The Duke nodded acquiescence.
“I should like the present arrangement to go on,” said Harriet. “Perhaps the truth will have to be known some time, but let it come out after we are dead, when it can hurt nobody.”
Lady Wargrave drew a long breath of relief and gratitude.
“You are very wise,” she said.
But the Duke took her up at once with a saturnine smile. “You seem to forget, Charlotte, that the existing arrangement can no longer go on.”
“Pray, why not?”
“You have just been kind enough to tell us,” he said bitingly, “that Sarah and the girls are going to live with you at Hill Street—except, of course, on one condition!”
Their eyes met. Suddenly they smiled frostily at each other.
“If you care to leave the matter to me,” said Charlotte, “I will see to that.”
“But that woman, Sarah,” he persisted. “She’s so obstinate that we may have to tell her.”