"Be guided by me," whispered Kitty again. "Indeed, my dear, I mean well by you. Keep your secret if you love your husband. Keep it more preciously than you would keep jour youth and your beauty; for I tell you 'tis now your most valuable possession. Here," said she, and took a letter from her famous bag and thrust it into Julia's hands, "here is what will bring him to his knees! Oh, what a game you have upon this drive home if you know how to play it!"
"What is this, now?" cried Lady Standish.
"Hush!" ordered Kitty, and clapped her friend's hand over the letter. "Promise, promise! Here comes your lord!"
Sir Jasper had approached them as she spoke; he now bowed confusedly and took his wife's hand. But:
"A word in your ear," said Mistress Kitty, arresting him as they were about to pass out. "A word in your ear, sir. If a man has a treasure at home he would keep for himself, he will do well to guard it! An unwatched jewel, my good sir, invites thieves. Good-night!"
*****
And now in the great room of the Bear Inn were left only three: the two gallant gentlemen, O'Hara and Stafford, and Mistress Kitty.
Mistress Kitty's game had been successfully played out; and yet the lady lingered.
"Good night," she began, then shot a glance at Stafford. "I wonder," she said innocently, "if my carriage be ready, and whether Lady Maria is well installed?"
"I will see," said Stafford simply, and vanished.