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At sight of him the Englishman checked and stared enquiringly, his eyes shadowed by careworn brows; for it was apparent that, if the events of the night had not depressed the spirits of the secretary, his employer had known little sleep or none since the burglary. "Colonel Stanistreet," Blensop said melodiously, abandoning Stone to his unsupervised devices, "this is Mr.
By a strange and unfortunate coincidence Captain Stanistreet had not been seen in Drayton for the space of five months; and coupling this fact with Mrs. Nevill Tyson's altered looks, the logical mind of Drayton Parva drew its own conclusions. Tyson had not married in order to improve his social position; he had married because he was in love as he had never been in love before.
"See, Colonel Stanistreet, what we have found!" she cried, and showed him the necklace. "I mean, what Monsieur Duchemin found. It was he who saw it, lying beneath that rose-bush over there. Your burglar must have dropped it in making his escape; you can see the paper he wrapped it in, all rain-wet and muddied."
Then he sighed; and whether it was a sigh of relief or pain he could not tell. Neither did Mrs. Nevill Tyson in her great wisdom know. After all, Tyson was the first to make up the quarrel. If a sense of justice was wanting in him it was supplied by a sense of humor, and he was very soon conscious of something ridiculous in his attitude towards Stanistreet.
She had not dared to take it; perhaps she felt she was unworthy. He followed her gaze. "He's very ill," said she. "Look at him." The nurse moved a fold of blanket from the child's face, and Stanistreet gazed at Tyson's son. He tried to speak. "Sh sh " whispered Mrs. Nevill Tyson. "He's sleeping." "Dying, sir," muttered the nurse. The woman drew in her knees, tightening her hold on the child.
"Ah!" he murmured. "A light begins to dawn...." "Upon me as well," Stanistreet confessed. "Miss Brooke and her brother are orphans and, before the war, were inseparable companions. I do not doubt that, learning he had been commissioned with an uncommonly perilous errand, she booked passage by the Assyrian without his consent, in order to be near him in event of danger."
She refused to divulge a word about her business with us. I told her " Warned by a gesture from Colonel Stanistreet, Blensop broke off. Walker was opening the door. "Well, Walker?" "A Mr. Duchemin, sir, says Mr. Blensop made an appointment with you for twelve to-night." "Show him in, please." The footman shut himself out. Blensop clutched nervously at Mrs. Arden's jewels.
"It would be a waste of time. I happen to know, because I was there, that no such document was found on Ekstrom's body." "The devil!" Stanistreet grumbled. "What can have become of it? This business grows only the blacker the deeper one seeks to fathom it. I must own myself completely at a loss. How it came into the hands of Miss Brooke " "I can explain that, I think.
"You must know that your marriage did nothing for you that was not very well done before." "Yes. It seems to me that there was a time when I had an immortal soul. That was before the Framley episode. You remember? An edifying experience." Stanistreet assented. He knew the horrible story, of a mad boy and a bad woman. Perhaps it accounted for the ugliest facts in Tyson's character.
A delusion not uncommon with men of Tyson's stamp. "I believe," said Tyson, "it's a what d'ye call 'em category innate idea a priori form of the masculine intelligence. I've never seen a man yet who hadn't it somewhere about him. And I've seen most sorts. Terrific bounders, too, some of them." A year ago Stanistreet would have laughed at this, now he smiled.
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