"In Heaven's name, sir, what do you mean?"
"Mean—mean—why, what have I said?" exclaimed Monsieur Varbarriere, very tartly, and looking still more uncomfortable.
"I did not say you had said anything, but you do mean something."
"No, madame, I forgot something; the tragedy to which you referred is not to be supposed to be always as present to the mind of another as it naturally is to your own. We forget in a moment of surprise many things of which at another time we need not to be reminded, and so it happened with me."
Monsieur Varbarriere stood up and fiddled with his gold double eye-glasses, and seemed for a while disposed to add more on that theme, but, after a pause, said—
"And so it was to the Bishop that Sir Harry Marlowe communicated his dying wish that the green chamber should be shut up?"
"Yes, to him; and I have heard that more passed than is suspected, but of that I know nothing; only I mean to put the question to him directly, when next I can see him alone."
Monsieur Varbarriere again looked with a curious scrutiny at the Bishop, and then he inquired—
"He is a prelate, no doubt, who enjoys a high reputation for integrity?"
"This I know, that he would not for worlds utter an untruth," replied Lady Alice.