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Show BBJl IBk HEBE BBJb tJ ym 5irfl5vV"' H lWra?iVrMMZ. PRESS ASSOCIATION. BBE 1 y PtBMiaaioH or BB MVD. MSNALt Y ACa. BJJ CHAPTER VIII. fARNAC nnd the count, after attending attend-ing Madame de Montaut to her carriage car-riage with pollto Inqulrlen end condolence, con-dolence, went each his own way, and the other three drove back to Bedford Bed-ford Bquare. aj Dick was relieved H to see how quickly & the open air restored the color to Ca- Hhu tllla's checks: she was herself again BEF by the time they reached home, and f ieemed to have recovered even the B .gaiety which had been conspicuously BE absent from her manner all the morn- H Ing. BE He stayed an hour or two, and was BE Induced to tell many stories of the sea. BE tThe colonel listened for some time, and BJj. then excused himself on the plea of hav- BJJ Ing letters to write. "But I hope you BE Trill dine with us," he added. BE "Thank you," said Dick, ruefully; "I BE -wish I could; but my lawyer Is coming BE to see me on business at 4 o'clock; he Is BE n old family friend, nnd I asked him BE to stay to dinner." And, In fact, he BE tore himself away soon afterward. BE "When he had seen him out of the house BE the colonel came back to the drawing BE room smiling and rubbing his hands to- BE jrether with an appearance of great BE good humor. BE "Well, Camilla," he said, "and when BE TVill It be convenient to you to pay me?" BJjF "Pay you what?" BE "Have you forgotten? Tou wagered BR your fortune that Eatcourt would not BJj Jielp us." BB Bhe started to her feet; terror, In- BJj credulity, anger, and terror again, BE flashed In her glance and shook her BJj 'voice. BJf "Well," she cried, "what then; what then?" BE "Why, then, of course, you have lost." BE "Tou are lying," she cried, fiercely. BE "That would be useless here," he BE aald; "one can not deceive oneself. But Bj purely," he expostulated, "you can't flf pretend to have misunderstood htm all this time?" J "What time?" she asked. In faint de- tK. vj P"lr .BJjpP "This morning," he replied. "I Bc changed my mind again, and decided In favor of writing. At 10:30 I sent him J that If he kept our appointment for 11 BJ o'clock at Great Russell street I should H understand him to have accepted our B proposal. He kept the appointment, as you know; you saw the friendliness with which he met his new confeder-B confeder-B ates, Carnac and Rabodanges; and I B am surprised," he continued, "that ne 9 ltd not hint to you his acceptance of H your cause and your guidance." H "You have ruined a man's honor," H ahe cried, "and a woman's happiness; but you shall not have your way with a loth of us; If he goes with you, I stay I behind." And she left the room before 9 he could llnd an nnswer. I Dick, In the meantime, stepped with I a swinging pace along the streets, loo'k- I Ing exultantly back upon the brightest m day In his memory, nnd forward to a U jyet brighter onQ tomorrow. He sprang ft up the stairs to his room, and burst 'M .gaily in. His glance traveled tq, the i ' mantel-piece, where his letters w.cre 1 usually placed; today there were two, and he hummed a tune as ho took them In his hand. They were both from known correspondents, and quite uninteresting; un-interesting; but a third, lying near them, was directed In a handwriting that he had never seen before. He wan surprised to nnd, on turning It over, thnt this last one had been already al-ready opened, but he immediately for-jjot for-jjot this In his astonishment at the contents. con-tents. The letter was not slgneC, but there H -was no mistaking the source from fi , -which It came; the words "my slster-ln- (BHy aw aml " brought a flush to his face. "7 lie was amazed, bewildered, over- E jwhetmed. Before he could collect his scattered R senses the door opened, and "Mr. Wick- I rby" wan announced. On the thres- fl Jiold stood the lawyer he had ben ex- (6 jpectlng, a gray-haired, sharp-eyed, pre- jg jclse-looking man of 55 or more, with R Jhls hat In one hand and c bar In the I other. I ' "Good day, sir," he said. And then, I (with a quick glance from Dick's trou- I bled face to the paper In his hand, he I (added: "Anything wrong? No bad 1 pews, I hope.?" 1 Dick jumped to his feet, took the hat i bag from his visitor, and drew a chair I up to the fire for him. 1 "You must excuse me, Mr. Wickor- 1 by," he said; "I'm In a regular jnuze I over this extraordinary note." I "Let ine see," sold the lawyer. 1 Dick mechanically handed It over to B Mm, and tried to put his own Ideas in order while the other read In silence. fl "Deir mel" said Mr. Wlckerby, look-H look-H Ing up at last, "this Is a cool fellow, U upon my word I He pretends to bo a BJ friend of yours. Do you recognize the Bj 'writing?" "No," replied Dick, "I never saw it In B my life; but" BJ "But you can guess the author, eh? B Jim m, so much the worse I If you will jM excuse my freedom, Captain Est- B court" H "Stopl" cried Dick. "I must warn BJR you that these nro lntlmato friends of Bft"wlne," nnd he blushed crimson. jr r Mr. Wlckerby 'looked nt him curlouv Bg )y. "They must be," he said, "very ln- HB tlmate, I should say, to venturo upon BJI such a proporal as this." BJj "Hang It!" cried Dick, "you don't suppose he meant It seriously? It's a Joke, of course." The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. "Not In very good taste as a Joke." he said; "but after all It doesn't matter; the letter contains Its own answer, and there's an end of It-" "What do you mean?" asked Dick. "How does It contnln Its own answer?" "Silence, In this case, was to give refusal; re-fusal; consent was only to be Inferred from a particular act." Dick was thunderstruck at this, and lost his hend. "But I went," he stammered. "Went where?" asked the other, sharply. "To Great Russell street." "You went to Great Russell strcet7 And what. In the name of goodness, did you do that for? Do you know, Captain Kstcourtt" he continued, severely, "what we lawyers call this kind of thing? 'Adhering to the sovereign's enemies'; en-emies'; 'levying war against our lord the king' that's what we call It, sir. An overt act of treason, and you and your friends make a Joke of It!" "But that was not why I went," said Dick, In confusion. "I hadn't had the note then. The man himself had already al-ready asked me to go for quite a different differ-ent purpose." Here the maid entered to lay the cloth, and both were silent. "I'll explain It all to you after dinner," said Dick. "In the meantime let us settle the business you came about." This was done, and occupied them for somewhat less than half an hour, at the end of which time they set down to tabic. Dick was preoccupied, and the conversation con-versation dragged. Hl3 guest eyed him doubtfully from time to time, and he was uneasily conscious of the fact. Presently ho got up and went to the bell. "I quite forgot," he said, as he pulled the cord, "I never asked about that note being open." "I don't understand," said Mr. Wlckerby. Wlck-erby. "The seal was broken when I found It." The lawyer looker puzzled. "Sure?" he asked. "Certain," Dick replied. "The letter had been opened, beyond a doubt." "That's awkward. I'm afraid any one who may have read It would think you kept queer company." The maid appeared In answer to the bell. "Jane," said Dick, holding up the letter, let-ter, "who brought this?" "The gentleman wrote It here, sir." "Excuse me," said Mr. Wlckerby, Interrupting, In-terrupting, "but I should like to ask her a question or two; I'm used to this kind of thing, you know." "AH right," said Dick; "you'll do It better than I should." The lawyer turned to cross-examine Jane, who was beginning to be alarmed. "What gentleman?" he asked. "I don't know his name, sir." "Did you know him by sight?" "Yes, sir; he came here once, a week ago, with Captain Estcourt." "What time was it when he wrote the letter?" "About 10:30 ln'tho morning, sir, as near as I could say." "Did you see him fnsten It up7" "Yes, sir; I brought him the wax and held the taper myself." "What did ho do with It then?" "He cave It to me, slr, and I put It on the chimney-piece." , "You are sure the Boal was unbroken then?" "Yes, sir; quite sure." "And who haB been In here during the day?" "No one, sir, but me and Captain Estcourt." "Then," said the lawyer, with severity, sever-ity, "It wn you who broke the seal; come now, tell the truth." "No, sir; Indeed, It was not," snld the girl, In greut distress. "Who was it, then?" "Cnptnln Estcourt, I suppose, sir," she replied, almost In tears. "But he was out." "I thought he must have come back, Blr, nnd gone out ngaln. I remember noticing that the letter had been opened when I came In to see to the lire, ond I said to myself, 'Then he must have been home ngaln.' " "What time was that?" "That would be about 11, sir." "You're certain no one else came In?" "They couldn't have done, sir, without ringing. Captain Estcourt, he has u latchkey, but others must ring." Mr. Wlckerby saw that she was not likely to be shaken from this theory. Whether It was true or not, It was her only possible method of clearing herself her-self from the charge of having opened the letter. "Thank you," he said; "I daresay you are right. Captain Estcourt must have forgotten. That will do, Jane, and you needn't trouble yourself about It." . The girl fled with alacrity, and Mr. Wlckerby turned to Dick, who was fuming with Impatience. "Well," he asked, "what do you say to that?" "What confounded nonsense all this Is!" cried Dick; "as If I didn't know that, I never set eyeH on the thing till this nftcrnoon. Just two minutes before you. came Inl I shall think no more of It." "That Is all very well," replied his companion, "but the question Is, will nil these other people think no more of It, too 7" "Whut other people?" "Well, there Is first the gentleman who sent the Invitation, nnd no doubt supposes you to have accepted It with your eyes open? secondly, these French-' men ho mentions did you meet them, too?" "Oh, hang them, yes!" groaned Dlclc. "Thirdly, the person or persons, unknown, un-known, who opened nnd read this letter; let-ter; and fourthly let mo see oh, yes the lady spoken of ns 'my slster-Ia-law.' " Dclc turned crimson, and his companion compan-ion fixed a penctratlnir clanfe upon him. "Do you know," he said, "I think, xt dear Estcourt, It might be better for you If you made a clean breast of tt. I'm an old confidential friend of your people, and you know I will keep your counsel." "I give you my word," cried Dick, "thtre's nothing more to tell than thlv I know Colonel de Montaut the man who wrote this letter, you know pretty well; and as for Madame de Montaut" "Yes?" Inquired Mr. Wlckerby. "And as for Madame T' "Oh, you understand," said Dick, with desperate embarrassment, "she's the only woman In the world; but no one could ever think me capnble of dls-loyalty, dls-loyalty, and she least of all." "Hm m," said the lawyer, "I couldn't, perhaps; but women have a high estimate of their own power, and some of them love to exercise It. too." "Some of them!" Dick burst out, Indignantly; In-dignantly; "she's not 'some of them." She wouldn't accept the help of a traitor, trait-or, much less ask for It." He was becoming Irritated beyond his self-control, and Mr. Wlckerby hastened hast-ened to leave this part of the subject. "The question now Is," ho remarked, "what you are to do." "Do!" cried Dick. "I shall write to Colonel de Montaut at once, and call tomorrow to-morrow morning to explain the mistake." mis-take." "Stop a moment," said the lawyer. "I'm not quite sure thnt that's your wisest plan, though, of course, It Is the natural one to think of first. Let me Just put the case before you as It looks to an outsider not to me, mind you, but to nn Impartial stranger; to a Judge or Jury, for Instance." Dick looked nervous and sulky, but said nothing, and Mr. Wlckerby went on In a clear, precise tone, marking off the points on the fingers of his left hand as he proceeded: "An English officer," he began, "makes friends with a Frenchman a strong Bonaparttst and falls In love with a relative of this gentleman, much attached to the same cause. He goes often to their house, and Is frequently seen In their society. "On Saturday, March 24, 1821, he leaves home at 10:30 In the morning. Immediately Im-mediately afterward a letter from his Imperialist friend arrives, referring to previous conversations, and asking him to Join In a treasonable plot. A refusal Is to be easly Implied by mere silence, but the consent, which Is plainly expected, ex-pected, Is to be evidenced by attendance at It o'clock at a certain place for the purpose of meeting two fellow-conspirators. "By 11 o'clock this letter has been opened nnd read. No one has entered the house since our friend left It, unles, Indeed, he returned himself. The maid who received the note, with seal Intact, Is positive on this point; and to save herself would probably, under pressure, pres-sure, swear that she heard him come In again. "At 11 o'clock he Is at the place named for quite a different purpose, he says, but admittedly at the Invitation of these same Bonapartlsts. The other conspirators conspi-rators are there too, and a cordial Introduction In-troduction takes place. His conduct does not appear to have aroused any doubt In their minds as to his acceptance accept-ance of their overtures. "Confronted with this array of facts, our friend proposes to put himself right by explaining matters to the Bonapartlsts Bonapart-lsts and even to commit the Imprudence of expressing his regrets on paper. 'Lltera scrlpta manet.' My dear Estcourt, Est-court, no prudent man ever writes a letter let-ter when he can avoid It. Your disappointed disap-pointed friends would have you In a trap here. You'd much better run away quietly, and take a holiday somewhere, without leaving your address. When they've come to grief and got hanged for their pains" "What the devil do you mean?" shouted Dick, In exasperation. "Then you can come back In safety," continued Mr. Wlckerby. "But If you write, they'll have undeniable evidence thnt you received their proposal, nnd you'll have to choose between keeping the secret which Is n felony known by the unpleasant name of 'misprison of treason' and giving them up to Justice, which, I take It, you nre even less likely like-ly to prefer." His Ironical tone and incontrovertible logic Infuriated Dick. "Damnation!" he ronrcd; "why can't you let me go my own wny? I know my friends better than you do, I should hope!" "I hope so, too," replied the lawyer, offended In his turn. "I will leave you to your own way, as you desire, und hope to hear no more of this business. I beg you to notice that I do not know where your friends live; I did not even catch their names; and I understand that the-whole affair Is a practical jDke. I wish you may live long to laugh at It." Ho took up his hat nnd bng and left the room. Dick heard the front door bang heavily behind him, then made a quick gesture of defiance, and sat down at his desk to write to Colonel de Montaut. Mon-taut. (TO BB CONTINUED.) |
