The jeweled pen with which Lady Barmouth had been scribbling on the two invitation cards fell from her fingers on to the blotting pad. There were trouble and unhappiness in her eyes, her face had turned deadly pale; it was some little time before she spoke.
"Must I really tell you that?" she almost pleaded. "You are striking directly at the root of the unhappiness which poisons this house. It is not as if you really knew anything----"
"But indeed I know more than you give me credit for," Jack urged. "It was of no seeking of mine; it was not the result of any vulgar curiosity; but last night when your husband was here I caught one glimpse of his face in the light of the log fire. And there I saw at once that I was face to face with Nostalgo. Believe me, it is with the greatest possible regret that I have to speak like this, but I am near to the heart of the mystery, and if you are plain and frank with me I am sanguine enough to believe that I can remove your unhappiness altogether."
"But the secret is not my own," Lady Barmouth faltered.
"Then let us assume that I have wrested it from you," Jack murmured. "It is no fault of yours that I know so much. It is no fault of yours that you are in some way under an obligation to somebody--an obligation which compelled you to be in Montrose Place last night. Luckily for us you kept your appointment. But there was somebody else also keeping an appointment in the courtyard. Whether he came there dragged by the force of circumstances, or whether he came to watch, matters little. But as he paused to light a cigarette and the pallid blue of the flame shone on his face I recognized--Lord Barmouth."
The listener said nothing; she merely bowed her head over the blotting pad before her.
"Ah! I feel the circumstances are too strong for me," she said . "It is as if you were pushing me over the edge of a precipice. I cannot decide this matter on my own initiative."
"That is exactly the line I hoped you would take," Jack cried eagerly. "After his interview with us last night, Lord Barmouth must be perfectly sure of the fact that Rigby and myself are actuated by the kindest motives towards him. Go and see him now, tell him all that I have said to you, and ask him if he will be good enough to grant me a ten minutes' private conversation. I am sure he will do this; indeed, if he refuses, there are others interested in the matter who may cause him to say in public what he declines to admit in private."
"I will do as you suggest," Lady Barmouth replied, "though I fear you will be met with a refusal as firm as it is courteous. If you will excuse me for a moment----"
Lady Barmouth said no more, but turned hurriedly and left the room. That she was very deeply moved Jack could see for himself. She came back presently, with a wan, white ghost of a smile on her lips, and a remark to the effect that Lord Barmouth was not prepared to accede to Jack's request offhand, but that he would give it his earnest consideration, and send his decision in the course of a quarter of an hour.