"He said that the water contained—I forget how many grains of strychnine," replied Beatrice, innocently.
"Then I was right," said Lorelie, with a face as white as death. "O, Beatrice, the earl and Ivar tried to poison me!"
"Lady Walden, how dare you say that?" said Beatrice, with a burst of indignation.
It was against Ravengars that Lorelie's charge was made, and Beatrice suddenly remembered that she herself was a Ravengar. Bad as Ivar might be she could not believe him capable of murder: and as for the earl, had he not always treated her with kindness?
But when Lorelie began to relate the incident of her visit to the crypt, Beatrice's scepticism slowly vanished, and she listened with a growing horror upon her face. And when the story was ended, she sat cold and trembling, unable at first to speak.
"Are they aware that you suspected their design?" she asked.
"I do not think so. I continue to speak and act as if I have every confidence in them."
"How can you bear to live with them? What they have attempted once they may attempt again. How can you trust yourself at the same table with them?"
"By eating of the dishes of which they eat; they are not likely to poison themselves. I must remain at Ravenhall till I have accomplished my task."
"And what is that?"