“Oh, Charles, have you heard?” and Mrs. Coolidge shrank back appalled at this unexpected turn of affairs.
“Yes,” he said, in a hollow voice, and casting a look of withering contempt upon Isabel. “I see now why you were so anxious to get rid of me. I mistrusted something was not right, and after sending Brown to the village to execute your commission, I came in by the lawn window, as it was nearer. I entered just as Mrs. Dredmond opened the casket of jewels, and instantly a great deal was explained to me. I was so overcome by the discovery that I dropped upon the divan behind the curtains, where I have remained, a silent witness of all that has occurred in this room.”
Adrian, deepest sympathy in his face, went to him, and taking his hand, said, with emotion:
“Believe me, Charles, God knows I would have saved you from this if I could. You do not deserve it.”
He groaned aloud at these words of sympathy; then wringing his hand he dropped it, and advancing to his mother, demanded, in cold, hard tones:
“Madam, where is my brother?”
“Your brother—oh, my boy!” she began, between her sobs.
“Yes, my brother. I demand him at your hands, and may God forgive you for your iniquity—I am afraid I never can.”
The shriek which burst from her died suddenly upon her lips, and the look of anguish in her eyes froze into one of terror, as the drawing-room door slowly swung back, revealing a strange picture within its frame—the little, bent form of Lady Ruxley, her old and withered face full of a stern resolve, one hand resting upon her cane, the other upon the arm of Herbert Randal!