"I know it."
"And I know that you know it; and that is my reward."
There was a break in the conversation, but she made no movement to disengage her arm. After a moment she said very quietly:
"It's just because you ask less than other men that I can afford to give you more. You understand that?"
"So let it be," replied Judge.
"Are you content?"
"I have confessed my feelings, and you have not withdrawn your friendship. That fixes our relations, and I have no desire to transgress the bounds laid down."
"Because your temper is naturally noble," said Isbel. "All the other men I have met have been plebeians, but you are made of different material, and that is why you act so differently…When I go downstairs again, I shall go downstairs indeed!…"
The were so absorbed in their talk that neither of them observed that the door had become pushed half-open, and that a figure stood on the threshold, watching them in silence.
It was Mrs. Richborough!
It did not appear how long she had been standing there, but suddenly Isbel looked up. She uttered a little scream, wrenched her arm free, and started to her feet. Judge followed the direction of her horrified stare, and swore under his breath; he also got up.
"I'm sorry if I've frightened you," said Mrs. Richborough quietly, without smiling. "I won't stay-but where are we, and what does it all mean?"
There was a tense silence.
"I'm afraid Miss Loment feels slightly upset at finding herself here," offered Judge at last, in a fairly firm voice. "I have been trying to reassure her. We met here by accident."
"But what part of the house is this? I thought the East Room was at the top, immediately under the roof?"
"So I believe."
"Then where are we?"
"Higher still, it appears. You know as much as I do about it, Mrs. Richborough…You followed me after all, then?"
"Yes. Your manner struck me as peculiar, and I was suspicious. I kept you in sight as far as the East Room, but there you shut the door after you, and I didn't venture to intrude at first. Your direction was so very decided that I felt positive it was a got-up thing. I listened outside for voices for some minutes, but, as everything was quite quiet, at last I did summon courage to enter. You weren't there, but I caught sight of another flight of stairs leading upwards, so very naturally I made use of them. And here I am."
Judge heard her to the end attentively, and then, turning half away, began to whistle beneath his breath, between his teeth. Isbel, looking very distressed, sat down again.
"Has either of you ever been here before?" asked Mrs. Richborough, glancing first at one and then at the other.
"I have, a good many times, in former years," answered Judge.
"Then surely you have some idea where we are?"
"I haven't." His tone was dry and decided.
Mrs. Richborough launched a queer look at him, and began to gaze around her restlessly.
"What's in that other room?"
"Which one?"
"On the right, as you come up the stairs. The other one can't be anything much."
"What makes you say that?" questioned Isbel, surprised out of her silence.
"Intuition…But what is in that right-hand room?"
"I've never been inside it," replied Judge.
"Why ever not? Most likely it's the key to the whole place. Someone ought to go in. May I go?"
"I don't care to ask you, Mrs. Richborough. It's totally unexplored, and you might quite conceivably meet with an unpleasant experience."
"I don't view these things from the common standpoint. For me, there's nothing whatever terrifying in the supernatural…Have I your permission to go?"
"Of course-but perhaps we ought to accompany you?"
"Oh, no-there's not the slightest necessity. Besides, you have your talk to finish. I'm perfectly conscious of having interrupted you."
Isbel clutched the couch on either side of her with her hands, and looked up. "Have you nothing to say about…your surprise…at finding us together like this?"
Mrs. Richborough gave a strange, but not unpleasant smile.
"No, I have nothing to say about that."
"But, of course, you…put the worst construction…"
"No…" She passed her hand across her eyes. "A change of some sort has come over me. It is this terribly unreal place, I think. Your meeting is not what I expected to find. You must be struggling against your hearts, both of you…No, I have nothing to say."
"And yet you came to look for us?"
"Yes, I did; but it is all different. As I came upstairs I hated you both, and vowed revenge-I confess it. but now I can't even remember how I came to be like that. All that state of mind suddenly seems so trivial and unimportant."
She was about to move towards the door.
"Mrs. Richborough!…" said Isbel abruptly.
"What is it?"
"Why were you so anxious to bring me here to-day?"
"You must know that without my telling you. Here all things are so transparent to all of us."
"You meant to tell Mr. Stokes, didn't you?"
The older woman looked down at her calmly. "Yes, I meant to restore you to your duty. But now I no longer pretend to know where your duty lies. Let me go now, my dear. All that is ancient history; everything has changed."
Isbel said nothing more, but allowed her to leave the room. The door closed behind her.
Judge resumed his seat.
"We need not fear this development," he said slowly. "She will remember nothing."
"So much the worse, for she will go back to her plots and schemes. You haven't thought of that?"
The suggestion startled him. "You think so?"
"How can it be otherwise? Oh, if her present mood lasted, I should never, never wish to speak ill of her. But we know it will disappear with her memory. What is to be done?"
He preserved silence for a few moments.
"After all, there is no cause for alarm. She will demand her price, and we shall pay it."
"No, no; she will accept nothing short of the whole-I know her. In that she will be disappointed, and so she will do whatever mischief she can. Oh, I'm quite sure of it."
"What do you mean by 'the whole?"
"She intends to marry you."
"And failing that?…"
"Failing that, she will dishonour me-or perhaps she means to dishonour me in any case. You heard with your ears what she said."
"Bit if I consented to marry her I should, of course, make her silence a condition." The words came in a very low voice, as he bent his head towards the floor.
"What do you mean?" she demanded, sharply. "How could you marry her? You don't love her."
"No."
"Then it would be wicked of you!…What put that awful thought in your head? I can't understand."
"Yet it would solve other difficulties, too."
"What difficulties? What difficulties can a wrong marriage solve? It would be criminal."
"Some such decisive step must be taken to end the situation. Our friendship won't continue to pass unnoticed."
"You wish to terminate it, then?"
"For your sake; not mine."
"And to achieve that result you accept a living death?…But perhaps you do really love her?"
"No."
Isbel laid her hand on his arm. "Promise me never to think of this again. It is absolute madness. We will find some other way out of our troubles. Promise me."
"You may be sure of one thing," replied Judge, looking at her steadily; "I shall not renounce my moral right to devote my life to your service, except as the very last resource. Beyond that I cannot go."