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She might, and would, give Lady Janet cause to bless the day when she first entered the house. She snatched up Colonel Roseberry's letter, and put it into the case with the other papers. The opportunity was before her; the chances were all in her favor; her conscience said nothing against trying the daring scheme. She decided then and there "I'll do it!"
Can your clever friend, the doctor, account for them?" "Shall I tell you what he said when I saw him this morning?" "Will it take long?" "It will take about a minute." "You agreeably surprise me. Go on." "You want to know how she gained her knowledge of your name and of Miss Roseberry's affairs," Julian resumed. "The doctor says in one of two ways.
Mercy knew the place in which she had lived the place called Port Logan as well as she had known it herself. Mercy had only to read the manuscript journal to be able to answer any questions relating to the visit to Rome and to Colonel Roseberry's death.
Mercy took Grace Roseberry's clothes from the corner in which they had been left to dry, and made for the shed a rough structure of wood, built out from the cottage wall. At the front door she encountered a second sentinel, and showed her pass for the second time. She spoke to this man, asking him if he understood French. He answered that he understood a little.
Lady Janet decided that five years' salary immediately given, and future assistance rendered if necessary, would represent a fit remembrance of the late Colonel Roseberry's claims, and a liberal pecuniary acknowledgment of any harshness of treatment which Grace might have sustained at her hands.
Mercy turned the letter over so that she might write the news of Miss Roseberry's death on the blank page at the end. She was still considering what expressions she should use, when the sound of complaining voices from the next room caught her ear. The wounded men left behind were moaning for help the deserted soldiers were losing their fortitude at last. She entered the kitchen.
"Send Miss Roseberry's maid here; I want her." Left alone again, Lady Janet paced once or twice up and down the corridor then grew suddenly weary of the sight of it, and went back to her room. The two maids returned together. One of them, having announced Horace's submission, was dismissed. The other was sent to Mercy's room with Lady Janet's letter.
The voice of the sentinel at the next post was heard more faintly, in its turn: "Pass the English lady!" The operation ended. Ignatius Wetzel held up his hand for silence and put his ear close to the patient's mouth. The first trembling breath of returning life fluttered over Grace Roseberry's lips and touched the old man's wrinkled cheek. "Aha!" he cried. "Good girl! you breathe you live!"
Before it was possible to answer, Horace rose from his chair. "Perhaps I am in the way?" he said. Julian signed to him to sit down again. "I have already told Lady Janet that you are not in the way," he answered. "I now tell you as Miss Roseberry's future husband that you, too, have an interest in hearing what I have to say." Horace resumed his seat with an air of suspicious surprise.
If his appearance was suspiciously deferred, she decided on personally searching for Mercy in the reception rooms on the lower floor of the house. "What have you done with the letter?" she asked. "I left it on Miss Roseberry's table, my lady." "Very well. Keep within hearing of the bell, in case I want you again." Another minute brought Lady Janet's suspense to an end.
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