"Forgive me, Hugh," exclaimed the girl, still clasped in her lover's arms. "But somehow you don't seem your old self to-day. What is the matter? Can't you tell me?"

He drew a long breath.

"No, darling. Excuse me. I--I'm a bit upset that's all."

"Why?"

"I'm upset because for the last day or two I have begun to realize that our secret must very soon come out, and then--well, your mother will forbid me the house because I have no money. You know that she worships Mammon always--just as your father did--forgive me for my words."

"I do forgive you because you speak the truth," Dorise replied. "I know that mother wants me to marry a rich man, and--"

"And she will compel you to do so, darling. I am convinced of that."

"She won't!" cried the girl. "I will never marry a man I do not love!"

"Your mother, if she doesn't suspect our compact, will soon do so," he said. "She's a clever woman. She is on the alert, because she intends you to marry soon, and to marry a rich man."

"Mother is far too fond of society, I admit. She lives only for her gay friends now that father is dead. She spends lavishly upon luncheons and dinners at the Ritz, the Carlton, and Claridge's; and by doing so we get to know all the best people. But what does it matter to me? I hate it all because----"

And she looked straight into his eyes as she broke off.

"Because," she whispered, "because--because I love you, Hugh!"

"Ah! darling! You have never been so frank with me before," he said softly. "You do not know how much those words of yours mean to me! You do not know how all my life, all my hopes, all my future, is centred in your own dear self!" and clasping her again tightly in his arms he pressed his lips fondly to hers in a long pa.s.sionate embrace.

Yet within the stout heart of Hugh Henfrey, who was so straight, honest and upright a young fellow as ever trod the Broad at Oxford, lay that ghastly secret--indeed, a double secret--that of his revered father's mysterious end and the inexplicable attack upon Yvonne Ferad at the very moment when he had been about to learn the truth.

They lingered there beside the mountain stream for a long time, until the sun sank and the light began to fail. Again and again he told her of his great love for her, but he said nothing of the strange clause in his father's will. She knew Louise Lambert, having met her once walking in the park with her lover. Hugh had introduced them, and had afterwards explained that the girl was the adopted daughter of a great friend of his father.

Dorise little dreamed that if her lover married her he would inherit the remainder of old Mr. Henfrey's fortune.

"Do come over to the ball at Nice to-night," the girl urged presently as they stood with hands clasped gazing into each other's eyes. "It will be nothing without you."

"Ah! darling, that's very nice of you to say so, but I think we ought to be discreet. Your mother has invited the Count to go with you."

"I hate him!" Dorise declared. "He's all elegance, bows and flattery. He bores me to death."

"I can quite understand that. But your mother is fond of his society.

She declares that he is so amusing, and in Paris he knows everyone worth knowing."

"Oh, yes. He gave us an awfully good time in Paris last season--took us to Longchamps, and we afterwards went to Deauville with him. He wins and loses big sums on the turf."

"A born gambler. Everyone knows that. I heard a lot about him in the Travellers' Club, in Paris."

"But if mother telephones to you, you'll come with us--won't you?"

entreated the girl again.

The young man hesitated. His mind was full of the tragic affair of the previous night. He was wondering whether the end had come--whether Mademoiselle's lips were already sealed by Death.

He gave an evasive reply, whereupon Dorise, taking his hand in hers, said:

"What is your objection to going out with us to-night, Hugh? Do tell me.

If you don't wish me to go, I'll make an excuse to mother and she can take the Count."

"I have not the slightest objection," he declared at once. "Go, dearest--only leave me out of it. The _bal blanc_ is always good fun."

"I shall not go if you refuse to go," she said with a pout.

Therefore in order to please her he consented--providing Lady Rans...o...b..invited him.

They had wandered a long way up the narrow, secluded valley, but had met not a soul. All was delightful and picturesque, the profusion of wild flowers, the huge grey moss-grown boulders, the overhanging ilexes and olives, and the music of the tumbling current through a crooked course worn deep by the waters of primeval ages.

It was seldom that in the whirl of society the pair could get a couple of hours together without interruption. And under the blue Riviera sky they were indeed fraught with bliss to both.

When they returned to the town the dusk was already falling, and the great arc lamps along the terrace in front of the Casino were already lit. Hugh took her as far as the entrance to the Metropole and then, after wishing her au revoir and promising to go with her to Nice if invited, he hastily retraced his steps to the Palmiers. Five minutes later he was speaking to the old Italian at the Villa Amette.

"Mademoiselle is still unconscious, m'sieur," was the servant's reply to his eager inquiry. "The doctors have been several times this afternoon, but they hold out no hope."

"I wonder if I can be of any a.s.sistance?" Hugh asked in French.

"I think not, m'sieur. What a.s.sistance can any of us give poor Mademoiselle?"

Ah, what indeed, Hugh thought as he put down the receiver.

Yet while she lived, there was still a faint hope that he would be able to learn the secret which he antic.i.p.ated would place him in such a position that he might defy those who had raised their hands against his father and himself.

His marriage with Dorise, indeed his whole future, depended upon the disclosure of the clever plot whereby Louise Lambert was to become his wife.

His friend Brock was not in the hotel, so he went to his room to dress for dinner. Ten minutes later a page brought a message from Lady Rans...o...b..inviting him to go over to Nice to the ball.

He drew a long breath. He was in no mood for dancing that night, for he was far too perturbed regarding the critical condition of the notorious woman who had turned his friend.

On every hand there were whispers and wild reports concerning the tragedy at the Villa Amette. He had heard about it from a dozen people, though not a word was in the papers. Yet n.o.body dreamed that he, of all men, had been present when the mysterious shot was fired, or that he was, indeed, the cause of the secret attack.

He dressed slowly, and having done so, descended to the _salle a manger_. The big white room was filled with a gay, reckless cosmopolitan crowd--the crowd of well-dressed moths of both s.e.xes which eternally flutters at night at Monte Carlo, attracted by the candle held by the great G.o.d Hazard.

Brock was not there, and he seated himself alone at their table near the long-curtained window. He was surprised at his friend's absence.

Perhaps, however, he had met friends and gone over to Beaulieu, Nice, or Mentone with them.

He had but little appet.i.te. He ate a small portion of langouste with an exquisite salad, and drank a single gla.s.s of chablis. Then he rose and quitted the chattering, laughing crowd of diners, whose gossip was mainly upon a sensational run on the red at five o'clock that evening.

One woman, stout and of Hebrew type, sitting with three men, was wildly merry, for she had won the equivalent to sixty thousand pounds.

All that recklessness jarred upon the young man's nerves. He tried to close his ears to it all, and ascended again to his room, where he sat in silent despondency till it was time for him to go round to the Metropole to join Lady Rans...o...b..and Dorise.

He had brushed his hair and rearranged his tie, and was about to put on the pierrot's costume of white satin with big b.u.t.tons of black velvet which he had worn at the _bal blanc_ at Mentone about a week before, when the page handed him another note.

Written in a distinctly foreign hand, it read: