"I mean that Emily Dorset was the sister of Hall Vincent's wife."
Sir Duke's brown fingers clasped and unclasped nervously. He was about
to speak, but the Honourable said: "That is only half the story--wait.
"Emily Dorset would have told Lawless all in due time, but women don't
like to be bullied ever so little, and that, and the unhappiness of the
thing, kept her silent in her short interview with Lawless. She could
not have guessed that Lawless would go as he did. Now, the secret of her
diplomacy with the uncle--diplomacy is the best word to use--was Duke
Lawless's advancement. She knew how he had set his heart on the ranching
or planting life. She would have married him without a penny, but she
felt his pride in that particular, and respected it. So, like a clever
girl, she determined to make the old chap give Lawless a cheque on his
possible future. Perhaps, as things progressed, the same old chap got an
absurd notion in his head about marrying her to Just Trafford, but that
was meanwhile all the better for Lawless. The very day that Emily Dorset
and Just Trafford succeeded in melting Admiral Lawless's heart to the
tune of eight thousand, was the day that Duke Lawless doubted his friend
and challenged the loyalty of the girl he loved."
Sir Duke's eyes filled. "Great Heaven! Just--" he said.
"Be quiet for a little. You see she had taken Trafford into her scheme
against his will, for he was never good at mysteries and theatricals, and
he saw the danger. But the cause was a good one, and he joined the sweet
conspiracy, with what result these five years bear witness. Admiral
Lawless has been dead a year and a half, his wife a year. For he married
out of anger with Duke Lawless; but he did not marry Emily Dorset, nor
did he beget a child."
"In Australia I saw a paragraph speaking of a visit made by him and Lady
Lawless to a hospital, and I thought--"
"You thought he had married Emily Dorset and--well, you had better read
that letter now."
Sir Duke's face was flushing with remorse and pain. He drew his hand
quickly across his eyes. "And you've given up London, your profession,
everything, just to hunt for me, to tell me this--you who would have
profited by my eternal absence! What a beast and ass I've been!"
"Not at all; only a bit poetical and hasty, which is not unnatural in the
Lawless blood. I should have been wild myself, maybe, if I had been in
your position; only I shouldn't have left England, and I should have
taken the papers regularly and have asked the other fellow to explain.
The other fellow didn't like the little conspiracy. Women, however, seem
to find that kind of thing a moral necessity. By the way, I wish when
you go back you'd send me out my hunting traps. I've made up my mind
to--oh, quite so--read the letter--I forgot!"
Sir Duke opened the letter and read it, putting it away from him now and
then as if it hurt him, and taking it up a moment after to continue the
reading. The Honourable watched him.