The strikingly handsome woman pursed her lips.
There was a strange look in her eyes. For several
moments she did not speak. It was clear that
the sudden appearance of the dead man’s son had
utterly unnerved her. What could he know concerning
Charles Benton? How much of the affair did he
suspect?
“I have met many people, Mr.—er—Mr.
Henfrey,” she replied quietly at last.
“I may have met somebody named Benton.”
“Ah! I see,” the young man said.
“It is a memory that you do not wish to recall
any more than that of my dead father.”
“Your father was a good man. Benton was
not.”
“Ah! Then you admit knowing both of them,
Mademoiselle,” cried Hugh quickly.
“Yes. I—well—I may
as well admit it! Why, indeed, should I seek to
hide the truth—from you,” she
said in a changed voice. “Pardon me.
I was very upset at receiving the card. Pardon
me—will you not?”
“I will not, unless you tell me the truth concerning
my father’s death and his iniquitous will left
concerning myself. I am here to ascertain that,
Mademoiselle,” he said in a hard voice.
“And if I tell you—what then?”
she asked with knit brows.
“If you tell me, then I am prepared to promise
you on oath secrecy concerning yourself—provided
you allow me to punish those who are responsible.
Remember, my father died by foul means. And you
know it!”
The woman faced him boldly, but she was very pale.
“So that is a promise?” she asked.
“You will protect me—you will be
silent regarding me—you swear to be so—if—if
I tell you something. I repeat that your father
was a good man. I held him in the highest esteem,
and—and—after all—it
is but right that you, his son, should know the truth.”
“Thank you Mademoiselle. I will protect
you if you will only reveal to me the devilish plot
which resulted in his untimely end,” Hugh assured
her.
Again she knit her brows and reflected for a few moments.
Then in a low, intense, unnatural voice she said:
“Listen, Mr. Henfrey. I feel that, after
all, my conscience would be relieved if I revealed
to you the truth. First—well, it is
no use denying the fact that your father was not exactly
the man you and his friends believed him to be.
He led a strange dual existence, and I will disclose
to you one or two facts concerning his untimely end
which will show you how cleverly devised and how cunning
was the plot—how——”
At that instant Hugh was startled by a bright flash
outside the half-open window, a loud report, followed
by a woman’s shrill shriek of pain.
Then, next moment, ere he could rush forward to save
her, Mademoiselle, with the truth upon her lips unuttered,
staggered and fell back heavily upon the carpet!
Hugh Henfrey, startled by the sudden shot, shouted
for assistance, and then threw himself upon his knees
beside the prostrate woman.
