"Whither it doubtless would come!" she affirmed hotly.

"Whither it doubtless would come," he a.s.sented, "and therefore, my dear Editha, once the money is safely in my hands I will leave her Royal Highness the Princesse d'Orleans in full possession, not only of her landed estates but of the freedom conferred on her by widowhood, for Prince Amede, her husband, will vanish like the beautiful dream which he always was."

"But how? ... how?" she reiterated, puzzled, anxious, scenting some nefarious scheme more unavowable even than the last.

"Ah! time will show! ... But he will vanish, my dear Editha, take my word on it. Shall we say that he will fly up into the clouds and her Highness the Princess will know him no more?"

"Then why have married her?" she exclaimed: some womanly instinct within her crying out against this outrage. "'Twas cruel and unnecessary."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Cruel perhaps! ... But surely no more than necessary. I doubt if she would have entrusted her fortune to anyone but her husband."

"Had she ceased to trust her romantic prince then?"

"Perhaps. At any rate, I chose to make sure of the prize.... I have worked hard to get it and would not fail for lack of a simple ceremony ... moreover ..."

"Moreover?"

"Moreover, my dear Editha, there is always the possibility ... remote, no doubt ... but nevertheless tangible ... that at some time or other ... soon or late--who knows?--the little deception practiced on Lady Sue may come to the light of day.... In that case, even if the marriage be annulled on the ground of fraud ... which methinks is more than doubtful ... no one could deny my right as the heiress's ... hem ... shall we say?--temporary husband--to dispose of her wealth as I thought fit. If I am to become a pariah and an outcast, as you so eloquently suggested just now ... I much prefer being a rich one.... With half a million in the pocket of my doublet the whole world is open to me."

There was so much cool calculation, such callous contempt for the feelings and thoughts of the unfortunate girl whom he had so terribly wronged, in this expose of the situation, that Mistress de Chava.s.se herself was conscious of a sense of repulsion from the man whom she had aided hitherto.

She believed that she held him sufficiently in her power, through her knowledge of his schemes and through the help which she was rendering him, to extract a promise from him that he would share his ill-gotten spoils in equal portions with her. At one time after the fracas in Bath Street, he had even given her a vague promise of marriage; therefore, he had kept secret from her the relation of that day spent at Dover. Now she felt that even if he were free, she would never consent to link her future irretrievably with his.

But her share of the money she meant to have. She was tired of poverty, tired of planning and scheming, of debt and humiliation. She was tired of her life of dependence at Acol Court, and felt a sufficiency of youth and buoyancy in herself yet, to enjoy a final decade of luxury and amus.e.m.e.nt in London.

Therefore, she closed her ears to every call of conscience, she shut her heart against the lonely young girl who so sadly needed the counsels and protection of a good woman, and she was quite ready to lend a helping hand to Sir Marmaduke, at least until a goodly share of Lady Sue's fortune was safely within her grasp.

One point occurred to her now, which caused her to ask anxiously:

"Have you not made your reckonings without Richard Lambert, Marmaduke?

He is back in these parts, you know?"

"Ah!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, with a quick scowl of impatience. "He has returned?"

"Yes! Charity was my informant. He looks very ill, so the wench says: he has been down with fever, it appears, all the while that he was in prison, and was only discharged because they feared that he would die.

He contrived to work or beg his way back here, and now he is staying in the village.... I thought you would have heard."

"No! I never speak to the old woman ... and Adam Lambert avoids me as he would the plague.... I see as little of them as I can.... I had to be prudent these last, final days."

"Heaven grant he may do nothing fatal to-day!" she murmured.

"Nay! my dear Editha," he retorted with a harsh laugh, "'tis scarcely Heaven's business to look after our schemes. But Lambert can do us very little harm now! For his own sake, he will keep out of Sue's way."

"At what hour does Master Skyffington arrive?"

"In half an hour."

Then as he saw that she was putting into effect her former resolve of going out, despite the rain, and was once more readjusting her hood for that purpose, he opened the door for her, and whispered as he followed her out:

"An you will allow me, my dear Editha, I'll accompany you on your walk ... we might push on down the Canterbury Road, and perchance meet Master Skyffington.... I understand that Sue has been asking for me, and I would prefer to meet her as seldom as possible just now.... This is my last day," he concluded with a laugh, "and I must be doubly careful."

CHAPTER XXV

AN INTERLUDE

Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was vastly perturbed. Try how he might, he had been unable to make any discovery with regard to the mysterious events, which he felt sure were occurring all round him, a discovery which--had he but made it--would have enabled him to apply with more chance of success, for one of the posts in my Lord Protector's secret service, and moreover, would have covered his name with glory.

This last contingency was always uppermost in his mind. Not from any feeling of personal pride, for of a truth vanity is a mortal sin, but because Mistress Charity had of late cast uncommonly kind eyes on that cringing worm, Master Courage Toogood, and the latter, emboldened by the minx's favors, had been more than usually insolent to his betters.

To have the right to administer serious physical punishment to the youth, and moral reproof to the wench, was part of Master Busy's comprehensive scheme for his own advancement and the confusion of all the miscreants who dwelt in Acol Court. For this he had glued both eye and ear to draughty keyholes, had lain for hours under cover of p.r.i.c.kly thistles in the sunk fence which surrounded the flower garden. For this he now emerged, on that morning of November 2, accompanied by a terrific clatter and a volley of soot from out the depth of the monumental chimney in the hall of Acol Court.

As soon as he had recovered sufficient breath, and shaken off some of the soot from his hair and face, he looked solemnly about him, and was confronted by two pairs of eyes round with astonishment and two mouths agape with surprise and with fear.

Mistress Charity and Master Courage Toogood--interrupted in the midst of their animated conversation--were now speechless with terror, at sight of this black apparition, which, literally, had descended on them from the skies.

"Lud love ye, Master Busy!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mistress Charity, who was the first to recognize in the sooty wraith the manly form of her betrothed, "where have ye come from, pray?"

"Have you been scouring the chimney, good master?" queried Master Courage, with some diffidence, for the saintly man looked somewhat out of humor.

"No!" replied Hymn-of-Praise solemnly, "I have not. But I tell ye both that my hour hath come. I knew that something was happening in this house, and I climbed up that chimney in order to find out what it was."

Pardonable curiosity caused Mistress Charity to venture a little nearer to the soot-covered figure of her adorer.

"And did you hear anything, Master Busy?" she asked eagerly. "I did see Sir Marmaduke and the mistress in close conversation here this morning."

"So they thought," said Master Hymn-of-Praise with weird significance.

"Well? ... And what happened, good master?"

"Thou beest in too mighty an hurry, mistress," he retorted with quiet dignity. "I am under no obligation to report matters to thee."

"Oh! but Master Busy," she rejoined coyly, "methought I was to be your ... hem ... thy partner in life ... and so ..."

"My partner? My partner, didst thou say, sweet Charity? ... Nay, then, an thou'lt permit me to salute thee with a kiss, I'll tell thee all I know."

And in asking for that chaste salute we may a.s.sume that Master Hymn-of-Praise was actuated with at least an equal desire to please Mistress Charity, to gratify his own wishes, and to effectually annoy Master Courage.

But Mistress Charity was actuated by curiosity alone, and without thought of her betrothed's grimy appearance, she presented her cheek to him for the kiss.

The result caused Master Courage an uncontrollable fit of hilarity.

"Oh, mistress," he said, pointing to the black imprint left on her face by her lover's kiss, "you should gaze into a mirror now."