He buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly.
"I could curse the woman who has wrought this misery!" he exclaimed, presently.
And then the remembrance of Philippa, as he had known her years before--Philippa as a child, Philippa, his mother's favorite--restrained him.
"Perhaps I too was to blame," he thought; "she would not have taken such cruel vengeance had I been more candid."
Lady Arleigh went to her room. The pretty traveling-costume lay where she had left it; the housekeeper had not put away anything. Hastily taking off her white dress and removing the jewels from her neck, and the flowers from her hair, Madaline placed them aside, and then having attired herself for the journey, she went down stairs, meeting no one.
Some little surprise was created among the servants when orders came for the carriage to be got ready.
"Going out at this time of night. What can it mean?" asked one of them.
"They are going to the Dower House," answered a groom.
"Ah, then his lordship and her ladyship will not remain at the Abbey! How strange! But there--rich people have nothing to do but indulge in whims and caprices!" said the under house-maid, who was immediately frowned down by her superiors in office.