“Yes.”
“Of—of—whom?” she asked, in feeble, halting accents.
“Of—alas! that I must speak it—of my mother!”
She started and drew a long breath of relief.
“Last night,” he continued, “I told my mother frankly of your opposition to my keeping the child. I could see that she took your part against me. She advised me to take the child away, but allowed me to persuade her to keep it till this morning. What if my mother, out of a mistaken sense of loyalty to you, Camille, has spirited away Sweetheart, lest she should stir up strife between us?”
Her heart leaped with joy as she realized that it was his mother, not herself or Finette, whom he suspected. No pity stirred her heart for the kind mother-in-law of whose loyalty to herself she had just been assured by Norman. She caught eagerly at the loop-hole of escape opened to her by Norman’s suspicions.
“Your theory looks plausible,” she said. “It was very kind of her to take my part, but perhaps she will restore the child when she learns that I have changed my mind about it.”
CHAPTER IX.
A week passed away, and again it was the night of Mrs. de Vere’s weekly reception.
The magnificent house was ablaze with light, and a band of music in the broad hall filled the air with strains of sweetest music.