“And you are sure you heard nothing about any stranger being there?”
“I’m quite certain on that score, Sir Gilbert. And either Martin, or Dulcie would have been sure to speak of it if there had been.”
As the Baronet walked back to the Chase he knew not what to think. So powerfully had his imagination been worked upon by the belief, which by this time had grown almost to a conviction, that his son was at the root of the mystery of the Grey Monk, and that, of all men, Rigg was the one to whom he must look to supply him with the key, that his mood was one of bitter disappointment.
After luncheon he told Lady Pell all about his morning’s errand and its result.
In her own mind her ladyship had little or no faith in her kinsman’s conviction that the Grey Monk was none other than John Alexander Clare, restored to life after some all but miraculous fashion when there was every reason for supposing him to have died twenty long years before. She was not a believer in the improbable, although, if questioned, she would have felt bound to admit that even she had known cases where incidents of the most startling kind had evolved themselves out of lives to all seeming the most commonplace and prosaic.
In the course of the day she took an opportunity of informing Sir Gilbert of the engagement of Ethel Thursby and Everard Lisle. That the news afforded him genuine pleasure could not be doubted. “So I shall not lose my little girl after all!” he said. “That is indeed something worth hearing. She has become very dear to me, Louisa; I may tell you so now; and I should have felt the loss of her more, perhaps, than the occasion would have seemed to warrant, for she has contrived to steal her way into my affections in a quite unaccountable fashion. My old age is the sweeter for her presence. I am very glad that I am not to lose her.”
“I shall make it my business to furnish her trousseau.”
“And you may rely upon it that she shall not go to her husband without a cadeau from me. I suppose she will have no dowry?”
“Not a shilling, so far as I am aware. She is an orphan and was brought up by two maiden aunts who, till a little while ago, were quite comfortably off. Now, however, they have only just enough left to live upon.”
“In that case I must see what I can do by way of increasing Lisle’s salary. Of course when anything happens to poor Kinaby, Lisle will at once step into his shoes. The furniture which is now at Maylings may as well be transferred to Elm Lodge for the young couple’s use. They will make a well-matched pair, Louisa. As you know, I hold Lisle in very high regard, not merely because he happens to be the son of the man who saved my life, but by reason of his own fine qualities. How wide is the difference between him and young Rispani!”