"You will doubtless act," I said, "according to your discretion."
The moment seemed propitious for her departure. All that had to be said had surely pa.s.sed between us. Yet she seemed for some reason unwilling to go.
"I am not sure, Mr. Greatson," she said, "that I can find my way out.
Will you be so good as to see me to my carriage?"
I had no alternative but to obey. Our rooms were on the fifth floor of a block of flats overlooking Chelsea Embankment, and we had no lift. We descended two flights of the stone stairs in silence. Then she suddenly laid her fingers upon my arm.
"Arnold," she said softly, "I never thought that we should meet again like this."
"Nor I, Lady Delahaye," I answered, truthfully enough.
"You have changed."
I looked at her. She had the grace to blush.
"Oh, I know that I behaved badly," she murmured, "but think how poor we were, and oh, how weary I was of poverty. If I had refused Major Delahaye I think that my mother would have turned me out of doors. I wrote and told you all about it."
"Yes," I admitted, "you wrote!"
"And you never answered my letter."
"It seemed to me," I remarked, "that it needed no answer."
"And afterwards," she said, "I wrote and asked you to come and see me."
"Lady Delahaye----" I began.
"Eileen!" she interrupted.
"Very well, then, if you will have it so, Eileen," I said. "You have alluded to events which I have forgotten. Whether you or I behaved well or ill does not matter in the least now. It is all over and done with."
"You mean, then, that I am unforgiven?"
"On the contrary," I a.s.sured her, "I have nothing to forgive."
She flashed a swift glance of reproach up on me. To my amazement there were tears in her eyes.
"Mr. Greatson," she said, "I can find my way to the street alone. I will not trouble you further."
She swept away with a dignity which became her better than her previous att.i.tude. There was nothing left for me to do but to turn back.
CHAPTER IX
Isobel was standing quite still in the middle of the room, her hands tightly clenched, a spot of colour aflame in her cheeks. Arthur, who had pa.s.sed Lady Delahaye and me upon the stairs, had apparently just been told the object of her visit.
"Oh, I hate that woman!" Isobel exclaimed as I entered, "I hate her! I would rather die than go to her. I would rather go back to the convent.
She looks at me as though I were something to be despised, something which should not be allowed to go alive upon the earth!"
Arthur would have spoken, but Mabane interrupted him. He laid his hand gently upon her shoulder.
"Isobel," he said gently, "you need have no fear. I know how Arnold feels about it, and I can speak for myself also. You shall not go to her. We will not give you up. I do not believe that she will go to the courts at all. I doubt if she has any claim."
"Why, we"d hide you, run away with you, anything," Arthur declared impetuously. "Don"t you be scared, Isobel, I don"t believe she can do a thing. The law"s like a great fat animal. It takes a plaguey lot to move it, and then it moves as slowly as a steam-roller. We"ll dodge it somehow."
She gave them a hand each. Her action was almost regal. It some way, it seemed that in according her our protection we were receiving rather than conferring a favour.
"My friends," she said, "you are so kind that I have no words with which to thank you. But you will believe that I am grateful."
It was then for the first time that they saw me upon the threshold.
Isobel looked at me anxiously.
"She has gone?"
I nodded.
"I do not think that she will trouble us again just yet," I said. "At the same time, we must be prepared. Tell me, whereabouts is this school from which you came, Isobel?"
"St. Argueil? It is about three hours" journey from Paris. Why do you ask?"
"Because I think that I must go there," I answered. "We must try and find out what legal claims Major Delahaye had upon you. What is the name of the Princ.i.p.al?"
"Madame Richard is the lay princ.i.p.al," Isobel answered, "but Sister Ursula is really the head of the place. We girls saw her, though, very seldom--only those who were going to remain," she added, with a little shudder.
"And this Madame Richard," I asked, "is she a kindly sort of a person?"
Isobel shook her head doubtfully.
"I did not like her," she said. "She is very stern. She is not kind to anyone."
"Nevertheless, I suppose she will tell me what she knows," I said. "Give me the Bradshaw, Allan, and that old Continental guide."
I presently became immersed in planning out my route. When at last I looked up, Mabane was working steadily. The others had gone. I looked round the room.
"Where are Arthur and Isobel?" I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Like calling to like," he remarked tersely. "They have gone trailing."
I put the Bradshaw down.
"I shall leave for Paris at midnight, Mabane," I said.