"How dare you speak to me like this?" cried Mrs Gabriel. "Do you not know that I can have you arrested for such an admission?" "Oh, no; you cannot, my lady," retorted Mrs Jeal, coolly; "only Lord Kilspindie can do that, and he has let me go free." "Then you leave this place," said Mrs Gabriel, haughtily. "I'll have no one in Colester likely to corrupt the morals of the people." "Ah, you have great power here, my lady--great power," mocked Mrs Jeal. Mrs Gabriel's blood grew cold as she saw the look in the woman's eye. "I don't understand you. Leave the room and the place," she said. "All in good time, my lady," replied Mrs Jeal, calmly, and took a seat. As this was more than Mrs Gabriel could bear, she rose. "You infamous creature!" she cried furiously. "Out of my house, or I'll have you thrown out by my servants." "_My_ house, _my_ servants, _my_ estates!" sneered Mrs Jeal, keeping an eye on her victim. "Are you sure you can talk like that, my lady?" "I repeat I don't understand you," stammered Mrs Gabriel, sitting down. She was beginning to be afraid. Mrs Jeal would not dare to speak so unless she possessed some information dangerous to the lady of the castle. "I shall leave the parish to-morrow," went on Mrs Jeal, coolly. "I have no wish to remain. Miss Tempest will take charge of Pearl, and--" "What have I to do with all this?" said Mrs Gabriel, sitting up. "This much: I want your ladyship to give me a thousand pounds." "Ah! I thought so. Your mission here is one of blackmail?" Mrs Jeal shrugged her plump shoulders. "Some people would call it that," she said, dropping the courtesy title; "and as you have paid blackmail to Pratt all these years, I don't see why you should not give me a thousand pounds to get rid of me." "Pratt!" Mrs Gabriel could hardly speak. "What do you know?--" "I know that Pratt was married to you in Switzerland when you were Miss Haverleigh, and that you afterwards married Mr Gabriel. The property was left by Mr Gabriel to--'_my wife_.' Those were the words used in the will. And you, Miss Haverleigh, were never Mr Gabriel's wife." "It is not true," muttered Mrs Gabriel, her lips quivering. "It is true; you know it is!" said the other woman. "A word from Pratt, and you would have been turned out of possession here. He held his tongue so long as you took the child and brought him up. I have held my tongue also, because I was afraid of Pratt. But now he has told my secret about Lord Morven, I want money on my own account, so as to get away from him across the seas." Mrs Gabriel drummed on the table. She saw that this woman was too much for her. "What you say is perfectly true," she said. "I met Pratt in Switzerland when I was a young girl. We were married in Geneva, and I afterwards found out what a brute he was. We parted. Afterwards I heard that he was dead, and regarded myself as free to marry Gabriel."