"I know you did."
Miss Fitzgerald breathed a sigh of relief. It was well she had decided not to lie to this man.
"You're probably not aware, then," continued Kent-Lauriston, "that Stanley succeeded in opening the secret door last night, and obtained possession of Darcy's letter of instructions."
The Irish girl turned very white, looking as if she were going to faint.
"Then he knows everything," she whispered.
"Everything," replied her tormentor. "The details of the plot he has known for some time, being stationed here by the Legation to watch the Colonel—but it was not till Darcy was brought to book this morning, and in order to save himself, signed a written confession, that he really knew the extent to which you were incriminated."
She burst into tears. Kent-Lauriston proceeded unconcernedly with his story.
"The Colonel's chivalry is not of such a nature as would cause him to hesitate in shifting all the responsibility he could, on the shoulders of a woman."
She dried her tears at that, and her eyes fairly snapped.
"The fact," resumed Kent-Lauriston, "that Stanley had on several occasions tried to help you to clear yourself, and the fact that you'd persistently—well—not done so—made matters all the worse. In short, on these two counts alone, you had given evidence of an amount of deceit and cold-blooded calculation that completely upset even such an optimist as he. Still, I think he would have overlooked it, if properly managed—if that had been the worst."