"Because—well, forgive me for saying so, my dear Flockart—because you've been a fool, and have allowed her to know."
"It wasn't I; it was the woman."
"Lady Heyburn! Why, I always believed her to be the soul of discretion."
"She's been too defiant of consequences. A dozen times I've warned her; but she will not heed."
"Then she'll land herself in a deep hole if she isn't careful," replied the foreigner, speaking very fair English. "Does she know I'm here?"
"Of course not. If we're to play the game she must know nothing. She's already inclined to throw prudence to the winds, and to confess all to her husband."
"Confess!" gasped the stranger, paling beneath his rather sallow skin. "Per Bacco! she's not going to be such an idiot, surely?"
"We were run so close, and so narrowly escaped discovery after I got at those papers at Glencardine, that she seems to have lost heart," Flockart remarked.
"But if she acted the fool and told Sir Henry, it would mean ruin for us, and that would also mean——"
"It would mean exposure for Gabrielle," interrupted Flockart. "The old man dare not lift his voice for his daughter's sake."