"I didn't think it fair to subject you to the sort of night you might have had with me as an inmate, so I cleared out," Beaumanoir replied, wearily. "I guessed you'd inquire here, so I called in to leave word that I was all right—up to date."
"You were not molested before quitting my chambers?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"Because the place has been visited; it must have been after you left," said Forsyth, gravely. And he went on to relate how he had found the door broken open, and how he had met two suspicious-looking men on the stairs, one dressed as a clergyman and the other in shabby tweeds.
"Dressed as a clergyman?" cried Beaumanoir, startled into forgetfulness of Sybil's presence in the room. "Then, Alec, I have stood face to face with death in this house not ten minutes ago. I found your sham parson here, professing to be an official detective; but I doubted him from the first."
His raised tones reached Sybil, who realized that the house of Beaumanoir was confronted by no ordinary emergency. What the peril could be that threatened her noble relative she had no means of knowing, or any wish to know; but the Duke's description of himself as standing "face to face with death" amid the seeming security of his own white drawing-room touched her with the icy hand of unknown dread, and, moreever, filled her with a sense of responsibility. The man who was not safe under the dazzling lights of that splendid apartment, with a host of servants within call, was going forth into all the insecurity of the London streets at midnight because, her instinct told her, he would not expose her to the same danger.
Her cousin's chivalry appealed not only to her loyalty to the house, but to that protective impulse which springs readily in every woman's heart.
"I couldn't help overhearing you," she said, coming forward. "I, too, doubted that man—very strongly. I am sure he meant no good. But what I want to say, Cousin Charles, is that you must remain here to-night. If you go out of the house, I shall go also."
Forsyth shot a grateful look at her.
"The best possible plan," he said, quickly. "Now, don't be obstinate, Duke. The man has left the premises, I presume? Good! That being so, we shall be a poor lot if we can't prevent his getting in again, which he is hardly likely to attempt. There is nothing to hinder you from spending a quiet night here, without the slightest risk of unpleasantness either to Sybil or to yourself, and in the morning you and I can talk over your future movements at leisure."