"Pardon me if I am reticent on that point. It was given in confidence."
"You pique my curiosity."
"But you know her, mademoiselle?"
"Oh, yes."
"Cannot you guess how a man might describe her, with a desire perhaps to be a little witty at her expense, and inclined to exaggerate?"
"Indeed, I cannot. Have you some message for her which I may deliver?"
"Again pardon, but I must speak to the lady myself."
"So far I can help you. If you will follow me, not too closely lest we cause comment, I will bring you to her. I am supposing that you wish to see her alone, that what you have to tell her is a secret."
"It is a secret, mademoiselle."
"Follow me, then. And monsieur will do well to note if any one shows interest in our movements. We did not leave all intrigue and scandal behind us."
It was easy to follow her. She was a woman apart from all the other women about him, Barrington thought. Although he had only seen her masked he would know her again, he believed, no matter in how crowded a world of women he might meet her, no matter how long a time should pa.s.s before such a meeting. Obeying her, he glanced swiftly to right and left as he went. Eyes certainly turned to look after the woman, once or twice indeed she stopped to speak a few words to some friend, but Barrington could not discover that any one took the slightest notice of him.
A few paces separating them they crossed the great hall, and she leisurely pa.s.sed into the corridor without. When Barrington stepped slowly into the corridor, he found that she had quickened her pace, and at the end of it she had paused a moment that he might see which way she turned. He followed more quickly, and found her in a small vestibule, part of the old chateau. A lamp was hanging from the corner of a wall, and on an oak settle were two or three lanterns with candles in them, such as a servant carries to guide his master or mistress on a dark night.
"Will monsieur light one from the lamp," she said hurriedly.
"I am to wait here while you fetch mademoiselle?" he asked. "Truly this is a secret place for delivering a message."
"Not too secret," she answered. "I am Mademoiselle St. Clair."
"You!"
The exclamation was a whispered one. A confusion of thoughts was in his brain. Already almost unconsciously he had laid the foundations of a dream fabric, and these were destroyed suddenly, burying him for a moment in the collapse.
"May I see monsieur unmasked?" she said.
Mechanically he removed the mask, and she looked into his face earnestly. She gave no sign whether she expected to recognize him, but it would seem that his face satisfied her, for she undid her mask and stood before him. She was a woman, and beauty must ever be the keenest weapon in woman"s armory; there was a little glad triumph in her heart as she realized that this man bowed before her beauty. Barrington was startled that a mask could hide so much.
"Monsieur has been somewhat misled, it would seem, by his friend who was witty at my expense and inclined to exaggerate."
"I have been deceived, and I shall punish him for the lie," Barrington answered.
"I am at a loss to understand the deceit," she answered. "You have a message for me. I may find some explanation in it."
"Upon the roadside as I--" Barrington began, and then stopped.
"Mademoiselle, forgive me, but such deceit makes a man suspicious. I was told to seek Mademoiselle St. Clair in a fat, ugly, simpering woman, and I find her in--in you. How can I be certain that you are Mademoiselle St. Clair?"
"I see your difficulty. Your doubt does not anger me. Let me think. Will it help you if I speak the name Lucien?"
"It seems convincing. Heaven grant, mademoiselle, that you are as honorable as you are beautiful. I must needs believe so and trust you.
To you I can prove that I am an honest messenger," and Barrington tore from the lining of his coat a tiny packet of tissue paper. "I have to give you this little golden star, your gift to Lucien."
She took the packet with quick, trembling fingers, turned to the table, and by the light of the lantern unfolded the paper. With a little clink the star fell upon the table.
"This? This?" she said, starting back and pointing at it.
Barrington made a step forward at her sudden question, and then stood still, staring at the token.
It was no star of gold which lay in the circle of the lantern light, but a common thing of iron, roughly made, rusted and worthless.
CHAPTER V
THE WOOD END
Richard Barrington knew that he had fallen into some trap, the exact nature of it and the danger he could not know. After a pause, a long pause it seemed to Jeanne St. Clair, long enough for a villain to fashion a lying tale, he turned to her.
"It seems, mademoiselle, that I have been robbed as well as deceived."
"In spite of that," she said, pointing to the iron token, "I am inclined to listen to the message."
"Mademoiselle, I regret that I ever undertook to carry it. I had other business in hand, but an oath to a dead man was binding."
"A dead man? Lucien?"
"I know nothing of Lucien. For all I know he may already be making merry at my discomfiture. The dead man was one Rouzet, or so he told me, and he called himself your servant."
"He was Lucien"s servant, a faithful one," she answered.
"At least he was faithful in some one"s service since he died in it, and I can honor him for that even though he deceived me."
"You have told me so much you must tell me more," she said, a persuasive tone in her voice.
She must hear the story. Whether this man were honest or not she must make him speak. Whatever plot was on foot she must know it. To some one surely Lucien had given the gold star. Much must depend on her receiving the message he had sent with it.
"You must tell me," she repeated.
"And knowing far more than I do you may laugh at me for a simple gentleman easily fooled. Still, he is something of a hero who can stand being laughed at. Many years ago I had that from a countryman of yours, the Marquis de Lafayette. I was on my way to visit him in Paris, when this mission was thrust upon me."
Concisely but in every detail Barrington told her what had happened at Tremont, and explained how he had become acquainted with Monsieur le Comte at Beauvais. He made no attempt to conceal the fact that he had come to France to place himself at the disposal of Monsieur de Lafayette. If there were any risk in telling this woman so, he was rather relieved to have real danger to face instead of lying and intrigue; the one he might meet successfully, but he was no adept in battling with the other.
"You took the star from Rouzet"s coat after he was dead you say, are you sure it was a gold star you took?"
"I made certain by looking at it."
"And you can thoroughly trust your servant?"