his temper was lost.
In this mood he returned to the Stella d'Italia, and there, as he was
ascending the stairs, Miss Abbott popped out of the dining-room on the
first floor and beckoned to him mysteriously.

"I was going to make myself some tea," he said, with his hand still on
the banisters.

"I should be grateful--"

So he followed her into the dining-room and shut the door.

"You see," she began, "Harriet knows nothing."

"No more do I. He was out."

"But what's that to do with it?"

He presented her with an unpleasant smile. She fenced well, as he had
noticed before. "He was out. You find me as ignorant as you have left
Harriet."

"What do you mean? Please, please Mr. Herriton, don't be mysterious:
there isn't the time. Any moment Harriet may be down, and we shan't have
decided how to behave to her. Sawston was different: we had to keep up
appearances. But here we must speak out, and I think I can trust you to
do it. Otherwise we'll never start clear."

"Pray let us start clear," said Philip, pacing up and down the room.
"Permit me to begin by asking you a question. In which capacity have you
come to Monteriano--spy or traitor?"

"Spy!" she answered, without a moment's hesitation. She was standing
by the little Gothic window as she spoke--the hotel had been a palace
once--and with her finger she was following the curves of the moulding
as if they might feel beautiful and strange. "Spy," she repeated, for
Philip was bewildered at learning her guilt so easily, and could not
answer a word. "Your mother has behaved dishonourably all through. She
never wanted the child; no harm in that; but she is too proud to let it
come to me. She has done all she could to wreck things; she did not tell
you everything; she has told Harriet nothing at all; she has lied or
acted lies everywhere. I cannot trust your mother. So I have come here
alone--all across Europe; no one knows it; my father thinks I am in
Normandy--to spy on Mrs. Herriton. Don't let's argue!" for he had begun,
almost mechanically, to rebuke her for impertinence. "If you are here to
get the child, I will help you; if you are here to fail, I shall get it
instead of you."

"It is hopeless to expect you to believe me," he stammered. "But I can
assert that we are here to get the child, even if it costs us all we've
got. My mother has fixed no money limit whatever. I am here to carry
out her instructions. I think that you will approve of them, as you have
p