"She will--if she's daring, and I shrewdly suspect that she is."
"Do you believe her to be this Spider?"
"I do, and I don't. I really can't say. But if not the rose, she is near the rose. All I can assert with safety, Colonel, is that if we can lay hands on this witch in grain we'll learn who murdered poor Dimsdale."
"God grant that."
"Amen! to that pious prayer," was Vernon's reply as he left the room. Towton duly finished his letter of inquiry to Venery, of Singapore, and having posted it went cheerfully about his usual business of pleasure--that is, as cheerfully as a man in love well could do. At the Colonel's age love was rather a serious matter, since he had taken the disease badly, as is invariably the case with middle aged men. Some individuals constantly let their emotions trickle out to expend themselves in trifling love affairs, amusing for the moment; others dam up the passions for years until they burst through the barrier, to sweep everything before them irresistibly. Colonel Towton was one of the latter. But, not being entirely blinded by his late-born infatuation, he did not deem Ida perfection, as a hot-headed youth would have done, and he foresaw that, as Mrs. Towton, she would need guidance and firm control. Hitherto, for want of both, she had run wild; but the materials were there, out of which, as Towton put it to himself, he could build a model wife. That she was frivolous, rather than strong-minded, was a point in her favour, as the Colonel desired to mould wax rather than to hammer iron. So if Ida only consented to marry him he hoped for a calm and contented domestic existence, undisturbed by aggressive romance. And with his home-loving, self-controlled nature, Towton infinitely preferred the outlook from an unemotional point of view.
As to the money, he cared little for the possible loss of that, although he could not deny but what Ida's yearly thousands would have come at the right moment to effect improvements on the Bowderstyke estate. Towton was too prosaic and level-headed to despise the power of the purse, but on the other hand he was not at all grasping, and was quite satisfied to marry a girl with no dowry but her beauty and sweet nature. All the same, he intended to inform himself fully of the truth by inquiring, as he had done, from the man Diabella had mentioned as her authority. The Colonel had no notion of letting Ida's money benefit Lady Corsoon if he could help it. Of course, if it was proved to be legally hers he would be the first to see that she had her rights. On the other hand, should Ida turn out to be Dimsdale's daughter, Towton made up his mind that the ten thousand a year would be joyfully used for the improvement of his family property. With these thoughts to employ his mind he waited very patiently in London, considering that he was a man of actions rather than a dreamer of dreams. Later on, when Vernon had coaxed Diabella from her hiding-place, Towton intended to travel to Bowderstyke-to see his beloved. He had every belief that during his absence Vernon could manage the affair which interested them both so greatly.
For the next few days the Colonel saw nothing of Vernon, but, while in the tablinum of the Athenian Club, he unexpectedly came face to face with Mr. Maunders. The scamp looked singularly handsome, and was dressed carefully, as usual; but the sight of a snake would have been more pleasing to the worthy Colonel. He did not like Maunders, and, moreover, resented him as a somewhat dishonourable rival, for no one could respect a man who pointedly wooed two women at one and the same time. Towton therefore nodded coolly and crossed to the central table to pick up a Service Magazine. As he did so Maunders sauntered to his side and slipped into a chair near to that one which the Colonel had taken.
"Have you had any news of Miss Dimsdale?" asked Maunders amiably.
"No," retorted Towton, opening his magazine as a hint that he wished to be left alone.
"She is still in Yorkshire with Miss Hest," persisted Maunders.