Part 38 (1/2)
”No. You can never secure my release,” he declared, with despair.
”They dare not give me my liberty for their own sakes. Jules Dubard and that Englishman George Macbean will take good care that I never come forth to denounce them.”
”George Macbean?” she gasped open-mouthed, all the colour fading from her cheeks. ”Do you know him? Is he actually one of those who is responsible for this?”
For answer, the man behind the bars clenched his teeth and nodded in the affirmative.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
THE CAPTAIN IS OUTSPOKEN.
”But tell me,” cried Mary, utterly amazed at the unhappy man's startling allegations, ”do you actually declare that Dubard and Mr Macbean have conspired in order to throw the opprobrium upon you?”
”I do,” he answered in a low, hard tone. ”I am convinced of it.
Macbean is an Englishman living in London--secretary to an English deputy named Morgan-Mason.”
”He is a friend of mine,” she remarked quietly. ”I know him quite well.”
”Then do not trust him,” Solaro urged. ”He is the--” But he hesitated, as though fearing to make any direct charge against one who was her friend.
”The what?” she inquired eagerly.
For a few moments he remained silent.
”He is the man who, with Dubard, was the cause of my downfall,” he responded, although from his hesitating tone she felt a.s.sured that those words were not what he had first intended to utter.
”And Dubard?” she asked, her face now very grave.
”What use is it to discuss either of them?” he said bitterly. ”I am their victim--that is all.”
”But with what motive?” she asked, bewildered at this revelation. ”What connection can Mr Macbean possibly have with these false scandalous charges against you?”
”Ah! the motive is more than I can tell,” he declared. ”I can only surmise it.”
”But there surely must be some motive!” she remarked, at the same time recollecting what she had learnt, that the information furnished by Dubard formed the basis of the charges intended to be levelled by the Socialists against her father.
”I have never had an opportunity of ascertaining it,” he said. ”I would, however, desire to warn you most strongly against that man Macbean.”
Mary remained silent. What he had said puzzled and mystified her. His words were not prompted by motives of jealousy. That was impossible, for he was unaware of Macbean's presence in Rome. As far as she knew, the two men had never been acquainted--the one an officer in garrison in the Alps, and the other living in far-off London. She endeavoured to induce him to speak more plainly, but it was evident that her acknowledgment that Macbean was her friend prevented him from opening his mind concerning him.
All her sympathies being with the imprisoned man, she felt a distinct suspicion arising within her concerning the young Englishman.--She wondered whether after all he had really schemed to obtain an appointment in the Ministry; if his present position was only in furtherance of some sinister object?
She spoke of Dubard, but the prisoner was equally silent concerning him.
”What I can tell you about either of them amounts to nothing without proof, and without my liberty I cannot obtain that. They know it!” he said angrily. ”They know that while I am here, in prison, my lips are sealed!”
”But it is infamous!” exclaimed the red-faced old general. ”If you were the victim of a plot laid by these two fellows, whoever they are, the matter ought to be sifted to the bottom. I don't believe you are guilty, Solaro! I told His Excellency the Minister so!”
”Ah, my dear general, you have been my best friend,” declared the man now clothed in sacking in lieu of a uniform. ”But your efforts must all be unavailing. They are sending me to the loneliness of Gorgona, that place where many a better man than myself has been driven insane by solitude. They know that on Gorgona I shall not live very long--indeed, they will take very good care of that.”