'Tush! My brother! Has he not been hopelessly blind? Oh!'—a flash of anger dyed the old woman's cheek. Her eyes gleamed. She looked at the moment curiously like the old Salt Eagle. 'I told him,' she said quietly, 'a woman would have known at once that there was something wrong. He chose his own course. I came back to Garth too late. I am not going to be too late a second time.'
Sampson paced the hall in silence for a while.
'What do you suggest?' he asked, stopping in his walk.
'I should suggest sending the two at once under escort to Plymouth. There are plenty of men to spare—my servants and my brother's. The men must not lose sight of them till they are safely embarked.'
'It is really a case for the law. They should be imprisoned.'
Mistress Keziah shook her head. 'My brother would never do that—for Marion's sake—for Simone's sake. Once he has got over his wrath, he will only have one desire, and that to end the whole contemptible story. If I thought he was coming back to-morrow, I would counsel waiting. But I know he can only just have left London. I will take the risk of his displeasure,' continued the old woman, 'but I am too much afraid of that terrible woman to let her stay under the same roof with Simone and my niece. Let us send them away, Colonel. And the whole thing will be done with.'
For some time the two talked together. Colonel Sampson, who had a man's dislike of meddling with another man's affairs, presently was convinced that Mistress Keziah was right.
'I will see them safely embarked myself, I think, or lodge them somewhere in Plymouth until the Admiral returns. Perhaps that will be the best.'
'I care not,' said Mistress Keziah, 'so long as they leave Garth this day.'
After a time Mistress Keziah picked up the miniature again, and looked at Sampson. 'I am an old woman,' she said, 'and a mighty curious one.'