She could not blind herself to the truth. She could not get away from the fact that her father was a conscious participant in a disgraceful action. It mattered little that her father was in Copley's hands, or that Copley had suggested the whole thing. The shock was none the less painful. It seemed incredible that a man in Sir George's position should stoop so low as this. These plots had happened before and no one had spoken of them with greater contempt than had Sir George. Now was he self-confessed as a principal in one of the shadiest of them all.
May stole away. For a moment she had been on the point of an outburst. But perhaps it would be better to wait and speak to her father quietly later, to try to find some means of averting this dreadful dishonour.
"I cannot stay here," she murmured. "The atmosphere poisons me. I must get away, I must get away."
CHAPTER XXXVI
FIELDEN INTERVENES
MAY went quietly back to the drawing-room. There was nothing in her face to indicate what she was suffering. For a time she sat gazing into the fire, watching Alice Carden who sat opposite her engrossed in a book. At the end of half an hour May had made up her mind what to do, and when Alice laid her volume aside, she began to speak.
"How long is your father likely to be away?" she asked.
"Oh, for two months, I suppose," Alice said. "But I may find him at home when I go back next week."
"I hope not," May answered, "because I have a plan to suggest to you. I wonder if you would mind my coming with you? I suppose you could get me a bedroom in your house. I should like to pay for myself. Could it be managed, do you think?"
"It would be delightful," Alice cried. "But why do you want to leave this beautiful house? What will Sir George say when he hears of it?"