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When he was gone, she took a pen, endorsed his draft neatly, placed it in a drawer, and wrote to Cashel thus: "Dear Mr. Cashel Byron, I have just discovered your secret. I am sorry; but you must not come again. Farewell. Yours faithfully, "Lydia Carew." Lydia kept this note by her until next morning, when she read it through carefully. She then sent Bashville to the post with it.
She rang the bell, greatly disconcerting him; for he had expected her to detain him and make advances for a reconciliation. Before they could exchange more words, Bashville entered. "Good-bye," said Alice, politely. "Good-bye," he replied, through his teeth. He walked loftily out, passing Bashville with marked scorn.
"If you embark in any enterprise requiring larger means than you possess, I will be your security. I thank you for your invariable courtesy to me in the discharge of your duties. Good-bye." She bowed to him and left the room. Bashville, awestruck, returned her salutation as best he could, and stood motionless after she disappeared; his mind advancing on tiptoe to grasp what had just passed.
So he took the stick, and instead of thanking Bashville, handed him five shillings. Bashville smiled and shook his head. "Oh, no, sir," he said, "thank you all the same! Those are not my views." "The more fool you," said Parker, pocketing the coins, and turning away. Bashville's countenance changed.
Parker's first idea was that his stick had attracted the man's attention by the poor figure it made in the castle hall, and that Bashville was requesting him, with covert superciliousness, to remove his property. On second thoughts, his self-esteem rejected this suspicion as too humiliating; but he resolved to show Bashville that he had a gentleman to deal with.
Lucian ordered him to be admitted at once, and, when he entered, nodded amiably to him and invited him to sit down. "I thank you, sir," said Bashville, seating himself. It struck Lucian then, from a certain strung-up resolution in his visitor's manner, that he had come on some business of his own, and not, as he had taken for granted, with a message from his mistress.
"Bashville," she said, authoritatively: "be silent, and close the window. I will go down-stairs myself." Bashville then ran to prevent her from unlocking the door; but she paid no attention to him. He did not dare to oppose her forcibly. He was beginning to recover from his panic, and to feel the first stings of shame for having yielded to it.
He had to turn from Bashville for a moment to do this, and before he could face him again he was clutched, tripped, and flung down upon the tessellated pavement of the hall. When Cashel gave him the lie, and pushed the door against him, the excitement he had been suppressing since his visit to Lucian exploded. He had thrown Cashel in Cornish fashion, and now desperately awaited the upshot.
Lucian looked quickly at him, and seemed about to speak, but checked himself. Bashville continued, "If he denies it, you may call me as a witness, and I will tell him to his face that he lies and so I would if he were twice as dangerous; but, except in that way, I would ask you, sir, as a favor, not to mention my name to Miss Carew." "As you please," said Lucian, taking out his purse.
I own that I am stepping out of my place to ask it; but I'll risk all that. Does Miss Carew know what the Mr. Cashel Byron is that she receives every Friday with her other friends?" "No doubt she does," said Lucian, at once becoming cold in his manner, and looking severely at Bashville. "What business is that of yours?"
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