"And can you procure the sum, if I reveal to you—if I tell you——"
"I promise nothing," interrupted Lady Cecilia drily.
"But you will do your best?" persisted the baronet.
"I will do nothing without being previously made aware of the real nature of your difficulties."
"I will then keep you in the dark no longer. The cause of my embarrassment is a bill of exchange, for a thousand pounds, now lying in Greenwood's hands, and due to-morrow."
"That is but a simple debt; and, methinks, Sir Rupert, that your acquaintance with bills is not so slight as to render you an alarmist respecting the consequences."
"Were it only a simple matter of debt, I should care but little," said Sir Rupert, still compelled to support the biting raillery of his wife: "but unfortunately—in an evil hour—I know not what demon prompted me at the moment——"
"Speak, Sir Rupert—tell me the truth at once," cried Lady Cecilia, now really alarmed.
"I say that in an evil hour—in a moment of desperation—in an excess of frenzy—I committed a forgery!"
"A forgery!" repeated Lady Cecilia, turning deadly pale. "Ah! what a disgrace to the family—what shame for me——"