On ascending the steps Virginia paused to gather up her skirt, turned half around and looked very significantly at Rutley.

He met her glance and bowed. The action brought Mrs. Harris also to a stop.

Observing the halt, Mr. Thorpe exclaimed, "His Grace and myself will be along presently. Au revoir."

And as the party moved on, Sam rejoined under his breath, "I guess so, but not with his fair party, not if Sam knows it."

In the silence that followed for both men, now being alone, were alert, instinctively apprehending danger, John Thorpe drew from the inside pocket of his coat a small cigar case and tendered it to Rutley.

Silently and with studied poise, Rutley took therefrom a cigar and returned the case.

Thorpe then took from the case a match, lighted and offered it to Rutley, who, having meanwhile clipped the end of the cigar with a penknife, accepted the light and then broke the silence with, "Are you not going to smoke, Thorpe?"

"Not at present. A stroll through the grounds is more to my fancy."

"Agreed!" promptly responded Rutley, who added, "and may the exercise lighten your spirits, which appear heavy tonight."

"Yes, unfortunately I have never been able to conceal my emotions, hence the correctness of your conjecture. My spirits are heavy tonight," replied Thorpe in a low voice and with a deep, long drawn sigh.

It was plain to Rutley that Thorpe was evading an abrupt approach to some potent question in his mind, feverishly eager, yet dreading the kind of information it might elicit.

"Bad digestion, Thorpe. Headaches, troubled dreams and the like fellow," suggested Rutley in his jerky manner.

"Deeper!" added Thorpe in a low voice.

"Ha!" exclaimed Rutley significantly, as he eyed his companion askance. "Family!"

"Oh, G.o.d! what shall I do?" suddenly broke from Thorpe in a stifled cry of anguish. "I cannot carry the load!" And then he did that which some readers might term a cowardly thing. No doubt he was actuated by motives irresistibly impelling in a man of his peculiarly sensitive nature.

With head bent low, much as a culprit condoning his infamy, humbled as was his pride, to thus confide his misgivings to a stranger, he began in a low voice:

"My Lord, a few moments since I casually heard you drop a remark suggesting a knowledge of my domestic affairs. I speak to you in confidence, and I am sure Your Grace will spare me the humiliation of feeling that confidence is misplaced. Your position gives you at times the advantage of hearing--a--things said of others that is of no moment or concern to you."

Rutley's first thought was, "My opportunity to strike at Corway has come," and if Thorpe at that moment could have seen the cunning leer play about the corners of Rutley's mouth and the flash of exultation that sprang into his eyes, he might have hesitated, nay, ceased to have conversed with him further on such a grave subject.

But the fleeting smile went unseen, the exultant flash as quickly disappeared, and in its place a very serious look came over Rutley's face, as in a low voice he replied, slowly but very distinctly.

"Really, Thorpe, I am at a loss to understand your motives in questioning me on matters relative to your domestic affairs, and though I may possess information in which I am not particularly interested, still to asperse the character of any person on mere rumor is not compatible with the dignity or honor of my house; however, if you will be explicit on the subject of your singular request, I shall, through sympathy, communicate all I have heard to relieve or confirm your mind of a--I fancy--a terrible suspicion."

For a few moments Thorpe could not control his agitation. Overpowered by a sense of shame, his imagination at once conjured up dreadful thoughts.

"Sympathy! a--a--to relieve or confirm a terrible suspicion! My G.o.d!

what does he mean?" And he placed his left hand tightly over his breast as if something hurt him there, while a cold sweat stood out on his brow. Then with a forced calmness, said:

"A--a--have you heard any disparaging remarks about--a--Mr. Corway?"

"Well, Thorpe, you know 'tis not honorable to repeat the 'chic'

scandals one hears, though to satisfy you I will say that if you will look at the little finger of Corway's left hand, you will see a gold ring with a single diamond set in a double heart, which he at times--a--carelessly displays."

"A ring with a single diamond! What of it?" impatiently questioned Thorpe.

"Oh!" replied Rutley, with an imperturbable stare, "it was a love token from Mrs. John Thorpe."

"You lie!" exclaimed Thorpe, the nails of his fingers imprinting deeply in the flesh of his tightly clenched fists, with the fierceness of the pa.s.sion that had flamed within him.

"I do not lie!" Rutley calmly and slowly replied, as he looked steadily into Thorpe's eyes.

"You confound my wife with Hazel," hoa.r.s.ely accused Thorpe.

"I reiterate," responded Rutley, in the same even tone of voice, "the particular ring in question was a gift from Constance, John Thorpe's wife, and not from Hazel."

Gasping for breath, Thorpe turned his head aside and groaned as he remembered it was his gift to Constance before they were married.

Suddenly he gripped Rutley by the sleeve. They halted and confronted each other. And the dark formless shadow that had followed them also halted.

"From whom have you your information?" queried Thorpe, looking into Rutley's eyes.

"I do not feel at liberty to mention, but it can be substantiated."

"By whom?" demanded Thorpe.

"Well, I don't know of any person more capable than a--a--Mr. Thorpe's wife!" replied Rutley in a most nonchalant and matter-of-fact manner.

And even through the depth of the gloom that surrounded them he saw the scarlet flush of rage and shame flame across Thorpe's white brow as he bowed his head, humbled to the dust.

For a moment not a word was spoken by either of the men. Suddenly Thorpe looked up and hoa.r.s.ely said:

"My wife! Give me two or three, one which she can substantiate."

"My dear Thorpe," deprecatingly pleaded Rutley. "You have called upon me to undertake a very unpleasant task."

"Your Lordship has gone too far to recede. I must know all"--and there was imminent danger in Thorpe's quivering voice, which Rutley felt was not to be trifled with.

"Well--one thing--Corway's close and steady attention to her during your absence in China."

"You mean to Hazel?" said Thorpe, with a look so deeply concentrated that the movement of a single hair of Rutley's eyelash would have meant an instant blow on the mouth.

"No, I mean--to your wife," accentuated Rutley. "Their secret and protracted wanderings offended your sister. Reproofs, reproaches and warnings were unavailing and ended in Corway being refused admittance to your house, which resulted in frequent quarrels between your wife and your sister."

Thorpe here recalled Virginia's warning, "Corway will bear watching,"

and he moaned, "Oh, G.o.d!"

"He tried many pretenses to regain communication with your wife,"

resumed Rutley, "one being to visit Hazel Brooke, for whom, except for her money, he has no regard whatever. At length on the discovery of secret correspondence, Virginia became aghast at his boldness and contemplated seeking legal aid when you returned. Of course, she retired and left the matter in your hands and she was unwilling at that time to shock your home-coming with a knowledge of the truth."

"Enough! Enough! Oh, G.o.d, what a vile thing has nestled here!" And John Thorpe pressed both hands tightly over his heart in a vain endeavor to suppress the emotion that filled his throat and choked his utterances, and tears of shame gathered in his eyes as he continued slowly:

"When--I--wedded Constance--I took to myself the purest angel out of heaven. But now--! Farewell happiness--farewell peace--forever! Oh, Corway, I want to clutch you by the throat!"