“Blancheisgettingreadytogooutwithme。Wemeantohaveawalktogether。Ihavemanythingstosaytoher。Beforewego，I
havesomethingtosayto_you。_“
“Isitanythingveryserious？“
“Itismostserious。“
“Aboutme？“
“Aboutyou。Iknowwhereyouwentontheeveningofmylawn-partyatWindygates——youwenttoCraigFernie。“
“GoodHeavens!howdidyoufindout——？“
“Iknowwhomyouwenttomeet——MissSilvester。Iknowwhatissaidofyouandofher——youaremanandwife。“
“Hush!don’tspeaksoloud。Somebodymayhearyou!“
“Whatdoesitmatteriftheydo？Iamtheonlypersonwhomyouhavekeptoutofthesecret。Youallofyouknowithere。“
“Nothingofthesort!Blanchedoesn’tknowit。“
“What!NeitheryounorSirPatrickhastoldBlancheofthesituationyoustandinatthismoment？“
“Notyet。SirPatrickleavesittome。Ihaven’tbeenabletobringmyselftodoit。Don’tsayaword，Ientreatyou。Idon’tknowhowBlanchemayinterpretit。HerfriendisexpectedinLondonto-morrow。IwanttowaittillSirPatrickcanbringthemtogether。HerfriendwillbreakittoherbetterthanIcan。It’s_my_notion。SirPatrickthinksitagoodone。Stop!you’renotgoingawayalready？“
“ShewillbeheretolookformeifIstayanylonger。“
“Oneword!Iwanttoknow——“
“Youshallknowlaterintheday。“
Herladyshipappearedagainroundtheangleofthewall。Thenextwordsthatpassedwerewordsspokeninawhisper。
“Areyousatisfiednow，Blanche？“
“Haveyoumercyenoughleft，LadyLundie，totakemeawayfromthishouse？“
“Mydearchild!WhyelsedidIlookatthetime-tableinthehall？“
CHAPTERTHEFORTY-THIRD。
THEEXPLOSION。
ARNOLD’Smindwasfarfromeasywhenhewasleftbyhimselfagaininthesmoking-room。
AfterwastingsometimeinvainlytryingtoguessatthesourcefromwhichLadyLundiehadderivedherinformation，heputonhishat，andtookthedirectionwhichledtoBlanche’sfavoritewalkatHamFarm。Withoutabsolutelydistrustingherladyship’sdiscretion，theideahadoccurredtohimthathewoulddowelltojoinhiswifeandherstep-mother。Bymakingathirdattheinterviewbetweenthem，hemightpreventtheconversationfromassumingaperilouslyconfidentialturn。
Thesearchfortheladiesproveduseless。Theyhadnottakenthedirectioninwhichhesupposedthemtohavegone。
Hereturnedtothesmoking-room，andcomposedhimselftowaitforeventsaspatientlyashemight。Inthispassiveposition——withhisthoughtsstillrunningonLadyLundie——hismemoryrevertedtoabriefconversationbetweenSirPatrickandhimself，occasioned，onthepreviousday，byherladyship’sannouncementofherproposedvisittoHamFarm。SirPatrickhadatonceexpressedhisconvictionthathissister-in-law’sjourneysouthhadsomeacknowledgedpurposeatthebottomofit。
“Iamnotatallsure，Arnold“hehadsaid，“thatIhavedonewiselyinleavingherletterunanswered。AndIamstronglydisposedtothinkthatthesafestcoursewillbetotakeherintothesecretwhenshecomesto-morrow。Wecan’thelpthepositioninwhichweareplaced。ItwasimpossiblewithoutadmittingyourwifetoourconfidencetopreventBlanchefromwritingthatunluckylettertoher——and，evenifwehadpreventedit，shemusthaveheardinotherwaysofyourreturntoEngland。Idon’tdoubtmyowndiscretion，sofar；andIdon’tdoubttheconvenienceofkeepingherinthedark，asameansofkeepingherfrommeddlinginthisbusinessofyours，untilIhavehadtimetosetitright。
Butshemay，bysomeunluckyaccident，discoverthetruthforherself——and，inthatcase，IstronglydistrusttheinfluencewhichshemightattempttoexerciseonBlanche’smind。“
Thosewerethewords——andwhathadhappenedonthedayaftertheyhadbeenspoken？LadyLundie_had_discoveredthetruth；andshewas，atthatmoment，alonesomewherewithBlanche。Arnoldtookuphishatoncemore，andsetforthonthesearchfortheladiesinanotherdirection。
Thesecondexpeditionwasasfruitlessasthefirst。Nothingwastobeseen，andnothingwastobeheard，ofLadyLundieandBlanche。
Arnold’swatchtoldhimthatitwasnotfarfromthetimewhenSirPatrickmightbeexpectedtoreturn。Inallprobability，whilehehadbeenlookingforthem，theladieshadgonebackbysomeotherwaytothehouse。Heenteredtheroomsontheground-floor，oneafteranother。Theywereallempty。Hewentupstairs，andknockedatthedoorofBlanche’sroom。Therewasnoanswer。Heopenedthedoorandlookedin。Theroomwasempty，liketheroomsdownstairs。But，closetotheentrance，therewasatriflingcircumstancetoattractnotice，intheshapeofanotelyingonthecarpet。Hepickeditup，andsawthatitwasaddressedtohiminthehandwritingofhiswife。
Heopenedit。Thenotebegan，withouttheusualformofaddress，inthesewords：
“Iknowtheabominablesecretthatyouandmyunclehavehiddenfromme。Iknow_your_infamy，and_her_infamy，andthepositioninwhich，thankstoyouandtoher，Inowstand。Reproacheswouldbewastedwords，addressedtosuchamanasyouare。IwritetheselinestotellyouthatIhaveplacedmyselfundermystep-mother’sprotectioninLondon。Itisuselesstoattempttofollowme。Otherswillfindoutwhethertheceremonyofmarriagewhichyouwentthroughwithmeisbindingonyouornot。Formyself，Iknowenoughalready。Ihavegone，nevertocomeback，andnevertoletyouseemeagain——Blanche。“
Hurryingheadlongdownthestairswithbutoneclearideainhismind——theideaofinstantlyfollowinghiswife——ArnoldencounteredSirPatrick，standingbyatableinthehall，onwhichcardsandnotesleftbyvisitorswereusuallyplaced，withanopenletterinhishand。Seeinginaninstantwhathadhappened，hethrewoneofhisarmsroundArnold，andstoppedhimatthehouse-door。
“Youareaman，“hesaid，firmly。“Bearitlikeaman。“
Arnold’sheadfellontheshoulderofhiskindoldfriend。Heburstintotears。
SirPatricklettheirrepressibleoutbreakofgriefhaveitsway。
Inthosefirstmoments，silencewasmercy。Hesaidnothing。TheletterwhichhehadbeenreadingfromLadyLundie，itisneedlesstosay，droppedunheededathisfeet。
Arnoldliftedhishead，anddashedawaythetears。
“Iamashamedofmyself，“hesaid。“Letmego。“
“Wrong，mypoorfellow——doublywrong!“returnedSirPatrick。
“Thereisnoshameinsheddingsuchtearsasthose。Andthereisnothingtobedonebyleaving_me。_“
“Imustandwillseeher!“
“Readthat，“saidSirPatrick，pointingtotheletteronthefloor。“Seeyourwife？Yourwifeiswiththewomanwhohaswrittenthoselines。Readthem。“
Arnoldreadthem。
“DEARSIRPATRICK，——Ifyouhadhonoredmewithyourconfidence，I
shouldhavebeenhappytoconsultyoubeforeIinterferedtorescueBlanchefromthepositioninwhichMr。Brinkworthhasplacedher。Asitis，yourlatebrother’schildisundermyprotectionatmyhouseinLondon。If_you_attempttoexerciseyourauthority，itmustbebymainforce——Iwillsubmittonothingless。IfMr。Brinkworthattemptstoexercise_his_
authority，heshallestablishhisrighttodosoifhecaninapolice-court。
“Verytrulyyours，JULIALUNDIE。
Arnold’sresolutionwasnottobeshakenevenbythis。“WhatdoI
care，“heburstout，hotly，“whetherIamdraggedthroughthestreetsbythepoliceornot!I_will_seemywife。I_will_
clearmyselfofthehorriblesuspicionshehasaboutme。Youhaveshownmeyourletter。Lookatmine!“
SirPatrick’sclearsensesawthewildwordsthatBlanchehadwrittenintheirtruelight。
“Doyouholdyourwiferesponsibleforthatletter？“beasked。“I
seeherstep-motherineverylineofit。Youdescendtosomethingunworthyofyou，ifyouseriouslydefendyourselfagainst_this!_
Youcan’tseeit？Youpersistinholdingtoyourownview？Write，then。Youcan’tgettoher——yourlettermay。No!Whenyouleavethishouse，youleaveitwithme。Ihaveconcededsomethingonmyside，inallowingyoutowrite。Iinsistonyourconcedingsomething，onyourside，inreturn。Comeintothelibrary!I
answerforsettingthingsrightbetweenyouandBlanche，ifyouwillplaceyourinterestsinmyhands。Doyoutrustmeornot？“
Arnoldyielded。Theywentintothelibrarytogether。SirPatrickpointedtothewriting-table。“Relieveyourmindthere，“hesaid。
“AndletmefindyouareasonablemanagainwhenIcomeback。“
Whenhereturnedtothelibrarytheletterwaswritten；andArnold’smindwassofarrelieved——forthetimeatleast。
“IshalltakeyourlettertoBlanchemyself，“saidSirPatrick，“bythetrainthatleavesforLondoninhalfanhour’stime。“