She laid her hand eagerly upon four or five of the bank-notes as he spoke--crumpled them up in her hand--and thrust the remainder into his breast-pocket again. ‘That is a great deal too much to carry about you, Godfrey, she said, nervously. ‘You will be robbed if you don’t take care. And you will want it all at Harfleur, you know.’ ‘Oh, don’t you be afraid, my girl!’ he exclaimed, in his intoxicated, boastful manner, as he buttoned his coat over it. ‘I’ll take good care I’m not robbed. I’m not the sort of man to be taken in easily. You ought to know that by this time.’ Then he rose, and began staggering about the room. ‘I must go,’ he hiccupped, ‘because--because my friend--my friend--will start without me--unless I’m quick. Good-bye, my dear. Don’t--don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right. Good-bye, Maggie--give us a kiss.’ ‘A kiss, you drunken brute!’ cried the handmaid, _sans cérémonie_. ‘You’d better try it on--that’s all. It’s something very different from a kiss that I’d give you, if I had _my_ way.’ ‘Hush! hush! Maggie,’ entreated Iris, as Harland stumbled through the passage, and out at the front door. ‘Let him go, for heaven’s sake! We shall have no peace till he is gone.’ She walked straight into the bedroom, and smoothed out the notes she still held crumpled in her hand. There were five of them for five pounds each--five-and-twenty pounds. She believed, and yet she was not quite sure, if they would be sufficient for her purpose. But to-morrow would decide. Before that time next day, she would know everything. The idea made her feverishly impatient. ‘Maggie,’ she cried, ‘lock up the door, and let us go to bed. I have so much to do to-morrow. I want to get all the rest I can.’ But though she lay down, it was impossible to close her eyes, and the next morning found Iris Harland tossing on her uneasy couch, and longing for the hour to arrive when her cruel doubts should be satisfied one way or the other. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER VII. TWO WOMEN’S HEARTS.