Part 63 (1/2)

”I suppose it's hardly necessary to ask if you found Darcy's letter?”

said Kent-Lauriston to the Secretary, as they were returning to the house about an hour later from a trip to the telegraph office, whither Stanley had gone to send a long message in cipher to his Chief.

”Oh, yes,” he said. ”I have it in my possession.”

”Does it give you all the information you required?”

”As a bit of evidence it's overwhelmingly complete--but it gives me some additional information which is not so pleasant,” replied the Secretary, who had needed no second glance at the doc.u.ment to a.s.sure himself that it was Mr. Riddle's letter and had been once before in his possession.

”I've no desire to pry into your affairs, either private or diplomatic, my dear fellow; but of course I'm able to infer a good deal, and if you felt inclined to a.s.sure me, that this made you master of the situation, and placed Darcy completely in your power, it would make me feel very much easier.”

”Then you may be quite easy,” returned the Secretary. ”I hold all the trumps. I could have the Colonel arrested to-night, if I chose, and my evidence is of such a nature that it will practically banish him from his country and from mine.”

”That's very satisfactory, but let me caution you to go slow. Darcy is a man of many expedients. I should keep something in reserve, if I were able.”

”My instructions insist on practically that course of action.”

”I'm very glad to hear it--as you grow older, you'll discover that the shrewdest policy in the game of life, as in the game of whist, is always to keep in hand a card of re-entry. And you may take my word for it, that Darcy is the pivot on which all these little conspiracies revolve.

Hold him, and you can dictate terms to both Kingsland and Miss Fitzgerald. By the way, have you succeeded in receiving your _conge_ yet?”

”I haven't yet received a definite answer.”

”Answer!--haven't you made it clear to her what that answer is to be?”

”I hope so. In fact, I'm sure she must understand.”

”Then if she doesn't refuse you, you'll be quite justified in refusing her.”

”I can't be too hard on a woman, Kent-Lauriston.”

”But you cannot marry her.”

”Not if my suspicions are true, and that my conference with the Colonel to-morrow will prove. Now, don't say any more about it, for I want to go to bed, and try not to think.”

Stanley slept little that night, and the arrival of an early telegram from his Minister was a welcome relief. It contained only a brief word of praise, and the information that John, the messenger, would arrive by the ten o'clock train with a letter of instructions, pending the receipt of which he was to take no action. This necessitated an early breakfast, as the station was some distance away. Before leaving, however, he sealed up the precious doc.u.ment he had found in the secret chamber, and entrusted it to his friend's care; begging him, should he not return, through any foul play of the Colonel's, to see it safely delivered to his Chief in London.

As he drove to the train he had plenty to occupy his thoughts. The letter had been more damaging to the cause of the plotters than he could have hoped. There was sufficient evidence to make out a complete case, and only the intended forbearance of the government could s.h.i.+eld the Colonel from well-merited disgrace and condign punishment. In this forbearance Stanley saw, so to speak, his card of re-entry: but he did not see that fate was going to force him to play it in the first round of the game. It was true he was here to bring Darcy to justice for crimes committed against the State, but he must not be judged too harshly for desiring to take advantage of his position to force the Colonel to do justice in quarters not political. He had had great provocation, and the man could be relied on to keep his word only when the penalty for breaking it was actual rather than moral.

Filled with these thoughts and impulses, he drew up for a moment on his way to the station at Madame Darcy's cottage, but before he could get down from the high dog-cart she came running out to meet him.

”You have good news,” she cried, ”I can see it in your face.”

”Yes,” he said. ”I got down, or rather fell down, inside the old tower last night, and I have the precious packet in my possession.”

”Ah,” she said. ”I do not know whether I should be glad or sorry. If it contains what I suspect, it must mean so much to me in many ways.”

”It is just for that reason that I stopped to see you,” he replied. ”I wanted to set your mind at rest.”

”Then it does not contain incriminating evidence?” she asked.