"Then what are we waiting for?" demanded Isbel cheerfully. "Lunch seems to be at an end."
They stayed for coffee, however, and then, while Judge went outside to prepare the car, Mrs. Richborough led the somewhat unwilling girl upstairs to her room, where for five unpleasant minutes she was forced to inhale an atmosphere almost nauseous with feminine perfume, while witnessing the elder woman's final applications of paint, powder, and salve. Refusing the use of these materials for herself, at the end ot that time she broke away, and went downstairs alone.
She found Judge promenading before the hotel. A rather embarrassed discussion of the weather began.
"Thanks for the letter!" said Isbel, quietly and suddenly.
"It was my hairpin."
"I decided as much; there's no one else it could have belonged to."
"Won't you tell me what was in that note you destroyed?"
"I can't-I can't. Say no more about it."
"Whose idea really was it, that I should come over to-day-yours or hers?"
"Mine, Miss Loment. She has nothing at all to do with the business. I am simply bringing her because you can't go with me alone."
"I'd rather it were anyone else. Who is she? Do you know anything about her?"
"Nothing, I fear, except that she's quite reputable…Don't you like her, then?"
"Not particularly-but we won't pay her the honour of talking about her…What are we to do to-day?
"I thought we could make a desperate effort to get this mystery cleared up, once for all…I fear we must both recognise that things can't go on in the way they're doing. It's unfair to both of us."
Isbel gave him a half-frightened glance. "What's to prevent us from finishing now? Why need we take a still deeper plunge-for that's what it amounts to…or does it? What do you think-shall we really ever get any satisfaction? I'm fearfully uncertain…"
"You place a great responsibility on my shoulders, Miss Loment…To be quite truthful, I feel I have no right to ask you to proceed further. I would not have written you as I did, except that I somehow had it firmly wedged in my head that the uncertainty was causing you great uneasiness…"
"It's half-killing me…We'll go…But what are we to do with that woman when we get there?"
"It hasn't occurred to me. It may be awkward, I can see."
"If we don't hurry up and plan something, we shall have her trailing after us all the time."
"Something may turn up, to give us our chance."
"That's most unlikely-nothing ever turns up when you want it to. We'd better contrive something after this style: while we are all three going over the house together, I'll accidentally become separated from you, and you must leave her while you hunt for me. We both know our respective stations."
"But if she insists on accompanying me…?"
"OH, she won't keep it up; she'll soon tire of tramping up and down stairs, and along interminable corridors, in her high-heeled boots-searching for a girl she's utterly callous about. Besides, she has a weak heart…"
"Did she say so?"
"No, but she has all the symptoms…Of course, you'll make a point of looking upstairs first."
Judge obviously was reluctant to assent to her plan. "I suppose we can think of nothing better. Apart altogether from putting a deliberate deceit on a defenceless and unsuspecting woman, we have to consider the circumstance that she will be alone in a large and gloomy house very likely upwards of half an hour; and you say her heart is not in good shape."
"I expect she'll survive the ordeal, and if it's any consolation to you, I fancy her own programme won't bear a great deal of looking at."
"What programme is that?"
"Oh, I don't pretend to know the details, Mr. Judge; only I'm pretty sure she's hatching something. Otherwise, why should she go to the trouble of blackmailing me into accompanying you to-day? I don't suppose you're aware of the fact that she openly threatened me with informing my aunt that I had met you privately at Worthing?"
"You didn't tell me that!…Upon my soul!…Solely for the purpose of getting you to come?
"Yes. I refused at first. I wasn't very keen on her society, to tell you the truth."
"But what can her motive be for such conduct?"
"I have my ideas on the subject."
"I really must ask you…"
"I may be mistaken, but my belief is she wants to compromise me."
"But why?"
Isbel smiled cynically. "As a necessary preliminary to breaking off my intimacy with you, I imagine."
"You are telling me most astonishing things, Miss Loment. What interest is it of hers to break off this intimacy?"
"Oh, that's the simplest question of all to answer. To keep the matrimonial field clear for herself, of course…Didn't you know she had marked you down?"
"I cannot believe it," said Judge, halting to stare at her, in his bewilderment.
"If you don't know it, I expect everyone else does at your hotel." The words dropped from her lips with such dry assurance that he felt she must be possessed of special knowledge.
He was silent for a moment.
"This is a revelation indeed, Miss Loment!…I don't know what to say to it all. Now you speak of it, I confess I have had my suspicions once or twice lately, but I have always dismissed them as discreditable…But really, such a diabolical plot against the honour of a young girl is wholly unbelievable. It savours more of melodrama."
"Oh, I won't swear to hat part of it, but there's something funny up, and I advise you to keep your eyes opened to the fullest possible extent. I mean to."
"I hardly feel like meeting her after this."
"You must, though-and you must go on behaving to her as nicely as ever. Remember, it's our only chance of going to the house together."
Mrs. Richborough herself at that moment appeared, descending from the hotel.
"I didn't tell you," said Isbel, "but we're returning to town next week."
"What! You're leaving Brighton? But this is very unexpected. Has your aunt changed her plans, or what?"
"I only knew last night. She thinks I am looking unwell."
"Bur you are not feeling unwell?"
"It's useless to deny that my nerves are a bit jangled," replied Isbel carelessly.
"Then she is giving up all idea of my house?"
"I can't say, Mr. Judge. I shall have a word in the matter. We shall see. Don't say any more-here she comes."
The widow came up to them with a prepared smile. "I'm so frightfully sorry to have kept you both waiting. No doubt you've been saying hard things about me?"
"People evidently have spoilt you, Mrs. Richborough," returned Isbel. "When I turn my back on company I invariably expect to be promptly forgotten."
"What ideal modesty! People always talk. The only problem is: have they been pitying us, or annihilating us? I'm not sure I wouldn't rather it were the second."
"Well, you're still alive," was the dry reply.
Judge opened the door of the car gravely, without committing himself to a word, and the ladies got in. While he was settling himself preliminary to starting, the widow turned to Isbel.
"I understood you might have something to say to each other, my dear; that's why I delayed."
"That was very kind of you."
"I do hope we're to be friends. I like you tremendously already."
"What for? I really can't see what I've done to make myself so beloved."
"Oh, it isn't what one does, but what one is. I think you have a perfectly wonderful character, for a girl."
Isbel did not even smile. "My dear Mrs. Richborough, If you were a man I should think you were trying to make love. As it is, I don't understand you in the least."
"Surely it is permissible for women to admire one another's natures? You are so sympathetic, and so tactful, my dear. I'm sure when we know each other better we shall get on splendidly together."
"What good qualities do you bring into the pool, Mrs. Richborough?"