He had some difficulty in explaining all this to Constance, but, fortunately, what he lacked in tact, he made up for in tenderness; yet, after a minute of silence and tears, she exclaimed with uncontrollable bitterness, "I alone am to blame! I ought to have foreseen the difficulties with which I should encumber you; but I was a simple, a trusting and a heedless girl!----" "Nor has the trust of your girlhood been misplaced, Constance," he urged. "What Eden is without its serpent--what house without its skeleton? and I am yours!" "My darling Constance, do not speak thus, and do not weep; think if Denzil or Sybil were to return and see you thus agitated--see what they never saw before, tears in your eyes; at least, tears so bitter as these," urged her husband, as he caressed her tenderly. "You know, my own love, that solid proofs of our marriage, beyond mere assertion, _must_ be forthcoming; and until these proofs are in our hands, we must appear to the world as Captain and Mrs. Devereaux; we must act wisely and warily, I repeat, for the sake of our dear children." The face of Constance became ghastly, and a dangerous gleam, such as Richard had never seen before, was in her dark eyes, while she said, huskily, "Honest Derrick Braddon witnessed our marriage, Richard." "True; but I am now a peer of the realm, and I wish the full proof of it all. You know that during the past year I have thrice written to the Père Latour for the certificate of our marriage, but wrote in vain, he has left my letters unanswered. I might employ those lawyers, Gorbelly and Culverhole to sift the matter, but to use their aid, might set abroad a scandal at once; hence I now propose to start by the first steamer for America to get the necessary documents in person, and Derrick Braddon shall accompany me." "And may not I?" she pleaded, softly. "No, darling Constance, I shall be gone for more than a month--for two, perhaps, and you have to get Denzil fitted out for his regiment--my poor Denzil, I shall grudge those two months' loss of his society fearfully, as you may suppose." "Pardon my momentary bitterness, dearest Richard, but after so much endurance, after such long concealment--" her voice failed her, and wreathing her soft arms round his neck, she nestled her little head on his breast, and whispered with a sigh, as if her heart would burst, "is it irrevocable--and must I too, be separated from my boy?" "It is but for a time, Conny--no young fellow should be idle; and a year or so in the army----" "And he will return, Richard----" "As the son and heir of Lord Lamorna!" "But oh, how I shall miss him!" "You will have Sybil and me!" "But you, too, I am about to lose." "For a time only; and do not speak so forbodingly, dear Constance." "I felt such disappointment that Denzil should appear at Sandhurst, and even in the Gazette, not as a Trevelyan, but as a Devereaux!"