She had noticed, and still remembered the situation--
did Master Henry suppose she had lost the use of her senses,
because she happened to be nigh on eighty years old? The same day,
he took the false teeth to the dentist, and set all further doubt
(if doubt had still been possible) at rest for ever. The teeth had
been made for the first Lord Montbarry.
Henry never revealed the existence of this last link in the chain
of discovery to any living creature, his brother Stephen included.
He carried his terrible secret with him to the grave.
There was one other event in the memorable past on which he preserved
the same compassionate silence. Little Mrs. Ferrari never knew that
her husband had been--not, as she supposed, the Countess's victim--
but the Countess's accomplice. She still believed that the late Lord
Montbarry had sent her the thousand-pound note, and still recoiled
from making use of a present which she persisted in declaring had
'the stain of her husband's blood on it.' Agnes, with the widow's
entire approval, took the money to the Children's Hospital;
and spent it in adding to the number of the beds.
Pages:
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314