“True! I had forgotten. But—it cannot be possible that this girl was that baby?”
“Why not? She is just about the age that child would be. You know, it is eighteen years since we were in America.”
“So it is. How time does fly!” Lady Royalston remarked, with a sigh of regret for the lost hopes of her youth.
“And, you know, that girl threatened to come to England some time to claim her position.”
Mrs. Farnum had confided all the plot against Virgie to her daughter after their return to England, and upon learning that a divorce between Sir William Heath and his wife had been secured, she had gathered fresh hope that Sadie would yet become Lady Heath.
“I know you said she did; but so many years have elapsed without anything happening, I supposed she had given up that idea, particularly as she obtained a divorce.”
“She was a high-spirited thing,” replied Mrs. Farnum, with a troubled look, “and I believe she procured a legal separation simply to show him that she would not hold him bound if he wished to be free; but I imagine that she has never relinquished the determination to prove her child the heiress of Heathdale. I am afraid Lady Linton’s plans will come to grief after all, and if they do, we may become involved in the unpleasant business.”
Lady Royalston looked disturbed for a moment, then she replied:
“Pshaw! I would not worry over a fancied resemblance.”
“It is not fancied,” returned her mother, “it is very striking. You have seen it as well as I.”