“Miss Douglas utterly refused to give up her property again, and the two had a stormy scene, until Mrs. Coolidge finally professed to be willing to temporize with her, and pretending to take her into her own room, enticed her into a secret chamber which she had discovered——”
“What! the treasure chamber!” ejaculated Lady Randal, excitedly, and losing all her color again.
“I do not know what the place is called,” Adrian replied, “but she locked her within it, and kept her there without food or light, or even a chair to sit upon until midnight, when she and her daughter sought her again, and, by stratagem and force combined, succeeded in getting possession of the jewels again. Then they brought her food and bedding, telling her she was to remain there until after the wedding, since they could not run the risk of her making them trouble and interfering with their prospects.”
“’Tis false!” shrieked Isabel, nearly beside herself.
“Be quiet, my daughter,” said Mrs. Coolidge, soothingly. Then turning to Lady Randal, she asked: “Can you believe such a tissue of falsehood? No one has seen the girl from the time she parted with my children in the park that day until after her marriage. It is a preposterous story, and only fabricated to save the parties most interested from the scandal usually attending a clandestine marriage. Besides, what is all this talk about a secret chamber?” she concluded, scornfully.
Lady Randal looked at her in a dazed kind of a way, while a terrible fear was tugging at her heart.
“But how could she know there is a secret chamber unless she had seen it?—and it leads from Isabel’s room. Go on, Adrian, I must hear all now,” she said, in a low, concentrated tone.
He gave her a look of compassion, and resumed:
“Miss Douglas arranged her bed, striving to make the best of her situation, and, being very weary, soon fell into a sound slumber. She was not conscious of how long she had slept, but she was suddenly awakened by a feeling that some one was in her room, and upon opening her eyes saw the strangest being she ever beheld kneeling by her side.”
“Oh, heavens!” breathed Lady Randal, sinking back in her chair, and covering her face with her trembling hands.