"No," said Clarice, quickly. "You must not think so badly of the vicar, Anthony. He is innocent." And she related to her lover all that Mr. Clarke had explained to her.
"Humph!" said Ackworth, when she ended, "that's a very plausible tale, but we have only the vicar's word for its truth. And it is to his interest to exonerate himself. His son was connected with Osip, so Clarke himself, through Frank, may be connected also with that blackguard. I wish he could be found--Osip, I mean. I wonder with such a personality he has not been spotted."
"I saw him," said Clarice, unexpectedly.
"You?" Anthony rose, with a startled gesture.
"Yes," she said, faintly, "at the Mascot Music Hall."
The young man looked at her anxiously. "Clarice," he said, taking her cold hand, "you look pale. Mrs. Rebson said something about your having influenza; yet you were all right when I saw you last."
Clarice nodded. "I might say that I caught cold, as you were afraid I should do, when we were in the porch. But I can't say that, because it is not true. I am quite well."
"You don't look it."
"I have not the influenza, I mean," she corrected; "I pretended to be ill, so that I might carry out my scheme."
"What scheme?"