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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
In "A Royal Wrong," Fred M. White weaves a captivating tale set against the backdrop of British aristocracy, seamlessly blending romance, intrigue, and moral dilemmas. Through its richly crafted prose and complex characters, the novel delves into themes of loyalty, betrayal, and the constraints imposed by societal expectations. White'Äôs ability to create suspense and develop multi-dimensional characters immerses readers in a world where love is often at odds with duty, revealing the poignant conflicts that arise when personal desires collide with royal obligations. Fred M. White, a prolific writer of the late Victorian era, was known for his deep understanding of human psychology and societal norms, which informed his storytelling. His extensive background in the theater and journalism likely shaped his narrative style, allowing him to depict the nuance of human relationships with deftness. White's own experiences with the British social landscape undoubtedly influenced the thematic undercurrents of this novel, reflecting the era's complexities regarding class and privilege. Readers seeking a compelling narrative that combines elements of nostalgia with sharp social commentary will find "A Royal Wrong" to be a compelling choice. White'Äôs masterful storytelling captures the reader's imagination, inviting an exploration of how love and power shape the lives of individuals entangled in the intricate web of royalty.
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A Royal Wrong
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.—The Altar of Sacrifice.
As Lady Letty Stanborough stood in the garden listening to the rustle of silken skirts and the ripple of laughter, she was faintly conscious of the fragrance of the early May evening. The trees were touched with their spring greenery and in the air was the scent of violets. The grounds beyond the house in Dorchester Gardens were filled with guests gathered in honour of the engagement between Lady Letty and Stephen Du Cros, the South African millionaire.
It was a marriage of convenience, of course—everybody recognised that. The Earl, her father, sorely needed money; indeed there were some who said that but for the weight of Du Cros's influence his lordship might have found himself face to face with a judge and jury. It was impossible, too, that Lady Letty should care for her wealthy admirer—that cold, proud beauty seemed to indicate a nature incapable of caring for anything or anybody. And yet——
The girl had a moment to herself presently, when the chattering mob of friends had lisped their insipid congratulations and she was alone in a corner of the garden. She had an uneasy feeling that the jealous eye of Du Cros was upon her, for in his way the millionaire was jealous. Perhaps he understood the hollowness of the compact between them.
But at any rate he could not be jealous of the man who came up just then. He would hardly condescend to be suspicious of a mere novelist dependent upon his pen for a living. He did not know that these two had been brought up together, nor that Hugh Childers had chosen to quarrel with a rich father over the young man's devotion to his art. The bitterness had lasted five years, and Childers was still struggling. Now, for the first time, he was regretting his folly. But for his pride in his work, he would stand to-day as the heir to the vast Childers estates, with their iron and steel foundries and prosperous coal mines. He looked down into Lady Letty's face, an eloquent sadness in his eyes. What a fool he had been! Even if he went to his father and obtained a tardy pardon he could not save Lady Letty now.
"I haven't had an opportunity of congratulating you before," he said. "Permit me——"
"Don't," Lady Letty whispered. The mask had fallen from her face and the beautiful eyes were tired and weary. "Not from you, Hugh. Oh, don't you understand!"
Childers nodded gloomily. He understood only too well, and might have prevented it all. He knew that this woman had a warm and passionate heart under her seemingly haughty demeanour, and that it beat only for him. He guessed at the tragic sacrifice she was making to save the family honour.
"I had to say something," he murmured. "They tell us that language is given to disguise our thoughts. It seemed the right tone to adopt in an atmosphere like this."
"I know, I know," Lady Letty returned. "I am thankful to think that one man understands me, Hugh. I daresay I shall get accustomed to it in time. But for the rest of my natural life—my natural life——"
The girl's voice broke and a shudder passed over her. She felt that Hugh Childers was looking into her very soul. She knew she was reading him correctly. Though nothing was said by either, the love of the other stood confessed.
"Du Cros is a thrice fortunate man," Hugh said bitterly. "He has money, position, good health, and you, my dear. If I had not been a blind fool——"
It was Childers' turn to pause. He saw Du Cros in the distance talking to a business friend. The man of money looked prosperous, and the smile of the conqueror was on his lips. As one watched him, one wondered what stroke of fortune he was contemplating. The man by his side was well groomed, save that he was a trifle too glossy, too theatrical, and obviously out of place.
"Better drop it," the stranger said. "Get this danger out of the way first, at any rate. There will be time for your revenge afterwards. Lancaster has bolted, the police are after him, and every racing man in Liverpool is talking about it. Besides, Lord Amsted will be your brother-in-law one of these days."
Du Cros's dark eyes flashed and his thin lips grew hard and cruel.
"Amsted humiliated me in public," he answered. "He struck me because I dared to aspire to marry his sister, Lady Letty. I swore to ruin him, and I will. It will be my business that Amsted does not see where the blow comes from. I shall marry Lady Letty and track him down at the same time. Within a few hours Amsted will be in gaol—the heir of my distinguished father-in-law will get five years."
"You are a fool," the other man retorted crisply. "You forget your own danger. Lancaster, the big bookmaker has bolted. You betrayed him to the police. If he is arrested and finds that out, we shall be done. You ought to be in Liverpool to-morrow. At the very latest you must be there early on the following day. But you must get there in such a way that your enemies haven't the slightest notion of what you are doing. If you could manage to do it under the guise of a pleasure trip——"
Du Cros smiled meaningly.
"Did I ever fail, Blossom?" he asked. "It is touch-and-go with my fortunes just when I appear to be most prosperous. What would all these empty-headed fools say if they guessed the truth? There are more reasons than one why I should be in Liverpool the day after to-morrow, but I must guard my movements so as to blind the group of speculators who are conspiring against me. Make your mind easy—you can rely upon meeting me outside Lime-street station at four o'clock in the morning the day after to-morrow. There is the woman who is unconsciously playing the game for me."
"Madame Regnier!" Blossom exclaimed. "The great prima donna! The finest singer and the most popular artist in Europe! Whom are you getting at?"
"Listen," Du Cros said curtly. "They are all my puppets when I pull the strings. I need to be in Liverpool at an early hour in such circumstances as my movements shall not be suspected. Madame Regnier is going to help me. Listen."
The great singer approached them, her good-natured face wreathed in smiles. She had no love for Du Cros, especially as she had a warm admiration and affection for Lady Letty. Surrounded by friends she listened to what Du Cros was saying.
"Really, that is very charming of you," she observed. "What it is to have the purse of Fortunatus to draw upon! But I am afraid there is not time for your brilliant suggestion. Let us hear what Lady Letty has to say. Call her, somebody."
Lady Letty came up, cold and collected as usual. It would have been difficult for any of them to tell what was passing in her mind, to read the misery that filled her heart.
"The scheme flashed into my mind quite suddenly," Du Cros explained. "Madame Regnier will go to Liverpool to-morrow, on her way to America for a tour in the States. I need not say how sorry we are to lose her. She will give a good-bye concert on the following afternoon. It will be her last appearance in England for more than a year. It is not right to let her slip away in this undemonstrative fashion. It will be hard to do without her in any case."
"You are a born flatterer," said Madame Regnier. "Please proceed with your suggestion."
"Well, our divinest singer was going to Liverpool in the ordinary way. She cannot be permitted to leave us like an ordinary person. I propose to charter a special train, take a party to give her a send-off, and come back the same way."
A murmur of approval followed the suggestion. Du Cros wished to disarm criticism. Had anybody any objection to the idea? Could anybody improve on it?
"The time is short," Lady Letty said. "We all have many engagements. If dear Madame Regnier were only going a week later it would be different."
Du Cros appeared to regard this as fatal. His air was one of disappointment.
"I have it," he cried presently. "Stupid of me not to have seen that point before. You are quite right, Letty; every hour is precious. Let us meet the general convenience as far as we can. So my programme is—midnight to-morrow, a corridor train, and supper on board. Those who want to sleep can. If we start at midnight or a little later, we can all keep our dinner and theatre engagements, or show up at a dance. I flatter myself that is a way out of the difficulty. Let everybody come who want to. What do you say, Childers?"
Childers hesitated; then he caught Lady Letty's eye.
"I shall be delighted," he said gravely. "It will be a novel and enjoyable party, and assuredly it will be talked about. Would that I also were a millionaire!"
Du Cros glanced unobtrusively at the eagerly-listening Blossom. The latter winked as he turned on his heel and left the garden. Du Cros was a wonderful man! But he was playing a desperate game, and Blossom had himself to think of. As he passed into the roadway he found a little way off a taxicab with a woman inside.
"Well," she asked, "is Du Cros there? What is he going to do?"
Blossom briefly sketched the programme he had so recently heard. The woman listened intently. Then she took from her pocket a packet of notes, which she pressed into Blossom's hand.
"So far, so good," she said. "You have earned your money. If you are discreet and tell no stories and ask no questions, there will be more for you where these came from. Pay the driver and dismiss him. Never mind my business now; that is no concern of yours. You can go."
Blossom raised his glossy hat with a flourish and vanished. There was a bitter smile on the face of the woman as she watched him depart.
"Dog rob dog," she muttered. "Still, it plays my game for me."
She passed along till she came to the house in Dorchester Gardens where the engagement fete was taking place. At her demand for an instant interview with Lady Letty, the footman gave a supercilious stare. She touched his hand with gold.
"I must see her at once," she said. "It is most urgent, understand. Take this sovereign. Bring Lady Letty to me here and there is another for you. Take me into some room where I can wait without being seen."
CHAPTER II.—"Little Kate."
The hard expression left Lady Letty's face at the sight of her visitor.
"Little Kate Mayfield!" she exclaimed. "It seems hardly possible. But what is wrong? You are younger than I am. It isn't that you really look old, but there is a——"
"Oh, I know," Kate interrupted. "It is what I have been through—what I am going through now. I shall get young again when I have time to enjoy peace. But that will not be till I have exposed Stephen Du Cros and driven him out of every honest man's house."
Lady Letty stared haughtily at the speaker. Had the girl taken leave of her senses?
"I make every allowance for you," she said. "I cannot forget that your father used to be one of our tenants at Stanford. We were children together——"
"Ah! you were more than kind to me before my father had to give up everything and go to the Cape. As if I could ever forget! I would do anything for a Stanborough. That is why I am here to-night, that is why I have forced myself upon you. That is why I speak of Stephen Du Cros as an adventurer and a scoundrel."
The words came in a suppressed whisper from Kate Mayfield's lips. She was under the stress of some great emotion. That she was seeking nothing for herself was evident. She was too well dressed and had too real a stamp of prosperity for that.
"I am engaged to Mr. Du Cros," Lady Letty said significantly. "I ought not to listen to——"
"But you must, you shall," Kate retorted vehemently. "I am trying to save you from a fate that would be worse than death. I know the words must sound cheap and tawdry in your ears, but they are true. Believe me, I have come entirely on your account, Lady Letty. You must hear me. If you refuse to do so I will force myself among your guests and confront Du Cros before them all. But if you decline to consider yourself, you must think of your brother. Don't let the man you are bent on marrying ruin Lord Amsted body and soul."
"The man I am bent on marrying!" Lady Letty exclaimed. "If you only knew——"
She paused abruptly. It was impossible to speak freely before this girl. Kate thought she knew exactly what was passing through Lady Letty's mind.
"Ah!" she cried, "this is as I expected. You despise and dislike that man as much as I do. You are parting with your happiness to save the family honour. What are you getting in return? Not even riches, for Du Cros is poorer than your father. And he will soon be shown up. I know that man inside and out. For a year or more I saw him daily in South Africa. Fool that I was, I thought I cared for him. I looked upon him as a good and honest man. Instead of that, he was the friend and associate of swindlers, the arch-swindler himself. When the crash came, he left me to face the police. I was arrested and took my trial for diamond stealing. Whether I was innocent or not matters nothing. But I was the tool of that man and he abandoned me to my fate. That same fate was kind to me in the end, and I came back to England rich and prosperous. But I wanted my revenge—oh, yes, I needed that. I have waited for it. I have watched Du Cros climb out of the gutter until he is accepted as a millionaire and flattered by the great. I meant to have him arrested as he started to meet you on your wedding-day. Not one single incident of his career is concealed from me. My detectives have watched him, and one of his confederates is in my pay. Oh, I had planned a fine revenge, I promise you! But I cannot go on with it, because Lord Amsted is in danger. You know how he and Mr. Middlemass were nearly ruined over a race some time ago. Well, the whole thing was a conspiracy on the part of Du Cros and his associates to bring Lord Amsted to his knees. I don't want to recall the reason why Du Cros hates Lord Amsted so bitterly."
"They had a misunderstanding in a club," Lady Letty said with flaming cheeks.
"Lord Amsted thrashed him," Kate corrected. "Now, Du Cros never forgives an injury. His idea is to marry you; but that will not affect his scheme for ruining your brother. To a certain extent the plan has already answered. Lord Amsted was driven out of the country; he could not return for fear of arrest. Mind, you, he is more sinned against than sinning. He came back, greatly daring, to ride a certain horse that nobody else could steer to victory, and he won. Mr. Middlemass got all his money back, and Du Cros had to pay. But Lord Amsted was injured while riding and motored off directly the race was over, and also to avoid arrest. He is now lying concealed at Stanford. Du Cros knows he is there. To-morrow night or early on the following morning he will be arrested. It may be a serious matter for Lord Amsted, but if we can keep him safe the affair will be settled. I am prepared to find the money if nobody else will. But you must see Lord Amsted and arrange the details. I will tell you what to do."
"I will go and see him to-morrow."
"Ah! I thought I should move you," Kate said. "But, unfortunately, the matter cannot be arranged so easily as all that. If you leave here openly, Du Cros will suspect you and have you watched. He does not trust you, because he knows you have no liking for him. He also knows how strong is your affection for Lord Amsted. Do you know—but, of course, you don't—that your very maid is in Du Cros's pay? That is what my agents tell me. If you slip off to Stanford openly you will be followed. You must go and return secretly. That is where my suggestion is weak. Nobody can go but you; nobody but you can guide Lord Amsted to a place of safety. If you leave it to Mr. Childers he will be followed, too, although he would do anything for you."
Lady Letty's face flamed.
"You are a wonderful woman, Kate."
"I have learnt my lesson in a hard school," Kate replied. "Mr. Childers is the man you need. As a novelist he is good at plotting. Get him to work out a plan for you. Can't you take advantage of this midnight journey to Liverpool?"
"You know all about that?" Lady Letty cried. "It was only arranged on the spur of the moment a little time ago. It was quite spontaneous."
"A carefully prepared impromptu!" Kate said scornfully. "Du Cros worked that out this morning. I paid twenty pounds for the news. Du Cros's real object is to go to Liverpool on secret business, the pleasure part is only a blind. He will insist upon your going; in fact, he will take no refusal. So long as you accompany this expedition, he will have you under his eye. He will take extraordinary pains to see that you do not hold any communication with Lord Amsted."
"In that case I shall be utterly powerless."
"On the face of it, yes," Kate said. "This thing must be done at once or the consequences will be serious. We cannot appeal to Lady Amsted, seeing that nobody knows that they are married. Lady Amsted's people will be furious when they know—but we need not go into that. We do not know the extent of Lord Amsted's injuries. They may be slight, they may be serious. That he should be left alone is out of the question. There is nobody but you to help him, and time is short. What I had in my mind was how you could leave the express and go to Stanford by motor. You might join the train at a later stage without anybody being any the wiser. A fast motor could manage it if you had an accomplice on the train—say Mr. Childers. You would have the best part of an hour at Stanford, where Lord Amsted could remain and laugh at his pursuers. You used to boast that nobody knew of so many hiding-places as yourself. Do you remember how Lord Amsted and you once put me in the Monk's Parlour, and how frightened I was when I could not get out? You discovered the secret of the room after it had been forgotten for ages. If you could explain this on paper and give it me——"
"I am afraid that would be impossible."
"Yes, I was certain you would say that. But if you are bold and resolute, you can turn our childish pastimes to good effect so far as Lord Amsted is concerned. I will give you my address in town where you can come and see me to-morrow if I can be of any service to you. If you don't call before night, I shall understand that Mr. Childers and you have found a way. Remember, you are not to say a word of this to anybody but Mr. Childers, who worships the ground you tread on and would go through fire and water for you. Also, not a whisper to Stephen Du Cros. If he hears my name so much as mentioned everything will be lost. I shall know how to deal with him when the time comes. To think of the audacity of that man—that he should dare to lift his eyes to you."
Lady Letty smiled unsteadily. She felt no anger and resentment against the girl who had spoken of her future husband in this way. She was not surprised to hear that the envied millionaire was only an adventurer.
"It is good of you to come and see me," she said.
"Is it?" Kate answered with a strange look. "I am afraid that I am not quite so disinterested as you imagine. I would do anything to save one of your family, but the spirit of revenge is at the back of it all. Still, we need not go into that. Now, go and discuss this matter with Mr. Childers and see if he can find a way. If you will shake hands with me——"
Lady Letty stooped and kissed Kate Mayfield on the lips.
CHAPTER III.—A Desperate Venture.
Lady Letty passed through the house into the garden again. She stopped for a moment to glance at herself in a long gilt mirror. She was wondering if the racking agony of her mind found expression in her face. But the features were cold and set; no hint of pain lay in the clear eyes. She had been brought up in too hard a school for that. She could still smile when her heart was breaking. Yet there were those who envied her and regarded her as one of the most fortunate of mortals! If they only knew; if they could only realise how things were!
Then why did she do it? Why did she lend herself to this scheme? She was keenly alive to the fact that her father was not worth the sacrifice. The name of Stanborough was tainted beyond recall. She might break away from her moorings and start life on her own account. She had enough for a cottage in the country, and had only to say the word and Hugh Childers would come to her side. It had needed no words of Kate Mayfield's to tell her that much. His earnings were not great, but they would have sufficed. But Hugh, with all his cleverness, clung to the same futile traditions, growing old before his time in the insane attempt to swim with the tide. What sickening folly it was! How happy they might have been together!
Lady Letty had half a mind to throw down the glove of open revolt. She wanted to tell Stephen Du Cros how she hated and despised him; she wanted to inform her father that she could not go on with this hideous sacrifice. Hugh would come to her eagerly. They might be married quietly and the others could look to themselves. But even as these thoughts came uppermost in Lady Letty's mind, she knew that they could not be. She would have to go on to the bitter end; the chains of fashion were too strong for her. In any case, she had a duty to perform. Kate Mayfield's startling and dramatic story could not be ignored. There was truth stamped all over it; there was absolutely no chance of outside assistance, and Lady Letty would have to act for herself. Come what may, she must go as far as Stanford, and nobody must be any the wiser. The trouble and risk must be entirely hers. Least of all dared she mention the matter to Stephen Du Cros. If she told him that she could not go to Liverpool, his suspicions would be aroused at once. If she feigned illness he would have her watched. She had just been told that he had bribed the servants. To get away from London for a whole day and back again without anybody at Dorchester Gardens being any the wiser seemed out of the question. Yet it had to be done. Lady Letty had to achieve the impossible. The only man who could help her was Hugh Childers.
Fortunately, Du Cros had no jealousy of him. It was absurd he should have anything to fear from a penniless scribbler. In this way he ignored the one individual in the world who had touched Lady Letty's heart. She must find Hugh at once. He came to her by a kind of instinct. He knew she had had bad news.
"You are in trouble," he said. "Tell me and see if I can help you."
Lady Letty looked up with a startled expression on her face.
"Do I show it so plainly?" she asked.
"No; I don't suppose anybody else would notice. They would probably say that you looked just as usual. But, you see, I know you so well, dear."
"Utterly cold, utterly heartless," Lady Letty laughed bitterly. "That is my reputation. I suppose that I have tried to live up to it. It just shows how wrong it is to judge by appearances. I am in terrible trouble, Hugh. It came to me unexpectedly, as worry of this kind always does. Let me tell you the details of a strange interview I have just had with Kate Mayfield. You remember her at Stanford?"
"Really! Where does little Kate come in? But tell me, and if I can help——"
Lady Letty went rapidly over the points of the story.
"Now you know exactly how I am situated," she said. "Hugh, I must go. It is imperative to save Amsted. Stanford is empty except for an aged caretaker who is devoted to us all. I mean Beaton. There is hardly any furniture. My father's creditors took everything. You know what a desolate, dreary old place it is!"
"A capital spot to hide in," Childers reminded her. "I knew the house quite well as a boy. Do you recollect the day when I nearly got drowned in the moat? And so poor old Amsted is hiding there, or going to be hidden there when you reach Stanford."
Lady Letty glanced round her before she replied. Nobody was apparently within earshot; the giddy throng of well-dressed men and women passed across the lawns and filled the refreshment tents or sat idly listening to the Red Geneva band. How hollow the whole thing was, Lady Letty thought. And how dishonest! It was all so unnecessary in their position; it was never in the least likely to be paid for. They were not far removed from fraudulent bankrupts.
"Amsted's danger is great," she whispered. "You already know how he got mixed up in a turf scandal. It was a disgraceful business, and I believe it is in the hands of the police. Stephen Du Cros knows all about it. Kate Mayfield has told me that he laid a trap for my headstrong brother. Amsted is a perfect fool where sport is concerned. There is no folly he will not commit where a horse is in question."
Childers nodded. He knew all this. Lord Amsted, Lord Stanborough's eldest son, was one of the most famous cross-country riders of the day. He had been brought up in the atmosphere of the stable, and his friends were all of the racecourse. Even in the days of his neglected youth at Eton he was implicated in some racing trouble.
"But he is not really bad," Lady Letty went on, as if reading her companion's thoughts. "He is good-natured and generous, and will take any risk to help a friend. But he is so easily led. Now there is something that cannot be hushed up. I don't know what it is, but Stephen Du Cros does. I had to go down to his office some days ago for my father on business, and he was talking to a man about Amsted. I did not like the look of the fellow at all, but many of Stephen's friends repel me. I tremble sometimes when I think of the future. Oh, was ever a girl so tried as I am?"
Hugh murmured his sympathy. It was very hard to listen and retain his self-possession.
"I am ready to do anything for you," he said.
"Oh, I know, I know. You are the one man I can trust. Well, Amsted is at Stanford in hiding; he has met with an accident. I must go and see him."
"There is no reason why you should not," Childers said. "It is not very difficult for you to——"
"My dear boy, it is the most difficult thing in the world. I must be there to-morrow and return the same day. I have promised to accompany those people to Liverpool to Madame Regnier's concert. I can't get out of it. We start at midnight. At one point the train passes within ten miles of Stanford. If I could only leave the train for an hour and rejoin it before it reaches Liverpool! But what nonsense I am talking."
"Can't you plead illness and remain in London? If you could trust your maid!"
"My maid is in the pay of Stephen Du Cros. The situation is perfectly hopeless. All I have thought of is that mad notion of leaving the special for an hour and rejoining it later. Then I should be absolutely safe. Please don't laugh at me, Hugh. Kate Mayfield suggested that I should ask you. She said a novelist should have a certain sympathy with the situation. I have read of unlikely schemes in books."
"Not more wonderful than that," Childers said. "We leave at twelve o'clock and shall take four hours getting to Liverpool. It is a very rambling route, and it would be possible to set you down in a certain spot in such circumstances that you could spend some time at Stanford and cut across the country to join the train again at Stoneleigh Cross. A motor at sixty miles an hour would do the trick. If we can hit upon an excuse for stopping the train twice, the thing will be easy."
"Oh, it would be easy enough if Stephen Du Cros were not of the company," Lady Letty said. "He would suspect at once what I was going to do, for he is aware my brother is at Stanford. I was not dreaming of any conventional or commonplace plan. It wants some wild, ingenious, out-of-the-way scheme, whereby I may get away and all shall suppose that I am still in the train. If you can think that out for me!"
Childers sat pondering deeply. The suggestion appealed to him for more reasons than one. In the course of his stories he liked to handle complicated situations. Here was one calculated to tax his power of invention to the uttermost.
"Well?" Lady Letty asked after a long pause. "Are you laughing at me?"
"Nothing was farther from my thoughts," Childers said gravely. "On the contrary, the suggestion fascinates me. But it is impossible to think it out in the midst of this noise and frivolity. But I have the germ of an idea. Have you some friend you can trust? I mean some woman friend of good position. All she has to do is to express a desire at the last moment to join the party at Stoneleigh Cross. She might send a telegram late to-morrow evening. But she must be a person of consequence. She can be coached for her part by telephone. If she lives or is staying in the North so much the better."
Lady Letty ruminated quietly for a little time.
"Yes," she said by and bye, "Violet Ringwood could help me, I fancy. Lord Ringwood is away. She does not live far from Stoneleigh Cross. What am I to do?"
"Nothing to-night," Childers said as he rose. "I'll call to see you after breakfast. It maybe a desperate chance, but I believe you can cheat them yet."
CHAPTER IV.—The Venture is Successful.
Lady Letty was not sorry to be alone. She had a number of intricate problems to consider, and their solution threatened almost to be beyond her. She had no ready cash, nor could she command the assistance of friends with money. Otherwise, the thing had been easy. But now it was possible to do nothing but hide Amsted. And there was nobody but she who could do the hiding successfully. The situation was desperate, brimful of anxiety, one long vista of fear and danger. And the man she had most to dread was the man she had agreed to marry!
She could see him flitting about amongst the trees from one group to another, welcomed everywhere with flattering smiles. What a farce it all was! How promptly and contemptuously they would turn their backs on him should fortune frown on him to-morrow. But apparently no doubts of this kind assailed Stephen Du Cros. Presently some visitor engaged him in earnest conversation. The man's appearance was oddly familiar to Lady Letty. It occurred to her that he was the person she had seen in Du Cros's office, the man who had discussed her brother. Involuntarily, she drew nearer to them. The stranger was talking excitedly. She could catch Amsted's name.
"No," Du Cros said curtly. "Nothing of the kind. Please understand that this thing must be done in my way. I leave for Liverpool to-morrow night and shall not be back till the day after. You are not to go near Stanford in the meantime."
