Julian understood the allusion. He made no reply.
"The people at the police station close by," pursued Lady Janet, "have
instructions to send an experienced man, in plain clothes, to any
address indicated on your card the moment they receive it. That is what
you told me. For Grace's protection, I want your card before you leave
us."
It was impossible for Julian to mention the reasons which now forbade
him to make use of his own precautions--in the very face of the
emergency which they had been especially intended to meet. How could he
declare the true Grace Roseberry to be mad? How could he give the true
Grace Roseberry into custody? On the other hand, he had personally
pledged himself (when the circumstances appeared to require it) to place
the means of legal protection from insult and annoyance at his aunt's
disposal. And now, there stood Lady Janet, unaccustomed to have her
wishes disregarded by anybody, with her band extended, waiting for the
card!
What was to be done? The one way out of the difficulty appeared to be to
submit for the moment. If he succeeded in discovering the missing woman,
he could easily take care that she should be subjected to no needless
indignity. If she contrived to slip into the house in his absence,
he could provide against that contingency by sending a second card
privately to the police station, forbidding the officer to stir in the
affair until he had received further orders. Julian made one stipulation
only before he handed his card to his aunt.
"You will not use this, I am sure, without positive and pressing
necessity," he said. "But I must make one condition. Promise me to keep
my plan for communicating with the police a strict secret--"
"A strict secret from Grace?" interposed Lady Janet. (Julian bowed.) "Do
you suppose I want to frighten her? Do you think I have not had anxiety
enough about her already? Of course I shall keep it a secret from
Grace!"
Re-assured on this point, Julian hastened out into the grounds. As soon
as his back was turned Lady Janet lifted the gold pencil-case which hung
at her watch-chain, and wrote on her nephew's card (for the information
of the officer in plain clothes), "_You are wanted at Mablethorpe
House_." This done, she put the card into the old-fashioned pocket of
her dress, and returned to the dining-room.
Grace was waiting, in obedience to the instructions which she had
received.
For the first moment or two not a word was spoken on either side. Now
that she was alone with her adopted daughter, a certain coldness and
hardness began to show itself in Lady Janet's manner. The discovery that
she had made on opening the drawing-room door still hung on her mind.
Julian had certainly convinced her that she had misinterpreted what she
had seen; but he had convinced her against her will. She had found Mercy
deeply agitated; suspiciously silent. Julian might be innocent, she
admitted--there was no accounting for the vagaries of men. But the case
of Mercy was altogether different. Women did not find themselves in the
arms of men without knowing what they were about. Acquitting Julian,
Lady Janet declined to acquit Mercy. "There is some secret understanding
between them," thought the old lady, "and she's to blame; the women
always are!"