第64章

“Iwasabouttoremindyou，SirPatrick，thatMissLundiehasanotherinterestinherlifetoturnto。IfthismatterofMissSilvesterendsbadly——andIownitbeginstolookasifitwould——Ishouldhurrymyniece’smarriage，Sir，andseeif_that_

wouldn’tconsoleher。“

SirPatrickstartedunderthegentledisciplineofthehair-brushinDuncan’shand。

“That’sverysensiblyput，“saidtheoldgentleman。“Duncan!youare，whatIcall，aclear-mindedman。Wellworththinkingof，oldTruepenny!Iftheworstcomestotheworst，wellworththinkingof!“

ItwasnotthefirsttimethatDuncan’ssteadygoodsensehadstrucklight，undertheformofanewthought，inhismaster’smind。Butneveryethadhewroughtsuchmischiefasthemischiefwhichhehadinnocentlydonenow。HehadsentSirPatricktobedwiththefatalideaofhasteningthemarriageofArnoldandBlanche。

ThesituationofaffairsatWindygates——nowthatAnnehadapparentlyobliteratedalltraceofherself——wasbecomingserious。TheonechanceonwhichthediscoveryofArnold’spositiondepended，wasthechancethataccidentmightrevealthetruthinthelapseoftime。Inthispostureofcircumstances，SirPatricknowresolved——ifnothinghappenedtorelieveBlanche’sanxietyinthecourseoftheweek——toadvancethecelebrationofthemarriagefromtheendoftheautumn(asoriginallycontemplated)tothefirstfortnightoftheensuingmonth。Asdatesthenstood，thechangeled(sofarasfreescopeforthedevelopmentofaccidentwasconcerned)tothisseriousresult。Itabridgedalapseofthreemonthsintoanintervalofthreeweeks。

Thenextmorningcame；andBlanchemarkeditasamemorablemorning，bycommittinganactofimprudence，whichstruckawayonemoreofthechancesofdiscoverythathadexisted，beforethearrivaloftheEdinburghtelegramonthepreviousday。

Shehadpassedasleeplessnight；feveredinmindandbody；

thinking，hourafterhour，ofnothingbutAnne。Atsunriseshecouldendureitnolonger。Herpowertocontrolherselfwascompletelyexhausted；herownimpulsesledherastheypleased。

Shegotup，determinednottoletGeoffreyleavethehousewithoutriskinganefforttomakehimrevealwhatheknewaboutAnne。ItwasnothinglessthandownrighttreasontoSirPatricktoactonherownresponsibilityinthisway。Sheknewitwaswrong；shewasheartilyashamedofherselffordoingit。Butthedemonthatpossesseswomenwitharecklessnessalltheirown，atthecriticalmomentsoftheirlives，hadgother——andshedidit。

Geoffreyhadarrangedovernight，tobreakfastearly，byhimself，andtowalkthetenmilestohisbrother’shouse；sendingaservanttofetchhisluggagelaterintheday。

Hehadgotonhishat；hewasstandinginthehall，searchinghispocketforhissecondself，thepipe——whenBlanchesuddenlyappearedfromthemorning-room，andplacedherselfbetweenhimandthehousedoor。

“Upearly——eh？“saidGeoffrey。“I’mofftomybrother’s。“

Shemadenoreply。Helookedathercloser。The