The Green Mummy - Page 124/191

"Ask Mr. Hope, ask Mr. Hope," cried Miss Kendal impatiently. "I know

nothing about the things," and she tore her dress from Widow Anne's

detaining hand to hurry home. Mrs. Bolton wailed aloud at this

desertion, and took her way to Hope's lodgings, where she declared her

determination to remain until the artist restored her apparel.

Lucy for the moment thought little of this interview; but on reflection

she thought it strange that Archie should borrow clothes from Mrs.

Bolton through Sidney. Not that there was anything strange in Archie's

procuring such garments, since he may have wanted them to clothe a model

with. But he could easily have got such things from his landlady, or,

if from Widow Anne, could have borrowed them direct without appealing to

Sidney. Why, then, had the dead man acted as an intermediate party? This

question was hard to answer, yet Lucy greatly wished for a reply, since

she suddenly remembered how a woman in a dark dress and with a dark

shawl over her head had been seen by Eliza Flight, the housemaid of the

Sailor's Rest, talking to Bolton through the window. Were the garments

borrowed as a disguise, and did the person who had borrowed them desire

that it should be supposed that Widow Anne was talking to her son? There

was a chill hand clutching Lucy's heart as she went home, for the words

of Mrs. Bolton seemed indirectly to implicate Hope in the mystery. She

determined to ask him about the matter straight out, when he came in

that night to pay his usual visit.

At dinner the Professor was in excellent spirits, and actually became so

human as to compliment Lucy on her housekeeping. He also mentioned that

he hoped Mrs. Jasher would cater as excellently. Over coffee he informed

his step-daughter that he had entirely won the widow's heart by abasing

himself at her feet and withdrawing the accusation. They had arranged to

be married in May, one or two weeks after Lucy became Mrs. Hope. In the

autumn they would start for Egypt, and would remain abroad for a year or

more.

"In fact," said the Professor, setting down his cup and preparing to

take his departure, "everything is now settled excellently. I marry Mrs.

Jasher: you, my dear, marry Hope, and--"

"And Sir Frank marries Donna Inez," finished Lucy quickly.

"That," said Braddock stiffly, "entirely depends upon what De Gayangos

says to this accusation of Hervey's."

"Sir Frank is innocent."

"I hope so, and I believe so. But he will have to prove his innocence.

I shall do my best, and I have sent round to Don Pedro to come here. We

can then talk it over."

"Can Archie and I come in also?" asked Miss Kendal anxiously.

Somewhat to her surprise, the Professor yielded a ready assent.