Ravenshoe. By Henry Kingsley.

326 RAVENSHOE.
were such villains as the Protestants try to make us out, Master
William would be unwise to live in the house with me.
"I wonder if Lord Saltire guesses that I hold the clew in my
hand. I can't remember the interview, or what I said. My
memory begins to go. They should put a younger man in such
a place. But I would not yield to another man. No; the stakes
are too high. I wish I could remember what I said.
"Does William dream that, in case of Charles's death, he is
standing between me and the light? At all events, Lord Saltire
sees it. I wonder if I committed myself. I remember I was
very honest and straightforward. What was it I said at last? I
have an uneasy feeling about that, but I can't remember.
" I hope that Butler will keep the girl well in hand. If I was
to get ill, it would all rest with him. God! I hope I shall not
get ill."
Now we will go to the other side of the door. Lord Saltire
sat quietly. upright in his chair until the door was safely closed.
Then he took a pinch of snuff. He did not speak aloud, but he
looked cunningly at the door, and said to himself,
" Odd!"
Another pinch of snuff. Then he said aloud, "Uncommon
curious, by Ged! "
"What is curious?" said Lord Hainault, who had come into
the room.
"Why, that fellow. He took me in to the last moment. I
thought he was going to be simply honest; but he betrayed himself by over-eagerness at the, end. His look of frank honesty
was assumed; the real man came out in the last sentence. You
should have seen how his face changed when he turned sharply
on me, after fancying he had lulled suspicion to sleep, and told
me that the marriage was a fiction. He forgot his manners for
the first time, and laid his hand upon my knee."
Lord Hainault said, " Do you think that he knows about the
marriage?"
"I am sure he does. And he knows where Ellen is."
"Why? "
"Because I am sure of it."
"That is hardly a reason, my dear Lord Saltire. Don't you
think, eh?"
"Think what?"' Think that you are - well," said Lord Hainault, in a sort of
desperation, "are not you, my dear lord, to put it very mildly,
generalizing from an insufficient number of facts? I speak with
all humility before one of the shrewdest men in Europe; but
don't you think so?"
" No,- I don't;' said Lord Saltire.