"child, child!" ormskirk began, and made a tiny gesture of deprecation, "i perceive you are about to appeal to my better nature, and so i warn you in advance that the idiotic business has worked me into a temper absolutely ogreish."
"the jacobite conspiracy, you mean?" said miss allonby. "oh, i suppose so. i am not particularly interested in such matters, though; i came, you understand, for a warrant, or an order, or whatever you call it, for them to let frank out of that horrid filthy gaol."
the duke's face was gravely humorous as he gazed at her for a moment or two in silence, "you know quite well," he said at last, "that i can give you nothing of the sort."
miss allonby said: "upon my word, i never heard of such nonsense! how else is he to take me to lady mackworth's ball to-night?"
"it is deplorable," his grace of ormskirk conceded, "that captain audaine should be thus snatched from circles which he, no doubt, adorns. still, i fear you must look for another escort; and frankly, child, if you will be advised by me, you will permit us to follow out our present intentions and take off his head—not a great deprivation when you consider he has so plainly demonstrated its contents to be of such inferior quality."
she had drawn close to him, with widening, pitiable eyes. "you mean, then," she demanded, "that frank's very life is in danger?"
"this is unfair," the duke complained. "you are about to go into hysterics forthwith and thus bully me into letting the man escape. you are a minx. you presume upon the fact that in the autumn i am to wed your kinswoman and bosom companion, and that my affection for her is widely known to go well past the frontier of common-sense; and also upon the fact that marian will give me the devil if i don't do exactly as you ask. i consider you to abuse your power unconscionably, i consider you to be a second delilah. however, since you insist upon it, this captain audaine must, of course, be spared the fate he very richly merits."
miss allonby had seated herself beside a table and was pensively looking up at him. "naturally," she said, "marian and i, between us, will badger you into saving frank. i shall not worry, therefore, and i must trust to providence, i suppose, to arrange matters so that the poor boy will not catch his death of cold in your leaky gaol yonder. and now i would like to be informed of what he has been most unjustly accused."
"his crime," the duke retorted, "is the not unusual one of being a fool.
oh, i am candid! all jacobites are fools. we gave the stuarts a fair trial,
heaven knows, and nobody but a fool would want them back."
"i am not here to discuss politics," a dignified miss allonby stated, "but simply to find out in what way frank has been slandered."
ormskirk lifted one eyebrow. "it is not altogether a matter of politics. rather, as i see it, it is a matter of common-sense. under the stuarts england was a prostitute among the nations, lackey in turn to spain and france and italy; under the guelph the three-per-cents. are to-day at par. the question as to which is preferable thus resolves itself into a choice between common-sense and bedlamite folly. but, unhappily, you cannot argue with a jacobite: only four years ago cumberland and hawley and i rode from aberdeen to the highlands and left all the intervening country bare as the palm of your hand; i forget how many jacobites we killed, but evidently not enough to convince the others. very well: we intend to have no more such nonsense, and we must settle this particular affair by the simple device of hanging or beheading every man-jack concerned in it." he spoke without vehemence—rather regretfully than otherwise.
miss allonby was patient, yet resolute to keep to the one really important point. "but what has frank been accused of doing when it never even entered his head?"
"he has been conspiring," said the duke, "and with conspicuous clumsiness. it appears, child, that it was their common idiocy which of late brought together some two hundred gentlemen in lancashire. being every one of them most unmitigated fools, they desired that sot at avignon to come over once more and 'take back his own,' as the saying is. he would not stir without definite assurances. so these men drew up a petition pledging their all to the chevalier's cause and—god help us!—signed it. i protest," the duke sighed, "i cannot understand these people! a couple of penstrokes, you observe, and there is your life at the mercy of chance, at the disposal of a puff of wind or the first blunderer who stumbles on the paper."
"doubtless that is entirely true," said miss allonby, "but what about
frank?"
ormskirk shrugged his shoulders and began to laugh. "you are an incomparable actress, you rogue you. but let us be candid, for all that, since as it happens lord humphrey is not the only person in my employ. what occurred last night i now partly know, and in part guess, degge played a bold game, and your captain gambled even more impudently,—only the stakes, as it to-day transpires, were of somewhat less importance than either of them surmised. for years mr. vanringham has been a jacobite emissary; now he tires of it; and so he devoted the entire morning, yesterday to making a copy of this absurd petition."
"i do not understand," said miss allonby; and in appearance, at least, she was no whit disconcerted.
"he carried only the copy. you burned only the copy. mr. vanringham, it develops, knew well enough what that bungling degge had been deputed to do, and he preferred to treat directly with lord humphrey's principal. mr. vanringham is an intelligent fellow. i dare make this assertion, because i am fresh from an interview with mr. vanringham," his grace of ormskirk ended, and allowed himself a reminiscent chuckle.
she had risen. "o ungenerous! this vanringham has been bribed!"
"i pray you," said the duke, "give vent to no such scandal. vanringham's life would not be worth a farthing if he had done such a thing, and he knows it. nay, i have planned it more neatly. to-night mr. vanringham will be arrested—merely on suspicion, mind you,—and all his papers will be brought to me; and it is possible that among them we may find the petition. and it is possible that, somehow, when he is tried with the others, mr. vanringham alone may be acquitted. and it is possible that an aunt—in wales, say,—may die about this time and leave him a legacy of some five thousand pounds. oh, yes, all this is quite possible," said the duke; "but should we therefore shriek bribery? for my own part, i esteem mr. vanringham, as the one sensible man in the two hundred."
"he has turned king's evidence," she said, "and his papers will be brought to you—" miss allonby paused. "all his papers!" said miss allonby.
"and very curious they will prove, no doubt," said his grace. "so many love-sick misses write to actors. i can assure you, child, i look forward with a deal of interest to my inspection of mr. vanringham's correspondence."
"eh?—oh, yes!" miss allonby assented—"all his papers! yes, they should be diverting, i must be going home though, to make ready for lady mackworth's ball. and if i have nobody to dance with me, i shall know quite well whose fault it is. how soon will frank be freed, you odious tyrant?"
"my child, but in these matters we are all slaves to red tape! i can promise you, however, that your captain will be released from prison before this month is out, so you are not to worry."
