its discovery forms a clue to a most serious and startling crime,” I said.
“A crime!” she gasped. “What do you mean? Dudley’s murder?”
I did not fail to notice that she used the word “murder” as if she had absolute proof that death had not been due to natural causes. Yet the effect of my announcement had been to fill her with sudden apprehension. She strove to appear amazed, but I thought I could detect in her attitude and bearing a fear that I had knowledge of her secret.
“It is most probably connected with that tragic event,” I answered meaningly, looking her straight in the face. “The police will no doubt pursue their investigations and clear up the matter.”
“The police!” she whispered hoarsely, just as Mrs Laing had done when the officers had entered her house. “Do you think they will discover the cause of poor Dudley’s death?”
“I cannot say,” I answered calmly. “They will, however, discover the reason he had this seal in his possession.”
“I tell you it was not his – I mean I never saw him with it,” she protested.
“But he may have had it in his pocket and not shown it to you. Indeed, there were reasons that he should not do so because it was used for a nefarious purpose.”
“For what?” she asked, suddenly evincing an interest in the stamp, taking it from my hand and examining it closely.
It was on my tongue to relate to her the whole circumstances, but suddenly remembering that for the present the secret of England’s peril must be preserved if the identity of the spy were to be discovered, I refrained, and answered, —
“The man who used that seal committed one of the worst crimes of which a man can be guilty.”
“What was it; tell me?” she asked quickly. “Surely Dudley never committed any offence!”
“I am not certain,” I answered gloomily. “An enemy who would pose as a friend, as he has done, might be capable of any deceit.”
“Have I not already told you that he was not your enemy, Geoffrey?” she observed calmly.
“Ah, Ella,” I cried in disgust, “all these falsehoods only render your conduct the more despicable. You will deny next that you went down to Warnham to meet him surreptitiously.”
“To Warnham?” she cried, white to the lips.
“Yes. Do you deny it?”
“No. I – it is quite true that I met him there,” she faltered.
“You spent the day with my rival, unknown to me,” I went on bitterly. “Yet you declare that you never loved him?”
Her breath came and went in short, quick gasps, her haggard eyes were fixed; she stood silent, unable to make reply.
“It is useless to further prolong this painful interview,” I exclaimed at last, turning from her.
“I swear I never loved him,” she cried suddenly. “Some day, when you know the truth, you will bitterly regret how you have misjudged me, how, while striving to serve you, I have fallen under suspicion.”
“But your visit to Warnham!” I said. “Is that an act such as can be overlooked without explanation?”
“I only ask you to place trust in me, and I will prove ere long that I acted under compulsion.”
“You want me to believe that he held you irrevocably in his power, I suppose?” I said with biting sarcasm.
She nodded, and held her head in downcast, dejected attitude.
“It is easy enough to allege all this, now that he is dead,” I observed doubtingly.
“I have told you the truth. I feared him, and was compelled to obey,” she exclaimed hoarsely.
“What was the object of your visit? Surely you can explain that?”
“No. I cannot.”
“You absolutely refuse?”
“Absolutely,” she answered, in a low, strained voice, looking straight at me with an expression of determination.
“Then we must part,” I said, slowly but firmly disengaging myself from her embrace.
“No, no,” she wailed, sobbing bitterly and clinging more closely to me. “Do not be so cruel, Geoffrey. You would never utter these words could you know all.”
“But you will not tell me,” I cried.
“At present I dare not. Wait; be patient, and you shall know everything.”
“How long must I remain in doubt and ignorance?” I asked.
“I know not. To-morrow the bond of secrecy may be removed from my lips, or it may be many months ere I can fearlessly speak and explain,” she answered in a strange voice, almost as if speaking to herself.
“From your words it would appear that some person still holds power over you, even though Dudley is dead,” I said, looking into her eyes seriously.
She sighed deeply, and her hand, resting upon my shoulder, trembled violently. “Yes, you guess the truth,” she answered. “I would tell you all – explain all these facts that no doubt puzzle you and cause me to appear base, heartless and deceitful – yet I fear the consequences. If I did so we should be parted for ever.”
“But if you told the truth and cleared your conduct, I should then have confidence again, and love you. How should we be parted?”
Pale and silent she stood, with her eyes resting upon the distant line of drooping willows. Not until I had repeated my question did she move and answer in a voice almost inaudible, as she clung to me, —
“We should be parted by death,” she whispered hoarsely.
“By death!” I cried, dismayed. “What do you mean, Ella? Do you fear that the same tragic fate that has overtaken Dudley will overtake you?”
She shuddered, and burying her white face upon my shoulder, again burst into a torrent of tears. Hers was indeed a woeful figure, bent, dejected and grief-stricken. Raising her head at last, she stifled her sobs with an effort, and implored with earnestness, —
“Tell me, Geoffrey, that you will not prejudge me. Tell me with your own lips that you will be content to wait in patience until I can present the facts to you in their true light. I am not an adventuress, as you think. I have never, I swear before Heaven, looked upon any other man with thought of affection. I have told you of my inability to speak; I can tell you no more.”
I made a movement, steady, stern and deliberate, to put her from me; but, with her arms around my neck, she cried in an agonised tone, —
“No, Geoffrey. At least show me a single grain of pity. Be patient. If you desire it I will not come near you until I can reply to your questions and clear my conduct of the stigma upon it; I will do anything you ask so long as you give me time to pursue my investigations and free myself from this terrible thraldom. Say you will, and bring back peace to my mind and happiness
