"That is the reason why I have no confidence in you," said his grace.
The valet wrung his gaunt hands, but continued silent.
"Now I do not ask you to confide in me; but I will give you this warning--so long as you hold in your bosom a secret which, if revealed, would bring the real criminal to justice, so long you will yourself remain the object of suspicion from others and the victim of remorse in yourself. Now, Potts, I must leave you; for I must get to Lone in time to catch the London express. Good-night," said the duke, as he moved away.
"One moment more, oh, my lord duke! for the love of Heaven! One moment to do a piece of justice," pleaded the ex-valet, tottering after the young n.o.bleman.
"Well, well, what is it now?" inquired the latter, pausing and turning back.
"That poor, misguided girl, Rose Cameron," said the valet.
"Well, what of _her_, man?" impatiently demanded the young n.o.bleman.
"Listen, my lord duke! You saw her committed to prison on the charge of perjury."
"A charge that she was self-convicted of."
"My lord duke, she was not guilty of perjury!" sighed the valet.
"What! What is that you say?" quickly demanded the duke.
"I say, Rose Cameron, poor misguided girl that she was, did not, however, perjure herself--_intentionally_ I mean," repeated John Potts.
"Is she _mad_, then? The victim of a monomania?" gravely inquired the duke, fixing his eyes upon the troubled face of the valet.
"No, your grace, she was never more in her right senses."
"What do you mean? Do you _dare_--"
"My lord duke, I dare nothing. I never was a daring man; if I had been, the daring would have been taken out of me by the troubles of this last quarter of a year! But, my lord duke, I am right. Rose Cameron did not intentionally perjure herself, neither is she mad. Rose Cameron believes in her heart every word of the statement she made under oath in the open court this morning."
While the man thus spoke, the duke looked fixedly at him in perfect silence, in the forlorn hope of hearing some solution to the enigma.
"Rose Cameron was deceived, my lord duke--grossly, cruelly, basely deceived--not in one respect only, but in many. She was, first of all, deceived into the idea of being the wife of a gentleman of high rank, when, in fact she is n.o.body"s wife at all. Next she was deceived into becoming an accomplice in a robbery and murder, of which she was as ignorant and as innocent as--as _myself_. She could not have been more so!"
"Who was her deceiver?" sternly demanded the duke.
"I beg pardon. I know no more than your grace! I only presumed to speak about it, so as to explain the strange conduct of that poor girl, and clear her of intentional penury in your sight," said the valet, meekly.
"Potts, you know much more than you are willing to divulge. You have, however, unwittingly given me a clew that I shall take care to follow up.
Once more let me warn you to get rid of sinful secrets, and amend your life, if you wish to be at peace. Good-night."
So saying, the duke walked rapidly away to make up for the time lost in talking with the ex-valet.
It was after eleven o"clock when he reached the Arondelle Arms, yet the little hostel gave no signs of closing. The windows were all still ablaze with light, and the bar and the tap-room were uproarious with fun.
Evidently the Clan Scott had been drinking the health of the duke and d.u.c.h.ess until they had become--
"Glorious!
O"er all the ills of life victorious!"
The duke slipped in at the private entrance and gained his own apartment, where he found his valet engaged in packing his valise.
He sent the man out to pay the tavern bill.
In a few minutes Kerr returned, accompanied by the landlord, who brought the receipt, and inquired if his grace would have a carriage.
"No," the duke said; as the distance was short, he preferred to walk to the station.
In a few moments he left the inn, followed by his valet carrying his valise.
They caught the train in good time, having just secured their tickets when the warning shriek of the engine was heard, and it thundered up to the station and stopped.
The duke, followed by his servant, entered the coupe he had secured for the journey.
Three nights of sleeplessness, anxiety and fatigue had prostrated the vital forces of the young n.o.bleman, and so, no sooner had the train started, than he sat himself comfortably back among his cushions, and, being now in a great measure relieved from suspense, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. This sleep continued almost unbroken through the night, and was only slightly disturbed by the bustle of arrival when the train reached a large city on its route. He awoke when it arrived at Peterborough; but fell asleep again, and slept through the long twilight of that first day of November.
CHAPTER XXVI.
OFF THE TRACK.
It was eight o"clock in the morning of a dark and cloudy day, when the duke was finally aroused by the noise and confusion attending the arrival of the Great Northern Express train at King"s Cross Station, London.
He shook himself wide awake, adjusted his wrap, and sprang out of his coupe, while yet his servant was but just bestirring himself.
The first man he met in the station was Detective Setter.
"_How_ is she?" eagerly inquired the traveller, hastening to meet the officer.
"She is perfectly well, and expresses herself as not only willing, but anxious to see your grace," replied the detective.
"_Not only willing!_ that is a strange phrase, too! But I presume I shall understand it all when I see her. _Where_ is she?" demanded the duke.
"At the house on Westminster Road. The address _was_ Westminster, and not Blackfriars Road."
"At the house on Westminster Road! Did you find her there?"
"I did your grace."
"But why, in the name of propriety, and good sense, does she not return home?"
"Your grace, she is at home," said the perplexed detective.
"Just now you told me that she was at the house on Westminster Road!"
said the bewildered duke.