The words slipped from her before she quite realised their import, and
as she met Mistress Keziah's look of amazement she changed colour.
'Well,' said Mistress Keziah, 'and why should she not sleep?'
Simone held a swift parley with herself as she stood with downcast eyes
before the old woman who was so like, yet so unlike, her sister. With
Lady Fairfax, Simone would have known at once what course to take.
'I am waiting,' said Mistress Keziah.
Simone looked up at her, her dark lashes heavy with tears; her lips
trembled.
'You are yourself scarcely fit to be out of bed,' said Mistress Keziah.
'Come into my chamber a minute. Alison will stay here.'
'But,' faltered Simone, 'if Mademoiselle should wake?'
'When Mademoiselle does wake, she will be herself again. And Alison is
a comely maid. I understand 'tis from my own face you would protect
her.'
A smile broke over the angular features, and to Simone's amazement,
Mistress Keziah passed her arm round her shoulders, and drew her across
the gallery. The comely Alison, sitting at the needlework table, was
sent to Marion's chamber. With her own hands Mistress Keziah poured out
a glass of cordial and tendered it to Simone. She took a seat in a
high-backed chair by the window, and beckoned Simone to a stool at her
side. The girl's fingers trembled as she held the glass.
'You are in trouble,' said Mistress Keziah, a gentleness in her voice
which Simone had not heard before, 'and so is my niece. A burden shared
is a burden eased. Can you not tell me? I should not have asked for
your confidence, but Mistress Marion said she would tell me to-day, and
I gather there is a question of urgency. If you think 'twould be better
for me to know to-day--if I could do anything---- Do not be afraid of
me, _mon enfant_. I am an old woman and quite--quite harmless,' she
finished with a smile that lay warmly on her wintry face.
Simone buried her face in her slim, fine hands. Then looking up,
brushing away the tears, she spoke. 'I think I must tell you, Madame.
I--I cannot bear it. I know Mademoiselle intended to tell you
everything, and I will risk her displeasure in speaking myself.' She
glanced towards the closed door, and dropped her voice. ''Tis thus----'
she hesitated a moment, then made a sudden plunge. 'Master Roger
Trevannion is here, a prisoner, in Exeter. He warned a friend--an old
school friend, Madame--that he was in danger of arrest by Jeffreys' men.
Master Roger was betrayed. The friend got away, but Master Roger was
taken. A girl of the village wrote a letter to Kensington, warning
Mademoiselle that she feared trouble was coming, before this happened.
Then another letter to say Master Roger was arrested. On the journey
here we learned that he is condemned to death, and there are but a few
days of grace.'
Not a muscle stirred in Mistress Keziah's face as Simone went from
sentence to sentence of her story. When the girl paused, she sat looking
fixedly through the window for several minutes. Simone watching her,
saw an expression of mingled sorrow and scorn settle on her features.
Simone's heart sank. A sense of unutterable foreboding assailed her.
Was the worst still to come--Mistress Keziah's enmity?
'You will see, Madame,' she presently ventured in trembling tones,
stating the case for her dear lady as best she might, 'Mademoiselle felt
she was the only one who might be able to help. Monsieur the Admiral
she dared not appeal to. A magistrate has but to see the course of the
law fulfilled. And Mademoiselle has a sore heart for her playmate.
There is no one she can trust. Hence Mademoiselle has come herself.
You knew Master Roger, Madame?'
Mistress Keziah looked hastily down at the girl. 'I have no blame for
my niece,' she said abruptly. 'I was thinking of her father.' Simone
remembered Marion's words: 'She quarrelled with my father on the
question of my upbringing.'
For some time neither spoke. Then Simone ventured again: 'You knew
Master Roger, Madame?'
The hard old face softened. Before Mistress Keziah's eyes was a vision
of the tall youth of whom she had heard so much. He had never come to
the house while she was at Garth; she had never spoken with him save
once, when she was walking with the Admiral, and Roger had ridden by.
In her heart of hearts the old lady had liked the boy, but she had
chosen to lecture her brother on the foolishness of allowing Marion to
have such a playmate: precisely the same word as Simone had used had
come from the Admiral in describing the boy. And now the playmate was
in the dark shadow, and Marion was heart-broken.
All Mistress Keziah's theories and denunciations fell away. The sense
of romance which had been sleeping for a generation stirred, reminding
her of other days, of her own youth, when some one else, just such
another, had come her way and gone his way, banished by her pride. The
storm that had sunk his vessel had made shipwreck of her own happiness,
but no one had ever known. She saw the years of her life as they had
gone by. Should such a fate be Marion's? She sighed. Simone, watching
her face, saw the expression changing, and knew the day was won. She
lifted the wrinkled hand to her lips. 'You will be kind to her, Madame?
You will not be angry?' she implored. 'You are the only friend she--she
has.'
Mistress Keziah brought herself back to the present. She smiled down at
the wistful face, and Simone was comforted. Mistress Keziah fell into
deep thought.
'Does Lady Fairfax know of this?'
'No, Madame. She is at Tunbridge with Her Majesty; there was not time
for us to go or to send. Mademoiselle wrote to her, though, telling her
why she had left London in such haste. She must have had the letter ere
this.'
'Who betrayed him?' presently asked the old lady.
''Twas said by the fisher girl that a Mademoiselle----'
'Elise!' cried Mistress Keziah, and her hand smote the arm of her chair.
'I knew it! I knew it!'
Simone looked perplexed as Mistress Keziah got up.
'Go and lie down, Simone,' she said, her old brusque manner returning.
'I must think. Stay! Has any one any inkling of the reason of your
mistress's visit to this house?'
'No one, Madame. The menservants think Mademoiselle is ailing, and
would rest here a few days.'
'Excellent. You know, of course,' said Mistress Keziah, falling back
into the whispering tones, 'that should this be noised abroad, the fate
that overtook poor Master Roger will fall on your mistress.'