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A great lady, my friend, and a young one, childless, it is said, without heir of her own. Morgraunt may go to the Crown or Holy Thorn and Gracedieu may divide it." "She may marry again," put in Galors. "She is twice a widow," the Abbot snapped him up, and gave his first shock. "She is twice a widow, once against her will. She will never marry again."
He joined me in the dining-room, and closed the door. "The other day," he went on, "when I told you what I had discovered in the chemist's shop, I think I mentioned a young man who was called to speak to a question of identity an assistant who knew Miss Helena Gracedieu by sight." "Yes, yes!" "That young man left the note which Maria has just taken upstairs."
This, Philip declared, was his father's form of farewell. I handed back the letter to Helena. Not a word passed between us. In sinister silence she opened the door and left me alone in the room. That Mrs. Gracedieu and I had met in the bygone time, and this was the only serious part of it had met in secret, would now be made known to the Minister.
Gracedieu," I said, "when you and he met, long ago, in my rooms. But surely you don't think him capable of vindictively remembering some thoughtless words, which escaped you sixteen or seventeen years since?" "I am not quite such a fool as that, Mr. Governor. What I was thinking of was an unpleasant correspondence between the Minister and myself. Before I was so unfortunate as to meet with Mr.
Nevertheless my wife and I are of agreement in this, that we think marriage better than being hanged. I do not understand the alternatives, but I accept them, and am married. My wife will not be hanged. For the rest, I shall take her to Gracedieu. The devout ladies there will no doubt make a nun of her; she will be out of harm's way, and all will be well."
"I am glad, Mr. Gracedieu, to see that you are well enough to be in your study again," he said. The writing materials on the table attracted his attention. "Am I one of the idle people," he asked, with his charming smile, "who are always interrupting useful employment?" He spoke to my father, and he was answered by my father. Not once had he addressed a word to me no, not even when we shook hands.
He mended his pace when the Minister opened the door of the study, and when he saw us both pass in. Before he could follow, the door was closed and locked in his face. Mr. Gracedieu took out the key and threw it through the open window, into the garden below. Turning back into the room, he laid the folded sheet of paper on the table. That done, he spoke to me.
She doesn't venture to intrude on Miss Gracedieu in the drawing-room; she only wants to verify a quotation in the hall. While this reflection was passing through my mind, Miss Jillgall came in saw the nosegay on the table and instantly pounced on it. "Oh, for me! for me!" she cried. "I noticed it this morning on Elizabeth's table. How very kind of her!"
"Selina's letters had informed me," she resumed, "that Mr. Gracedieu was a nervous invalid. When I came to England, I had hoped to try what massage might do to relieve him. The cure of their popular preacher might have advertised me through the whole of the Congregational sect. It was essential to my success that I should present myself as a stranger.
Prosper prayed, "My Lady, I beseech thee a good ending to this adventure which I have undertaken lightly, it may be, but with an honest heart. Grant also a good and honourable end to myself, and to this my wife, who is a Christian without knowing it, and by the help of thy servants at Gracedieu shall be a better. Per Christum dominum, etc."
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