was left alone with the two
ladies, and the first words that he spoke evidently showed to the
Lady Helen what was passing in Wilton's mind. She looked at him for a
moment with a grave smile, and after she had herself alluded more
directly to the subject, he expressed plainly the regret that he felt
at what he witnessed.
"I regret likewise, my dear boy," she said, "much that has gone
before, nay, almost everything that has taken place in the conduct of
him you speak of for many years past. I regret it all deeply, and
regret it far more than I do the present transaction. You will think
it strange, but I see not well how this was to be avoided. Not that I
believe," she added, thoughtfully, "that we ought to frustrate bad
men by bad means; but nevertheless, Wilton, here was a very great and
high object to be attained: utter destruction to all our hopes would
have been the consequence of missing that object; and there was but
one way of securing it. This is to be the last enterprise of the kind
ever undertaken; and it was that very fact which made me so fearful,
for I know how treacherously fate deals with us in regard to any rash
or evil acts. How very often do we see that the last time--the very
last time--men who have long gone on with impunity, are to commit
anything that is wrong, punishment and discovery overtake them, and
vengeance steps in before reformation."
Wilton did not, of course, press the subject, as it was one, in
regard to which he would have been forced to converse on abstract
principles, while the others spoke from particular knowledge. Nor was
his mind attuned at that moment to much conversation of any kind, nor
to any thoughts but those of his own grief.
The conversation lingered then till Green and Lord Sherbrooke
returned. Captain Byerly was now no longer with them, and not another
word was said of the transactions of that night. Green relapsed into
gloomy silence, and very shortly after, the two ladies retired to
rest.
The moment they were gone, Lord Sherbrooke grasped Wilton's hand,
saying, "What is the matter, Wilton? You are evidently ill at ease."
Wilton smiled.
"You give me none of your confidence, Sherbrooke," he said, "and yet
you demand mine. However, I will tell you in one word what I might
well have expected has occurred. An explanation has taken place
between the Duke and myself, and that bright vision has faded away."
"Indeed!" said Lord Sherbrooke, thoughtfully. "Have you, too, met
with a reverse, Wilton? I thought