"No one knows," she went on, "where she is. She was my most intimate friend. I had put all my hopes in her, Excellenz! Then, to add to my vexation, my husband has been suddenly and unexpectedly appointed to a Government commission of inquiry in Ireland. He is delighted, of course; it is an honour for him. Then, again," went on Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "Mrs. Pomfret Bond, who was in the habit of telling me everything she knew, who was always scraping up bits of gossip that were of use, is——"
"Has she vanished also?" inquired Voules, suddenly rising.
"No," returned Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "but she has become mute as a fish. My opinion is that she has been warned not to talk, and that I have at last become a suspected person!"
Voules looked at her and shook his ponderous head.
"No, no! Your position, gnädige Frau, is too secure for that; also you are too clever."
"I am not a fool," answered Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "but these things disturb me!"
"Your love of the Fatherland, your belief in final victory, will sustain you. You lose your friend, Lady Rachel Marvin, but to a woman of your beauty and position nothing is impossible. You shall get other fools—is it not so? England, gnädige Frau, is full of fools!"
He moved across to her and took her hand firmly in his.
"Soon you shall have your reward. I will promise you my very best efforts. You will wait yet a little while longer. My plans," he added quietly, "are shaping themselves with the perfection of clockwork. Enormous things have been done, my dear gnädige Frau, in the last few weeks, and disaffection now, even from you, would destroy the harmony.... Remember your sentiments towards these people!"
"I remember them well enough!" answered Mrs. Beecher Monmouth. She was still standing at the hearth, and looked steadily before her as she spoke.