there were strange rumours in the air; the servants at the hall were asking thrilling questions in whispers. nobody seemed to know anything but slight, who kept his counsel. everything was going to come right in a day or two; all they had to do was to go about their business quietly. late in the afternoon it became known that sir vincent had vanished, and within an hour or two, strange men with an air of authority were calling at the hall and asking questions. mr. dashwood had gone over to the dower house to see what was really wrong. he found lady dashwood in the dining-room in deep discussion with the family solicitor, mr. morley.
"what is all this i hear?" dashwood asked. "the new head of the family has vanished, and i'm told that he and mayfield tried to murder ralph darnley last night. slight has told me a great deal, but he will not say anything as to the motive for the extraordinary crime. he says he prefers to leave me to hear the truth from lady dashwood."
"or from me," mr. morley said grimly. "as i have said all along, you have been the victim of a most impudent imposter--the son of a woman called speed. lady dashwood has just been telling me the whole history of the painful case. i need not go into that at length, mr. dashwood, as it is a confidential matter. she was a sister of the late mr. ralph dashwood's first wife, which accounts for many things that that impudent imposter knew. i hear that the police have taken out a warrant for the arrest of this speed and his companion in crime, horace mayfield. in any case, they are not likely to trouble us again."
george dashwood responded suitably. he hoped that mr. ralph darnley was in no danger. at the same time he could not be blind to the fact that the amazing change in the condition of affairs made a great difference to his own position. he had suffered the most from the machinations of the rascal who had so deceived them all. also, he could see now that he was free for ever from the persecutions of horace mayfield. he felt quite proud and self-important; his position took definite shape before him.
"in that case," he said, "we revert to the old condition of affairs. as a matter of fact, i have never had any occasion to drop the title to which----"
"pardon me, sir," morley said drily. "you never had any more right to it than the wretched criminal who at the present moment is flying from justice. the young man you know as ralph darnley is really sir ralph dashwood. lady dashwood has just given me the most absolute proofs of his identity. besides, just before his death, the last ralph dashwood wrote to me and explained everything. it was the new head of the family who asked me to let vincent speed have his lead for a time. i believe there was some quixotic and sentimental reason to account for this conduct on sir ralph's part. on that head lady dashwood can speak more definitely than i can."
"when the time comes," lady dashwood murmured. "it is exactly as mr. morley says, george. and i am glad to say the doctor reports very favourably of ralph this afternoon. if you had ever known my son, george, you would not have doubted the identity of young ralph directly you cast eyes on him. i would rather not tell you as yet the real reason why he wished to be known as ralph darnley."
george dashwood was very disappointed. yet, on the whole, things might have been worse. he had never disguised from himself that the deposed impostor was anything but a gentleman. and his position at the hall might have been a comfortable one, but it was full of humiliation. these things dashwood spoke of as he walked with morley down the avenue.
meanwhile lady dashwood was spending her time between the dining-room and the bedroom wherein ralph lay. she was sorry for all the anxiety and misery on the very day that grace cameron had arrived, but she had found the girl a great comfort to her, she was so quiet and resourceful, so ready to help. the doctor had called again for the third time just before dinner, and his report was as favourable as before. lady dashwood and grace were sitting down to something in the way of dinner.
"i have been thinking," grace said. "mary ought to know of this."
lady dashwood started and laid down her knife and fork. she had forgotten all about mary.
"she had quite escaped my memory," she confessed. "she will be very distressed because she rather likes ralph, and he saved her life on more than one occasion. but ralph is masterful and mary is proud. of course, i know what ralph's feelings are, and i may say that he was instrumental in getting her out into the world. oh, my dear, i think you can guess what the dream of my life is as to those two people."
grace smiled with ready sympathy. her delicate face flushed.
"it will not be a dream much longer or i am greatly mistaken," she said. "mary loves that man. i know by the way she speaks of him. and connie colam has told me. i don't want to be inquisitive, lady dashwood, but i should like to hear the story of that romance. connie says that i should hardly know mary if i had met her on the first day in london. she was hard and proud and distant, and she deliberately allowed the ice to grow round her heart; she was eaten up with family pride. and she learned her lesson in two days. i could see her change, as a butterfly newly out changes in the sun. i dare say you may call that a ridiculous simile, but i can't think of a better. and when connie spoke to her of love and the advantages of love over everything else she came to guess. i am sure that ralph darnley has told her that he cares for her."
"that is so," lady dashwood smiled. "he is a very masterful young man, as i told you before. and i fancy he told mary that he would win her in spite of everything. he has taken his own way of doing it, as you may hear some day. but if all you say is true, i am not going to spoil mary's pleasure in the telling of her pretty love story. so you think that mary ought to know what has happened? you think that if we send her a telegram she will come down here at once?"
"i am certain of it," grace cried. "she will be displeased with us that we had forgotten. it is all going to come right, lady dashwood. your dream is coming true, and mary will be a happy girl yet."
lady dashwood smiled as she reached for the telegram forms. she wondered if it would be possible for mary to reach the dower house that night. presently a cab crept along the drive; no doubt it was the doctor coming to call once more. then grace gave a cry of pleasure as the cab door opened and a slender figure in black jumped out.
"she is here, lady dashwood," the girl exclaimed. "mary! she must have heard. these things find their way into london evening papers directly."
the door of the dining-room opened and mary came in. she was pale and agitated; she had her hand to her heart. it was some time before she could speak. she glanced from one to the other, as if not daring to ask what was trembling on the tip of her tongue. her eyes filled with relief as she noted the welcome on the faces of the others.
"he is better?" she gasped. "he is not dead. i--i was afraid to ask. oh, if you only knew the gnawing agony of the last hour! i saw it in one of the evening papers. i flew down here as soon as possible. and how is he--how is ralph?"
deeply touched as she was, lady dashwood smiled. she was glad to hear ralph's name come so naturally off mary's tongue. it showed that she thought of him by his christian name.
"he is much better," she said. "the doctor gives a very good report. and he is not in the least likely to die this time."
"you might have let me know," mary said reproachfully. "it would have saved a deal of anxiety. and i am quite sure that in his heart you know that----"
"you loved the man who is lying upstairs," grace said gently.
mary's pale face flushed; a yearning look came into her eyes.
"you have finished the confession for me," she cried. "i did not know, i could not guess till i saw that dreadful paper. and then it came to me that a great blank would come into my life if ralph died. he said that i should learn my lesson, and i have done so. it has not taken me long to learn the difference between the false and the true, and that love is everything, and money and position are nothing by the side of it. and then as if some veil had been lifted from my eyes, i saw that i had cared for ralph all the time. he told me once that i should come to him on my knees and ask forgiveness. i am ready to do it now."
the girl's voice rose loud and clear; she looked very sweet and womanly in her self-abnegation. she felt all the better for her confession, as if a weight had been lifted from her soul. lady dashwood would have said nothing in reply, but the door opened at the same moment and the nurse came in.
"mr. darnley is conscious, my lady," she said. "he asked for you. it will do no harm if you see him for one moment. he seems troubled to think that he is in your room----"
mary darted for the door. before anybody could interfere she was half-way up the stairs. in the darkened room ralph lay; he could catch the rustle of a dress; he noted the faint fragrance of a woman's hair. then mary was kneeling by the bedside, her cool, wet face pressed to ralph's hot flushed one.
"i have come to you," she said. "my darling, i have come to you. my lesson has been learned. my eyes have been opened. and i love you, ralph. i have come to tell you, and make my confession. on my knees, dear, on my knees, dear heart, as you prophesied, i make it!"
