Both the young men began to smile.
“Oh, that’s it, is it?” said the younger. “I give you my word you needn’t worry your head about Lord Clanfield. We certainly shan’t tell him we’ve been here, you know.”
The elder of the two young men had by this time seen that they had made some mistake, and he was exceedingly anxious to silence his more obtuse brother. In the meantime he made apologies, sincere and not ungraceful, for their behaviour.
“There’s some mistake. We certainly never wished to intrude, Madame,” said he. “Of course, if you wish, we’ll go away at once.”
The younger, however, was indignant at what he considered his brother’s stupidity.
“I should have thought, Madame,” he said stiffly and aggressively, “that Lord Clanfield’s sons were good enough for the rest of your company. I suppose the fact is you’ve found out that there’s a convict in the family, and——”
Audrey, caught unawares, uttered a low but piercing cry. To hear her darling husband thus spoken of, in this brutal and callous manner, was too much for her overwrought nerves. To the consternation of the two young men, who beat a hasty retreat from the house, perplexed and abashed, she staggered and fell back against the door of the conservatory.
She would have fallen backwards, as the door gave way, but for the supporting arm of Mr. Candover, who had been an unseen witness of this scene from his post of observation among the palms and the flowers.
“Audrey, my darling, my darling,” whispered he in tones that froze her blood. He was holding her tightly in his arms, his fiery eyes glowing close to her face.
With all her suspicions justified, her doubts, her fears, the unhappy woman struggled, at first weakly, then with sudden vigour, to release herself from the grasp of the man whom she now feared and almost loathed, recognising in him, as she did, in one sudden flash of illumination, her evil genius if not that of her husband also.