Mrs. Coolidge’s heart leaped at this; it was just the condition of all others she most desired Lady Randal to be in. Rising, she went over to her side, and holding out her hand, said with an appearance of great magnanimity:
“I regret exceedingly that anything so very dreadful should have occurred, but we have all done wrong. I am ready to acknowledge my share regarding Mrs. Dredmond. Shall we then overlook each other’s faults, and still allow our children, who are not to blame, to be happy?”
“And you will not betray me to Charles just yet?” she gasped.
“Certainly not; you must confide in him yourself when you think proper. I think myself it would be wiser not to tell him until after his return from his tour, for it might destroy all his pleasure. When once he is settled at home again, then all these things can be explained,” she said, suavely.
Lord Dunforth, towering aloft in his indignation, advanced, and stood before the two women.
“No, madam,” he said, firmly; “you may hide what else you choose from him, but Sir Charles must be acquainted this day—nay, this hour—with the fact that he has a brother.”
The attention of all was at this moment attracted by a slight noise at the other end of the drawing-room.
Another instant and they were thunderstruck to behold Sir Charles himself staggering toward them like a drunken man. His face was haggard and drawn, as if he had but just recovered from a convulsion; even his lips were white and rigid, while his forehead shone with the clammy moisture which a fierce agony had drawn forth.
Isabel sprang forward, with a sharp cry of pain, but he warded her off by a motion of his hand.
His mother shrieked.