CHAPTER XIX
A STORY OF THE PAST
Half-an-hour later and Lord Kilspindie was back in the Vicarage library with Janet Grant, or, as it may be more convenient to call her, Mrs Jeal. Mr Tempest was present, together with Leo and Mr Raston, and they had assembled to force the truth out of Mrs Jeal. This was no easy matter. All the evil in the woman was uppermost, and with her shawl wrapped round her tightly she sat there and defied them all.
"You may burn me, you may put me in prison," said Mrs Jeal, savagely, "but I won't open my mouth."
"I'll have you arrested unless you tell the truth," said Lord Kilspindie.
"Arrest me, then," snarled Mrs Jeal. "There's a policeman handy, my lord."
"Why are you behaving like this, woman?" asked the vicar, sternly.
"Why!" she retorted violently. "Because I was badly treated by my lord there. I served him faithfully for many years, yet, in place of giving me the position to which I was entitled, he set another woman—a woman I hated—over my head. But I paid him out," she said revengefully. "Oh! many a sad hour you have had, my lord! And many more you will have. I know where your son is; but I won't tell. You have got back the cup, but the son, my Lord Morven," she sneered, "will remain in the humble position in which I have placed him."