never heeded it, never gave athought to the purpose for which it had been fetched, a purpose not yetserved. He rose. He was white as the dead are white, and she observedthat he was trembling. He took up the bundle of old letters, and thrustthem into an inside pocket of his coat. 

"What are you doing?" she cried, seeking at last to arouse him from thespell under which he appeared to have fallen. "Those letters--"

"I must see Lord Ostermore, " he answered wildly, and made for the door, reeling like a drunkard in his walk. 

CHAPTER XIX. THE END OF LORD OSTERMORE

In the ante-room communicating with Lord Ostermore's bedroom thecountess was in consultation with Rotherby, who had been summoned by hismother when my lord was stricken. 

Her ladyship occupied the window-seat; Rotherby stood besideher, leaning slightly against the frame of the open window. Theirconversation was earnest and conducted in a low key, and one wouldnaturally have conjectured that it had for subject the dangerouscondition of the earl. And so it had--the dangerous condition of theearl's political, if not physical, affairs. To her ladyship and her son, the matter of their own future was of greater gravity than the matterof whether his lordship lived or died--which, whatever it may be, isnot unreasonable. Since the impeachment of my lord and the coming ofthe messengers to arrest him, the danger of ruin and beggary were becomemore imminent--indeed, they impended, and measures must be concertedto avert these evils. By comparison with that, the earl's succumbing orsurviving was a trivial matter; and the concern they had manifested inSir James' news--when the important, well-nourished physician who hadbled his lordship came to inform them that there was hope--was outwardonly, and assumed for pure decorum's sake. 

"Whether he lives or dies, " said the viscount pertinently, after thedoctor had departed to return to his patient, "the measures to betaken are the same. " And he repeated the substance of their earlierdiscussions upon this same topic. "If we can but secure the evidence ofhis treason with Caryll, " he wound up, "I shall be able to make termswith Lord Carteret to arrest the proceedings the government may intend, and thus avert the restitution it would otherwise enforce. "

"But if he were to die, " said her ladyship, as coldly, horriblycalculating as though he were none of hers, "there would be an end tothis danger. They could not demand restitution of the dead, nor imposefines upon him. "

Rotherby shook his head. "Believe not that, madam, " said he. "They candemand restitution of his heirs and impose their fines upon the estate. 'Twas done in the case of Chancellor Craggs, though he shot himself. "

She raised a haggard face to his. "And do you dream that Lord Carteretwould make terms with you?"

"If I can show him--by actual proof--that a conspiracy does exist, thatthe Stuart supporters are plotting a rising. Proof of that should be ofvalue to Lord Carteret, of sufficient value to the government to warrantthe payment of the paltry price I ask--that the impeachment against myfather for his dealings with the South Sea Company shall not be allowed. 

"But it might involve the worse betrayal of your father, Charles, and ifhe were to live--"

"'Sdeath, mother, why must you harp on that? I a'n't the fool you thinkme, " he cried. "I shall make it a further condition that my father haveimmunity. There will be no lack of victims once the plot is disclosed;and they may begin upon that coxcomb Caryll--the damned meddler who isat the bottom of all this garboil. "

She sat bemused, her eyes upon the sunlit gardens below, where a faintbreeze was stirring the shrub tops. 

"There is, " she said presently, "a secret drawer somewhere in his desk. If he has papers they will, no doubt, be there. Had you not best bemaking search for them?"

He smiled darkly. "I have seen to that already, " he replied. 

"How?" excitedly. "You have got the papers?"

"No; but I have set an experienced hand to find them, and one, moreover, who has the right by virtue of his warrant--the messenger of thesecretary of state. "

She sat up, rigid. "'Sdeath! What is't ye mean?"

"No need for alarm, " he reassured her. "This fellow Green is in my pay, as well as in the secretary's, and it will profit him most to keep faithwith me. He's a self-seeking dog, content to run with the hare and huntwith the hounds, so that there be profit in it, and he'd sacrifice hisears to bring Mr. Caryll to the gallows. I have promised him that and athousand pounds if we save the estates from confiscation. "

She looked at him, between wonder and fear. "Can ye trust him?" sheasked breathlessly. 

He laughed softly and confidently. "I can trust him to earn a thousandpounds, " he answered. "When he heard of the impeachment, he used suchinfluence as he has to be entrusted with the arrest of his lordship;and having obtained his warrant, he came first to me to tell me of it. Athousand pounds is the price of him, body and soul. I bade him seek notonly evidence of my lord's having received that plaguey stock, but alsopapers relating to this Jacobite plot into which his lordship has beendrawn by our friend Caryll. He is at his work at present. And I shallhear from him when it is accomplished. "

She nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "You have very well disposed, Charles, "she approved him. "If your father lives, it should not be a difficultmatter--"

She checked suddenly and turned, while Rotherby, too, looked up andstepped quickly from the window-embrasure where he had stood. 

The door of the bedroom had been suddenly pulled open, and Sir Jamescame out, very pale and discomposed. 

"Madam--your ladyship--my lord!" he gasped, his mouth working, his handswaving foolishly. 

The countess rose to confront him, tall, severe and harsh. The viscountscowled a question. Sir James quailed before them, evidently inaffliction. 

"Madam--his lordship, " he said, and by his eloquent gesture of dejectionannounced what he had some difficulty in putting into words. 

She stepped forward, and took him by the wrist. "Is he dying?" sheinquired. 

"Have courage, madam, " the doctor besought her. 

The apparent irrelevancy of the request at such a moment, angeredher. Her mood was dangerously testy. And had the doctor but known it, sympathy was a thing she had not borne well these many years. 

"I asked you was he dying, " she reminded him, with a cold sternness thatbeat aside all his attempts at subterfuge. 

"Your ladyship--he is dead, " he faltered, with lowered eyes. 

"Dead?" she echoed dully, and her hand went to the region of her heart, her face turned livid under its rouge. "Dead?" she said again, andbehind her, Rotherby echoed the dread word in a stupor almost equal toher own. Her lips moved to speak, but no words came. She staggered whereshe stood, and put her hand to her brow. Her son's arms were quicklyabout her. He supported her to a chair, where she sank as if all herjoints were loosened. 

Sir James flew for restoratives; bathed her brow with a dampenedhandkerchief; held strong salts to her nostrils, and murmured wordsof foolish, banal consolation, whilst Rotherby, in a half-dreamingcondition, stunned by the suddenness of the blow, stood beside her, mechanically lending his assistance and supporting her. 

Gradually she mastered her agitation. It was odd that she should feel somuch at losing what she valued so little. Leastways, it would have beenodd, had it been that. It was not--it was something more. In the awful, august presence of death, stepped so suddenly into their midst, she feltherself appalled. 

For nigh upon thirty years she had been bound by legal and churchlyties in a loveless union with Lord Ostermore--married for the handsomeportion that had been hers, a portion which he had gamed away andsquandered until, for their station, their circumstances were nowabsolutely straitened. They had led a harsh, discordant life, and thecoming of a son, which should have bridged the loveless gulf betweenthem, seemed but to have served to dig it wider. And the son had beenjust the harsh, unfeeling offspring that might be looked for from sucha union. Thirty years of slavery had been her ladyship's, and in thosethirty years her nature had been soured and warped, and what inherentsweetness it may once have known had long since been smothered anddestroyed. She had no cause to love that man who had never loved her, never loved aught of hers beyond her jointure. And yet, there was thehabit of thirty years. For thirty years they had been yoke-fellows, however detestable the yoke. But yesterday he had been alive and strong, a stupid, querulous thing maybe, but a living. And now he was so muchcarrion that should be given to the earth. In some such channel ranher ladyship's reflections during those few seconds in which she wasrecovering. For an instant she was softened. The long-since dried-upsprings of tenderness seemed like to push anew under the shock of thisevent. She put out a hand to take her son's. 

"Charles!" she said, and surprised him by the tender note. 

A moment thus; then she was herself again. "How did he die?" she askedthe doctor; and the abruptness of the resumption of her usual mannerstartled Sir James more than aught in his experience of such scenes. 

"It was most sudden, madam, " answered he. "I had the best groundsfor hope. I was being persuaded we should save him. And then, quitesuddenly, without an instant's warning, he succumbed. He just heaved asigh, and was gone. I could scarcely believe my senses, madam. "

He would have added more particulars of his feelings and emotions--forhe was of those who believe that their own impressions of a phenomenonare that phenomenon's most interesting manifestations--but her ladyshipwaved him peremptorily into silence. 

He drew back, washing his hands in the air, an expression of politeconcern upon his face. "Is there aught else I can do to be of service toyour ladyship?" he inquired, solicitous. 

"What else?" she asked, with a fuller return to her old self. "Ye'vekilled him. What more is there you can do?"

"Oh, madam--nay, madam! I am most deeply grieved that my--my--"

"His lordship will wait upon you to the door, " said she, designating herson. 

The eminent physician effaced himself from her ladyship's attention. Itwas his boast that he could take a hint when one was given him; and sohe could, provided it were broad enough, as in the present instance. 

He gathered up his hat and gold-headed cane--the unfailing insignia ofhis order--and was gone, swiftly and silently. 

Rotherby closed the door after him, and returned slowly, head bowed, tothe window where his mother was still seated. They looked at each othergravely for a long moment. 

"This makes matters easier for you, " she said at length. 

"Much easier. It does not matter now how far his complicity may bebetrayed by his papers. I am glad, madam, to see you so far recoveredfrom your weakness. "

She shivered, as much perhaps at his tone as at the recollections heevoked. "You are very indifferent, Charles, " said she. 

He looked at her steadily, then slightly shrugged. "What need to weara mask? Bah! Did he ever give me cause to feel for him?" he asked. "Mother, if one day I have a son of my own, I shall see to it that heloves me. "

"You will be hard put to it, with your nature, Charles, " she told himcritically. Then she rose. "Will you go to him with me?" she asked. 

He made as if to acquiesce, then halted. "No, " he said, and there wasrepugnance in his tone and face. "Not--not now. "

There came a knocking at the door, rapid, insistent. Grateful for theinterruption, Rotherby went to open. 

Mr. Green staggered forward with swollen eyes, his face inflamed withrage, and with something else that was not quite apparent to Rotherby. 

"My lord!" he cried in a loud, angry voice. 

Rotherby caught his wrist and checked him. "Sh! sir, " he said gravely. "Not here. " And he pushed him out again, her ladyship following them. 

It was in the gallery--above the hall, in which the servants still stoodidly about--that Mr. Green spattered out his wrathful tale of what hadbefallen in the library. 

Rotherby shook him as if he had been a rat. "You cursed fool!" he cried. "You left him there--at the desk?"

"What help had I?" demanded Green with spirit. "My eyes were on fire. Icouldn't see, and the pain of them made me helpless. "

"Then why did ye not send word to me at once, you fool?"

"Because I was concerned only to stop my eyes from burning, " answeredMr. Green, in a towering rage at finding reproof where he had come inquest of sympathy. "I have come to you at the first moment, damn you!"he burst out, in full rebellion. "And you'll use me civilly now that Iam come, or--ecod!--it'll be the worse for your lordship. "

Rotherby considered him through a faint mist that rage had set beforehis eyes. To be so spoken to--damned indeed!--by a dirty spy! Had hebeen alone with the man, there can be little doubt but that he wouldhave jeopardized his very precarious future by kicking Mr. Greendownstairs. But his mother saved him from that rashness. It may be thatshe saw something of his anger in his kindling eye, and thought it wellto intervene. 

She set a hand on his sleeve. "Charles!" she said to him in a voice thatwas dead cold with warning. 

He responded to it, and chose discretion. He looked Green over, nevertheless. "I vow I'm very patient with you, " said he, and Greenhad the discretion on his side to hold his tongue. "Come, man, while westand talking here that knave may be destroying precious evidence. "

And his lordship went quickly down the stairs, Mr. Green following hardupon his heels, and her ladyship bringing up the rear. 

At the door of the library Rotherby came to a halt, and turned thehandle. The door was locked. He beckoned a couple of footmen across thehall, and bade them break it open. 

CHAPTER XX. Mr. CARYLL'S IDENTITY

"I must see Lord Ostermore!" had been Mr. Caryll's wild cry, as hestrode to the door. 

From the other side of it there came a sound of steps and voices. Someone was turning the handle. 

Hortensia caught Mr. Caryll by the sleeve. "But the letters!" she criedfrantically, and pointed to the incriminating papers which he had left, forgotten, upon the desk. 

He stared at her a moment, and memory swept upon him in a flood. Hemastered the wild agitation that had been swaying him, thrust the paperthat he was carrying into his pocket, and turned to go back for thetreasonable letters. 

"The taper!" he exclaimed, and pointed to the extinguished candle on thefloor. "What can we do?"

A sharp blow fell upon the lock of the door. He stood still, lookingover his shoulder. 

"Quick! Make haste!" Hortensia admonished him in her excitement. "Getthem! Conceal them, at least! Do the best you can since we have not themeans to burn them. "

A second blow was struck, succeeded instantly by a third, and somethingwas heard to snap. The door swung open, and Green and Rotherby spranginto the room, a brace of footmen at their heels. They were followedmore leisurely by the countess; whilst a little flock of servantsbrought up the rear, but checked upon the threshold, and hung there towitness events that held out such promise of being unusual. 

Mr. Caryll swore through set teeth, and made a dash for the desk. But hewas too late to accomplish his object. His hand had scarcely closed uponthe letters, when he was, himself, seized. Rotherby and Green, oneither side of him, held him in their grasp, each with one hand upon hisshoulder and the other at his wrist. Thus stood he, powerless betweenthem, and, after the first shock of it, cool and making no effort todisengage himself. His right hand was tightly clenched upon the letters. 

Rotherby called a servant forward. "Take those papers from the thief'shand, " he commanded. 

"Stop!" cried Mr. Caryll. "Lord Rotherby, may I speak with you alonebefore you go further in a matter you will bitterly regret?"

"Take those papers from him, " Rotherby repeated, swearing; and theservant bent to the task. But Mr. Caryll suddenly wrenched the hand awayfrom the fellow and the wrist out of Lord Rotherby's grip. 

"A moment, my lord, as you value your honor and your possessions!" heinsisted. "Let me speak with Lord Ostermore first. Take me before him. "

"You are before him now, " said Rotherby. "Say on!"

"I demand to see Lord Ostermore. "

"I am Lord Ostermore, " said Rotherby. 

"You? Since when?" said Mr. Caryll, not even beginning to understand. 

"Since ten minutes ago, " was the callous answer that first gave thathousehold the news of my lord's passing. 

There was a movement, a muttering among the servants. Old Humphriesbroke through the group by the door, his heavy chops white andtrembling, and in that moment Hortensia turned, awe-stricken, to ask herladyship was this true. Her ladyship nodded in silence. Hortensia criedout, and sank to a chair as if beaten down by the news, whilst the oldservant, answered, too, withdrew, wringing his hands and making foolishlaments; and the tears of those were the only tears that watered thegrave of John Caryll, fifth Earl of Ostermore. 

As for Mr. Caryll, the shock of that announcement seemed to cast a spellupon him. He stood still, limp and almost numbed. Oh, the never-ceasingirony of things! That his father should have died at such a moment. 

"Dead?" quoth he. "Dead? Is my lord dead? They told me he wasrecovering. "

"They told you false, " answered Rotherby. "So now--those papers!"

Mr. Caryll relinquished them. "Take them, " he said. "Since that isso--take them. "

Rotherby received them himself. "Remove his sword, " he bade a footman. 

Mr. Caryll looked sharply round at him. "My sword?" quoth he. "What doyou mean by that? What right?"

"We mean to keep you by us, sir, " said Mr. Green on his other side, "until you have explained what you were doing with those papers--what isyour interest in them. "

Meanwhile a servant had done his lordship's bidding, and Mr. Caryllstood weaponless amid his enemies. He mastered himself at once. Here itwas plain that he must walk with caution, for the ground, he perceived, was of a sudden grown most insecure and treacherous. Rotherby and Greenin league! It gave him matter for much thought. 

"There's not the need to hold me, " said he quietly. "I am not likely totire myself by violence. There's scarcely necessity for so much. "

Rotherby looked up sharply. The cool, self-possessed tone had anintimidating note. But Mr. Green laughed maliciously, as he continuedto mop his still watering eyes. He was acquainted with Mr. Caryll'smethods, and knew that, probably, the more at ease he seemed, the lessat ease he was. 

Rotherby spread the letters on the desk, and scanned them with a glowingeye, Mr. Green at his elbow reading with him. The countess swept forwardthat she, too, might inspect this find. 

"They'll serve their turn, " said her son, and added to Caryll: "Andthey'll help to hang you. "

"No doubt you find me mentioned in them, " said Mr. Caryll. 

"Ay, sir, " snapped Green, "if not by name, at least as the messengerwho is to explain that which the writers--the royal writer and theother--have out of prudence seen fit to exclude. "

Hortensia looked up and across the room at that, a wild fear clutchingat her heart. But Mr. Caryll laughed pleasantly, eyebrows raised asif in mild surprise. "The most excellent relations appear to prevailbetween you, " said he, looking from Rotherby to Green. "Are you, too, mylord, in the secretary's pay. "

His lordship flushed darkly. "You'll clown it to the end, " he sneered. 

"And that's none so far off, " snarled Mr. Green, who since the pepperingof his eyes, had flung aside his usual cherubic air. "Oh, you may sneer, sir, " he mocked the prisoner. "But we have you fast. This letter wasbrought hither by you, and this one was to have been carried hence byyou. "

"The latter, sir, was a matter for the future, and you can hardly provewhat a man will do; so we'll let that pass. As for the former--theletter which you say I brought--you'll remember that you searched me atMaidstone--"

"And I have your admission that the letter was upon you at the time, "roared the spy, interrupting him--"your admission in the presence ofthat lady, as she can be made to witness. "

Mistress Winthrop rose. "'Tis a lie, " she said firmly. "I can not bemade to witness. "

Mr. Caryll smiled, and nodded across to her. "'Tis vastly kind in you, Mistress Winthrop. But the gentleman is mistook. " He turned to Green. "Harkee, sirrah did I admit that I had carried that letter?"

Mr. Green shrugged. "You admitted that you carried a letter. What otherletter should it have been but that?"

"Nay, " smiled Mr. Caryll. "'Tis not for you to ask me. Rather is it foryou to prove that the letter I admitted having carried and that letterare one and the same. 'Twill take a deal of proving, I dare swear. "

"Ye'll be forsworn, then, " put in her ladyship sourly. "For I canwitness to the letter that you bore. Not only did I see it--a letter onthat same fine paper--in my husband's hands on the day you came here andduring your visit, but I have his lordship's own word for it that he wasin the plot and that you were the go-between. "

"Ah!" chuckled Mr. Green. "What now, sir? What now? By what fresh pieceof acrobatics will you get out of that?"

"Ye're a fool, " said Mr. Caryll with calm contempt, and fetched out hissnuff-box. "D'ye dream that one witness will suffice to establish sograve a charge? Pah!" He opened his snuff-box to find it empty, andviciously snapped down the lid again. "Pah!" he said again, "ye've costme a whole boxfull of Burgamot. "

"Why did ye throw it in my face?" demanded Mr. Green. "What purpose didye look to serve but one of treason? Answer me that!"

"I didn't like the way ye looked at me. 'Twas wanting respect, and Ibethought me I would lessen the impudence of your expression. Have yeany other foolish questions for me?" And he looked again from Green toRotherby, including both in his inquiry. "No?" He rose. "In that case, if you'll give me leave, and--"

"You do not leave this house, " Rotherby informed him. 

"I think you push hospitality too far. Will you desire your lackey toreturn me my sword? I have affairs elsewhere. "

"Mr. Caryll, I beg that you will understand, " said his lordship, with acalm that he was at some pains to maintain, "that you do not leave thishouse save in the care of the messengers from the secretary of state. "

Mr. Caryll looked at him, and yawned in his face. "Ye're prodigiouslytiresome, " said he, "did ye but know how I detest disturbances. Whatshall the secretary of state require of me?"

"He'll require you on a charge of high treason, " said Mr. Green. 

"Have you a warrant to take me?"

"I have not, but--"

"Then how do you dare detain me, sir?" demanded Mr. Caryll sharply. "D'ye think I don't know the law?"

"I think you'll know a deal more of it shortly, " countered Mr. Green. 

"Meanwhile, sirs, I depart. Offer me violence at your peril. " He moved astep, and then, at a sign from Rotherby, the lackey's hands fell on himagain, and forced him back and down into his chair. 

"Away with you for the warrant, " said Rotherby to Green. "We'll keep himhere till you return. "

Mr. Green grinned at the prisoner, and was gone in great haste. 

Mr. Caryll lounged back in his chair, and threw one leg over the other. "I have always endeavored, " said he, "to suffer fools as gladly as aChristian should. So since you insist, I'll be patient until I have theear of my Lord Carteret--who, I take it, is a man of sense. But if Iwere you, my lord, and you, my lady, I should not insist. Believe me, you'll cut poor figures. As for you, my lord, ye're in none such goododor, as it is. "

"Let that be, " snarled his lordship. 

"If I mention it at all, I but do so in your lordship's own interests. It will be remembered that ye attempted to murder me once, and that willnot be of any great help to such accusations as you may bring againstme. Besides which, there is the unfortunate circumstance that it'swidely known ye're not a man to be believed. "

"Will you be silent?" roared his lordship, in a towering passion. 

"If I trouble myself to speak at all, it is out of concern for yourlordship, " Mr. Caryll insisted sweetly. "And in your own interest, and your ladyship's, too, I'd counsel you to hear me a moment withoutwitnesses. "

His tone was calculatedly grave. Lord Rotherby looked at him, sneering;not so her ladyship. Less acquainted with his ways, the absoluteconfidence and unconcern of his demeanor was causing her uneasiness. Aman who was perilously entrammelled would not bear himself so easily, she opined. She rose, and crossed to her son's side. 

"What have you to say?" she asked Mr. Caryll. 

"Nay, madam, " he replied, "not before these. " And he indicated theservants. 

"'Tis but a pretext to have them out of the room, " said Rotherby. 

Mr. Caryll laughed the notion to scorn. "If you think that--I give youmy word of honor to attempt no violence, nor to depart until you shallgive me leave, " said he. 

Rotherby, judging Mr. Caryll by his knowledge of himself, stillhesitated. But her ladyship realized, in spite of her detestation of theman, that he was not of the temper of those whose word is to be doubted. She signed to the footmen. 

"Go, " she bade them. "Wait within call. "

They departed, and Mr. Caryll remained seated for all that her ladyshipwas standing; it was as if by that he wished to show how little he wasminded to move. 

Her ladyship's eye fell upon Hortensia. "Do you go, too, child, " shebade her. 

Instead, Hortensia came forward. "I wish to remain, madam, " she said. 

"Did I ask you what you wished?" demanded the countess. 

"My place is here, " Hortensia explained. "Unless Mr. Caryll should, himself, desire me to depart. "

"Nay, nay, " he cried, and smiled upon her fondly--so fondly that thecountess's eyes grew wider. "With all my heart, I desire you to remain. It is most fitting you should hear that which I have to say. "

"What does it mean?" demanded Rotherby, thrusting himself forward, andscowling from one to the other of them. "What d'ye mean, Hortensia?"

"I am Mr. Caryll's betrothed wife, " she answered quietly. 

Rotherby's mouth fell open, but he made no sound. Not so her ladyship. A peal of shrill laughter broke from her. "La! What did I tell you, Charles?" Then to Hortensia: "I'm sorry for you, ma'am, " said she. "Ithink ye've been a thought too long in making up your mind. " And shelaughed again. 

"Lord Ostermore lies above stairs, " Hortensia reminded her, and herladyship went white at the reminder, the indecency of her laughter bornein upon her. 

"Would ye lesson me, girl?" she cried, as much to cover her confusionas to vent her anger at the cause of it. "Ye've an odd daring, by God!Ye'll be well matched with his impudence, there. "

Rotherby, singularly self-contained, recalled her to the occasion. 

"Mr. Caryll is waiting, " said he, a sneer in his voice. 

"Ah, yes, " she said, and flashing a last malignant glance uponHortensia, she sank to a chair beside her, but not too near her. 

Mr. Caryll sat back, his legs crossed, his elbows on his chair-arms, hisfinger-tips together. "The thing I have to tell you is of some gravity, "he announced by way of preface. 

Rotherby took a seat by the desk, his hand upon the treasonableletters. "Proceed, sir, " he said, importantly. Mr. Caryll nodded, as inacknowledgment of the invitation. 

"I will admit, before going further, that in spite of the cheerfulcountenance I maintained before your lordship's friend, the bumbailiff, and your lackeys, I recognize that you have me in a very dangerousposition. "

"Ah!" from his lordship in a breath of satisfaction, and

"Ah!" from Hortensia in a gasp of apprehension. 

Her ladyship retained a stony countenance, and a silence that sortedexcellently with it. 

"There is, " Mr. Caryll proceeded, marking off the points on his fingers, "the incident at Maidstone; there is your ladyship's evidence that Iwas the bearer of just such a letter on the day that first I came here;there is the dangerous circumstance--of which Mr. Green, I am sure, willnot fail to make a deal--of my intimacy with Sir Richard Everard, andmy constant visits to his lodging, where I was, in fact, on the occasionwhen he met his death; there is the fact that I committed upon Mr. Greenan assault with my snuff box for motives that, after all, admit of butone acceptable explanation; and, lastly, there is the circumstance that, apparently, if interrogated, I can show no good reason why I should bein England at all, where no apparent interest has called me or keeps me. 

"Now, these matters are so trivial that taken separately they have novalue whatever; taken conjointly, their value is not great; they donot contain evidence enough to justify the hanging of a dog. And yet, I realize that disturbed as the times are, fearful of sedition as thegovernment finds itself in consequence of the mischief done to publiccredit by the South Sea disaster, and ready as the ministry is to seeplots everywhere and to make examples, pour discourager les autres, ifthe accusation you intend is laid against me, backed by such evidenceas this, it is not impossible--indeed, it is not improbable--that itmay--ah--tend to shorten my life. "

"Sir, " sneered Rotherby, "I declare you should have been a lawyer. Wehaven't a pleader of such parts and such lucidity at the whole bar. "

Mr. Caryll nodded his thanks. "Your praise is very flattering, my lord, "said he, with a wry smile, and then proceeded: "It is because I see mycase to be so very nearly desperate, that I venture to hope you will notpersevere in the course you are proposing to adopt. "

Lord Rotherby laughed noiselessly. "Can you urge me any reasons why weshould not?"

"If you could urge me any reasons why you should, " said Mr. Caryll, "nodoubt I should be able to show you under what misapprehensions youare laboring. " He shot a keen glance at his lordship, whose face hadsuddenly gone blank. Mr. Caryll smiled quietly. "There is in thissomething that I do not understand, " he resumed. "It does not satisfyme to suppose, as at first might seem, that you are acting out of sheermalice against me. You have scarcely cause to do that, my lord; and you, my lady, have none. That fool Green--patience--he conceives that he hassuffered at my hands. But without your assistance Mr. Green would bepowerless to hurt me. What, then, is it that is moving you?"

He paused, looking from one to the other of his declared enemies. Theyexchanged glances--Hortensia watching them, breathless, her own mindworking, too, upon this question that Mr. Caryll had set, yet nowherefinding an answer. 

"I had thought, " said her ladyship at last, "that you promised to tellus something that it was in our interest to hear. Instead, you appear tobe asking questions. "

Mr. Caryll shifted in his chair. One glance he gave the countess, thensmiled. "I have sought at your hands the reasons why you should desiremy death, " said he slowly. "You withhold them. Be it so. I take itthat you are ashamed of them; and so, their nature is not difficult toconjecture. "

"Sir--" began Rotherby, hotly, half-starting from his seat. 

"Nay, let him trundle on, Charles, " said his mother. "He'll be thesooner done. "

"Instead, " proceeded Mr. Caryll, as if there had been no interruption, "I will now urge you my reasons why you should not so proceed. "

"Ha!" snapped Rotherby. "They will need to be valid. "

Mr. Caryll twisted farther round, to face his lordship more fully. "Theyare as valid, " said he very impressively--so impressively and sternlythat his hearers felt themselves turning cold under his words, filledwith some mysterious apprehension. "They are as valid as were my reasonsfor holding my hand in the field out yonder, when I had you at the mercyof my sword, my lord. Neither more nor less. From that, you may judgethem to be very valid. "

"But ye don't name them, " said her ladyship, attempting to conquer heruneasiness. 

"I shall do so, " said he, and turned again to his lordship. "I had nocause to love you that morning, nor at any time, my lord; I had no causeto think--as even you in your heart must realize, if so be that you havea heart, and the intelligence to examine it--I had no cause to think, mylord, that I should be doing other than a good deed by letting drive myblade. That such an opinion was well founded was proven by the thing youdid when I turned my back upon you after sparing your useless life. "

Rotherby broke in tempestuously, smiting the desk before him. "If youthink to move us to mercy by such--"

"Oh, not to mercy would I move you, " said Mr. Caryll, his hand raisedto stay the other, "not to mercy, but to horror of the thing youcontemplate. " And then, in an oddly impressive manner, he launched histhunderbolt. "Know, then, that if that morning I would not spill yourblood, it was because I should have been spilling the same blood thatflows in my own veins; it was because you are my brother; because yourfather was my father. No less than that was the reason that withheld myhand. "

He had announced his aim of moving them to horror; and it was plain thathe had not missed it, for in frozen horror sat they all, their eyes uponhim, their cheeks ashen, their mouths agape--even Hortensia, who fromwhat already Mr. Caryll had told her, understood now more than any ofthem. 

After a spell Rotherby spoke. "You are my brother?" he said, his voicecolorless. "My brother? What are you saying?"

And then her ladyship found her voice. "Who was your mother?" sheinquired, and her very tone was an insult, not to the man who sat thereso much as to the memory of poor Antoinette de Maligny. He flushed tothe temples, then paled again. 

"I'll not name her to your ladyship, " said he at, last, in a cold, imperious voice. 

"I'm glad ye've so much decency, " she countered. 

"You mistake, I think, " said he. "'Tis respect for my mother thatinspires me. " And his green eyes flashed upon the painted hag. She roseup a very fury. 

"What are you saying?" she shrilled. "D'ye hear the filthy fellow, Rotherby? He'll not name the wanton in my presence out of respect forher. "

"For shame, madam! You are speaking of his mother, " cried Hortensia, hotwith indignation. 

"Pshaw! 'Tis all an impudent lie--a pack of lies!" cried Rotherby. "He'scrafty as all the imps of hell. "

Mr. Caryll rose. "Here in the sight of God and by all that I holdmost sacred, I swear that what I have said is true. I swear that LordOstermore--your father--was my father. I was born in France, in theyear 1690, as I have papers upon me that will prove, which you may see, Rotherby. "

His lordship rose. "Produce them, " said he shortly. 

Mr. Caryll drew from an inner pocket of his coat the small leather casethat Sir Richard Everard had given him. From this he took a paper whichhe unfolded. It was a certificate of baptism, copied from the registerof the Church of St. Antoine in Paris. 

Rotherby held out his hand for it. But Mr. Caryll shook his head. "Standhere beside me, and read it, " said he. 

Obeying him, Rotherby went and read that authenticated copy, wherein itwas declared that Sir Richard Everard had brought to the Church of St. Antoine for baptism a male child, which he had declared to be the son ofJohn Caryll, Viscount Rotherby, and Antoinette de Maligny, and which hadreceived in baptism the name of Justin. 

Rotherby drew away again, his head sunk on his breast. Her ladyship wasseated, her eyes upon her son, her fingers drumming absently at the armsof her chair. Then Rotherby swung round again. 

"How do I know that you are the person designated there--this JustinCaryll?"

"You do not; but you may. Cast your mind back to that night at White'swhen you picked your quarrel with me, my lord. Do you remember howStapleton and Collis spoke up for me, declared that they had known mefrom boyhood at Oxford, and had visited me at my chateau in France? Whatwas the name of that chateau, my lord--do you remember?"

Rotherby looked at him, searching his memory. But he did not need tosearch far. At first glance the name of Maligny had seemed familiar tohim. "It was Maligny, " he replied, "and yet--"

"If more is needed to convince you, I can bring a hundred witnessesfrom France, who have known me from infancy. You may take it that I canestablish my identity beyond all doubt. "

"And what if you do?" demanded her ladyship suddenly. "What if you doestablish your identity as my lord's bastard? What claim shall that beupon us?"

"That, ma'am, " answered Mr. Caryll very gravely, "I wait to learn frommy brother here. "

CHAPTER XXI. THE LION'S SKIN

For a spell there was utter silence in that spacious, pillared chamber. Mr. Caryll and her ladyship had both resumed their chairs: the formerspuriously calm; the latter making no attempt to conceal her agitation. Hortensia leant forward, an eager spectator, watching the three actorsin this tragicomedy. 

As for Rotherby, he stood with bent head and furrowed brow. It was forhim to speak, and yet he was utterly at a loss for words. He was notmoved at the news he had received, so much as dismayed. It dictated acourse that would interfere with all his plans, and therefore a courseunthinkable. So he remained puzzled how to act, how to deal with thisunexpected situation. 

It was her ladyship who was the first to break the silence. She had beenconsidering Mr. Caryll through narrowing eyes, the corners of her mouthdrawn down. She had caught the name of Maligny when it was uttered, andout of the knowledge which happened to be hers--though Mr. Caryll wasignorant of this--it set her thinking. 

"I do not believe that you are the son of Mademoiselle de Maligny, " shesaid at last. "I never heard that my lord had a son; I cannot believethere was so much between them. "

Mr. Caryll stared, startled out of his habitual calm. Rotherby turned toher with an exclamation of surprise. "How?" he cried. "You knew, then?My father was--"

She laughed mirthlessly. "Your father would have married her had hedared, " she informed them. "'Twas to beg his father's consent thathe braved his banishment and came to England. But his father was asheadstrong as himself; held just such views as he, himself, held laterwhere you were concerned. He would not hear of the match. I was to behad for the asking. My father was a man who traded in his children, andhe had offered me, with a jointure that was a fortune, to the Earl ofOstermore as a wife for his son. "

Mr. Caryll was listening, all ears. Some light was being shed upon muchthat had lain in darkness. 

"And so, " she proceeded, "your grandfather constrained your father toforget the woman he had left in France, and to marry me. I know notwhat sins I had committed that I should have been visited with such apunishment. But so it befell. Your father resisted, dallying with thematter for a whole year. Then there was a duel fought. A cousin ofMademoiselle de Maligny's crossed to England, and forced a quarrel uponyour father. They met, and M. De Maligny was killed. Then a change setin in my lord's bearing, and one day, a month or so later, he gave wayto his father's insistence, and we were wed. But I do not believe thatmy lord had left a son in France--I do not believe that had he doneso, I should not have known it; I do not believe that under suchcircumstances, unfeeling as he was, he would have abandoned Mademoisellede Maligny. "

"You think, then, " said Rotherby, "that this man has raked up this storyto--"

"Consider what you are saying, " cut in Mr. Caryll, with a flash ofscorn. "Should I have come prepared with documents against such ahappening as this?"

"Nay, but the documents might have been intended for some other purposehad my lord lived--some purpose of extortion, " suggested her ladyship. 

"But consider again, madam, that I am wealthy--far wealthier than wasever my Lord Ostermore, as my friends Collis, Stapleton and many anothercan be called to prove. What need, then, had I to extort?"

"How came you by your means, being what you say you are?" she asked him. 

Briefly he told her how Sir Richard Everard had cared for him, for hismother's sake; endowed him richly upon adopting him, and since madehim heir to all his wealth, which was considerable. "And for the rest, madam, and you, Rotherby, set doubts on one side. Your ladyship saysthat had my lord had a son you must have heard of it. But my lord, madam, never knew he had a son. Tell me--can you recall the date, themonth at least, in which my lord returned to England?"

"I can, sir. It was at the end of April of '89. What then?"

Mr. Caryll produced the certificate again. He beckoned Rotherby, andheld the paper under his eyes. "What date is there--the date of birth?"

Rotherby read: "The third of January of 1690. "

Mr. Caryll folded the paper again. "That will help your ladyship tounderstand how it might happen that my lord remained in ignorance of mybirth. " He sighed as he replaced the case in his pocket. "I would he hadknown before he died, " said he, almost as if speaking to himself. 

And now her ladyship lost her temper. She saw Rotherby wavering, andit angered her; and angered, she committed a grave error. Wisdom lay inmaintaining the attitude of repudiation; it would at least have affordedsome excuse for her and Rotherby. Instead, she now recklessly flung offthat armor, and went naked down into the fray. 

"A fig for't all!" she cried, and snapped her fingers. She had risen, and she towered there, a lean and malevolent figure, her head-dressnodding foolishly. "What does it matter that you be what you claim tobe? Is it to weigh with you, Rotherby?"

Rotherby turned grave eyes upon her. He was, it seemed, not quite rottenthrough and through; there was still in him--in the depths of him--acore that was in a measure sound; and that core was reached. Most of allhad the story weighed with him because it afforded the only explanationof why Mr. Caryll had spared his life that morning of the duel. It was amatter that had puzzled him, as it had puzzled all who had witnessed theaffront that led to the encounter. 

Between that and the rest--to say nothing of the certificate he hadseen, which he could not suppose a forgery--he was convinced that Mr. Caryll was the brother that he claimed to be. He gathered from hismother's sudden anger that she, too, was convinced, in spite of herself, by the answers Mr. Caryll had returned to all her arguments against theidentity he claimed. 

He hated Mr. Caryll no whit less for what he had learnt; if anything, hehated him more. And yet a sense of decency forbade him from persecutinghim now, as he had intended, and delivering to the hangman. Fromordinary murder, once in the heat of passion--as we have seen--he hadnot shrunk. But fratricide appeared--such is the effect of education--afar, far graver thing, even though it should be indirect fratricide ofthe sort that he had contemplated before learning that this man was hisbrother. 

There seemed to be one of two only courses left him: to provide Mr. Caryll with the means of escape, or else to withhold such evidence ashe intended to supply against him, and to persuade--to compel, ifnecessary--his mother to do the same. When all was said, his interestsneed not suffer very greatly. His position would not be quite so strong, perhaps, if he but betrayed a plot without delivering up any of theplotters; still, he thought, it should be strong enough. His fatherdead, out of consideration of the signal loyalty his act must manifest, he thought the government would prove grateful and forbear fromprosecuting a claim for restitution against the Ostermore estates. 

He had, then, all but resolved upon the cleaner course, when, suddenly, something that in the stress of the moment he had gone near tooverlooking, was urged upon his attention. 

Hortensia had risen and had started forward at her ladyship's lastwords. She stood before his lordship now with pleading eyes, and handsheld out. "My lord, " she cried, "you cannot do this thing! You cannot doit!"

But instead of moving him to generosity, by those very words shesteeled his heart against it, and proved to him that, after all, hispotentialities for evil were strong enough to enable him to do the verything she said he could not. His brow grew black as midnight; his darkeyes raked her face, and saw the agony of apprehension for her loverwritten there. He drew breath, hissing and audible, glanced once atCaryll; then: "A moment!" said he. 

He strode to the door and called the footmen, then turned again. 

"Mr. Caryll, " he said in a formal voice, "will you give yourself thetrouble of waiting in the ante-room? I need to consider upon thismatter. "

Mr. Caryll, conceiving that it was with his mother that Rotherbyintended to consider, rose instantly. "I would remind you, Rotherby, that time is pressing, " said he. 

"I shall not keep you long, " was Rotherby's cold reply, and Mr. Caryllwent out. 

"What now, Charles?" asked his mother. "Is this child to remain?"

"It is the child that is to remain, " said his lordship. "Will yourladyship do me the honor, too, of waiting in the ante-room?" and he heldthe door for her. 

"What folly are you considering?" she asked. 

"Your ladyship is wasting time, and time, as Mr. Caryll has said, ispressing. "

She crossed to the door, controlled almost despite herself by the calmair of purpose that was investing him. "You are not thinking of--"

"You shall learn very soon of what I am thinking, ma'am. I beg that youwill give us leave. "

She paused almost upon the threshold. "If you do a rashness, here, remember that I can still act without you, " she reminded him. "You maychoose to believe that that man is your brother, and so, out of that, and"--she added with a cruel sneer at Hortensia--"other considerations, you may elect to let him go. But remember that you still have me toreckon with. Whether he prove of your blood or not, he cannot provehimself of mine--thank God!"

His lordship bowed in silence, preserving an unmoved countenance, whereupon she cursed him for a fool, and passed out. He closed the door, and turned the key, Hortensia watching him in a sort of horror. "Letme go!" she found voice to cry at last, and advanced towards thedoor herself. But Rotherby came to meet her, his face white, his eyesglowing. She fell away before his opening arms, and he stood still, mastering himself. 

"That man, " he said, jerking a backward thumb at the closed door, "livesor dies, goes free or hangs, as you shall decide, Hortensia. "

She looked at him, her face haggard, her heart beating high in herthroat as if to suffocate her. "What do you mean?" she asked. 

"You love him!" he growled. "Pah! I see it in your eyes--in yourtremors--that you do. It is for him that you are afraid, is't not?"

"Why do you mock me with it?" she inquired with dignity. 

"I do not mock you, Hortensia. Answer me! Is it true that you love him?"

"It is true, " she answered steadily. "What is't to you?"

"Everything!" he answered hotly. "Everything! It is Heaven and Hell tome. Ten days ago, Hortensia, I asked you to marry me--"

"No more, " she begged him, an arm thrown out to stay him. 

"But there is more, " he answered, advancing again. "This time I canmake the offer more attractive. Marry me, and Caryll is not only freeto depart, but no evidence shall be laid against him. I swear it! Refuseme, and he hangs as surely--as surely as you and I talk together herethis moment. "

Cold eyes scathed him with contempt. "God!" she cried. "What manner ofmonster are you, my lord? To speak so--to speak of marriage to me, andto speak of hanging a man who is son to that same father of yours wholies above stairs, not yet turned cold. Are you human at all?"

"Ay--and in nothing so human as in my love for you, Hortensia. "

She put her hands to her face. "Give me patience!" she prayed. "Theinsult of it after what has passed! Let me go, sir; open that door, andlet me go. "

He stood regarding her a moment, with lowering brows. Then he turned, and went slowly to the door. "He dies, remember!" said he, and thewords, the sinister tone and the sinister look that was stamped upon hisface, shattered her spirit as at a blow. 

"No, no!" she faltered, and advanced a step or two. "Oh, have pity!"

"When you show me pity, " he answered. 

She was beaten. "You--you swear to let him go--to see him safely out ofEngland--if--if I consent?"

His eyes blazed. He came back swiftly, and she stood, a frozen thing, passively awaiting him; a frozen thing, she let him take her in hisarms, yielding herself in horrific surrender. 

He held her close a moment, the blood surging to his face, and glowingdarkly through the swarthy skin. "Have I conquered, then?" he cried. "You'll marry me, Hortensia?"

"At that price, " she answered piteously, "at that price. "

"Shalt find me a gentle, loving husband, ever. I swear it beforeHeaven!" he vowed, the ardor of his passion softening his nature, assteel is softened in the fire. 

"Then be it so, " she said, and her tone was less cold, for she beganto glow, as it were, with the ardor of the sacrifice that she wasmaking--began to experience the exalted ecstasy of martyrdom. "Save him, and you shall find me ever a dutiful wife to you, my lord--a dutifulwife. "

"And loving?" he demanded greedily. 

"Even that. I promise it, " she answered. 

With a hoarse cry, he stooped to kiss her; then, with an oath, hechecked, and flung her from him so violently that she hurtled to a chairand sank to it, overbalanced. "No, " he roared, like a mad thing now. "Hell and damnation--no!"

A wild frenzy of jealousy had swept aside his tenderness. He was sickand faint with the passion of it of this proof of how deeply she mustlove that other man. He strove to control his violence. He snarled ather, in his endeavors to subdue the animal, the primitive creature thathe was at heart. "If you can love him so much as that, he had betterhang, I think. " He laughed on a high, fierce note. "You have spoke hissentence, girl! D'ye think I'd take you so--at second hand? Oh, s'death!What d'ye deem me?"

He laughed again--in his throat now, a quivering; half-sobbing laugh ofanger--and crossed to the door, her eyes following him, terrified; hermind understanding nothing of this savage. He turned the key, and flungwide the door with a violent gesture. "Bring him in!" he shouted. 

They entered--Mr. Caryll with the footmen at his heels, a frown betweenhis brows, his eyes glancing quickly and searchingly from Rotherby toHortensia. After him came her ladyship, no less inquisitive of look. Rotherby dismissed the lackeys, and closed the door again. He flung outan arm to indicate Hortensia. 

"This little fool, " he said to Caryll, "would have married me to saveyour life. "

Mr. Caryll raised his brows. The words relieved his fears. "I am glad, sir, that you perceive she would have been a fool to do so. You, I takeit, have been fool enough to refuse the offer. "

"Yes, you damned play-actor! Yes!" he thundered. "D'ye think I wantanother man's cast-offs?"

"That is an overstatement, " said Mr. Caryll. "Mistress Winthrop is nocast-off of mine. "

"Enough said!" snapped Rotherby. He had intended to say much, to do somemighty ranting. But before Mr. Caryll's cold half-bantering reduction offacts to their true values, he felt himself robbed of words. "You hang!"he ended shortly. 

"Ye're sure of that?" questioned Mr. Caryll. 

"I would I were as sure of Heaven. "

"I think you may be--just about as sure, " Mr. Caryll rejoined, entirelyunperturbed, and he sauntered forward towards Hortensia. Rotherby andhis mother watched him, exchanging glances. 

Then Rotherby shrugged and sneered. "'Tis his bluster, " said he. "He'llbe a farceur to the end. I doubt he's half-witted. "

Mr. Caryll never heeded him. He was bending beside Hortensia. He tookher hand, and bore it to his lips. "Sweet, " he murmured, "'twas atreason that you intended. Have you, then, no faith in me? Courage, sweetheart, they cannot hurt me. "

She clutched his hands, and looked up into his eyes. "You but say thatto comfort me!" she cried. 

"Not so, " he answered gravely. "I tell you no more than what is true. They think they hold me. They will cheat, and lie and swear falsely tothe end that they may destroy me. But they shall have their pains fornothing. "

"Ay--depend upon that, " Rotherby mocked him. "Depend upon it--to thegallows. "

Mr Caryll's curious eyes smiled upon his brother, but his lips werecontemptuous. "I am of your own blood, Rotherby--your brother, " he saidagain, "and once already out of that consideration I have spared yourlife--because I would not have a brother's blood upon my hands. " Hesighed, and continued: "I had hoped that you had enough humanity to dothe same. I deplore that you should lack it; but I deplore it for yourown sake, because, after all, you are my brother. Apart from that, itmatters nothing to me. "

"Will it matter nothing when you are proved a Jacobite spy?" cried herladyship, enraged beyond endurance by this calm scorn of them. "Will itmatter nothing when it is proved that you carried that letter, and wouldhave carried that other--that you were empowered to treat in your exiledmaster's name? Will that matter nothing?"

He looked at her an instant, then, as if utterly disdaining to answerher, he turned again to Rotherby. "I were a fool and blind, did I notsee to the bottom of this turbid little puddle upon which you think tofloat your argosies. You are selling me. You are to make a bargain withthe government to forbear the confiscations your father has incurred outof consideration of the service you can render by disclosing this plot, and you would throw me in as something tangible--in earnest of theothers that may follow. Have I sounded the depths of your intent?"

"And if you have--what then?" demanded sullen Rotherby. 

"This, my lord, " answered Mr. Caryll, and he quoted: "'The man that oncedid sell the lion's skin while the beast lived, was killed with huntinghim. Remember that!"'

They looked at him, impressed by the ringing voice in which he hadspoken-a voice in which the ring was of mingled mockery and exultation. Then her ladyship shook off the impression, and laughed. 

"With what d'ye threaten us?" she asked contemptuously. 

"I--threaten, ma'am? Nay, I am incapable of threatening. I do notthreaten. I have reasoned with you, exhorted you, shown you cause why, had you one spark of decency left, you would allow me to depart andshield me from the law you have invoked to ruin me. I have hoped foryour own sakes that you would be moved so to do. But since you willnot--" He paused and shrugged. "On your own heads be it. "

"On our own heads be what?" demanded Rotherby. 

But Mr. Caryll smiled, and shook his head. "Did you know all, it mightindeed influence your decision; and I would not have that happen. Youhave chosen, have you not, Rotherby? You will sell me; you will hangme--me, your father's son. Poor Rotherby! From my soul I pity you!"

"Pity me? Death! You impudent rogue! Keep your pity for those that needit. "

"That is why I offer it you, Rotherby, " said Mr. Caryll, almost sadly. "In all my life, I have not met a man who stood more sorely in need ofit, nor am I ever like to meet another. "

There was a movement without, a tap at the door; and Humphries enteredto announce Mr. Green's return, accompanied by Mr. Second SecretaryTempleton, and without waiting for more, he ushered them into the room. 

CHAPTER XXII. THE HUNTERS

To the amazement of them all, there entered a tall gentleman in afull-bottomed wig, with a long, pale face, a resolute mouth, and a pairof eyes that were keen, yet kindly. Close upon the heels of the secondsecretary came Mr. Green. Humphries withdrew, and closed the door. 

Mr. Templeton made her ladyship a low bow. 

"Madam, " said he very gravely, "I offer your ladyship--and you, mylord--my profoundest condolence in the bereavement you have suffered, and my scarcely less profound excuses for this intrusion upon yourgrief. "

Mr. Templeton may or may not have reflected that the grief upon which hedeplored his intrusion was none so apparent. 

"I had not ventured to do so, " he continued, "but that your lordshipseemed to invite my presence. "

"Invited it, sir?" questioned Rotherby with deference. "I shouldscarcely have presumed so far as to invite it. "

"Not directly, perhaps, " returned the second secretary. His was a deep, rich voice, and he spoke with great deliberateness, as if consideringwell each word before allowing it utterance. "Not directly, perhaps; butin view of your message to Lord Carteret, his lordship has desired meto come in person to inquire into this matter for him, before proceedingfarther. This fellow, " indicating Green, "brought information from youthat a Jacobite--an agent of James Stuart--is being detained here, and that your lordship has a communication to make to the secretary ofstate. "

Rotherby bowed his assent. "All I desired that Mr. Green should domeanwhile, " said he, "was to procure a warrant for this man's arrest. Myrevelations would have followed that. Has he the warrant?"

"Your lordship may not be aware, " said Mr. Templeton, with an increasedprecision of diction, "that of late so many plots have been disclosedand have proved in the end to be no plots at all, that his lordship hasresolved to proceed now with the extremest caution. For it is not helddesirable by his majesty that publicity should be given to such mattersuntil there can be no doubt that they are susceptible to proof. Talk ofthem is disturbing to the public quiet, and there is already disturbanceenough, as it unfortunately happens. Therefore, it is deemed expedientthat we should make quite sure of our ground before proceeding toarrests. "

"But this plot is no sham plot, " cried Rotherby, with the faintest showof heat, out of patience with the other's deliberateness. "It is a veryreal danger, as I can prove to his lordship. "

"It is for the purpose of ascertaining that fact, " resumed the secondsecretary, entirely unruffled, "for the purpose of ascertaining itbefore taking any steps that would seem to acknowledge it, that myLord Carteret has desired me to wait upon you--that you may place me inpossession of the circumstances that have come to your knowledge. "

Rotherby's countenance betrayed his growing impatience. "Why, for thatmatter, it has come to my knowledge that a plot is being hatched by thefriends of the Stuart, and that a rising is being prepared, the presentmoment being considered auspicious, while the people's confidence in thegovernment is shaken by the late South Sea Company disaster. "

Mr. Templeton wagged his head gently. "That, sir--if you will permit theobservation--is the preface of all the disclosures that have lately beenmade to us. The consolation, sir, for his majesty's friends, has beenthat in no case did the subsequent matter make that preface good. "

"It is in that particular, then, that my disclosures shall differfrom those others, " said Rotherby, in a tone that caused Mr. Templetonafterwards to describe him as "a damned hot fellow. "

"You have evidence?"

"Documentary evidence. A letter from the Pretender himself amongst it. "

A becoming gravity overspread Mr. Templeton's clear-cut face. "Thatwould be indeed regrettable, " said he. It was plain that whatever thesecond secretary might display when the plot was disclosed to him, hewould display none of that satisfaction upon which Rotherby had counted. "To whom, sir, let me ask, is this letter indited?"

"To my late father, " answered his lordship. 

Mr. Templeton made an exclamation, whose significance was not quiteclear. 

"I have discovered it since his death, " continued Rotherby. "I was butin time to wrest it from the hands of that spy of the Pretender's, whowas in the act of destroying it when I caught him. My devotion to hismajesty made my course clear, sir--and I desired Mr. Green to procure awarrant for this traitor's arrest. "

"Sir, " said Mr. Templeton, regarding him with an eye in whichastonishment was blent with admiration, "this is very loyal in you--veryloyal under the--ah--peculiar circumstances of the affair. I do notthink that his majesty's government, considering to whom this letter wasaddressed, could have censured you even had you suppressed it. You haveconducted yourself, my lord--if I may venture upon a criticism of yourlordship's conduct--with a patriotism worthy of the best models ofancient Rome. And I am assured that his majesty's government will not beremiss in signifying appreciation of this very lofty loyalty of yours. "

Lord Rotherby bowed low, in acknowledgment of the compliment. Herladyship concealed a cynical smile under cover of her fan. Mr. Caryll--standing in the background beside Hortensia's chair--smiled, too, and poor Hortensia, detecting his smile, sought to take comfort init. 

"My son, " interposed the countess, "is, I am sure, gratified to hear youso commend his conduct. "

Mr. Templeton bowed to her with a great politeness. "I should be astone, ma'am, did I not signify my--ah--appreciation of it. "

"There is a little more to follow, sir, " put in Mr. Caryll, in thatquiet manner of his. "I think you will find it blunt the edge of hislordship's lofty loyalty--cause it to savor less like the patriotism ofRome, and more like that of Israel. "

Mr. Templeton turned upon him a face of cold displeasure. He would havespoken, but that whilst he was seeking words of a becoming gravity, Rotherby forestalled him. 

"Sir, " he exclaimed, "what I did, I did though my ruin must havefollowed. I know what this traitor has in mind. He imagines I have abargain to make. But you must see, sir, that in no sense is it so, for, having already surrendered the facts, it is too late now to attemptto sell them. I am ready to yield up the letters that I have found. Noconsideration could induce me to do other; and yet, sir, I venture tohope that in return, the government will be pleased to see that I havesome claim upon my country's recognition for the signal service I amrendering her--and in rendering which I make a holocaust of my father'shonor. "

"Surely, surely, sir, " murmured Mr. Templeton, but his countenance toldof a lessening enthusiasm in his lordship's Roman patriotism. "LordCarteret, I am sure, would never permit so much--ah--devotion to hismajesty to go unrewarded. "

"I only ask, sir--and I ask it for the sake of my father's name, whichstands in unavoidable danger of being smirched--that no further shamebe heaped upon it than that which must result from the horror with whichthe discovery of this plot will inspire all right-thinking subjects. "

Mr. Caryll smiled and nodded. He judged in a detached spirit--a merespectator at a play--and he was forced to admit to himself that it wassubtly done of his brother, and showed an astuteness in this thing, atleast, of which he had never supposed him capable. 

"There is, sir, " Rotherby proceeded, "the matter of my father's dealingswith the South Sea Company. He is no longer alive to defend himself fromthe accusations--from the impeachment which has been levelled againsthim by our enemy, the Duke of Wharton. Therefore, it might be possibleto make it appear as if his dealings were--ah--not--ah--quite such asshould befit an upright gentleman. There is that, and there is thisgreater matter against him. Between the two, I should never again beable to look my fellow-countrymen in the face. Yet this is the moreimportant since the safety of the kingdom is involved; whilst the otheris but a personal affair, and trivial by comparison. 

"I will beg, sir, that out of consideration for my disclosing thisdastardly conspiracy--which I cannot do without disclosing myfather's misguided share in it--I will implore, sir, that out of thatconsideration, Lord Carteret will see fit to dispose that the South SeaCompany affair is allowed to be forgotten. It has already been paid forby my father with his life. "

Mr. Templeton looked at the young man before him with eyes of realcommiseration. He was entirely duped, and in his heart he regretted thatfor a moment he could have doubted Rotherby's integrity of purpose. 

"Sir, " he said, "I offer you my sympathy--my profoundest sympathy; andyou, my lady. 

"As for this South Sea Company affair, well--I am empowered by LordCarteret to treat only of the other matter, and to issue or not awarrant for the apprehension of the person you are detaining, afterI have investigated the grounds upon which his arrest is urged. Nevertheless, sir, I think I can say--indeed, I think I canpromise--that in consideration of your readiness to deliver up theseletters, and provided their nature is as serious as you represent, andalso in consideration of this, your most signal proof of loyalty, LordCarteret will not wish to increase the load which already you have tobear. "

"Oh, sir!" cried Rotherby in the deepest emotion, "I have no words inwhich to express my thanks. "

"Nor I, " put in Mr. Caryll, "words in which to express my admiration. A most excellent performance, Rotherby. I had not credited you with somuch ability. "

Mr. Templeton frowned upon him again. "Ye betray a singular callousness, sir, " said he. 

"Nay, sir; not callousness. Merely the ease that springs from a tranquilconscience. "

Her ladyship glanced across at him, and sneered audibly. "You hear thepoisonous traitor, sir. He glories in a tranquil conscience, in spite ofthis murderous matter to which he stood committed. "

Rotherby turned aside to take the letters from the desk. He thrust theminto Mr. Templeton's hands. "Here, sir, is a letter from King James tomy father, and here is a letter from my father to King James. From theircontents, you will gather how far advanced are matters, what devilriesare being hatched here in his majesty's dominions. "

Mr. Templeton received them, and crossed to the window that he mightexamine them. His countenance lengthened. Rotherby took his stand besidehis mother's chair, both observing Mr. Caryll, who, in his turn, wasobserving Mr. Templeton, a faint smile playing round the corners of hismouth. Once they saw him stoop and whisper something in Hortensia's ear, and they caught the upward glance of her eyes, half fear, half question. 

Mr. Green, by the door, stood turning his hat in his hands, furtivelywatching everybody, whilst drawing no attention to himself--a matter inwhich much practice had made him perfect. 

At last Templeton turned, folding the letters. "This is very grave, mylord, " said he, "and my Lord Carteret will no doubt desire to expressin person his gratitude and his deep sense of the service you have donehim. I think you may confidently expect to find him as generous as youhope. "

He pocketed the letters, and raised a hand to point at Mr. Caryll. "Thisman?" he inquired laconically. 

"Is a spy of King James's. He is the messenger who bore my father thatletter from the Pretender, and he would no doubt have carried back theanswer had my father lived. "

Mr. Templeton drew a paper from his pocket, and crossed to the desk. Hesat down, and took up a quill. "You can prove this, of course?" he said, testing the point of his quill upon his thumb-nail. 

"Abundantly, " was the ready answer. "My mother can bear witness to thefact that 'twas he brought the Pretender's letter, and there is no lackof corroboration. Enough, I think, would be afforded by the assaultmade by this rogue upon Mr. Green, of which, no doubt, you are alreadyinformed, sir. His object--this proved object--was to possess himself ofthose papers that he might destroy them. I but caught him in time, asmy servants can bear witness, as they can also bear witness to thecircumstance that we were compelled to force an entrance here, and touse force to him to obtain the letters from him. "

Mr. Templeton nodded. "'Tis a clear case, then, " said he, and dipped hispen. 

"And yet, " put in Mr. Caryll, in an indolent, musing voice, "it might bemade to look as clear another way. "

Mr. Templeton scowled at him. "The opportunity shall be afforded you, "said he. "Meanwhile--what is your name?"

Mr. Caryll looked whimsically at the secretary a moment; then flung hisbomb. "I am Justin Caryll, Sixth Earl of Ostermore, and your very humbleservant, Mr. Secretary. "

The effect was ludicrous--from Mr. Caryll's point of view--and yet itwas disappointing. Five pairs of dilating eyes confronted him, fivegaping mouths. Then her ladyship broke into a laugh. 

"The creature's mad--I've long suspected it. " And she meant to be takenliterally; his many whimsicalities were explained to her at last. Hewas, indeed, half-witted, as he now proved. 

Mr. Templeton, recovering, smote the table angrily. He thought he hadgood reason to lose his self-control on this occasion, though it was amatter of pride with him that he could always preserve an unruffledcalm under the most trying circumstances. "What is your name, sir?" hedemanded again. 

"You are hard of hearing, sir, I think. I am Lord Ostermore. Set downthat name in the warrant if you are determined to be bubbled by thatfellow there and made to look foolish afterwards with my Lord Carteret. "

Mr. Templeton sat back in his chair, frowning; but more from utterbewilderment now than anger. 

"Perhaps, " said Mr. Caryll, "if I were to explain, it would help youto see the imposture that is being practiced upon you. As for theallegations that have been made against me--that I am a Jacobite spy andan agent of the Pretender's--" He shrugged, and waved an airy hand. "Iscarce think there will remain the need for me to deny them when youhave heard the rest. "

Rotherby took a step forward, his face purple, his hands clenched. Herladyship thrust out a bony claw, clutched at his sleeve, and drew himback and into the chair beside her. "Pho! Charles, " she said; "give thefool rope, and he'll hang himself, never doubt it--the poor, witlesscreature. "

Mr. Caryll sauntered over to the secretaire, and leaned an elbow on thetop of it, facing all in the room. 

"I admit, Mr. Secretary, " said he, "that I had occasion to assaultMr. Green, to the end that I might possess myself of the papers he wasseeking in this desk. "

"Why, then--" began Mr. Templeton. 

"Patience, sir! I admit so much, but I admit no more. I do not, forinstance, admit that the object--the object itself--of my search wassuch as has been represented. "

"What then? What else?" growled Rotherby. 

"Ay, sir--what else?" quoth Mr. Templeton. 

"Sir, " said Mr. Caryll, with a sorrowful shake of, the head, "I havealready startled you, it seems, by one statement. I beg that you willprepare yourself to be startled by another. " Then he abruptly droppedhis languor. "I should think twice, sir, " he advised, "before signingthat warrant, were I in your place, to do so would be to render yourselfthe tool of those who are plotting my ruin, and ready to bear falsewitness that they may accomplish it. I refer, " and he waved a handtowards the countess and his brother, "to the late Lord Ostermore'smistress and his natural son, there. "

In their utter stupefaction at the unexpectedness and seeming wildnessof the statement, neither mother nor son could find a word to say. Nomore could Mr. Templeton for a moment. Then, suddenly, wrathfully: "Whatare you saying, sir?" he roared. 

"The truth, sir. "

"The truth?" echoed the secretary. 

"Ay, sir--the truth. Have ye never heard of it?"

Mr. Templeton sat back again. "I begin to think, " said he, surveyingthrough narrowing eyes the slender graceful figure before him, "that herladyship is right that you are mad; unless--unless you are mad of thesame madness that beset Ulysses. You remember?"

"Let us have done, " cried Rotherby in a burst of anger, leaping to hisfeet. "Let us have done, I say! Are we to waste the day upon this Tomo' Bedlam? Write him down as Caryll--Justin Caryll--'tis the name he'sknown by; and let Green see to the rest. "

Mr. Templeton made an impatient sound, and poised his pen. 

"Ye are not to suppose, sir, " Mr. Caryll stayed him, "that I cannotsupport my statements. I have by me proofs--irrefragable proofs of whatI say. "

"Proofs?" The word seemed to come from, every member of that littleassembly--if we except Mr. Green, whose face was beginning to betrayhis uneasiness. He was not so ready as the others to believe, that Mr. Caryll was mad. For him, the situation asked some other explanation. 

"Ay--proofs, " said Mr. Caryll. He had drawn the case from his pocketagain. From this he took the birth-certificate, and placed it before Mr. Templeton, "Will you glance at that, sir--to begin, with?--"

Mr. Templeton complied. His face became more and more grave. He lookedat Mr. Caryll; then at Rotherby, who was scowling, and at her ladyship, who was breathing hard. His glance returned to Mr. Caryll. 

"You are the person designated here?" he inquired. 

"As I can abundantly prove, " said Mr. Caryll. "I have no lack of friendsin London who will bear witness to that much. "

"Yet, " said Mr. Templeton, frowning, perplexed, "this does not makeyou what you claim to be. Rather does it show you to be his latelordship's--"

"There's more to come, " said Mr. Caryll, and placed another documentbefore the secretary. It was an extract from the register of St. Etienneof Maligny, relating to his mother's death. 

"Do you know, sir, in what year this lady went through a ceremony ofmarriage with my father--the late Lord Ostermore? It was in 1690, Ithink, as the lady will no doubt confirm. "

"To what purpose, this?" quoth Mr. Templeton. 

"The purpose will be presently apparent. Observe that date, " said Mr. Caryll, and he pointed to the document in Mr. Templeton's hand. 

Mr. Templeton read the date aloud--"1692"--and then the name of thedeceased--"Antoinette de Beaulieu de Maligny. What of it?" he demanded. 

"You will understand that when I show you the paper I took from thisdesk, the paper that I obtained as a consequence of my violence to Mr. Green. I think you will consider, sir, that if ever the end justifiedthe means, it did so in this case. Here was something very differentfrom the paltry matter of treason that is alleged against me. "

And he passed the secretary a third paper. 

Over Mr. Templeton's shoulder, Rotherby and his mother, who--drawn bythe overpowering excitement that was mastering them--had approachedin silence, were examining the document with wide-open, startled eyes, fearing by very instinct, without yet apprehending the true nature ofthe revelation that was to come. 

"God!" shrieked her ladyship, who took in the meaning of this thingbefore Rotherby had begun to suspect it. "'Tis a forgery!"

"That were idle, when the original entry in the register is to be seenin, the Church of St. Antoine, madam, " answered Mr. Caryll. "I rescuedthat document, together with some letters which my mother wrote myfather when first he returned to England--and which are superfluousnow--from a secret drawer in that desk, an hour ago. "

"But what is it?" inquired Rotherby huskily. "What is it?"

"It is the certificate of the marriage of my father, the late LordOstermore, and my mother, Antoinette de Maligny, at the Church of St. Antoine in Paris, in the year 1689. " He turned to Mr. Templeton. "Youapprehend the matter, sir?" he demanded, and recapitulated. "In 1689they were married; in 1692 she died; yet in 1690 his lordship wentthrough a form of marriage with Mistress Sylvia Etheridge, there. "

Mr. Templeton nodded very gravely, his eyes upon the document beforehim, that they might avoid meeting at that moment the eyes of the womanwhom the world had always known as the Countess of Ostermore. 

"Fortunate is it for me, " said Mr. Caryll, "that I should have possessedmyself of these proofs in time. Does it need more to show how urgentmight be the need for my suppression--how little faith can be attachedto an accusation levelled against me from such a quarter?"

"By God--" began Rotherby, but his mother clutched his wrist. 

"Be still, fool!" she hissed in his ear. She had need to keep her witsabout her, to think, to weigh each word that she might utter. Anabyss had opened in her path; a false step, and she and her son wereirrevocably lost--sent headlong to destruction. Rotherby, alreadyreduced to the last stage of fear, was obedient as he had never been, and fell silent instantly. 

Mr. Templeton folded the papers, rose, and proffered them to theirowner. "Have you any means of proving that this was the document yousought?" he inquired. 

"I can prove that it was the document he found. " It was Hortensia whospoke; she had advanced to her lover's side, and she controlled heramazement to bear witness for him. "I was present in this room when hewent through that desk, as all in the house know; and I can swear to hishaving found that paper in it. "

Mr. Templeton bowed. "My lord, " he said to Caryll, "your contentionsappear clear. It is a matter in which I fear I can go no further; nordo I now think that the secretary of state would approve of my issuinga warrant upon such testimony as we have received. The matter is one forLord Carteret himself. "

"I shall do myself the honor of waiting upon his lordship within thehour, " said the new Lord Ostermore. "As for the letter which it isalleged I brought from France--from the Pretender, "--he was smiling now, a regretful, deprecatory smile, "it is a fortunate circumstance that, being suspected by that very man Green, who stands yonder, I wassubjected, upon my arrival in England, to a thorough search atMaidstone--a search, it goes without saying, that yielded nothing. I wasangry at the time, at the indignity I was forced to endure. We littleknow what the future may hold. And to-day I am thankful to have thatevidence to rebut this charge. "

"Your lordship is indeed to be congratulated, " Mr. Templeton agreed. "You are thus in a position to clear yourself of even a shadow ofsuspicion. "

"You fool!" cried she who until that hour had been Countess ofOstermore, turning fiercely upon Mr. Templeton. "You fool!"

"Madam, this is not seemly, " cried the second secretary, with awkwarddignity. 

"Seemly, idiot?" she stormed at him. "I swear, as I've a soul to besaved, that in spite of all this, I know that man to be a traitor anda Jacobite--that it was the letter from the king he sought, whatever hemay pretend to have found. "

Mr. Templeton looked at her in sorrow, for all that in her overwroughtcondition she insulted him. "Madam, you might swear and swear, and yetno one would believe you in the face of the facts that have come tolight. "

"Do you believe me?" she demanded angrily. 

"My beliefs can matter nothing, " he compromised, and made her avaledictory bow. "Your servant, ma'am, " said he, from force of habit. He nodded to Rotherby, took up his hat and cane, and strode to the door, which Mr. Green had made haste to open for him. From the threshold hebowed to Mr. Caryll. "My lord, " said he, "I shall go straight to LordCarteret. He will stay for you till you come. "

"I shall not keep his lordship waiting, " answered Caryll, and bowed inhis turn. 

The second secretary went out. Mr. Green hesitated a moment, thenabruptly followed him. The game was ended here; it was played and lost, he saw, and what should such as Mr. Green be doing on the losing side?

CHAPTER XXIII. THE LION

The game was played and lost. All realized it, and none so keenly asHortensia, who found it in her gentle heart to pity the woman who hadnever shown her a kindness. 

She set a hand upon her lover's arm. "What will you do, Justin?" sheinquired in tones that seemed to plead for mercy for those others; forshe had not paused to think--as another might have thought--that therewas no mercy he could show them. 

Rotherby and his mother stood hand in hand; it was the woman who hadclutched at her son for comfort and support in this bitter hour ofretribution, this hour of the recoil upon themselves of all the evilthey had plotted. 

Mr. Caryll considered them a moment, his face a mask, his mind entirelydetached. They interested him profoundly. This subjugation of twonatures that in themselves were arrogant and cruel was a process veryengrossing to observe. He tried to conjecture what they felt, whatthoughts they might be harboring. And it seemed to him that a sort ofparalysis had fallen on their wits. They were stunned under the shockof the blow he had dealt them. Anon there would be railings and tospare--against him, against themselves, against the dead man abovestairs, against Fate, and more besides. For the present there was thishorrid, almost vacuous calm. 

Presently the woman stirred. Instinct--the instinct of the strickenbeast to creep to hiding--moved her, while reason was still bound inlethargy. She moved to step, drawing at her son's hand. "Come, Charles, "she said, in a low, hoarse voice. "Come!"

The touch and the speech awakened him to life. "No!" he cried harshly, and shook his hand free of hers. "It ends not thus. "

He looked almost as he would fling himself upon his brother, his figureerect now, defiant and menacing; his face ashen, his eyes wild. "It endsnot thus!" he repeated, and his voice rang sinister. 

"No, " Mr. Caryll agreed quietly. "It ends not thus. "

He looked sadly from son to mother. "It had not even begun thus, butthat you would have it so. You would have it. I sought to move you tomercy. I reminded you, my brother, of the tie that bound us, and I wouldhave turned you from fratricide, I would have saved you from the crimeyou meditated--for it was a crime. "

"Fratricide!" exclaimed Rotherby, and laughed angrily. "Fratricide!" Itwas as if he threatened it. 

But Mr. Caryll continued to regard him sorrowfully. From his soulhe pitied him; pitied them both--not because of their condition, butbecause of the soullessness behind it all. To him it was truly tragic, tragic beyond anything that he had ever known. 

"You said some fine things, sir, to Mr. Templeton of your regard foryour father's memory, " said Mr. Caryll. "You expressed some loftysentiments of filial piety, which almost sounded true--which soundedtrue, indeed, to Mr. Templeton. It was out of interest for your fatherthat you pleaded for the suppression of his dealings with the South SeaCompany; not for a moment did you consider yourself or the profit youshould make from such suppression. "

"Why this?" demanded the mother fiercely. "Do you rally us? Do you turnthe sword in the wound now that you have us at your mercy--now that weare fallen?"

"From what are you fallen?" Mr. Caryll inquired. "Ah, but let that pass. I do not rally, madam. Mockery is far indeed from my intention. " Heturned again to Rotherby. "Lord Ostermore was a father to you, which henever was to me--knew not that he was. The sentiments you so beautifullyexpressed to Mr. Templeton are the sentiments that actuate me now, though I shall make no attempt to express them. It is not that my heartstirs much where my Lord Ostermore is concerned. And yet, for the sakeof the name that is mine now, I shall leave England as I came--Mr. Justin Caryll, neither more nor less. 

"In the eyes of the world there is no slur upon my mother's name, because her history--her supposed history--was unknown. See that noneever falls on it, else shall you find me pitiless indeed. See that noneever falls on it, or I shall return and drive home the lesson that, like Antinous, you've learnt--that 'twixt the cup and lip much ill maygrow'--and turn you, naked upon a contemptuous world. Needs more besaid? You understand, I think. "

Rotherby understood nothing. But his mother's keener wits began toperceive a glimmer of the truth. "Do you mean that--that we are to--toremain in the station that we believed our own?"

"What else?"

She stared at him. Here was a generosity so weak, it seemed to her, asalmost to provoke her scorn. "You will leave your brother in possessionof the title and what else there may be?"

"You think me generous, madam, " said he. "Do not misapprehend me. Iam not. I covet neither the title nor estates of Ostermore. Theirpossession would be a thorn in my flesh, a thorn of bitter memory. Thatis one reason why you should not think me generous, though it is not thereason why I cede them. I would have you understand me on this, perhapsthe last time, that we may meet. 

"Lord Ostermore, my father, married you, madam, in good faith. "

She interrupted harshly. "What is't you say?" she almost screamed, quivering with rage at the very thought of what her dead lord had done. 

"He married you in good faith, " Mr. Caryll repeated quietly, impressively. "I will make it plain to you. He married you believingthat the girl-wife he had left in France was dead. For fear it shouldcome to his father's knowledge, he kept that marriage secret from all. He durst not own his marriage to his father. "

"He was not--as you may have appreciated in the years you lived withhim--a man of any profound feeling for others. For himself he had aprodigiously profound feeling, as you may also have gathered. Thatmarriage in France was troublesome. He had come to look upon it asone of his youth's follies--as he, himself, described it to me in thishouse, little knowing to whom he spoke. When he received the false newsof her death--for he did receive such news from the very cousin whocrossed from France to avenge her, believing her dead himself--herejoiced at his near escape from the consequences of his folly. Nor washe ever disabused of his error. For she had ceased to write to him bythen. And so he married you, madam, in good faith. That is the argumentI shall use with my Lord Carteret to make him understand that respectfor my father's memory urges me to depart in silence--save for what Imust have said to escape the impeachment with which you threatened me. "

"Lord Carteret is a man of the world. He will understand thefar-reaching disturbance that must result from the disclosure of thetruth of this affair. He will pledge Mr. Templeton to silence, and thetruth, madam, will never be disclosed. That, I think, is all, madam. "

"By God, sir, " cried Rotherby, "that's damned handsome of you!"

"You epitomize it beautifully, " said Mr. Caryll, with a reversion to hishabitual manner. 

His mother, however, had no words at all. She advanced a step towardsMr. Caryll, put out her hands, and then--portent of portents!--two tearswere seen to trickle down her cheeks, playing havoc, ploughing furrowsin the paint that overlaid them. 

Mr. Caryll stepped forward quickly. The sight of those tears, springing from that dried-up heart--withered by God alone knew whatblight--washing their way down those poor bedaubed cheeks, moved him toa keener pity than anything he had ever looked upon. He took her hands, and pressed them a moment, giving way for once to an impulse he couldnot master. 

She would have kissed his own in the abasement and gratitude of themoment. But he restrained her. 

"No more, your ladyship, " said he, and by thus giving her once more thetitle she had worn, he seemed to reinstate her in the station from whichin self-defence he had pulled her down. "Promise that you'll bear nowitness against me should so much be needed, and I'll cry quits withyou. Without your testimony, they cannot hurt me, even though they weredisposed to do so, which is scarcely likely. "

"Sir--sir--" she faltered brokenly. "Could you--could you suppose--"

"Indeed, no. So no more, ma'am. You do but harass yourself. Fare youwell, my lady. If I may trespass for a few moments longer upon thehospitality of Stretton House, I'll be your debtor. "

"The house--and all--is yours, sir, " she reminded him. 

"There's but one thing in it that I'll carry off with me, " said he. Heheld the door for her. 

She looked into his face a moment. "God keep you!" said she, with asurprising fervor in one not over-fluent at her prayers. "God reward youfor showing this mercy to an old woman--who does not deserve so much. "

"Fare you well, madam, " he said again, bowing gravely. "And fare youwell, Lord Ostermore, " he added to her son. 

His brother looked at him a moment; seemed on the point of speaking, andthen--taking his cue, no doubt, from his mother's attitude--he held outhis hand. 

Mr. Caryll took it, shook it, and let it go. After all, he bethoughthim, the man was his brother. And if his bearing was not altogethercordial, it was, at least, a clement imitation of cordiality. 

He closed the door upon them, and sighed supreme relief. He turnedto face Hortensia, and a smile broke like sunshine upon his face, anddispelled the serious gloom of his expression. She sprang towards him. 

"Come now, thou chattel, that I am resolved to carry with me from myfather's house, " said he. 

She checked in her approach. "'Tis not in such words that I'll bewooed, " said she. 

"A fig for words!" he cried. "Art wooed and won. Confess it. "

"You want nothing for self-esteem, " she informed him gravely. 

"One thing, Hortensia, " he amended. "One thing I want--I lack--to esteemmyself greater than any king that rules. "

"I like that better, " she laughed, and suddenly she was in tears. "Oh, why do you mock, and make-believe that your heart is on your lips andnowhere else?" she asked him. "Is it your aim to be accounted triflingand shallow--you who can do such things as you have done but now? Oh, itwas noble! You made me very proud. "

"Proud?" he echoed. "Ah! Then it must be that you are resolved to takethis impudent, fleering coxcomb for a husband, " he said, rallying herwith the words she had flung at him that night in the moonlit Croydongarden. 

"How I was mistook in you!" quoth she. 

He made philosophy. "'Tis ever those in whom we are mistook that arebest worth knowing, " he informed her. "The man or woman whom you canread at sight, is read and done with. "

"Yet you were not mistook in me, " said she. 

"I was, " he answered, "for I deemed you woman. "

"What other have you found me?" she inquired. 

He flung wide his arms, and bade her into them. "Here to my heart, " hecried, "and in your ear I'll whisper it. "