“Are you so sure of that?” she asked, fixing her cold eyes upon him.
“Lady Alice! what do you mean?” exclaimed Frederick, who, seeing the danger, was regaining his entire self-possession.
“Nothing,” she answered wearily. “Go. It is best so. I must have time—time to think.”
She passed her hand over her forehead twice, as if in pain, and he, bowing low, walked down stairs blindly, not knowing whither he went. Mechanically he reached the entrance, passed the threshold, and went out into the bright spring sunlight.
CHAPTER XXI.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.
The morning papers on the following day contained the announcement of Colonel Charles Clery's sudden death, and after devoting some space to a brief outline of his career, concluded with the following sentences:
“The late colonel dined the night before his death at the house of the Marquis of Kingsbury, in Park lane. He appeared to be in excellent health and spirits, and left some time after midnight with the Comte de Vaugelade, in whose company he walked up Piccadilly. The count is reported to be the last person who saw him alive.