Part 31 (1/2)

She knit her brows for an instant, as if questions regarding her past were entirely distasteful.

”Well, yes,” she answered, after some hesitation. ”I once lived in Paris with my mother. We had rooms in the Rue Toullier.”

”Then there can be no mistake,” he exclaimed, quickly. ”You are Mariette Lepage.”

”Of course I am,” she said, puzzled at the strangeness of his manner.

”Why?”

”Because there is a curious circ.u.mstance which causes our interests to be mutual,” he answered, watching the flush of excitement upon her face as he spoke. ”Briefly, my father, Sir John Stratfield, was somewhat eccentric, and because he knew I loved Liane, he left me penniless. He, however, added an extraordinary clause to his will, in which you are mentioned.” Then drawing from his breast-pocket a copy of the doc.u.ment, he glanced at it.

”I am mentioned?” she echoed, raising herself and regarding him open-mouthed.

”Yes,” he said. ”By this will he has left me one hundred thousand pounds on condition that I become your husband within two years of his death.”

”You--my husband?” she cried. ”Are you mad?”

”Not so mad as my father when he made this absurd will,” he answered, calmly. ”You are, under its provisions, to be offered twenty thousand pounds in cash if you will consent to become my wife. This offer will be made to you formally by his solicitors in London as soon as I inform them that you are at last found. Read for yourself,” and he pa.s.sed to her the copy of the will.

She took it mechanically, but for several moments sat agape and motionless. The extraordinary announcement held her bewildered.

Quickly she glanced through the long lines of formal words, rea.s.suring herself that he had spoken the truth. She was to receive twenty thousand pounds if she would marry the man before her, while he, on his part, would become possessed of a substantial sum sufficient to keep them comfortably for the remainder of their lives. At first she was inclined to doubt the genuineness of the doc.u.ment; but it bore the signature of the firm of solicitors, and was attested by them to be a true copy of the original will. It held her dumb in astonishment.

”Then we are to marry?” she observed amazedly, when at last she again found voice.

”The offer is to be made to you,” he answered, evasively. ”As you have seen, if you refuse, or if you are already married, I am to receive half the amount.”

”I am not married,” she answered with a slightly coquettish smile, her chin resting upon her palm in a reflective att.i.tude as she gazed at him.

”Marriage with you will mean that we have together the substantial sum of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds.”

”That is so,” he said gravely. ”If we married we certainly should have money.”

”But you love Liane,” she answered in a low tone. ”You can never love me,” and she sighed.

He did not answer. The look upon his face told her the truth. He feared lest she should accept this curious offer, knowing that he would then be drawn into a marriage with her. She regarded him critically, and saw that he was tall, good-looking, muscular, and in every way a thorough type of the good-natured Englishman. Twenty thousand pounds was, she reflected, a sum that would prove very acceptable, for she lived extravagantly, and the Villa Fortunee itself was an expensive luxury.

”It is very dull living alone,” she exclaimed, with a little touch of melancholy in her voice. Then, with a laugh, she added, ”To be perfectly frank, I should not object to you as my husband.”

”But is there not a barrier between us?” he exclaimed, quickly.

”Only Liane. And she can never marry you.”

”I love her. I cannot love you,” he answered. Her effort at coquetry sickened him.

”It is not a question of love,” she answered, coldly, toying with the fine marquise ring upon her white finger. ”It is a question of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds.”

”Would either of us be one whit the better for it, even if we married?”

he queried. ”I think not. At present we are friends. If we married I should hate you.”

”Nevertheless I should obtain twenty thousand pounds,” she argued.

”Is it worth while to risk one's future happiness for that?” he said.