“Disguised himself!” sneered the earl. “He is so used to newspaper sensation that he must have it at any cost.”
The colonel glared at him angrily, but went on:
“I don’t believe one word of it. I know the boy too well. I have had a clever detective at work for a week, and we have not advanced one step. He made several appointments in London, not one of which he kept. He was perfectly sane when he went away, and quietly wished his cousin, Miss Nugent, good-by. He went away under the impression that Lady Elaine did not really care for him; but I will swear that he never contemplated this miserable scandal. His final wishes were that he should bear whatever blame was attached to the——”
The earl interrupted him with a harsh laugh.
“It is of no use, my dear Greyson,” he said; “your defense only makes his actions appear the more contemptible. For some reason, he wished to break the engagement between himself and Lady Elaine, and adopted this course for the sake of the theatrical effect. He will turn up again from Timbuctoo or some other outlandish place, by and by, for the sole purpose of creating another sensation; but he may get far more than he expects. For my part, I wash my hands of the affair, and shall insist upon Lady Elaine accepting Viscount Rivington.”
The earl spoke decidedly, and Colonel Greyson had little to say. What argument could he offer? None, until the mystery surrounding Sir Harold’s movements was cleared up.
He did not tell the earl that his visit was to Lady Elaine, and when she did not appear at the dinner-table he became anxious.
“I hope,” he observed, “that your daughter is not ill, my lord?”
“She is pretending to be,” was the rejoinder. “Of course, this farce must be kept up for a time. I hope you will not stuff any nonsense into her head, colonel.”
“I hope not,” was the reply.