“Nardini was a blackguard!” Sammy cried. “If I had known that I’d have rung the truth out of him before he died—by Jove, I would! A man who plots against a woman’s honour like that is the worst cad conceivable.”
“Ah, yes!” cried the unhappy girl. “It is that—it is my honour that is at stake. The man alleges that he found me alone in a common café—and—and—”
She burst into tears.
I had listened to Lucie’s extraordinary statement like a man in a dream.
Ella tried to comfort her, but with very little avail. She had utterly broken down.
“I am surely the most unhappy of girls!” she sobbed. “They have killed my poor father, and now they will take from me my honour as a woman!” Then, after a pause, she added:—
“You remember what I told you regarding the woman Hardwick? Nardini knew of that scandal long ago in Pisa, when you accidentally met Ina’s married sister travelling, and were forced into the Divorce Court by her husband to give evidence against her. As Minister of Justice, he knew well all the secrets of hushed-up scandals, and often turned them to his own profit.”
“Miss Miller,” Sammy exclaimed, in a soft tone now full of sympathy for the poor suffering girl, “you mentioned just now the unfortunate death of my friend Manuel Carrera, in Paris. You recollect that I—”
“Manuel Carrera!” cried Ella, suddenly releasing Lucie and facing Sammy. “Was he your friend? Then let me also tell you the truth! Hear my confession, Godfrey, and then you shall judge me!”