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On Carrington's face a curious look appeared for an instant. "I only wish one could," he murmured. A gong sounded and Ned rose. "That means tea," said he. "I always have it in my sister's room. Come up." They went up the stone stair and turned into Miss Cromarty's boudoir. On her, Mr. Carrington produced a favourable impression that was evident at once.
"Sitting in the library I suppose? Take me right to him. Cromarty's my name." "Mr. Cromarty to see you, sir," announced Mary, and she was startled to see the master's sudden turn in his chair and the look upon his face. "Whether he was feared or whether he was angered, I canna rightly say," she told cook, "but anyway he looked fair mad like!" "Good evening," said Ned.
At least, that was the explanation of his procedure given by Lady Cromarty, whose eye was never more critical than when it studied her husband's kinsman and heir. Lady Cromarty's eye was not uncritical also of Cicely at times, but to-night she was so relieved to see how Sir Reginald's temper improved under her smiles and half shy glances, that she let her stay up later than usual.
The exertions of Lord Cromarty's friends, and especially of Lady Cromarty, saved that prisoner's life. It is said that when the child which Lady Cromarty bore in her body during the terrible period in which she was pleading for her husband's life came into the world, it carried a mark like the stroke of the executioner's axe upon its neck.
Cromarty's expression did not change again. This was evidently the new point of view. Simon opened a drawer and took from it a document. "In the ordinary course of events Sir Reginald's will would not be known till after his funeral to-morrow, but if I may regard this conversation as confidential, I can tell you the principal facts so far as they affect this case."
"Surely I am not as disagreeable as all that! Come, Doctor!" Captain Doolan laughed, while the Doctor said, "It is just the contrary, my dear; I am quite sure that if you were in Mrs. Cromarty's place, and had two tall, washed out looking daughters, you would not feel the slightest desire to place Miss Hannay in the same carriage with them."
"I call that very disagreeable of you, Doctor," Isobel said, flushing, "and I shall not like you at all if you take such unkind and malicious views of people. I don't suppose such an idea ever entered into Mrs. Cromarty's head, and even if it did, it makes it all the kinder that she should think of offering me a seat.
But the Benares of today, which the Orientalists call the Athens of India, stands quite unpoetically on solid earth. Passepartout caught glimpses of its brick houses and clay huts, giving an aspect of desolation to the place, as the train entered it. Benares was Sir Francis Cromarty's destination. The troops he was rejoining were encamped some miles northward of the city.
There seemed to be a sardonic note in his last words that deepened Cromarty's frown and kindled his eye. "You mean to suggest that any conclusion has been reached?" "Nothing is absolutely certain," said Simon. Again the accent on the "absolutely" seemed to rouse his visitor's ire. "You believe this story, do you?" "If I believed it, I should order an arrest.
"For instance there's a girl who has mistaken me for a daisy, and I've got to get back to her now. Good night! I won't say 'Thanks' because I can't shout it loud enough." When his gig lamps had flashed up the silent street and Carrington had turned back from the pavement into the hotel, he met his friend Miss Peterkin. "Mr. Cromarty's late to-night," said she. "A fine gentleman that!
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