“Bagley and the rest of them can say what they please and shout as they please. They know nothing that can possibly betray me, and certainly nothing that can harm me. When he has paid the price you may be sure that Lord Penshurst will look to that.”
“Are you sure, George,” she asked again, “that this is absolutely true? Oh! be sure that I dislike to distress you in this way, but I cannot help it. Up to the present I have found Sir Paul Westerham a most truthful man, and I don't see why he should be telling me falsehoods now.”
“You don't see why?” echoed Melun, with splendidly simulated scorn; “you don't see why? Of course you don't, because you are blind! Blind! You are blind with suspicion and distrust, and he, for his own ends, is simply playing on your fears. He wants to upset you, to put me out of court with you.
“If he can break our friendship, if he can sever the ties which bind us, then his task is the easier. Has it not occurred to you that he has been trying to turn your mind against me simply that he may, for his own ends, call you to his aid? Is it not so?”
For several minutes Mme. Estelle pulled her roll to pieces and made little pellets of the dough with her nervous fingers.
“Yes,” she said at last; “perhaps that is so. I have not looked at it in that light.”
“My dear Marie,” cried Melun, with a greater show of tenderness than he had yet exhibited, “surely I have been true enough and faithful enough all these years for you to believe me now. Indeed, you must believe in me, because if you don't believe in me and give me your support the cup of happiness which is so near our lips may be dashed away from them.
“Listen!” he went on, “and see whether I am speaking the truth or not.
“It is impossible for this business to drag on in this way any longer. I must bring matters to a head at once, and I see only one way to do it—I shall kidnap Lady Kathleen.”
Mme. Estelle started and looked at him, half in terror, half in admiration.
“A bold plan,” Melun agreed, “and a plan which must succeed if you will help me. The difficulty is to get the girl away, and I shall have to leave that entirely to you. What is more, there is very little time to be lost. The Cabinet meets at noon, and for a couple of hours after that Lord Penshurst will be busy with his colleagues. Consequently during that time Lady Kathleen will be alone.