"I thought that, too," Roger agreed more mildly. "But she argues that any man would postpone so terrible an act while he still had hopes of achieving his ends by other means."
"You infer that had I been willing to let him become my lover he would no longer have had the same motive to wish to rid himself of his wife?"
Roger nodded.
She smiled a little ruefully. "Then, my dear, disabuse your mind of that idea. I had promised myself to remain chaste until the summer. But I felt that lest there might truly be something in this poison plot, it was little short of my duty to remove the alleged cause for it. I knew that you would never ask me to play the part of Sara Goudar for you, so I did it of my own account. I let Diego have his way with me before we left Aranjuez, and again several times on our journey."
" 'Twas prodigious generous of you."
Georgina shrugged. "Since I have taken lovers before for my own amusement, and 'twas inferred that the Condesa's life hung upon it, I could hardly do less. And, that apart, I do not think I was born with so hard a heart as to have left the poor man for good without granting him some recompense for his many weeks' assiduous attendance on me. But the Condesa's contention, that once he has taken his pleasure of a woman his ardour for her cools, has no foundation; at least in this case, as he has become madder for me than ever."
"If that is so," said Roger thoughtfully, "the motive still remains. He knows that you have it in mind to marry again, and in taking steps to free himself, so that he may offer you his hand, lies his only hope of binding you to him."
"That I admit; but I do not believe for one moment that he would commit murder; even were I a Lady Macbeth and urged him to it with a promise that I would marry him if he did. The fits of sombre introspection from which he suffers at times does not affect the fact that he is a man of the highest principles."
"Even so, at the thought of losing you, his morbid nature might drive him to it. And I gather that you now intend to leave him very shortly."
"Yes; we depart first thing on Thursday morning. 'Twill be a wrench, but I have so decided. Paris is like a courtesan who overnight has become raddled from some foul disease. 'Twas a lovely city to live in not long ago, but I find it now quite hideous. No Court worth going to, no balls or routs; my gay and gallant friends all fled abroad, the shop-people and servants insolent, and a cut-throat mob out in the streets that shouts 'Spanish whore' at me do I but glance from a window."
Roger laughed. " 'Tis true enough that Paris is no place for you in these days, my poppet. But I also gather that you have acquired the means to console yourself on the way home for the loss of Don Diego."
Her face brightened. "So the Condesa told you of Charles, eh?"
"If Charles is my lord St. Ermins she did indeed. And 'twas his appearance on the scene that led her to fear Don Diego's jealousy might culminate in her murder."
"Oh, drat the woman! She is but making further capital out of a circumstance that might have occurred to any group of travellers. Papa used to stay with Charles's father and knew Charles when he was a boy at Eton. What could be more natural than that he should decide to travel home with us? That he swiftly became attentive to myself, I'll not deny; but seeing that my face is something better than a currant bun, and he a fine vigorous fellow of twenty-five, I would have been much amazed had it been otherwise. But blowing Diego's temper I vow to you I took every possible precaution to avoid giving him cause for complaint. Indeed, so little encouragement did I give my lord that I would have accounted it no great surprise had I lost him."
"Am I to take it that you would have been loath to do so ?"
"Why, yes," Georgina smiled. "To be faithful, although I have not shown it yet, I am more than a little smitten with him. He is gay, good-hearted, intelligent and well read. In fact he has much of his great-great-grandfather in him; for as you'll know the first earl of the name was one of the numerous sons begot by King Charles II on the wrong side of the blanket. 'Tis a monstrous pity that his mother died in giving him birth, as had she not 'tis reasonable to suppose she would have got him a Dukedom. None the less, Charles is far from badly situated. His seat is in Northamptonshire, he has another place in Cornwall, one of those nice modern houses in Berkeley Square, and an ample fortune with which to keep them all up. But he is as fond of travel as I am, and likes to spend a part of every year abroad."
"He sounds the perfect partner for you," Roger grinned.
"I would not yet say that," she said with sudden seriousness. "I have had to be so plaguey careful not to arouse Diego's jealousy that I have so far had little opportunity to get to know Charles's real nature. But I will admit to you that I am much attracted by what I have seen of him."
"Then you are now cured of the strange fascination that Don Diego had for you ?"
"No," she replied after a moment. "I'd not go so far as that. I feel towards him quite differently. The artist in me delights in his fine presence, his courtly manners and that marvellous profile of his; yet he has never succeeded in making me desire him. Do not laugh, Roger, for I mean this. To me he is in some sort like a beautiful grown-up child, and whenever I think of him in the future it will be with something of a mother's affection."
"I think I understand," he nodded; then he stood up. "Will you forgive me if I go now? 'Tis important that I should not miss today's debate in the Assembly."
She began to assure him again that Isabella was acting a part in order to ensnare him, and beg him to break free from his entanglement, but with an upraised hand he checked her.
"I pray you say no more on this, for it can serve only to distress us both. I think with you that her fears are groundless, but I would swear to it that she honestly believes herself to be in great danger, and things must now take their course for good or ill." Then he promised to call on Wednesday afternoon to wish her bon voyage, and left her.
At the Assembly he learned that the debate on the Spanish alliance had been postponed for two days; but at the Jacobins that night the question of the King's right to enter into treaties without the consent of the nation was the prime subject of the debate.
On the previous evening Roger had asked Barnave to introduce him to Alexander Lameth, Petion, Robespierre and several other of his colleagues of the Extreme Left; so he was now able to move round among the tables where the members sat drinking as they listened to the orators, and get in conversation with these men again.
Lameth and his brothers were renegades, for they were of gentle birth and had been brought up as proteges of the Queen, at her expense. Petion was a big, coarse, forceful man, and Robespierre a prim little lawyer from Arras. The latter was an out-and-out Republican; and of such rigid principles that on having been appointed a criminal judge, through the influence of a Bishop who was a friend of his family, he had laid down the office rather than pass a death sentence, because it was against his conscience. He had an awkward, provincial manner of speaking and was not at all popular among his colleagues; but he had gained their respect by his integrity and his uncompromising hatred of everything connected with the old order. .
Roger was talking to him and Dupont, another prominent deputy of the Left, when a fattish, square-faced man of about forty came up, greeted the other two as acquaintances, and asked him if they might have a word apart Somewhat mystified, Roger left his companions and accompanied the stranger to a quiet corner under the gallery. The fat man then addressed him in English.