The Nether Millstone

by Fred M. White

But all this would come in time; meanwhile, the puppet must play his part in the comedy. Any further conversation was cut short by the entrance of Mary. In a tentative kind of way Dashwood wanted to know what she was doing here.

"No getting away from the old faces and the old places," he said. "I come to see Mrs. Speed, so does Mr. Darnley, and you turn up at the same time. What are you after?"

"It does not in the least matter," Mary said coldly. "I happened to be staying under Mrs. Speed's roof at the time she had the misfortune to change houses; in her hurry she took away with her certain things belonging to me. I came to fetch them. It is very simple. Are you quite ready to go, Mr. Darnley?"

"I think I will come," Ralph said impulsively. "What I have to say to Mrs. Speed will keep till another day. She seems to be very unsettled here as yet. Perhaps you will take that message to Mrs. Speed for me, Sir Vincent?"

Dashwood's anxious features cleared wonderfully. His air had hitherto been one of guarded suspicion. He had a vague idea that Ralph was concealing something. It would be no fault of his if Mrs. Speed and Darnley met again.

"Certainly, certainly," he said. "Is that your cab at the door, Mary? Let me lend you a hand with those boxes. We shall have the pleasure of seeing you down at Dashwood before long, I hope. Independence of spirit is all very well, but you will find your new life a little trying after a bit. And there is always a home for you at the Hall. Drop me a line to say when you are coming. Goodbye."

The speaker fairly bundled Mary into the cab. Ralph followed with a grim smile on his face. He was just as anxious to get away himself; it would be a pity if his scheme broke down just as everything was going on splendidly.

"What does it all mean?" Mary demanded as the cab drove away. "What connection is there between that man and Mrs. Speed? And why did she look at you as if you had been some accusing ghost? And why was our friend so afraid that Mrs. Speed should know his new title?"

"What a list of questions!" Ralph laughed. "Would you mind if I deferred the reply for a few days? Do you suspect that anything is wrong?"

"Of course I do," Mary exclaimed. "That woman has some guilty knowledge on her mind. So has Sir Vincent Dashwood. And you looked angry and confused as he came in. I know that Mrs. Speed came originally from our part, that she is the sister of Ralph Dashwood's first wife. She knows all about the family quarrel and the tragedy that followed. And she is in possession of certain papers that Vincent Dashwood needs."