"Why not go up and see?" "That is what many people have wished to do for the last two hundred years, but the only door of entrance is shut, and no man knows the secret of the lock." "And do you mean to discover it?" "I'm afraid it would only be a waste of time, for probably the whole thing is so disgustingly simple that everyone has overlooked it. However, the present, as represented by you, is infinitely more interesting; let the old tower guard the secret it has kept so long; who wants to know it?" "My husband!" she replied. "Quite so," said the Secretary. "And that reminds me, I hope you reached home quite safely last night, and have felt no ill effects from it." "None in body," she returned sadly, "but, of course, what I saw could not but add to my distress of mind. Tell me what happened after I left." "Nothing particular," said Stanley. "We all kept our tempers and were very polite." "Then there was no disturbance?" "None whatever; the Colonel was quite amenable to reason and went away quietly." "But Mr. Kent-Lauriston?" "Oh, he's too much a man of the world not to know when to hold his tongue." "You will not tell your hostess? Promise me that. Badly as he has treated me, I am still his wife, and his honour is yet mine." "I will keep your secret. If he is discovered in the house, someone else must do it." "Oh, you're indeed my friend!" she cried impulsively. "I can never forget your goodness to me. There are, I'm sure, few men like you in the world." The Secretary flushed under her praise, and disclaiming any inherent superiority to the other members of his race, hastened to change the subject by saying:-- "Tell me, are you succeeding any better with your proofs against your husband on another charge?" "I've made a discovery this morning which has greatly disturbed me. I do not know how to act." "What have you found?" "I've compared the handwriting of the letters I hold, with the handwriting of the most recent entry in the marriage register of this church." "Good Heavens! It surely can't tally----!" "It does, and with the name of the bride." The Secretary was simply staggered,--Lady Isabelle--it was impossible on the face of it. "You're mistaken," he said coldly. "Such charges against the lady to whom you refer are impossible." "You know of this marriage then?" "Yes--I'm even popularly supposed to be engaged to the bride!" "But you are not--tell me you are not." "Of course I'm not--I've never had the slightest interest in her, except as a friend." "You relieve me immensely. To lay such charges at the door of one you loved--to break your heart-- I could not have done it." "You could not do it in any event--to a woman of her nature such things would be impossible. I assure you, it is some grievous mistake." She shook her head. "Why should my husband be a witness to this secret marriage?" "Was he----?"