BY THE SAME AUTHOR 9 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "Amazingly well written, and undeniably clever. . . . Distinctly a book to 
 be read, for passing criticism can do no justice to the wit, humour, satire, and 
 keen raillery in which it abounds." DAILY TELEGRAPH. 
 
 " A brilliant and biting study of the life of pleasure and some of its modern 
 exponents. . . . The book is unbrokenly clever, and few will be able to refrain 
 from taking it at a draught." PALL MALL GAZETTE. 
 
 "Its dialogue is entertaining and clever. It contains not a single dull 
 page. " ATHENAEUM. 
 
 " ' Bellamy the Magnificent' is well, magnificent. . . . The characters are 
 excellently realised, some of the scenes are delicately comic, the epigrams are 
 not forced, and the story as a whole is so interesting that its conclusion will 
 provoke no small amount of discussion." OUTLOOK. 
 
 " Beyond contradiction, a brilliantly clever book." SUNDAY SUN. 
 
 " Extremely fascinating . . . a really excellent novel." COURT JOURNAL. 
 
 " One of those extremely clever extravaganzas which, like shot silk, may be 
 looked at in two ways. . . . Admirable ! As deadly in earnest as it is 
 extravagantly amusing. " SCOTSMAN. 
 
 "A highly successful exercise in flippancy, wittily and audaciously written, 
 and worked out with an ingenious and original plot." MORNING LEADER. 
 
 "For an evening's unimproving but absolutely entertaining reading it will 
 be ' bad to beat.' "ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE. 
 
 " One of the maddest and merriest farces we have read." MORNING POST. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 ISRAEL RANK 
 
 ' ' Written with a skill and ruthlessness that put it much above the level of 
 an ordinary novel of crime and criminals. It is cleverly and subtly done. The 
 description of the trial, as written by the murderer himself, compels one's 
 admiration. Indeed, the whole book is written with a sense of character and 
 psychology unusual in work of this kind." TRIBUNE. 
 
 "While there are a sufficient number of horrible incidents to tickle the 
 palate of those who like such fare, there is sufficient cleverness in their setting 
 forth to free the book from a charge of raw sensationalism. It is a well- 
 conceived study of cultured hedonism and remorseless selfishness. Israel 
 Rank is perhaps an improbable but certainly an interesting personality." 
 MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. 
 
 1 ' The narrative is unfolded in the most naively cynical fashion imaginable, 
 and in such a way that, indeed, at times it is difficult to determine whether the 
 book is a tragedy disguised as a comedy or a comedy disguised as a tragedy. 
 So fascinatingly is the story told that the proceedings of the hero-villain even 
 call to mind the career of Barry Lyndon." DAILY NEWS. 
 
 ' ' The story has a certain grim humour that will make your flesh creep. 
 The hero, who is also the villain of the piece, is a young man of half Jewish 
 descent. Between him and an earldom were six lives, and the young man, 
 whose motto was to live among the rich, determined to remove those lives. 
 This novel should not be issued to any one within a dozen steps of the peerage." 
 DAILY CHRONICLE. 
 
 LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, in ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S 
 SECRET 
 
 A FAIRY STORY OF TO-DAY 
 
 BY 
 
 ROY HORNIMAN 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE SIN OF ATLANTIS," "THE LIVING BUDDHA," 
 
 THAT FAST MISS BLOUNT," "BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT, 
 
 "ISRAEL RANK," ETC. 
 
 SPECIAL EDITION 
 For sale only in India and the British Colonies 
 
 LONDON 
 
 CHATTO fc? WINDUS 
 
 1907
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 LONDON AND BKCCI ES. 
 
 Copyright 1907 by Rov HORNIMAN 
 All rights reset ved
 
 TO 
 
 RICHARD LAMBART 
 
 2033469
 
 :
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S 
 SECRET 
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 
 IDLENESS and vanity were the incentives that had 
 driven Anthony Brooke into the theatrical profes- 
 sion. Indeed, were it not for the idle and the 
 vain the demand for actors would largely exceed 
 the supply. The serious, who think they can act, 
 reckon up the chances and wisely prefer a season 
 ticket to the City. The idle and the vain see 
 their chance and take it. Thus, between the two, 
 acting as an art comes to the ground. If their 
 vanity be flattered by success the idle become a 
 little less idle, and condescend to learn a few 
 words by heart, which they call studying their 
 parts. They make an elaborate pretence of having 
 considered the characterisation, because pretence 
 can be made at all times, and requires little 
 assiduity or concentration. Now and then some 
 of them are galvanised into serious work, but 
 such cases are rare. 
 
 Anthony Brooke was more vain than idle, for 
 he was quite willing to do something ; in fact, he 
 
 B
 
 2 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 was bound to do something. He possessed an 
 inexhaustible vitality, and with such a tempera- 
 ment he naturally could not be idle, although he 
 disliked sustained work. He was prepared to 
 show how the perfect life should be led. Even 
 in his teens he had become aware that the art of 
 living had practically died out. People flaunted, 
 and ran hither and thither, screaming at the top 
 of their voices, getting through life at an absurd 
 pace ; but only a civilisation bred by German 
 philosophy out of machinery could call it living. 
 
 Anthony Brooke had neither relations nor 
 interest on the stage, and because he had an 
 imagination which was apt to take fire at the 
 merest suggestion he believed the legends as to the 
 huge salaries paid to young ladies and gentlemen 
 for doing nothing behind the footlights. He 
 found that if he wanted to earn money imme- 
 diately he must be able to sing or to dance, and 
 of course he could do neither. He was unfortu- 
 nately gifted with just sufficient intellectual weight 
 to feel ridiculous as a dancer, and of singing voice 
 he had none. He had the additional disadvantage 
 of being fair, and it is an admitted fact that fair 
 young men do not suggest the embryo dramatic 
 genius. It is a fixed idea with the theatrical 
 manager that only tall, dark, thin, hungry-looking 
 young men can act, and although Anthony Brooke 
 was slim and graceful and quite extraordinarily 
 good-looking, managers at once showed him that 
 they would as soon think of crediting him with 
 the authorship of Shakespeare's plays as with 
 histrionic ability. It was true that he had often
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 3 
 
 looked hungry and thin, but he was not the type 
 which might have stood interchangeably for Romeo 
 and a dispenser of iced poisons to the confiding 
 infants of the London streets. Besides, he had 
 a superior air, and it was instinctively felt that 
 the superiority was not altogether superficial. 
 He had a way of becoming a personality in any 
 company which he joined before he had been in it 
 ten minutes, and the qualities which go to make 
 a theatrical manager not being such as tend to 
 breadth of mind he was seldom engaged twice in 
 the same theatre. 
 
 Once he had been entrusted with a part by a 
 well-known comedian, whose recommendation to 
 the public was an extraordinary personal proof of 
 the Darwin theory, and who, when he was dressed 
 in skirts, looked like the star performer on a 
 barrel organ. This comedian had engaged him 
 under the impression that he was incompetent. 
 He himself was so undeniably ugly that he had 
 the good sense to secure good-looking, stupid 
 young men as foils. When he found that 
 Anthony Brooke was likely to make something 
 of his part he got rid of him ; that is to say, with 
 that candour and honesty which distinguishes his 
 kind he picked a quarrel with him, and told him 
 that he was ruining the piece. Seeing very plainly 
 that it was not intended that he should appear, 
 Anthony, in professional terms, * threw up his 
 part ; ' which consists in throwing it down, and 
 told the little monster to play it himself. It was 
 rather a pointless remark, but it quite infuriated 
 the manikin.
 
 4 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Get out of my theatre ! " he screamed, in 
 shrill cockney. 
 
 Anthony looked at him loftily. " It's not 
 your theatre. It belongs to that wretched woman 
 you've cheated out of her money." He pointed 
 to an elderly spinster who had been tempted to 
 invest the greater part of her slender capital in 
 the production, under the promise that it would 
 bring her before the London public which it 
 certainly did. 
 
 " Get out of my theatre ! " reiterated the 
 enraged puppet. 
 
 Anthony pulled on his gloves leisurely. " I'm 
 going when I'm ready ; but before I go I should 
 like to tell you that you possess a mountebank 
 personality which commands a success as ephe- 
 meral as I venture to say it is undeserved by any 
 true artistic merit whatsoever." 
 
 The little creature looked at him in amaze- 
 ment, and said, in his high falsetto voice 
 
 " What a funny boy ! " 
 
 Anthony walked out, exhilarated by the con- 
 sciousness that he had scored a triumph. He 
 was accustomed to these triumphs, however. He 
 had a tongue like a stiletto, and it is perfectly 
 extraordinary how people object to being stilettoed. 
 
 Since this auspicious occasion he had not been 
 invited to take part in any theatrical production. 
 Although he had a genius for lounging, it was not 
 the kind of lounging which was likely to get 
 him on in his profession. He was an elegant 
 Bacchanalian, and hated vulgar drinking. The 
 death of his father, who had been able to give him
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 5 
 
 a microscopic allowance, which at any rate made 
 him independent enough to sustain his egotism 
 against the world, brought him face to face with 
 the fact that if you wish society to do anything 
 for you, you must to some extent conciliate it. 
 A mental independence involves martyrdom as 
 much as moral unorthodoxy. Fortunate is that 
 individual who finds himself placed by Providence 
 in that walk of life to which his qualities are 
 absolutely fitted. There are such people ; as, 
 for instance, the happy navvy, the happy pork- 
 butcher, or the happy peer, folk who would have 
 been wretched in any other walk of life, whether 
 more exalted or more lowly. How infinitely 
 miserable the lot of, say, a duke who possesses 
 those very qualities which would have made him 
 an ideal railway porter and there are such. He 
 probably does not know what is the matter with 
 him, but he is unhappy because his proclivities 
 and his career are at war. He is unconsciously 
 hankering after sixpenny tips and Gladstone bags, 
 instead of addressing the Upper House on intricate 
 questions of land tenure. There are a great many 
 people whom Providence seems to have created 
 whilst in a state of indecision ; for instance, that 
 Anthony Brooke was created with every gift except 
 that of a large independent fortune was an obvious 
 oversight. Everybody but the saints would like 
 to have money ; but it is by no means necessary 
 for everybody. To Anthony, life without money 
 was a nightmare, and inasmuch as he had never 
 had any his existence had been far from cheerful. 
 The lack of wealth in his case was a palpable
 
 6 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 injustice, as if he lacked a sense, or an organ. It 
 seemed as though he had left the art of wage- 
 earning far behind in some former existence, 
 philosophically the richer for its lessons although 
 its technique was forgotten. The world belongs 
 to the dreamer ; that is to say, from the dreamer's 
 point of view. It might be truer to say that the 
 dreamer is in possession of every world but this. 
 Anthony was quite incapable of earning his living 
 by means of the first thing that came to hand, 
 a faculty natural to the sordid, base materialism 
 of the Jew. If a profession could have been 
 pointed out, entirely original and curious, a calling 
 in which no one had ever been known to earn 
 his livelihood, he might have adopted it with 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 Thrown on his resources for his daily bread, 
 it looked as if his stock-in-trade were meagre. 
 He found himself sounding the very depths 
 of poverty, and before he realised it his clothes 
 had ceased to be presentable. They would 
 have been considered excellent weekday garments 
 in Brixton, or in a city office, but in the West 
 End they did not look quite right, even in the 
 twilight. He was brilliant and pleasant company 
 enough to have been able to keep afloat on the 
 desolate ocean of impecuniosity as the appanage 
 of some wealthy friend but for one reason : he 
 could not be dominated. He had no particular 
 moral objection to a sycophant's career, and often 
 told himself seriously that he must study the art 
 of pleasing with a view to the state of his pocket. 
 There were so many men willing to lend providing
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 7 
 
 they got a sufficient return of attention and flattery. 
 Anthony had had friends of this class, vain, good- 
 natured fellows, who were quite ready to put him 
 up indefinitely, and to give him as much of their 
 wealth as they did not miss. Sooner or later, 
 however, he became explosively brilliant at their 
 expense, and they could not be blamed if they 
 chose another friend who did not even possess a 
 stiletto, much less the inclination to use it. 
 
 His condition made him morbid, although a 
 certain lightness of touch never deserted him when 
 
 O 
 
 dealing with the world. He was an egotist with 
 too much delicate insight to imagine for one 
 moment that the world would love him the better 
 for his misery. A melancholy vanity in its own 
 woes is one of the chief defects of intelligent adoles- 
 cence. Our lovers may be fascinated by us in a 
 tragic moment of temperament, but in the golden 
 season the world expects us to show the elasticity 
 of youth . Attention might be paid to it in our 
 public schools, and there is little doubt that much 
 misery would be avoided. A class of Eton boys 
 being taught to assume gaiety and effervescence 
 on the news of the death of a near relation, or of 
 their fathers having lost all their money would be 
 real progress towards a Spartan education. 
 
 Anthony had the true, unconquerable pride 
 of the born vagabond, and that pride is a glorious, 
 exhilarating quality which poor, hard-working, 
 conscientious mortals can never even dimly under- 
 stand. In the vagabond's mind it accounts for 
 everything, and places him supremely above the 
 obligations of ordinary mortals, for the word
 
 8 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 vagabond in its true sense means wanderer ; and 
 how small must the man of fixed habitation seem 
 to him who has neither mental nor material 
 resting-place limitations which make the sense 
 of the vagabond ache. To be circumscribed by 
 flesh is bad enough ; to invent further caskets is 
 servile. The vagabond is not antagonistic to 
 money or beautiful clothes ; he only objects to 
 the slow, soul-destroying processes by which 
 civilisation decrees that they shall be obtained. 
 Pity, however disguised under the form of sym- 
 pathy, seemed at all times to Anthony an imperti- 
 nence. If people could not coin themselves into 
 gold, they might at least be ashamed of the fact, 
 and hold their peace. If Anthony felt that con- 
 ditions were too much for him, and that he could 
 not assume the necessary charm denoting high 
 spirits, he kept out of the way ; and as this 
 became more and more difficult every day he was 
 seen less and less by his friends, who, with the 
 best will in the world, could not always conceal 
 the fact that the steady decay of fine linen was 
 unpleasant. He woke every morning with hope, 
 that ever deceitful vulgarian, ready at his bedside 
 to bear him company, at least during the first few 
 hours of the day ; but even she grew a little 
 bored towards evening, and left him to fight his 
 battle with despondency as best he could.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ONE weary evening in August Anthony essayed 
 an overdose of laudanum ; but the chemist, in 
 league no doubt with the world to prolong his 
 woes, must have diluted the poison with some 
 inoffensive, coloured liquid, for he awoke the next 
 morning, as usual, to hear his landlady's voice at 
 the door demanding a parley. 
 
 He wondered at first if he were dead, and 
 whether his punishment for suicide were not to be 
 an eternity of importunate landladies ; but by 
 degrees he became wide awake, and realised that 
 beyond a little extra drowsiness he was not a whit 
 the worse for the drug. 
 
 His first sensation, when he was fully awake, 
 was one of acute irritation that he had no means 
 of making his unwilling hostess the slave of his 
 desire, which was for breakfast. The last two 
 mornings the meal had not been forthcoming, but 
 now he almost thought he heard the sound of a 
 tray. He threw into his voice a sleepy weariness 
 which he thought should have been sufficient to 
 soften the heart even of a Pimlico landlady. 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " I've brought your breakfast, Mr. Brooke. 
 Have you got the money to pay for it, or shall 
 I take it downstairs again ? "
 
 io LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 She had played this painful comedy before, 
 but on previous occasions, although no payment 
 had been forthcoming, she had brought the break- 
 fast in and had plumped it down angrily on the 
 dressing-table the only table. To-day, however, 
 there was the sound of another voice cheering the 
 landlady on to battle. As it was a female voice, 
 Anthony concluded that the moral support of a 
 neighbour had been invoked. He wondered 
 whether they would resort to force. The idea 
 of violence frorrftwo women filled him with terror. 
 Indeed, Anthony had little stomach for violence 
 at any time. 
 
 There was a pause. Evidently the two ladies 
 were waiting for the lodger to take his share in 
 the discussion. As he made no reply, being 
 occupied, indeed, in turning the key in the lock 
 with as little noise as possible, his landlady's ally 
 joined in the battle. 
 
 "You're too soft-'earted, Mrs. Leech, and 
 your own brother a perlice sergeant, too ! There's 
 no need for you to put up with it. There's a law 
 in the land to prevent lone women from being 
 robbed as some people will find out." 
 
 Mrs. Leech, thus supported, squealed through 
 the keyhole 
 
 " I shall take it down again if it ain't paid 
 for ! " 
 
 At this moment there was a wild, despairing 
 scream from her supporter, followed by a series 
 of bumps executed with extraordinary rapidity. 
 
 Anthony could guess what had happened. 
 Mrs. Leech had moved back towards the stairs to
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET n 
 
 carry out her threat, and had thrown her friend 
 off her balance. 
 
 There was much dismal moaning and lamenta- 
 tion, and it was some time before they returned 
 to the charge. 
 
 " I said, I shall take it down again, Mr. 
 Brooke " 
 
 " And I should if I was you," said the voice 
 in the background, now much subdued. 
 
 Anthony was hungry, desperately hungry, and 
 pride is not the spouse of hunger. 
 
 "Don't take it away, Mrs. Leech," he said, 
 pleadingly ; " I need it." 
 
 " I dessay you do but I've got my rent 
 to pay." 
 
 " Oh, that's silly." 
 
 " Is it ! You're nothing to me, Mr. 
 Brooke " 
 
 Here the voice in the background broke 
 in again, and this time with immeasurable 
 scorn 
 
 " Calls hisself a gentleman, does he ! " 
 
 " I never said so." A sense of humour was 
 Anthony's weak point in these difficulties. It 
 did not conduce to conciliation. Mrs. Leech was 
 not educated to such delicate badinage. 
 
 " You'd be the only one as 'ud dare to tell 
 such an untruth, if you did say it," was the retort. 
 
 They then proceeded to converse about him 
 at the top of their voices, in order that no word of 
 their measureless contempt might be missed. 
 
 "An' expecks everything done for 'im, my 
 dear. I see through him almost from the first."
 
 12 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " So you did so you did." 
 
 " I never trusts them lodgers as begins by 
 asking for a chop with their tea it always means 
 as they haven't got enough to pay for a good 
 meal outside. They'd live on their breakfastses 
 and teas if you'd let 'em." 
 
 " I'd scorn myself, if I was 'im." 
 
 " An* a clean shirt three times a week if I'd 
 let 'im." 
 
 " You don't mean to say as you paid for his 
 laundry ? " interrogated her ally. 
 
 Mrs. Leech, feeling that such generosity put 
 her on a pedestal as a charitable martyr, began to 
 whimper. 
 
 " There, my dear, don't give way." 
 
 But the presence of a sympathiser was not to 
 be wasted, and Mrs. Leech gave way thoroughly. 
 
 "And don't demean yourself, standing here 
 talking to 'im." 
 
 Feeling that they had done quite enough to 
 furnish interesting matter for discussion in the 
 lower regions they descended. 
 
 Anthony sat on the edge of his bed gazing 
 blankly before him. No day need be entirely 
 black which is built on the sure foundation of 
 breakfast. To add to his depression it was rain- 
 ing. This meant that it was impossible for him 
 to make even a pretence of looking for an 
 engagement, a pretence with which he was wont 
 to comfort the mornings of his dreary days. 
 Walking about in the rain was out of the ques- 
 tion, so he would be compelled to make a dash 
 for the nearest public institution. As he dressed
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 13 
 
 he debated gloomily the respective merits of the 
 National Gallery or the British Museum. The 
 Tate Gallery was adjacent, but he was quite 
 ashamed to go into it ; he had been there so 
 often of late that the attendants must be perfectly 
 aware that he had nowhere else to go. It may 
 have been his imagination, but the last time he 
 had visited it the official who took the sticks and 
 umbrellas had seemed to look at him reproach- 
 fully, as if to infer that he was really becoming a 
 little obvious and beginning to wear out his 
 welcome. The great thing, however, was to 
 get away from the annoyance of his landlady 
 during the daytime and to return at night with 
 as much hope as possible that the door would 
 not be bolted against him. Suddenly he remem- 
 bered that through force of habit he had put 
 his boots outside. It was an absurd thing to 
 have done, as many a rainy day had come and 
 gone since his landlady had condescended to clean 
 them. If she had taken them downstairs it would 
 involve entering into negotiations for their return, 
 negotiations that must inevitably lead to a further 
 financial discussion. It had really been very 
 thoughtless of him. He opened the door cau- 
 tiously to see if by chance they were still in the 
 same place. 
 
 They were gone. 
 
 He was considering the mode of address he 
 should employ in treating for them when he heard 
 them dropped quite gently and respectfully on the 
 mat outside. After waiting a minute to allow for 
 the retirement of the enemy he drew them in, and
 
 H LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 at the same time he heard the sound of an alter- 
 cation below. Apparently Mrs. Leech and her ally 
 had fallen out. 
 
 " And I'll trouble you," Mrs. Leech was saying 
 very loftily, " not to interfere between me and my 
 lodgers." 
 
 Well, I'm sure ! " 
 
 " And I dessay you are sure and a great deal 
 too sure, and I think it's much better that neigh- 
 bours should mind their own business." 
 
 " Well, I never ! To think " 
 
 Words were apparently insufficient to convey 
 her sense of Mrs. Leech's ingratitude ; and she 
 went out, slamming the area door behind her in 
 high dudgeon. 
 
 Such a climax could not be otherwise than 
 grateful to Anthony's sense of humour. He 
 looked at his boots. He could have seen his face 
 in them. 
 
 " I'd sooner have had breakfast," he murmured 
 which was, to say the least, unworthy of him. He 
 tightened his waistband, and prepared for flight ; 
 that is to say, the usual morning manoeuvre of 
 trying to get out of the house before Mrs. Leech 
 could intercept and harangue him. 
 
 He opened the door of his room with gentle 
 secrecy to find himself face to face with her. 
 Perhaps her difference with her neighbour, or the 
 fact of having been found on the mat, had 
 softened her, for she said, quite civilly 
 
 "I'll bring your breakfast, sir." 
 
 Secretly Anthony was much mollified. After 
 all, he reflected, it was unnatural for a woman to
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 15 
 
 go to extreme lengths of hostility with a person 
 so charming as he was ; but he drew him- 
 self up, and the corners of his mouth went 
 down. 
 
 " Thank you, I shall go out to breakfast," he 
 said, conscious of the possession of three halfpence. 
 
 " Then it's a pity you don't pay your bill," 
 retorted Mrs. Leech, her anger kindled afresh at 
 her advances having been rebuffed. 
 
 Anthony had nothing left to pawn ; indeed, 
 his last effort in that direction had led to consider- 
 able humiliation. The previous evening he had 
 managed to slip out of his lodgings unobserved, 
 with a large brown-paper parcel containing the 
 remnants of such clothes as he could spare. There 
 was a pawnbroker close by who had obliged him 
 more than once, but had driven a very hard bargain. 
 The entrance to the shop was up a little alley, and, 
 to his annoyance, there were half a dozen females 
 of the lower class at the opening, holding a most 
 interesting discussion on domestic matters. They 
 regarded him with some amusement as with flushed 
 cheeks he passed through them into the evil- 
 smelling little shop. With a feeling of rage 
 against the world generally he entered one of 
 the compartments and handed his parcel across 
 the counter. 
 
 After a delay, which seemed to him like an 
 intentional impertinence, but which could hardly 
 be avoided if the pawnbroker were to attend to 
 his other customers, the man undid the parcel and 
 inspected Anthony's ultra-fashionable coats and 
 waistcoats.
 
 1 6 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Wot are these fancy dress ? " he asked, 
 jocularly. 
 
 Restraining the temptation to pour forth the 
 vials of his wrath on the presumptuous tradesman, 
 Anthony smiled a sickly smile. 
 
 The pawnbroker proceeded to roll them up 
 again and put them into the parcel. 
 
 " No good to me," was the laconic remark. 
 
 " Can't you lend me ten shillings ? " 
 
 The man looked at him as if he had asked for 
 a thousand pounds. 
 
 "They're no good to me." 
 
 " Five shillings ? " said Anthony, condescend- 
 ing to plead. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Half a crown ?" 
 
 Without replying the man moved indifferently 
 away to attend to another customer, giving the 
 parcel, however, a final push towards Anthony to 
 show him that he really meant what he said. 
 
 Anthony realised that he would have to pass 
 the gauntlet of the females outside with the 
 rejected package in his hand. The thought was 
 intolerable. 
 
 "Do you mind my leaving them here for a 
 little ? " he said. 
 
 The man looked at him suspiciously. 
 
 " I'd rather you didn't." 
 
 Anthony picked up the despised garments and 
 hurried out of the place. As he expected, there 
 was a loud laugh at his expense from the be- 
 aproned, and betousled females outside. Even 
 now, more than twelve hours after, he could not
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 17 
 
 recall the incident without turning hot and cold 
 all over. 
 
 He went out into the quiet little Pimlico 
 street. Luckily the rain had ceased and the sun 
 had come out. He walked briskly for the first 
 half mile. The early morning hour holds a 
 promise all its own, a hopefulness dependent on 
 nothing tangible. His last meal had been after- 
 noon tea at the house of a friend the previous day, 
 and that had followed a lunch of champagne and 
 biscuits paid for by an acquaintance to whom 
 Anthony would not for the world have confessed 
 that he was in sore need of a good meal. 
 
 Biscuits had for him a most humorous asso- 
 ciation, for once, when calling on a manager at his 
 private house, he had been left alone in the dining 
 room, and had attempted to make good a day's 
 starvation with the contents of a biscuit-box which 
 stood on the sideboard, and the great man had 
 entered and discovered him in the act. 
 
 As Anthony neared the busier parts his pace 
 slackened. He began to look about him and to 
 take that interest in other people's business pecu- 
 liar to those who have none of their own. The 
 average passer-by would hardly have credited him 
 with being the miserable pauper he was, for if his 
 very smart friends could detect that his clothes 
 spelt, to say the least of it, financial embarrass- 
 ment, the uninitiated would have thought him 
 quite sufficiently smart, and he possessed to per- 
 fection the indescribable art of making the best 
 of his well-cut rags. 
 
 Suddenly his mood of easy gaiety changed.
 
 1 8 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 His brows contracted. He began to revolve 
 schemes. Something must be done. Luckily he 
 had a dinner invitation for that evening ; not the 
 sort of thing for which it was necessary to dress, 
 but a gathering of three or four shabby elegants 
 in a cheap restaurant in Soho. There was a poet 
 coming ; they would probably drink absinthe, and 
 that would be delightful. Absinthe always gave 
 Anthony an unreal, brutal view of life. Once, he 
 remembered, when under its influence, seeing a 
 woman run over by a cab. The spectacle had 
 left him quite unmoved. He could last out till 
 the evening ; and, after all, this might be the day 
 on which his real career was to commence. He 
 had the consolation of knowing that each succeed- 
 ing day held that possibility. Still, he must go 
 on striving for Anthony was pleased to call 
 the day's hopeless saunter, striving. It was 
 impossible that matters could continue like this. 
 He would turn into the Park and think it out ; it 
 would be quite dry now. He passed in by one 
 of the most unfrequented gates, and, avoiding the 
 fashionable part, in case he should meet anybody 
 whom he knew, made for one of the shady groves 
 towards the north-west and laid himself down in 
 the shade, cursing the supineness of theatrical 
 managers in general, although a disinterested 
 person might reasonably have asked whether the 
 London managers were to know by intuition that 
 he was taking his ease on this particular spot, and 
 to come post-haste up Piccadilly and across the 
 greensward of the Park bearing leading parts in 
 their hands. He was impatient with himself for
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 19 
 
 the condition he was in ; it was absurd. He had 
 more brains than most people ; in fact, he in- 
 wardly believed that he had as many as anybody ; 
 and yet he was unable to do such a simple thing 
 as keep himself in food and clothing. It just 
 showed what nonsense it was to say that there is 
 always work for willing hands to do. He should 
 like to know where this work was. He had will- 
 ing hands. He would go into the City. This 
 was a threat which Anthony always felt ought to 
 make Fate pull itself together and do something 
 for him. Gradually he worked himself up to a 
 state of absolute indignation over his wrongs, till, 
 quite exhausted, he sank into a pleasant slumber, 
 the warm summer sun coming through the leaves 
 above his head with just enough power to prove 
 narcotic. He woke feeling hungrier than ever, 
 and as he lay listlessly gazing about him he saw, 
 a little way off, a remarkably new-looking confec- 
 tioner's paper bag. Judging by its shape, Anthony 
 could not help thinking that it must contain 
 something. He went over and took it up. It 
 was quite heavy. He opened it, and tears of joy 
 almost sprang to his eyes when he saw that it 
 contained four delicious fresh Bath buns. Some 
 children, sent into the Park with their lunch, 
 must have dropped them ; or had they been in- 
 tended for the ducks ? No, on second thoughts, 
 they were the sort of buns that children keep for 
 themselves. He looked round, almost expecting 
 to see the owners hurrying back to claim what 
 was to him salvation. Seeing no one, and lest he 
 might be interrupted in his meal, or led away to
 
 20 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 the police station for robbing little children, he 
 removed himself far from the scene of his dis- 
 covery and ate every one of the buns. When he 
 had finished them he threw the bag away in dis- 
 gust. He was furious with himself. He had fed 
 oft stray buns in the Park, and he would never be 
 able to forget it. He felt very much stronger, 
 however, and started to walk towards the Strand. 
 Hope was again firmly enthroned on a basis of 
 four Bath buns, and he felt that he could face a 
 theatrical agent with some degree of confidence.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE agents shared with the public institutions 
 Anthony's attentions when he had nowhere else 
 to go. He did not usually meet many people 
 whom he knew, for he had seldom been in the 
 provinces, and London actors and actresses do 
 not as a rule require an agent to secure them 
 their irregular engagements. 
 
 Under the magical effect of his Bath buns, 
 Anthony sprang up the stone staircase that led 
 to the airy and spacious offices where Mr. 
 White held his court. It might be supposed that 
 a theatrical agent is in something of the same 
 relation towards his client as is a lawyer, but the 
 supposition would be grossly inaccurate. The 
 relation of the two parties is one of the strange 
 anomalies of the theatrical profession ; for though 
 the agent condescends to take their money when 
 he can get it the demeanour of his customers 
 much more suggests that he is paying them a 
 salary. To bow the knee to innumerable masters 
 is one of the privileges enjoyed by those who 
 belong to the most erratic and irresponsible pro- 
 fession in the world. 
 
 Mr. White had been an agent from his youth, 
 and the greater part of his life had been spent in 
 edging importunate mountebanks most of them
 
 22 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 crazy with vanity out of his presence, with the 
 result that even in social intercourse he presented 
 so many promontories that he was at all times a 
 difficult coast to navigate. His offices consisted 
 of three or four rooms leading one into another, 
 and the way in which he could pass through 
 the most determined cluster of young ladies 
 anxious to tell him of their latest success, without 
 being detained one moment, was an absolute 
 miracle. 
 
 He was not visible when Anthony arrived, 
 and he posed himself negligently in a doorway 
 where he could command the agent's entrances 
 and exits and at the same time get a breath of 
 fresh air, untainted by cheap perfume or cheaper 
 cosmetic. It was not a time of the year when the 
 office was ever very full, but on the seats round 
 the walls was ranged a fairly representative gather- 
 ing. There was the middle-aged man, out-at- 
 elbows, with a soft sombrero hat, questionable 
 linen, and a bibulous-looking nose. Depression 
 was his dominant note, a depression which seemed 
 to be the result of a full knowledge that he was 
 going under as fast as an uncontrollable love of 
 strong drink could carry him. He was struggling 
 for his life in a river of alcohol, and was probably 
 just about to sink for the third time. In one 
 corner there was a dapper little comedian, dressed 
 in large checks, explaining to a tall, heavy-looking 
 man, who obviously devoted himself to the busi- 
 ness side of the profession, the disgraceful conduct 
 of a manager who had had the audacity and 
 ignorance to declare that he was by no means as
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 23 
 
 mirth provoking a creature as he had made him- 
 self out to be. 
 
 There was the usual stage child, prematurely 
 aged, with a prettiness which was anything but 
 that of youth, sitting beside an anaemic-looking 
 mother ; and there were one or two young gentle- 
 men, evidently decently born and genteelly nur- 
 tured if an adverb amazingly descriptive and 
 unjustly shouldered from its legitimate occupation 
 may be used. An obvious stage villain, seated, as 
 was only seemly, in majestic solitude in the 
 darkest corner of the room, glowered on these 
 young gentlemen with a look of bilious dislike. 
 The poor lads had not sixpence between them, 
 and had walked in from their distant suburban 
 homes hoping to carry back with them some 
 justification for having adopted a profession which 
 so far had only made them look supremely 
 ridiculous in the eyes of their friends and rela- 
 tions. But everything is comparative, and the 
 antique tragedian, because they looked gentlemen, 
 regarded them as the trivial and gilded recruits 
 who were ruining the profession and taking the 
 bread not to speak of the drink out of the 
 mouths of serious workers like himself. 
 
 Anthony surveyed them with the almost un- 
 conscious expression of superiority with which he 
 was wont to look on ordinary mortals. One of 
 the well-dressed young gentlemen knew him 
 slightly, and gave him a genial smile, which was 
 met with a slight and rather bored inclination of 
 the head. The recipient of what Anthony con- 
 sidered a most gracious acknowledgment inwardly
 
 24 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 determined never to give him a second chance of 
 snubbing him, and told his friend that because 
 that chap in the doorway had carried on a banner 
 in London he considered himself too good to 
 speak to a touring actor. 
 
 Whilst Anthony stood waiting he was nearly 
 carried off his feet by the entrance of a girlish 
 figure of some forty or fifty summers, dressed in 
 the extreme of juvenility, who, casting a hurried 
 glance round, caught sight of the mother and 
 child, flew at them and, having embraced both 
 most affectionately, settled herself between them 
 and, producing a huge puff, powdered her face 
 most audaciously, lingering over her nose as 
 though it were some rare work of art which it 
 most certainly was. The mother asked her 
 whether she had just finished, which question 
 of course did not apply to the powdering, but to 
 the conclusion of a professional engagement. 
 This was exactly what the gifted young lady had 
 wanted, and she burst into a perfect torrent of 
 reminiscences, during which Anthony caught such 
 words as, "Juliet, and Lady Isabel such a suc- 
 cess nothing like it known before it, my dear. 
 Mr. Manning, the Romeo Played it before ? 
 Thousands of times." 
 
 She kept one eye on Anthony as if he were 
 a gallery. 
 
 After a time the dulness of the place got on 
 his nerves, and he went on to the next agent's ; 
 and so on, through half a dozen offices, and found 
 himself as usual at about three o'clock in the 
 afternoon with nothing to do, and very hungry.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 25 
 
 He called at the rooms of one or two men he 
 knew in the hope that they might be at home in 
 company with afternoon tea, but as they were not 
 he wended his way wearily towards the Park, 
 where he thought he would rest till the time came 
 to go to dinner. The idea had crossed his mind 
 of asking at one friend's rooms if he might go in 
 and write a note, on the off chance of there being 
 a biscuit-box handy ; but he controlled himself. 
 After all, it was not desirable to get a reputation 
 for biscuit stealing. He was becoming thoroughly 
 depressed again. It was quite obvious that only 
 the unexpected and the miraculous could carry 
 him upward to those heights of prosperity which 
 would satisfy him. In this mood he found him- 
 self passing through Grosvenor Square. He 
 remembered ever afterwards that he had at the 
 time felt a curious consciousness of impending 
 events of importance. 
 
 Halfway across the square he saw ahead of 
 him a victoria drawn up at the kerb. A tall, 
 aristocratic-looking man, who was hatless, and had 
 evidently just come out of the house, was talking 
 to a lady seated in the carriage. While Anthony 
 was still three or four yards away some one passed 
 him who said to his companion 
 
 " That is Lord Cammarleigh the Marquis of 
 Cammarleigh." 
 
 Anthony gazed ahead with added curiosity, 
 for every one is interested in seeing what a 
 marquis is like, whatever some people may pre- 
 tend to the contrary. He knew the Marquis of 
 Cammarleigh by reputation for who did not ?
 
 26 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 He was one of the richest peers in England, a 
 great art collector, and a well-known dilettante. 
 For years he had hovered round the game of 
 politics, but without making any particular mark. 
 Why his name was so prominently before the 
 public it would have been difficult to say, but 
 somehow he had always been a favourite of the 
 Society papers and illustrated weeklies. He was 
 constantly turning up in photographic groups in 
 the centre of a house-party, or slightly to the 
 right or left of Royalty. He was reputed to be 
 one of those people to whom it seems a sheer 
 impossibility not to grow richer and richer. 
 
 These things Anthony remembered as he drew 
 near and watched the tall figure of the marquis, 
 bending courteously towards the woman in the 
 carriage. 
 
 As he drew nearer, Anthony noticed the 
 curious restlessness of his eyes. They glanced 
 hither and thither as if he were hunted, and 
 Anthony found himself murmuring 
 
 " That is a man who is afraid. He is a man 
 with a secret." 
 
 As Anthony passed, he brushed against him. 
 Lord Cammarleigh turned round with an exclama- 
 tion almost of terror. 
 
 At that moment the lady in the carriage held 
 out her hand, and an instant later she had driven 
 away. 
 
 Anthony was not wanting in courage, but in 
 after years he would wonder in amazement whence 
 came the spirit of sublime audacity with which he 
 was animated at that moment. Perhaps if he had
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 27 
 
 had time to think, to calculate the possible chances 
 for and against him, the scheme which he carried 
 through would have seemed that of a lunatic, but 
 the idea, together with a complete course of action, 
 rose in his mind like magic. 
 
 He ran swiftly up the steps, and, just as his 
 lordship was about to enter the house, tapped him 
 on the shoulder. 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh turned, and their eyes met. 
 
 " I know your secret," said Anthony, simply. 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh grew livid and staggered 
 back against the door pillar. 
 
 They stood thus for some seconds, Anthony 
 looking at his victim with pitiless eyes, Cammar- 
 leigh breathing heavily, returning his gaze with 
 a mute appeal for mercy. 
 
 " What do you want ? " he asked at length. 
 
 " I know your secret," repeated Anthony, 
 opening his gray eyes in surprise at the other's 
 question. Then, as he received no answer, and 
 realising that he had gone too far to recede, he 
 said gently 
 
 " Shall we go inside ? You look upset, and 
 your servants may hear." 
 
 Poor Lord Cammarleigh could not know how 
 very near his tormentor was at that moment to 
 turning tail and bolting across the Square. 
 Without a word he led the way into the house 
 and down the spacious hall to a room at its 
 extreme end. Anthony followed, bearing him- 
 self with perfect assurance. He had always felt 
 that he should never know real domestic comfort 
 till he was lodged in a palace and fed off gold plate.
 
 28 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 The room they entered was obviously the 
 asylum of a guilty conscience. There was hardly 
 any light, and what there was came through 
 sensuously painted glass, shaded by thick green 
 blinds of woven rushes. The ceiling was hidden 
 by a tented roof of dark blue silk. The colour 
 scheme was dominated everywhere by dark blue 
 and yellow, complementing each other in a hun- 
 dred subtle distinctions of tone. Japanese 
 masks grinned from purple shadows and Chinese 
 hangings embroidered with that subdued brilliance 
 which the West has striven in vain to imitate. 
 The lounges and divans suggested a desire for 
 forgetfulness. On a small table of cedar wood, 
 inlaid with ivory, lay a tiny jewelled pipe beside a 
 miniature coffer of jade with gilt clasps. It was 
 indeed a room in which to drug a conscience, or 
 to reflect its morbid sorrows, which answers the 
 same purpose. 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh stood aside as Anthony 
 entered. He then closed the door of black ebony, 
 superbly carved to represent the entrance to a 
 gloomy wood. He thrust a heavy silver bolt 
 back into its socket, and drew the portiere of 
 clinging yellow silk. Then he turned to Anthony, 
 who was too well bred to follow his first inclina- 
 tion and sink on to the most comfortable divan in 
 the room, notwithstanding that he was worn out. 
 His sense of humour broke the ice, for at the sight 
 of Lord Cammarleigh's white drawn face staring 
 at him from the yellow background, he broke 
 into a peal of merriment. 
 
 "Come, let us be friends," he said, still
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 29 
 
 laughing. The absolute terror in Lord Cam- 
 marleigh's eyes died away. Anthony's laugh 
 was not only charming, but in this case it was 
 reassuring. 
 
 It was a curious fact, but from the moment 
 that Anthony entered this historic town mansion 
 he was filled with an easy confidence that every- 
 thing successful and wonderful might be ex- 
 pected to happen. The very atmosphere of the 
 place seemed to intoxicate and exhilarate him, 
 urging him on to perform the impossible. He 
 felt like a brilliant soul which had been wandering 
 in an uncongenial atmosphere of material struggle 
 and had returned to its proper home of splendour 
 and regality. 
 
 " I haven't a card," he continued, " but I am 
 Anthony Brooke, gentleman." He emphasised 
 the last word as if he wished to make Lord Cam- 
 marleigh thoroughly understand that it would be 
 better not to receive the statement sceptically. 
 
 His lordship, however, who seemed unable 
 to meet Anthony's frank gaze, gave a short, 
 mirthless laugh of unbelief. 
 
 " Let me implore you not to do that sort of 
 thing," said Anthony, suavely. "You will con- 
 stantly find yourself upsetting my nerves, and I'm 
 not nearly so nice when my feelings are ruffled." 
 
 Anthony's spirits were rising. He was ex- 
 periencing the exhilaration of an actor who after 
 years of striving is given a star part in which he 
 can revel. 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh was growing paler and 
 paler. He rose and crossed the room, and,
 
 30 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 pouring some brandy from a flask of old Flemish 
 design into a glass, drank it. 
 
 His uninvited guest kept on the alert. He 
 had enough psychological instinct to detect at once 
 that the dominant note of Lord Cammarleigh's 
 character was cowardice, and its subdominant note 
 treachery. 
 
 " How did you find out ? " asked Lord Cam- 
 marleigh, in a low, unsteady voice. 
 
 Anthony looked at him and smiled indulgently. 
 " I don't think I'll tell you that. In fact, I don't 
 think it would be quite policy on my part. It's 
 quite sufficient that I did find out." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh gulped down another glass 
 of brandy. 
 
 " What do you want ? " he asked at last, 
 feeling somewhat fortified. 
 
 A dreamy look came into Anthony's eye a 
 look which was almost pathetic. 
 
 " I want so many things," he said. " It would 
 be quite dreadful if somebody were to ask me to 
 say at once all the things I wanted I should 
 never be able to remember them." 
 
 "Do you mind coming to the point ?" said 
 Lord Cammarleigh, with quite a show of 
 courage. 
 
 " Well, to begin with, I want a drink, although 
 I'm sorry for your sake that that will not be all 
 I shall want." He rose and helped himself to 
 brandy. " May I ask you to ring for some soda- 
 water ? " 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh made a faint movement 
 which might have meant rebellion ; but he modified
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 31 
 
 it to a gesture, and indicated a syphon on a table 
 near. 
 
 " I saw that," said Anthony, coolly, " but it's 
 seltzer, and I don't care for anything but soda. 
 May I ? " He touched the bell. 
 
 His lordship rose indignantly, thought better 
 of it, and sat down. When the servant appeared 
 he gave the order. 
 
 "By the way," said Anthony, as the man 
 was leaving the room, " would you mind asking 
 for some cake ? " He had been about to say 
 "biscuits," but he was a little tired of biscuits. 
 <( I am very fond of cake, except those chocolate 
 things with nothing in them but walnuts as large 
 as paving stones. I like cakes with plenty of 
 currants and lemon peel in them." 
 
 The shadow of a smile flitted across his face at 
 the grave way in which both Cammarleigh and 
 the servant listened to his dissertation on cake. 
 
 " Will you bring some plum cake, Waters ? " 
 said Lord Cammarleigh, throwing into the request 
 all the dissimulation of a great actor. 
 
 " Yes, my lord." Waters left the room. 
 
 " I believe you are mad," said Lord Cammar- 
 leigh. 
 
 " I may be mad," answered Anthony ; " but 
 I'm not " 
 
 " Hush ! " said Lord Cammarleigh, in a 
 terrified voice. 
 
 " I was about to say * bad,' finished Anthony, 
 imperturbably. He wondered if it were his 
 fancy, or whether the grin on the Japanese mask 
 above Lord Cammarleigh's head had broadened in
 
 32 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 full enjoyment of the joke. "If you understood 
 the philosophy of cake, you would know that it 
 is always possible to trust a man who likes plum 
 cake."' 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh shrugged his shoulders 
 impatiently. 
 
 "You mustn't be petulant," said Anthony. 
 " A petulant marquis is absurd. Your demeanour 
 should imply ermine, even if a conventional age 
 dresses you in a frock coat." 
 
 The servant returned with the plum cake, and 
 Anthony cut himself a thick slice, which he began 
 to munch contentedly. 
 
 " Have you ever been hungry, Lord Cammar- 
 leigh?" 
 
 Cammarleigh made no answer. It was quite 
 evident that he was still showing temper ; so 
 Anthony rippled on 
 
 "Perhaps I should have said ( starving.' I 
 have starved, and I was very nearly starving when 
 your servant brought me this plum cake, a good 
 Samaritan in plush breeches." Anthony, who had 
 eaten his first slice of cake in an incredibly short 
 space of time, cut himself another. " Your room 
 is singularly heavy in tone for a guilty conscience. 
 I should have thought something very light, some- 
 thing to remind you always of simplicity and 
 early spring mornings but then I don't suppose 
 I'm quite a judge ; I've not got a guilty con- 
 science. Still, at the same time, I should have 
 thought simple furniture would have been more 
 antiseptic." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh shivered. He stretched
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 33 * 
 
 out one long, nervous, white hand towards the 
 bell. 
 
 Anthony gave him full time to ring it if he 
 were so minded ; but the hand fell limply by his 
 side. 
 
 " I thought not. You were going to ring and 
 have me shown out, weren't you ? How silly ! " 
 He rose and went to the glass to arrange his tie, 
 and whilst doing so kept one eye on the marquis's 
 reflection. He thought he saw the gleam of a 
 revolver. He turned without the least excitement 
 and with a winning smile. " Now you know 
 perfectly well that you would have done that at 
 first if you had dared. One doesn't do that sort 
 of thing in our days. You had better give that 
 revolver to me. The want of it will cure you of 
 theatricals." 
 
 " Don't drive me too far," said Lord 
 Cammarleigh, with some attempt at looking 
 dangerous. 
 
 " I'm not going to drive you at all. You are 
 a fairy god-mother ; and you are going to drive 
 
 me all the way to fortune, and " Anthony 
 
 corrected himself. " No, not that ; because, 
 frankly speaking, I intend to do without you as 
 soon as ever I can." He finished his third piece 
 of cake, drank his brandy and soda, helped 
 himself to another, and, taking a cigarette from 
 a cedar-wood box near, lighted it. Then he 
 settled himself in the lounge with the air of one 
 who had no present intention of bringing his visit 
 to an end. 
 
 " I have an appointment at half-past five." 
 
 D
 
 34 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Then perhaps you had better send a telegram 
 before we begin." 
 
 " Look here ! " spluttered Cammarleigh. 
 
 "Send the telegram," said Anthony, plain- 
 tively. 
 
 And the telegram was sent. 
 
 Whilst Cammarleigh was writing it a small oil 
 painting caught Anthony's eye. It was a copy of 
 the Beatrice Cenci. 
 
 As Lord Cammarleigh was handing the tele- 
 gram to the servant, Anthony crossed to examine 
 the picture more closely. 
 
 " Strange," he said, turning round as the door 
 closed, " but I have known men who did not 
 admire that face. You do, of course ? " 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh, appealed to in his weak 
 point, answered 
 
 " I think it is the most beautiful face in the 
 whole world." 
 
 " That is exactly what I think ; but, then, it 
 cannot mean to you what it does to me. With 
 men of your wealth the reign of terror must begin 
 very early." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh looked at him question- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean that," said Anthony. " I 
 mean another reign of terror the terror of fulfil- 
 ment." He threw himself again on to the lounge. 
 " Now let me put my case in a nutshell. I am, 
 as 1 said before, Anthony Brooke, gentleman. I 
 have neither fortune nor prospects, but many large 
 fortunes are made by the discovery and patenting 
 of secrets. I patent your secret by keeping it to
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 35 
 
 myself. I propose, till I have decided what I wish 
 to be, and how and where I wish to live, to remain 
 here as your private secretary. By the way, have 
 you a private secretary ? " 
 
 I have." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh spoke with emphasis, as it 
 to imply that such being the case Anthony must put 
 the idea out of his head ; but he answered instead 
 
 " Quite so. Poor young man, he will have 
 to go. Never mind, you can compensate him." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh pulled himself together by 
 a supreme effort. He rose and crossed to the 
 fireplace with a quite magnificent display of self- 
 possession. 
 
 " I must ask you to be careful," he said. 
 " Name your price and go." 
 
 Anthony laughed. " I haven't decided on that 
 point yet, and I am certainly not going. And 
 don't begin talking like a melodramatic heroine, 
 because, you see, there is nothing of the villain 
 about me." 
 
 " Mr. Brooke " 
 
 " You may call me Tony, if you like." 
 
 " Thank you ; I'd rather call you nothing of 
 the kind." 
 
 " I don't see why not ; I think it's rather a 
 nice name." 
 
 " Your price." 
 
 " If you talk to me in that way I shall at once 
 expose you." 
 
 It seemed to Lord Cammarleigh that there 
 was a faint suggestion of the wild cat in the young 
 man's appearance as he gathered himself together,
 
 3 6 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 almost crouched on the lounge and looked at him 
 with his eyes a little closer together. 
 
 " Yes," continued Anthony, " the position of 
 your private secretary will suit me admirably. 
 You shall give me a suite of rooms, and I will 
 draw my salary as I want it." 
 
 They had arrived at the question of money, 
 and Anthony watched Lord Cammarleigh keenly, 
 and detected at once that he winced. 
 
 " Oh, I shan't ruin you. I'm really much too 
 clever for that." 
 
 " A suite of rooms here ? Absurd ! " 
 
 " You surely don't mean to infer that I should 
 be out of place ? Because that would be absurd. 
 I dare say there's just the least taint of the dis- 
 reputable about me. People of the most irre- 
 proachable style get that when they are very hard 
 up something furtive in the eye a nervous 
 movement of the shoulders. I don't know what 
 it is exactly. Can you explain ? " 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh could not, and said so. 
 
 " I wonder whether it is that the cut of one's 
 clothes is in such marked contrast to their shabbi- 
 ness. Now, this was quite a nice suit when it 
 was new. I had it made without any pockets or 
 buttons. I have always wanted to do away with 
 pockets and buttons as much as possible, and 
 perhaps now that I am going to be a personage I 
 shall have some influence." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh was trying to persuade 
 himself that his uninvited guest was a lunatic, 
 and that the proper thing to do was to have 
 him turned out at once ; but if he really knew
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 37 
 
 and at the thought a cold sweat broke out on 
 Lord Cammarleigh's forehead he was entirely 
 in his power. The mere idea of Anthony's 
 being in possession of his secret filled him with 
 such horror that he found himself working hard 
 to keep him in a good temper. 
 
 "I should think a very nice suit might be 
 made without buttons or pockets," he said 
 soothingly. 
 
 "Yes ; but don't say it as if you were talking 
 to a child or a lunatic. I want you to think the 
 matter out. But for the moment let us get back 
 to the suite of rooms." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh, who was beginning to see 
 that Anthony had no intention of denouncing 
 him as long as he was given his own way to 
 a certain extent, became quite argumentative, 
 and exerted all his diplomacy to getting him 
 out of the house, at any rate, till he had had 
 time to think the matter over. But Anthony saw 
 exactly what his main object was, and fenced 
 with the greatest enjoyment. 
 
 " Why don't you go and stay at the Metropole, 
 and come and discuss it in the morning, Mr. 
 Brooke ? " suggested Lord Cammarleigh, suavely. 
 
 " Because if I went to any hotel at all I should 
 go to Claridge's. You may not believe it, but I 
 have a passion for restraint and the unostentatious." 
 
 " You will find this house very uncomfortable. 
 I only live in it myself because well, because of 
 old associations," concluded Lord Cammarleigh, 
 weakly. 
 
 Anthony laughed. "You don't know how
 
 38 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 funny the idea of your doing anything for the sake 
 of sentiment is." He was noticing with amuse- 
 ment the vein of conciliatory restraint that ran 
 through all Cammarleigh's remarks. 
 
 "You might take a flat. One can get very 
 nice furnished flats." 
 
 " Ah, but, you see, I want to be identified with 
 you. It is that which is going to be the c Open 
 Sesame * to all the pleasant places of this life. I 
 love beautiful women, and you know so many." 
 
 " I don't as a rule take my secretary every- 
 where." 
 
 " No ; but you are going to take me. That's 
 just the point. By the way, where is he ? " 
 
 " He has gone out of town his mother is ill." 
 
 " So much the better I mean, so much the 
 better that he is gone out of town. Send his 
 luggage after him, together with a year's salary." 
 
 " A year's salary ? Nonsense ! " 
 
 " Oh yes, it must be a year's salary. I'm not 
 mean, if you are. And I'm not going to do a 
 fellow-derelict out of a comfortable home without 
 full compensation." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh was silent for a moment, 
 and then he turned round, and said firmly 
 
 Look here " 
 
 " I am looking," said Anthony. " I haven't 
 taken my eyes off you since you made that silly 
 scene with the revolver." 
 
 Cammarleigh rose. " I have decided not to 
 put up with this any longer." 
 
 " If that is really the case I call it very 
 courageous. How shall we go ? "
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 39 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't suppose you want to be taken 
 up by an ordinary policeman, do you ? I think 
 you ought at least to rise to the dignity of a man 
 in plain clothes." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh turned green. " You know 
 what you are ? " he hissed. 
 
 Anthony looked at him pityingly. " I believe 
 you are going to say ( blackmailer,' and I don't 
 want you to say that ; I'd much rather go and look 
 over the house." He moved towards the door. 
 
 For one moment Cammarleigh considered the 
 feasibility of leaping on his persecutor from behind 
 and throttling him. He was almost in the act of 
 doing so when he remembered that perhaps others 
 might know of his whereabouts. He might be 
 one of a gang. 
 
 Anthony paused, with his hand on the door. 
 " As far as your servants are concerned you had 
 better tell them at once that I am your new 
 secretary, and you might add that I am likely to 
 have a great deal more authority than my pre- 
 decessors. I don't suppose they'll make much 
 comment ; you are the sort of man who is always 
 having new secretaries." 
 
 They went out of the room, and Cammarleigh, 
 feeling that it was best to put a pleasant face on 
 the matter, attempted with some difficulty to 
 equal Anthony in light conversation. 
 
 The house was not unlike many other town 
 mansions of the nobility, frankly hideous outside, 
 very magnificent inside. It was not only in rich- 
 ness that the difference consisted ; there was an
 
 40 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 absolute contrast of style. The splendid marble 
 staircase, branching off to right and left ; the 
 corridors with their arched ceilings, the exquisite 
 bronzes and statuary, had hardly been suggested 
 by the flat, unpretending exterior. The ugliness 
 of the outside and the magnificence of the inside 
 were characteristic of the tendency of wealth to 
 keep everything for itself, coupled with a politic 
 desire to conceal its splendour from the poor. 
 On the landing at the top of the first flight 
 of stairs a magnificent copy in marble of The 
 Laocoon was flooded by the evening sun, which 
 came through painted glass. In the centre of the 
 hall was a fountain from Hadrian's villa with an 
 Antinous brooding over the waters. Two extra- 
 ordinarily fine Turners faced each other from the 
 walls on each side of the Laocoon. 
 
 They ascended to the first floor. 
 
 " I suppose there are no bedrooms on this 
 floor ? " 
 
 " Hardly," said Cammarleigh. " There are 
 nothing but reception rooms here." 
 
 " I suppose so. I hope," he added, " that I 
 am not making you feel like a landlady trying to 
 secure a good lodger. You can't think what a 
 change all this will be to me. I've been living 
 in one room and a very small room at 
 that." 
 
 They went over the first floor, through one 
 drawing-room after another. Anthony realised 
 at once what a perfect background they must 
 make for a gathering of distinguished men and 
 beautiful women. The tall windows, with their
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 41 
 
 heavy curtains of old rose brocade, the exquisite 
 inlaid floors, the walls, panelled with opulent 
 silks, subdued in tone, responded admirably to 
 the Louis Quinze furniture. 
 
 Anthony had never been in such a room as 
 this in his life, but he knew that he ought to have 
 been, for he felt sensuously at home. 
 
 " You know, Cammarleigh," he said pleasantly, 
 " to find oneself in a room like this is to wake 
 out of an ugly dream. I wish you could be poor 
 for a year. It would do you so much good or 
 harm 1 don't quite know which." 
 
 They went on to the next floor. 
 
 " I suppose you sleep here ? " 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh was trying in vain to 
 surmount a very natural sulkiness. He felt that 
 it would be infinitely more dignified to reply to 
 Anthony's light conversation with equal banter. 
 He found it difficult, however. 
 
 " These are my rooms," he said. " You don't 
 propose to turn me out of them, do you ? " 
 
 It was a clumsy pleasantry, and Anthony 
 looked quite hurt. 
 
 "Cammarleigh, don't. You hurt me you 
 really do. Have I done anything which is wanting 
 in taste ? " 
 
 " I was only joking," answered Cammarleigh, 
 penitently. 
 
 " I know ; but I shouldn't try to joke just yet, 
 if I were you. You know you don't feel like it. 
 Take me seriously for a time, and you'll feel more 
 like joking afterwards. I should like to see your 
 rooms, though."
 
 42 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 There were four of them : a bathroom, a 
 bedroom, a dressing-room, and a room that a 
 middle-class woman would have called a boudoir. 
 
 " In case you don't feel like showing up, I 
 suppose, even to the members of your house- 
 hold ? " said Anthony, as he looked round the 
 latter room approvingly. 
 
 " I breakfast here. I hate meeting people in 
 the early morning." 
 
 " I'm glad of that. I hope you won't want 
 me to answer your letters at sunrise, or anything 
 of that kind." 
 
 " You can't very well answer them before the 
 postman comes." 
 
 " No, of course not. I never thought of that. 
 How clever of you ! " 
 
 They ascended to the next story. 
 
 " I think," said Anthony, " it will look more 
 respectful if I sleep on the floor above you." He 
 made for the rooms that were just over Lord 
 Cammarleigh's. " Were these rooms your late 
 secretary's ? " 
 
 "He slept at the back," said Lord Cammar- 
 leigh, tartly. 
 
 " Did he ? Poor young man he would ! 
 But I don't think I should like to sleep at the 
 back." 
 
 " It was good enough for him," answered 
 Cammarleigh, "and he belonged to a younger 
 branch of the family." 
 
 " Cammarleigh, how vulgar of you ! I don't 
 belong to any particular family, so I at least escape 
 the humiliation of being a poor relation."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 43 
 
 " He slept at the back," answered Lord Cam- 
 marleigh, sulkily. 
 
 " Ah ; but he didn't know," began Anthony. 
 
 " S-sh ! " said Cammarleigh, hastily. Any 
 inclination on Anthony's part to expatiate on the 
 dreaded subject was sufficient to make him turn 
 ashen. 
 
 " Do I sleep in the back or the front ? " asked 
 Anthony, sweetly. 
 
 " Sleep where you like," answered Cammar- 
 leigh, shortly. 
 
 Anthony inspected the rooms thoroughly. 
 
 " I don't think it would look quite respectful," 
 he said, " if I had as many rooms as you, so I'll 
 have one less, and I'll do without a sitting-room. 
 Oh, stay, though, I can call it a workroom, can't 
 I ? And then it won't matter my having four 
 rooms, after all." 
 
 " I am sure you will find them very nice," 
 said Cammarleigh, hastily. He was evidently 
 anxious to get out of the room, and Anthony's 
 unerring instinct detected why. 
 
 " If you hadn't been in such a hurry, Cammar- 
 leigh, I might not have noticed that the rooms 
 want redecorating." 
 
 "They were only done up two years ago," 
 protested the marquis. 
 
 " Yes, but they were done up for somebody 
 who belonged to a younger branch of the family. 
 Now they are going to be done up for me. 
 Besides, the fashions in decoration move at such 
 a rate. I don't think a preference for living 
 amongst beautiful surroundings is a sign of
 
 44 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 effeminacy, do you ? But of course you don't ; 
 if you did your own rooms would not be in such 
 perfect taste." 
 
 " I think people should regard what is suitable 
 to their station," said Cammarleigh, with a stiff 
 upper lip and a last attempt to assert his expiring 
 dignity and put Anthony in his place. 
 
 " Station station ? " said Anthony, vaguely. 
 " You're not thinking of flight, are you Victoria 
 and Waterloo, and all that sort of thing ? " 
 
 " You know I'm not," said Cammarleigh, 
 pettishly. 
 
 They went downstairs again, and Cammar- 
 leigh, at Anthony's suggestion, sent for Mr. 
 Gregsbury, the butler, and explained the new 
 secretary's arrival and status. 
 
 " Another of 'em ? I wonder how long Vll 
 stop ! " was Mr. Gregsbury's reflection. 
 
 As he was going, Anthony whispered some- 
 thing to Cammarleigh. 
 
 Cammarleigh had the genius of an aristocrat 
 for making the best of an unpleasant situation, 
 and he addressed Gregsbury as though what he 
 was saying was quite of his own inspiration. 
 
 " My doctor has advised me, Gregsbury, to 
 concern myself as little as possible with my 
 business affairs. Mr. Brooke will have absolute 
 control over this house." 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury paused and glanced at An- 
 thony. The latter managed to throw into a sweet 
 smile just enough of the fellow-conspirator to 
 convey to Mr. Gregsbury that so long as he did 
 not interfere with the new secretary, the new
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 45 
 
 secretary would not interfere with him. They 
 understood one another, and Mr. Gregsbury 
 withdrew. 
 
 "And now," said Anthony, "what about 
 money ? " 
 
 Cammarleigh shivered. It was his weak 
 point. The mere idea that he was to be finan- 
 cially at the mercy of this youth, with an obvious 
 capacity for extravagance, was terrifying. The 
 owner of such a figure would place no limit to the 
 clothes with which he would adorn it. He would 
 probably want a motor-car of his own. Even if 
 he were content with one belonging to his host 
 it would be very inconvenient. The more he 
 looked at Anthony the more nervous he became. 
 He wondered if his knowledge were as complete 
 as he pretended. Anthony saw that he was get- 
 ting feverish, and, being of a sympathetic nature, 
 was disinclined to harry him further for the 
 moment. 
 
 "Perhaps," he said kindly, "you have had 
 enough for one day. Write me a cheque for two 
 hundred and fifty, and " 
 
 For one moment Cammarleigh thought that 
 Anthony was going to offer to relieve him of his 
 presence. 
 
 "And I'll leave the question of finances till 
 to-morrow." 
 
 Cammarleigh could not help reflecting that if 
 he wanted two hundred and fifty pounds to carry 
 him over till the next morning his demands would 
 amount to something like fifteen hundred a week. 
 He broke out into a cold sweat.
 
 46 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " By the way, what is your income, Cammar- 
 leigh?" 
 
 " Incomes are never what they profess to be 
 on paper, you know." 
 
 Anthony shook his forefinger reprovingly. 
 " Come, come. Don't prevaricate. What is 
 your income ? " 
 
 " It's supposed to be eighty thousand a year, 
 but what with one expense and another " 
 
 " I shall deal with it," said Anthony, " as if it 
 were eighty thousand." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh groaned. 
 
 " You are not writing the cheque for two 
 hundred and fifty," said Anthony, gently. 
 
 " You don't know the terrible charges " 
 
 " Why anticipate terrible charges ? If they 
 take place it will be entirely your own fault." 
 
 " I was going to say," continued Cammar- 
 leigh, irritably, " that you don't know the terrible 
 charges there are on my income." 
 
 Oh ! " 
 
 " There is my sister, Lady Editha. I have to 
 pay her two thousand a year, and my aunt, the 
 Duchess of Kilburn Kilburn is as rich as he can 
 be ; but, all the same, she takes the money." 
 
 " Why didn't they get a lump sum down ? " 
 said Anthony. 
 
 " I don't know, but they didn't. And then 
 there's Cammarleigh Abbey to keep up. It's only 
 fit to be a royal palace." 
 
 " How nice ! " said Anthony. " I shall like 
 that." 
 
 " No, you won't," said Cammarleigh, " because
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 47 
 
 I hardly ever open it, and when I do I only open 
 one wing of it." 
 
 " Well, it's never too late to mend," said 
 Anthony, cheerfully. 
 
 " And there's " began Cammarleigh. 
 
 " Cammarleigh, you are not writing that 
 cheque." 
 
 " Won't a hundred do ? " 
 
 " No ; I'm afraid it won't." 
 
 " You can't spend two hundred and fifty 
 between now and to-morrow." 
 
 " Can't I ? You don't know anything about 
 me. By the way," he added, " the banks are 
 shut ! " 
 
 " Of course they are." 
 
 " And I must order some clothes between now 
 and dinner ! Who is your tailor ! " 
 
 Cammarleigh mentioned a firm of European 
 reputation. 
 
 " Simply no good to me," said Anthony. " They 
 are the sort of people who would consider it bad 
 form to have one's clothes too well cut. After 
 all, the decadents are the only people who know 
 how to dress. Well, give me the cheque and a 
 few fivers to go on with." 
 
 Cammarleigh, with a sigh, crossed to his desk, 
 and, unlocking a little drawer, took out a pocket- 
 book. He turned his back on Anthony, so that 
 what he was doing should not be seen, and after 
 some fumbling handed him two five-pound 
 notes. 
 
 " I am afraid that is all I have about me," he 
 said quite sweetly.
 
 48 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Strictly speaking, I dare say that's true ; but 
 you've got some more in that drawer." 
 
 " Have I ? " asked Cammarleigh, weakly. 
 
 <c Of course you have. Come, come, don't 
 be childish. Just think, all these little pre- 
 varications only lead to humiliation. Now, you've 
 got to open that drawer again and disclose the 
 fact that you're nothing more nor less than a 
 storyteller." 
 
 And it was exactly what Cammarleigh had to 
 do. He managed to rake together thirty-five 
 pounds. 
 
 " That will enable me to get my dress clothes 
 out of pawn. Have you ever pawned any- 
 thing ? " 
 
 " Of course not." 
 
 "It's a splendid education in the value of 
 things. You would be surprised how little you 
 would fetch at a pawnbroker's. They lend you a 
 third of what they consider to be the value, and 
 usually that is about a tenth of what you had 
 estimated the third to be. I have got some 
 tickets here." He took out his letter-case and 
 produced a score or so of little pieces of paste- 
 board. " Quite a lot of them, aren't there ? " 
 
 "It seems to me a very vulgar habit," said 
 Cammarleigh. 
 
 " Very few things are vulgar in themselves ; 
 it is people who are vulgar. Now, you were 
 vulgar in throwing my poverty in my face in that 
 way. This is the ticket for my watch I had 
 almost given up all hope of seeing it again. It 
 runs out on Monday."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 49 
 
 "Runs down, you mean," said Cammarleigh. 
 
 "No, I don't mean anything of the kind. 
 When I say it runs out I mean that it becomes 
 the property of the pawnbroker at least, it would 
 have done if it hadn't been for your kindness." 
 
 Cammarleigh literally snorted. 
 
 Anthony went on affectionately looking over 
 his tickets. 
 
 " That's for my pearl tie-pin. I shall get that 
 out, because a girl gave it to me. Of course, it's 
 very unpretentious ; but I shall always value it, 
 although I am going to have much better things. 
 You've never known the agony of pawning 
 things that a girl has given you, have you, 
 Cammarleigh ? " 
 
 "I dislike receiving presents," said Cam- 
 marleigh, frigidly. 
 
 "Ah, you are like the man with twenty 
 thousand a year, who, when I asked him to lend 
 me a fiver, replied that he never borrowed and 
 never lent." 
 
 " A very good rule." 
 
 " Excellent, when you have twenty thousand 
 a year. I shan't get many of my clothes out," 
 he continued reflectively. "They would be 
 quite old-fashioned now ; and men's fashions 
 change more and more every year." 
 
 " I have had the suit I have got on five years," 
 said Cammarleigh, impressively. 
 
 I know." ' 
 
 " How do you mean you know ? " 
 
 " Because that lapel is carried two inches too 
 high ; there is too much stuff in the front of the 
 

 
 50 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 coat ; the waist is too low, and the frock is too 
 short. I can't see the back, but I am sure 
 it's all wrong. You see, it's a dangerous thing 
 to be a marquis. I don't suppose anybody 
 has ever told you the truth about your clothes 
 before?" 
 
 "If you are going to take up your abode in 
 this house, I shall be glad if you will avoid 
 personalities." 
 
 " You may be sure I shall avoid anything 
 which is likely to lead to the unpleasant. Life 
 should be a fairy story. You dine at half-past 
 eight, I believe ? " 
 
 " I am dining out." 
 
 " Oh no, but you can't. I should be dread- 
 fully hurt if you dined out the evening of my 
 arrival." 
 
 " I am dining with the Prime Minister." 
 
 " You will dine with me here, and I shall be 
 back in good time." 
 
 Anthony went out. 
 
 Cammarleigh, left alone, pinched himself hard 
 three times, hurting himself as much as his 
 thoroughly selfish nature would allow, and then 
 looked round the room vaguely. Had it been a 
 dream ? No ; on the table stood the remains of 
 a brandy and soda, and in a small, inlaid ashtray 
 were the ends of several cigarettes. However, 
 Anthony was gone ; that was certain, and he was 
 determined that he should not re-enter the house. 
 He rang the bell, and told the servant who 
 answered it to send Gregsbury to him. 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury, disturbed in his perusal of
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 51 
 
 the evening paper, arrived on the scene looking 
 a little sulky. 
 
 " You will " began Cammarleigh, firmly. 
 
 Then he remembered the strength of Anthony's 
 chin. If he really possessed the knowledge to 
 which he pretended no, the thought was too 
 terrible. At the mere idea he stood with his 
 mouth open feeling as if all power of thinking 
 had left him. Then he realised that Gregsbury 
 was waiting, and that he must make up his mind. 
 " You will," he said, in a weak, toneless voice, 
 " make Mr. Brooke as comfortable as possible."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ANTHONY entered a cab and drove to his lodgings. 
 The landlady herself opened the door, and asked 
 him quite sweetly if he would like some tea. He 
 had no malice in his nature, and always liked to 
 part friends with people if possible, so he partook 
 of the contents of a large breakfast cup, a solution 
 of tannin, slightly diluted by a gray-whitey fluid, by 
 courtesy placed in a milk-jug. In a small china 
 bowl by its side were some little blocks of a flinty 
 substance, which, when dissolved in the tea, 
 appeared to have a somewhat sweet flavour. 
 This curious concoction, known amongst the 
 lower classes as tea, was accepted by Anthony 
 in the spirit in which it was offered. 
 
 From the vantage of his rooms he sent special 
 messengers in all directions for such articles as he 
 deemed it worth while to rescue from captivity. 
 Then he packed his bags, and having paid his bill 
 and given the small son of the house a sovereign 
 to buy acid drops with, sent his luggage off" 
 to Grosvenor Square in charge of a messenger 
 boy, while he himself entered another cab and 
 drove towards Piccadilly. He spent a delightful 
 hour buying those things without which he could 
 not very well manage to get through the evening. 
 Such dress ties as he had were months out of date.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 53 
 
 He was obliged to buy some evening shirts too. A 
 ready-made shirt, even of the best, is never quite 
 satisfactory, and though it should fit perfectly the 
 wearer is always conscious that it was ready-made. 
 It was delightfully exhilarating to know that it did 
 not matter how long he kept his hansom, and as he 
 went from one shop to the other making his pur- 
 chases his spirits rose. It was all so deliciously 
 unreal. He had absolutely no sense of danger ; 
 he was possessed of a certainty that the adventure 
 would succeed, just because it was like nothing 
 else he had ever heard of before. So he bought 
 beautiful ties of the best materials at a guinea each, 
 and evening ties of just that finish and cut which 
 could lift evening dress out of the commonplace. 
 There was a sense of extreme luxury in driving 
 about the same streets which he had so lately 
 tramped under such a heavy load of depression. 
 He reproached himself for those moments of 
 darkness when he had admitted the suspicion 
 that he might be destined to submersion. Of 
 course he had never really believed it ; he had 
 always known that his life-story was to be played 
 on a large stage, that romance comes to the 
 romantic as the sunlight to the flower. He was 
 philosopher enough to know that we get what we 
 attract, and that that is the great catastrophe. He 
 quite realised that the great thing was not to test 
 the situation by common sense, but to let it 
 develop along its own abnormal lines, and that 
 success in this direction would depend on the 
 sustaining power of his vitality in an artificial 
 atmosphere.
 
 54 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 He was naturally inquisitive as to what it was 
 that Cammarleigh had done. Not that he was 
 going to waste his time in trying to find out ; 
 that would be silly. From Cammarleigh's cha- 
 racter it was not easy to gauge whether his guilt 
 were great or small. His was the sort of tempera- 
 ment which would crawl through years of remorse, 
 gathering more and more terrors to itself as it 
 went. Perhaps he was a monomaniac, and had 
 never done anything at all ; and this idea seemed 
 so deliciously humorous that Anthony burst out 
 laughing as his hansom was jammed in a crush near 
 Devonshire House. A painted, patrician dame 
 of advanced middle age, enormously stout, and 
 crowned with a ridiculous golden wig, was roused 
 from her repose of repletion to sit up in her 
 victoria and gaze at him with amazement. Anthony 
 was not in the least confused, but returned her 
 look with a sweet smile, till the interrupted stream 
 of traffic flowed on again. 
 
 As he neared Grosvenor Square he began to 
 debate what line of action he should take if 
 Cammarleigh should be foolish enough to have 
 the door shut in his face. It was a remote con- 
 tingency, for whatever Cammarleigh had done, it 
 had become a sufficiently powerful factor in his 
 conscience to atrophy his will power. As Anthony's 
 hansom drove up, any slight trepidation he may 
 have felt was entirely removed by the obsequious 
 way in which the footman hurried out to take 
 his packages. Anthony grasped at once that he 
 swayed Lord Cammarleigh even more than he had 
 imagined.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 55 
 
 " He is evidently only too anxious that the 
 servants should be civil to me," he reflected. 
 
 The household staff took to him at once, as he 
 had intended they should. He knew to perfection 
 how to combine a certain camaraderie without 
 giving the least encouragement to familiarity. He 
 started at an advantage, for it appeared that his 
 nominal predecessor had not been a favourite, his 
 one aim and object having been to pander to Lord 
 Cammarleigh's passion for economy. As Anthony 
 would not be obliged to consider pounds, shillings, 
 and pence too closely he would shine by com- 
 parison, although he was fully aware that there is 
 no surer means of ruining a house full of inso- 
 lent servants than by allowing unlimited waste. 
 
 " Where is his lordship ? " he asked Gregsbury. 
 
 " His lordship is, I fancy, dressing, sir." 
 
 Anthony did not propose to give the position a 
 false appearance by having a servant of his own ; 
 at the same time, one or two diplomatically 
 worded speeches to Mr. Gregsbury ensured to 
 himself the exclusive service of an intelligent 
 young footman. 
 
 Anthony dressed leisurely and descended to a 
 very comfortable room next to the dining-room, 
 where it was the habit for small parties to assemble 
 before going in to dinner. He found Lord 
 Cammarleigh looking gloomily out of the window. 
 He closed the door gently and went over and 
 stood by him. Cammarleigh took not the least 
 notice, but stared doggedly in front of him. 
 
 " I've rather enjoyed myself," said Anthony, 
 pleasantly ; and, as Cammarleigh remained silent,
 
 56 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 he said, with a faint touch of irritation in his voice, 
 " Why don't you laugh, Cammarleigh ? Do 
 laugh ! " And then, as there was still silence, he 
 continued : " It passes my comprehension how 
 any human being can fail to see the humour of 
 the situation. Come, do laugh ! " 
 
 Cammarleigh gave a hard, mirthless chuckle. 
 
 " It's damned funny, isn't it ! " he said. 
 " Here have I offended the Prime Minister, and 
 I'm sitting down to dinner with a man I don't 
 know from Adam." 
 
 " That's not true," said Anthony. " You do 
 know me from Adam. There's an enormous 
 difference between a fig leaf and a well-cut dress 
 suit." 
 
 Cammarleigh burst into hysterical laughter, 
 loud and prolonged, and finally, exhausted, flung 
 himself into an armchair. At any rate, he had 
 seen the humour of it at last. But Anthony 
 looked at him a little disapprovingly. 
 
 " Don't overdo it." 
 
 Suddenly Cammarleigh sprang to his feet. 
 " Look here, Mr. Brooke, who the devil are 
 you ? If we are seen together, how do I know 
 that people won't recognise you as a thoroughly 
 disreputable character ? " 
 
 "You needn't be afraid," said Anthony. 
 " When I tell you that I have been an actor you 
 know the worst." 
 
 Cammarleigh looked mollified, and they went 
 to dinner. Cammarleigh had very soon, un- 
 doubtedly, taken too much to drink. Anthony 
 had never known what it was to be drunk, and
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 57 
 
 by the time the servants had withdrawn he had 
 Cammarleigh well in hand, and had impressed 
 him with the fact that he was an exceedingly 
 pleasant companion. 
 
 " I'm so glad the ice is broken at last," he 
 said, leaning back and puffing the smoke of an 
 exquisite cigar into the air. " You must try and 
 forget our real relations, and simply look upon 
 yourself as my benefactor. You have a terribly 
 wrong view of life, Cammarleigh ; you are pre- 
 pared to be a pessimist at the least provocation." 
 
 "Life is a pretty gloomy affair, as a rule." 
 
 " I really don't understand it. A man with 
 your wealth is simply asked to live, to expand 
 and you refuse to do so ! " 
 
 " How do you know ? " interrupted Cammar- 
 leigh, a little thickly. 
 
 " Well, you are surely not going to hold that 
 you've ever expanded ? No, and it isn't as though 
 you had any deep philosophical pessimism gnaw- 
 ing at your mind. It surely shows an innate 
 ugliness in human nature to refuse to live in the 
 sunlight when it has the chance. Of course, 
 you're dyspeptic. One can see that at a glance. 
 By the way, I want you to ask your sister, Lady 
 Editha Travers, to meet me." 
 
 Cammarleigh pulled himself together, and 
 said stiffly, his dignity made somewhat ridiculous 
 by the slight suggestion of intoxication 
 
 "My sister and I do not speak. We have 
 had no communication, except through our soli- 
 citors, for some years." 
 
 " Really, Cammarleigh, how you do distort
 
 58 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 and deform life ! Fancy going out of your way 
 to make a quarrel like that ! I am sure it must 
 be your fault." 
 
 "I didn't go out of my way at all," said 
 Cammarleigh, a little surprised to find himself on 
 his defence in such a matter before this youth 
 from nowhere. " My sister behaved extremely 
 badly." 
 
 " You mean that she refused to be robbed." 
 
 " How do you know that I mean, nothing 
 
 of the kind." 
 
 " How long has this quarrel been going on ? " 
 asked Anthony, ignoring Cammarleigh's inter- 
 ruption. 
 
 "About five years," answered Cammarleigh, 
 shortly. " And I don't want to be cross-examined 
 about my family affairs." 
 
 "Ah, I am afraid we can't have life as we 
 want it. The point is, this quarrel must cease." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " You will give a dinner-party at which I shall 
 meet your sister." 
 
 " Certainly not." 
 
 " Or a luncheon-party," said Anthony, con- 
 tinuing his speech as if he had not been interrupted. 
 
 " I shall do nothing of the kind." 
 
 " Cammarleigh ! " said Anthony, wearily. 
 " What is the good of talking like that, when 
 you know perfectly well that you will do as I " 
 he paused and finished considerately, and in a 
 gentle voice " ask you." 
 
 " What do you want to know my sister for ? " 
 
 " That's my affair. She is your nearest female
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 59 
 
 relative, and it's important that she should recog- 
 nise me for your own sake as well as mine." 
 
 " Look here, you are playing a very dangerous 
 game." 
 
 " Do you think so ? I don't. However, 
 there's no need to discuss it further." 
 
 " I don't think so either," said Cammarleigh. 
 
 Anthony laughed and lit another cigar. Cam- 
 marleigh's pertinacity in pretending not to realise 
 that he was going to do as he was told was quite 
 grotesque. 
 
 "Just think," said Anthony. " I shall be able 
 to pay all my debts no, I don't think I shall do 
 that ; I am quite convinced that there is some- 
 thing immoral in paying all one's debts." 
 
 " I always pay mine," said Cammarleigh. 
 
 " I dare say you do. I can't say that I should 
 take you as a moral example. But, as I was say- 
 ing, it is immoral to pay one's debts. It is a 
 thing which grows on one. I once knew a fellow 
 quite young who was induced to begin paying 
 off his debts, and he never stopped till he had 
 finished." 
 
 " I should have thought that was a good 
 thing." 
 
 " It thoroughly demoralised him, and he has 
 lived a hole-and-corner existence ever since." 
 
 " You are talking nonsense." 
 
 " Solvency is a vice of middle age. I think," 
 said Anthony, " it is a pity you have no sense of 
 humour. If you had, we might meet on common 
 ground. Supposing you start a course of reading. 
 You might begin with Dickens. It is elementary."
 
 60 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " I detest Dickens." 
 
 " That is a bad sign. No cultivated intellect 
 really dislikes Dickens. Shall we read Boccaccio 
 together ? " 
 
 Cammarleigh made no reply. 
 
 " If you really want to snub me," said Anthony, 
 " you should raise your eyebrows and say, * You 
 are impertinent.' It is always effective. I think, 
 perhaps," he continued, returning to the subject 
 of Lady Editha, " you had better ask your sister 
 to lunch, when you can tell her how sorry you 
 are for everything you have done, and express a 
 hope that you will be better friends in the future. 
 Yes, a tete-a-tete lunch will be best." 
 
 " I wouldn't be left alone with my sister for 
 the world," snapped Cammarleigh. "We have 
 absolutely nothing in common." 
 
 " Well, of course, if you like, I'll come in to 
 lunch late ; but I thought you would sooner have 
 her to yourself after such a long estrangement. 
 However, it's settled. I think I'll just take a stroll 
 as far as the Serpentine before going to bed." 
 
 But Cammarleigh insisted on accompanying 
 him. He felt safer whilst he had his eye on 
 him.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 So much like a dream did the events of the day 
 before seem to Anthony, that when he woke up 
 the next morning he lay for quite a long time 
 expecting to hear a knock at the door, and Mrs. 
 Leech's voice demanding to know if he had the 
 money to pay for his breakfast. What a pity 
 that such a beautiful dream could not have 
 lasted ! Another long, wretched day lay before 
 him, and with a feeling of profound gloom he 
 just opened his eyes for a moment, and wondered 
 how it was possible for Mrs. Leech to have re- 
 papered the room since the previous morning, 
 reflecting how curious it was that he should not 
 have noticed it when he reached home the night 
 before. Strange that he could not remember 
 where he had spent the evening. Then he 
 opened his eyes with surprise. This was certainly 
 not Mrs. Leech's room, neither were the sheets 
 he was lying between Mrs. Leech's sheets. They 
 brushed against his toes, conveying a pleasant 
 impression of being the best that could be bought. 
 The sensuous, warm light of a summer morning 
 struggled through the sun-blinds, which veiled 
 three large, important-looking windows, and fell 
 across the thick, green carpet, the delicacy and
 
 62 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 sheen of which almost suggested the mossy floor 
 of some woodland dell. 
 
 Anthony sat up and gazed around him. In a 
 flash he remembered all the events of the day 
 before. Viewed by the sober light of early 
 morning, his position appeared most precarious. 
 He looked at the few papers lying on the table 
 by his bedside, and then sorted them hurriedly. 
 Yes, there was undoubtedly the cheque for two 
 hundred and fifty pounds made payable to 
 Anthony Brooke, and signed by Cammarleigh. 
 
 He almost thought that he could hear the 
 tramp of officers of the law on the staircase out- 
 side. At any rate, he felt that the best thing he 
 could do was to get out of the house as quickly 
 as possible with what ready money he had. 
 Whether he should cash the cheque would be a 
 question for future consideration. He looked at 
 his watch the watch which he had taken out of 
 pawn the day before. It was half-past eight. 
 How soundly he must have slept ! The whole 
 household would be awake by now. There was 
 no time to be lost, and he was about to jump 
 out of bed when the door opened, and the 
 man he had singled out for his own personal 
 service entered with a small tray. He set it 
 down by the bedside, and, after asking Anthony 
 quite respectfully how he had slept, took his 
 clothes and went out. 
 
 So far it was evident that Lord Cammarleigh 
 had not sent for the police. His courage returned 
 to him, and he gradually found himself sipping 
 his tea and thinking the matter over, his
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 63 
 
 confidence quite restored. The impossible always 
 seems more impossible in the very early morning. 
 After all, there was no particular reason why 
 Cammarleigh should have recovered his courage. 
 He had shown himself to be of an abject nature 
 indeed ; in fact, Anthony could foresee that such 
 weakness might become a little monotonous. 
 His crime must have been a very serious one 
 to have reduced him to such a state of sub- 
 servience. Anthony felt that he would have to 
 make up his mind to one of two courses : either 
 he must abandon the entire scheme and make a 
 bolt for it, or he must carry it through with a 
 high hand, and without any flinching. He had 
 gathered the previous evening that Cammarleigh 
 seldom rose before ten, and had never been 
 visible to his secretary till half-past. Breakfast 
 was not a meal that Anthony affected. He was 
 of the type that views the morning with a 
 weary eye. Cammarleigh's was eminently the 
 house to suit him, for the servant suggested 
 that he should have breakfast in the small sitting- 
 room which opened out of his bedroom. He 
 took his time, and smoked a cigarette and read a 
 chapter or two of a French novel before sending 
 down to ask if Lord Cammarleigh was ready to 
 see him. He was quite prepared for the servant 
 to return with the message that his lordship 
 did not propose to receive him at all, in which 
 case, of course, he would at once go to him 
 and reduce him to a proper state of submission. 
 It would be very much better that he should take 
 entire control of the household. He could quite
 
 64 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 see that, for all Cammarleigh's niggardly methods, 
 the servants were robbing him right and left. He 
 had no objection to Gregsbury making a comfort- 
 able commission, but he must arrange that things 
 should be done more expeditiously than they were 
 at present. The cook would have to go, for 
 although the dinner the night before had been 
 quite eatable, it was not the work of genius it 
 should have been. Anthony almost suspected 
 that the cook was a woman ; not that it is impos- 
 sible for a woman to cook as well as a man, but 
 very few are able to do so. Anthony was looking 
 ahead. He was determined that the house should 
 be the pleasantest in London, that people should 
 want to come to it, and that it should be known 
 that those who did not please him would not 
 be invited. 
 
 The servant returned with a message that 
 Lord Cammarleigh would see him. His lordship 
 was in bed, but he would be glad if Mr. Brooke 
 would go to his room. 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh's bedroom was darkened 
 by heavy sun-blinds. There was a huge bed in 
 one corner of the room, and out of a foamy sea of 
 sheets peered Cammarleigh's face, cadaverous and 
 haunted. He looked like the nightmare of a 
 decadent artist. He had evidently spent a sleep- 
 less night with his secret. He fixed his eyes upon 
 Anthony with a gaze of terrified inquiry as he 
 entered the room. His lordship's valet closed the 
 door and left them together. Cammarleigh 
 waited with a curious look of apprehension for 
 Anthony to speak.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 65 
 
 " I am afraid you have had a bad night," 
 Anthony said, in a voice which his hearer 
 found very restful. 
 
 Cammarleigh sank back. This young man 
 with the pleasant voice and ingratiating smile was 
 certainly the most original villain imaginable. 
 
 " Why, you haven't opened your letters yet," 
 said Anthony. He seated himself by the table at 
 the bedside. " I know what it is. Since you 
 woke up you have been working yourself into a 
 positive state of fever about me, wondering what 
 it would be like to meet me after all that 
 happened yesterday." 
 
 " As you are here, I suppose I shall have to 
 put up with you," said Cammarleigh, with a 
 short, hard laugh. 
 
 " Exactly. Then why worry ? Shall I open 
 your letters ? I can just read you the signatures, 
 and then you can judge whether you want to hear 
 what the people have got to say." 
 
 Cammarleigh was somewhat astonished to find 
 that Anthony really contemplated performing the 
 duties of a secretary. Whether it was merely 
 that he did so in order to have a firmer grasp 
 over his doings he could not say, but, at any rate, 
 it would give the situation an air of respectability 
 before the servants. 
 
 Anthony opened one or two letters, and as 
 Cammarleigh was unacquainted with the signatures 
 he read them out. 
 
 "Here are two people so ignorant of your 
 character, Cammarleigh, that they have actually 
 wasted time and, to them, valuable notepaper, not
 
 66 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 to speak of a penny stamp, in writing you begging 
 letters." 
 
 Cammarleigh chuckled. The idea amused 
 him. 
 
 " I believe in the organisation of charity," 
 he said. 
 
 "You would," said Anthony, tartly. 
 " Philanthropy in most cases means the manu- 
 facture of paupers." 
 
 " Oh yes, we all interpret the command to 
 love our fellow-creatures in our own way. There 
 is a rough justice in killing out the surplus popula- 
 tion. The command is, { Little children, love one 
 another.' I suppose your reply at the Judgment 
 Day will be that in bringing home to the poor the 
 inexorable logic of facts you were doing them the 
 greatest kindness and the beauty of it is that 
 such a creed eliminates sacrifice." 
 
 Cammarleigh felt that it was a little trying to 
 be lectured in this way by a blackmailer. 
 
 Anthony tore up the letters and dropped 
 them into the wastepaper basket. 
 
 " Here is a letter from your sister, Lady 
 Editha." 
 
 " What does she say ? " 
 
 " Do you really think I had better read it ? " 
 asked Anthony, deprecatingly. 
 
 " It doesn't matter I know perfectly what 
 is in it. She threatens to involve me in another 
 law case if I don't do exactly as she wants, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 Anthony glanced over the letter. " Yes, that 
 is what she says."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 67 
 
 " Tear it up." 
 
 " No, I think we'll keep it, and then we can 
 discuss it later on." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " Cammarleigh sat 
 up in bed angrily. 
 
 " I will explain later." And Anthony went 
 on opening the correspondence. " * Your affec- 
 tionate nephew, Tolly.' I shouldn't have thought 
 you had such a thing." 
 
 " I have three nephews," said Cammarleigh, 
 stiffly. 
 
 " I was referring to the adjective." 
 
 " What does he want ? " snapped Cammar- 
 leigh. 
 
 " I notice that he is at Eton," said Anthony, 
 looking at the address. 
 
 " As his father is always complaining of 
 poverty, he ought to be at a Board School." 
 
 " You surely don't want to educate the boy, 
 do you ? " 
 
 " I don't like that sort of joke," said Cam- 
 marleigh ; " it's old-fashioned." 
 
 " I am bound to admit that it has the atmo- 
 sphere of a more trivial and delightful day than 
 our own. Now, I will read you what Tolly has 
 to say." 
 
 " I don't want to hear." 
 
 " I know nothing which more denotes a hard 
 nature than the refusal to listen when children are 
 talking." He began to read the letter. " { My 
 dear Uncle, I am in the most dreadful trouble. 
 I owe ten pounds to a boy in this house which 
 I have lost at Bridge. It is all a dreadful muddle,
 
 68 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 as we are not supposed to play cards at all. 
 Would you mind lending it to me till I am 21 ? 
 Please don't tell Mamma, as she says that if any 
 of us ever asked you for anything she would die 
 of shame. It is all a dreadful muddle.' ' 
 
 " Send it to his mother, and write a note to 
 his house-master and tell him he's keeping a 
 gambling hell," said Cammarleigh. 
 
 Anthony paused for a moment. He could 
 hardly trust himself to speak. There should be 
 limits even to Cammarleigh's brutality. 
 
 "Personally," he said at last, "I consider it 
 one of the most pathetic appeals I have ever 
 listened to. We will send Tolly fifteen pounds." 
 " You will do nothing of the sort." 
 " With a letter," continued Anthony, " to say 
 that he is never to be shy about writing to you in 
 his troubles, and that you consider it very unkind 
 of his Mamma to say such bitter things about 
 you." 
 
 " Do you know where that sort of thing leads 
 to ? " said Cammarleigh, looking at Anthony 
 furiously. " It will lead to my having the entire 
 family on my hands." 
 
 " And why shouldn't you ? You're the head 
 of the house." 
 
 " The only way the head of a house can keep 
 itself above water, is by holding the family at 
 arm's length." 
 
 "At any rate, I shall send Tolly fifteen 
 pounds." 
 
 " I would very much sooner conduct my own 
 correspondence. "
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 69 
 
 " I shouldn't think of allowing you to do 
 anything so undignified. Besides, what would 
 the household say ? I must have some plausible 
 excuse for being here." 
 
 " There will soon be no household to say 
 anything, if you have your way." 
 
 " Nonsense. You have yet to learn what an 
 excellent business man I am." 
 
 " I have already found that out to my 
 cost." 
 
 Cammarleigh had taken the remainder of 
 the letters and was opening them feverishly. 
 Anthony made no comment on their having 
 been taken out of his hands, at which Cam- 
 marleigh was inwardly surprised. 
 
 He listened with the greatest attention to 
 Cammarleigh's disjointed exclamations, expressive 
 of the annoyance and disgust with which his 
 correspondence seemed to fill him. He took up 
 the letters as they were thrown down, suggesting 
 answers which were almost invariably greeted as 
 inspirations. He pencilled the pith of what he 
 had to say on the margins, and by the time they 
 were all read Cammarleigh found himself discuss- 
 ing a great deal of his business most amicably. 
 On the question of one or two bills which he 
 considered exorbitant, he left the matter entirely 
 in Anthony's hands. When his new secretary 
 left the room, bearing his papers with him, he 
 was compelled to confess that he was a decided 
 improvement on his predecessor, who had never 
 dared to have an opinion of his own, and who 
 always left him feeling hopelessly confused. It
 
 70 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 had been quite pleasing to hear Anthony state, 
 with absolute assurance, the amount that he 
 intended to have taken off the disputed bills. 
 
 Anthony then went and seated himself in state 
 in the room where he intended to transact his 
 business, and sent for Mr. Gregsbury. When 
 that exalted functionary appeared, after a some- 
 what lengthy interval, Anthony desired him to 
 bring to him as expeditiously as possible the 
 house-keeping books. Mr. Gregsbury looked a 
 little surprised, and murmured something about 
 it being the custom for the secretary to see them 
 once a month, pointing out that the end of the 
 month was still some way off. 
 
 " I dare say," said Anthony ; " but at the 
 same time I think I should like to know exactly 
 on what lines this house is run. You see, Lord 
 Cammarleigh tells me that I am entirely respon- 
 sible. Indeed, his lordship has put it so very 
 definitely that I feel quite nervous." 
 
 "You will find them very confusing, sir, 
 taken in the middle of the month like this." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. I've got a wonderful 
 head for figures." 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury went off with rather a red face 
 to bring the books. 
 
 " Looks as though he might want to share the 
 commissions," he muttered to himself as he 
 descended to his sanctum. The third footman 
 meeting him on the way was so terrified by the 
 unusual sternness of his eye that he let fall a tray 
 full of flower vases. 
 
 Anthony, left alone, leant back luxuriously
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 71 
 
 and plunged his hands in his pockets, inhaling his 
 cigarette with enjoyment. 
 
 " I always knew," he murmured to himself, 
 " that I was meant for power. I can feel things 
 going in this house with absolute smoothness, 
 when once I have my finger on all the stops. I 
 expect Mr. Gregsbury has secured quite an 
 amount of small house property in Fulham out 
 of his depredations." 
 
 When Gregsbury returned he bore with him 
 a most imposing pile of tradesmen's books. 
 
 "As I thought," reflected Anthony, "Mr. 
 Gregsbury has been in the habit of receiving a 
 perfect budget of commissions." 
 
 Gregsbury put the books on the table and 
 stood waiting. He would have liked to know 
 why it was that he found it impossible to dislike 
 the new secretary. 
 
 " I see," said Anthony. He touched the pile 
 of books lightly with the tips of his fingers. 
 " This sort of thing means that Lord Cammarleigh 
 has been paying double for everything. For the 
 future we shall deal with one large firm who 
 will receive a monthly order, supplemented by 
 smaller weekly orders. It will be so much easier 
 for you, Gregsbury," he said sweetly. " You 
 won't have all these dreadful books to bother 
 about." 
 
 With immense effort Gregsbury restrained 
 himself from giving notice on the spot. 
 
 " Of course," continued Anthony, <f there will 
 be some things that one will have to get from the 
 smaller people."
 
 72 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury inclined his head. He could 
 not trust himself to speak. 
 
 " I have no doubt you will find it a relief to 
 be freed from the worry of all these little people." 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury bowed again. 
 
 " And there will only be one telephone 
 number to remember." 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury gulped. " It does seem a 
 a little hard, sir, on the smaller tradesmen." 
 
 " It is, Gregsbury, very hard indeed ; but it 
 is the great syndicate system, you know, which 
 is crushing out all individualism. It is the old 
 feudal system under another name. It's the first 
 step in the reversion to a state of tyranny ; but 
 you must remember, my dear Gregsbury, that in 
 this country you must buy cheap. It is the 
 supreme test of an Englishman's sanity, and not 
 to buy cheap is the lowest form of irreligion. 
 Never mind what you get, but buy cheap." 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury, quite impressed at finding 
 himself, as he imagined, taken seriously in an 
 argument on political economy, bowed again. 
 
 " We will pay all these people off at the end 
 of the week." 
 
 " Wouldn't it be as well to wait till the end 
 of the month, sir ? " 
 
 " What, and lose the profits we should make 
 on a change of procedure ? Oh, Gregsbury, that 
 would be very unbusinesslike ! " 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury took his disgusted feelings 
 downstairs. 
 
 " A pity I didn't think of dealing with Black- 
 ley's myself," he ruminated disconsolately. " I
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 73 
 
 dare say it would have paid me just as well in the 
 end. We poor servants don't stand a chance 
 when we knock up against education. There's 
 something funny about this Mr. Brooke, though. 
 Seems as if he had dropped into the house instead 
 of walking into it. First he wasn't here, and then 
 all of a sudden he was." 
 
 Anthony knew perfectly well that Gregsbury 
 only regarded him as a cleverer swindler than him- 
 self, who was determined to secure the maximum 
 of commission with the minimum of risk. He 
 did not object to Mr. Gregsbury's point of view. 
 He knew that if his conduct were put down to 
 honest officiousness it would meet with no respect, 
 whereas if it were looked upon in the light of 
 more cultured fraud he would be considered a 
 person with whom it would be dangerous to trifle. 
 There is something in the breed of servants 
 which makes them abject when properly mastered. 
 They recognised in Anthony, elegant, apparently 
 indolent, with a voice which was always musical 
 even when it denoted most thoroughly that he 
 intended to have his own way, a master whom it 
 was impossible to get the better of. Cammar- 
 leigh's petulance was the sort of thing which they 
 had been trained to surmount. They allowed 
 him to think that he was having his own way. 
 
 To their immense surprise all wages were 
 raised. As a matter of fact, this was the very 
 acme of policy, for Anthony discovered that 
 Cammarleigh was under the impression that so 
 long as he was getting his servants a trifle below 
 the market price he was economising. He was
 
 74 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 determined that things should work smoothly, 
 and had it been possible to instil such a thing as 
 esprit de corps into the mind of the domestic 
 servant he would have done so. 
 
 Cammarleigh grumbled loudly at the salary 
 which Anthony insisted on paying the new chef. 
 
 " You have been eating dinners," answered 
 Anthony, " with a distinctly South Kensington 
 flavour the sort of thing people do not expect 
 to find west of Knightsbridge and for a man who 
 has political ambitions it is suicidal." 
 
 " Who says that I have political ambitions ? " 
 
 " Why, you know very well that it is one of 
 the greatest griefs of your life that you have never 
 been asked to join the Cabinet. Now, with a 
 really good chef it might be possible." 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't talk so extravagantly," 
 said Cammarleigh. " It's a bad habit." 
 
 " You think I talk extravagantly," said 
 Anthony, " because for the first time you are 
 being taught to give trifles their due weight. To 
 measure the real importance of anything is most 
 difficult. A murder may very often be quite 
 unimportant. A missed opportunity for offering 
 an Ambassador a really good cigar may affect the 
 fate of nations. Oh, if people would only grasp," 
 he continued, almost passionately, " what a won- 
 derful paradox the psychology of the universe is ! 
 It is a sad thing, Cammarleigh, that you are like 
 the rest of the world you only deal in the two 
 primitives, white and black." 
 
 Cammarleigh had quite given up the attempt 
 to suppress what he felt to be Anthony's
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 75 
 
 extraordinary intelligence by asserting himself as a 
 person of extreme social consideration. Anthony 
 had the most unexpected way of at once ignoring 
 and recognising it. 
 
 " Really," Cammarleigh had said, on one 
 occasion, "you talk to me as if I were years 
 younger than you." 
 
 "Has it ever struck you to suppose," said 
 Anthony, opening his eyes in surprise, " that you 
 are as old as I am ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Have you ever heard of reincarnation ? It's 
 the sort of thing believed in by women with short 
 hair and ready-made skirts, who will tell you, 
 without a trace of humour, that they are Apollo 
 or Adonis come to life again. Perhaps, how- 
 ever," he continued, reflectively, " there may 
 be something in it. It is possible that those 
 beautiful beings were so surfeited with the sweet- 
 ness of their own physical perfection that they 
 decided to give up anything in the nature of 
 beauty and become reincarnated as intellectual 
 women." 
 
 "But what has all that got to do with your 
 ridiculous remark about being older than I am ? " 
 asked Cammarleigh. 
 
 " Why, don't you see, I started my incar- 
 nations a great deal sooner than you did. The 
 actual age of one's present body has got nothing 
 to do with one's real age." 
 
 Cammarleigh looked vacant. It sounded 
 rather like a puzzle which represented the high- 
 water mark of after-dinner wit of a certain bishop
 
 76 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 who was a cousin of his, and which had some- 
 thing to do with a herring and a half. He was 
 prepared to believe that Anthony was a thousand. 
 He had never met anybody with such an amazing 
 instinct for the facts of life. He had more than 
 once expressed astonishment that Anthony should 
 not have made a fortune long ere they met. 
 
 " That is very easily explained," Anthony had 
 said. " I have never had the mind of a huckster. 
 I have always wanted a lever. Great minds deal 
 in great opportunities. It is absurd to suppose 
 that Napoleon would necessarily have been great 
 without the French Revolution. My genius 
 consists " 
 
 " That will do," said Cammarleigh, hurriedly. 
 
 Anthony bowed courteously. He always 
 apologised at once when he found himself refer- 
 ring unnecessarily to the details of their rela- 
 tionship. 
 
 Cammarleigh ate the dinners which Anthony 
 ordered, and was fain to admit that his digestion 
 improved hourly. 
 
 Perhaps one of their greatest differences was 
 on the subject of Anthony's clothes. Cammar- 
 leigh said that he over-dressed, and hinted that 
 his Bohemian training was responsible. 
 
 " If you mean," said Anthony, " that I wear 
 clothes which attract attention you are right. 
 The dictum that a gentleman is well dressed 
 when you don't notice what he has on is absurd. 
 You cannot write down all the great dandies such 
 as Brummel, Beau Nash, Disraeli, and D'Orsay 
 as not being gentlemen."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 77 
 
 " Times have changed. A gentleman is 
 anxious to avoid observation nowadays." 
 
 " Not if he is as beautiful as I am," said 
 Anthony, audaciously. " My dear Cammarleigh, 
 you may be perfectly certain that even in the days 
 of the dandies the majority of men cried out 
 against them because they knew that their own 
 figures would not stand experiments." 
 
 " That greatcoat you wore last night had a 
 skirt, and the waist looked as though you were 
 wearing corsets." 
 
 " That is just it. I wasn't wearing corsets, 
 but my imitators will have to." 
 
 Cammarleigh rose to his feet angrily. " Your 
 egotism is simply nauseous." 
 
 Anthony flushed. " Don't associate me with 
 horrid words. It's the one thing that annoys me." 
 
 " I am compelled to listen to your singing of 
 your own praises all day long." 
 
 "You don't expect me to sing your praises, 
 do you, Cammarleigh ? People who have a gift 
 of song should sing of those things about which 
 they feel most strongly." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Cammarleigh, snappishly ; 
 " you might sing in the minor now and then, so 
 that you could put in something about your 
 shortcomings." 
 
 " One of these days I shall write my biography," 
 said Anthony. " The real autobiography has yet 
 to be written ; in fact, the autobiographical genius 
 has yet to arrive." 
 
 " I fancy that Jean Jacques was something of 
 a genius."
 
 78 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Either Jean Jacques concealed all that one 
 wanted to know, or he was a very dull person. 
 Benvenuto Cellini is much more interesting, 
 because one knows when he is lying, and he is 
 picturesque, which Jean Jacques Rousseau never 
 was. Besides, there is no concealment when 
 Cellini is talking about other people." 
 
 Irritating as Anthony could be in private, 
 Cammarleigh was compelled to admit that his 
 manner towards him in public left nothing what- 
 ever to be desired, and if his clothes were some- 
 what outrageous for a private secretary, his tact 
 and savoirfaire seemed to conciliate everybody. 
 
 Although Anthony was too busy to be intro- 
 spective or analytical, he sometimes wondered why 
 it was that his conspicuous ability in dealing with 
 people had not stood him in better stead in his 
 profession, till he remembered the old saying that 
 you must first learn to obey before you can com- 
 mand. He had always firmly held that by con- 
 tradicting all proverbs the problem of life was apt 
 to grow clearer. There can be nothing more 
 absurd than to assert that good masters will make 
 good servants, any more than that good servants 
 will make good masters. A sense of justice is 
 useful to a master, but a servant might very 
 possibly be happier without it.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 LADY EDITHA TRAVERS was never more sur- 
 prised than when she received the following 
 note from her brother. 
 
 " MY DEAR EDITHA, 
 
 " I am keenly desirous of ending our 
 long estrangement. As the years roll on I do not 
 get any younger " Anthony and Cammarleigh 
 had had a violent wrangle over this statement 
 "and I am beginning to feel somewhat lonely. 
 Will you lunch with me quite quietly on Wednes- 
 day ? I shall be by myself, although my secretary 
 an exceedingly charming young man " Cam- 
 marleigh had objected to this, so Anthony had 
 added " and distinctly intellectual and good 
 company, may join us afterwards. I should like 
 you to know him. 
 
 " Your affectionate brother, 
 
 " PERCY." 
 
 It must be admitted that it was a slight error 
 in policy for Anthony's name to be mentioned at 
 all in the letter, but even Anthony's finesse failed 
 him sometimes. 
 
 Lady Editha passed the note to her daughter
 
 8o LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Sybil, a girl barely eighteen, not yet out, and of 
 a quite fairy-like beauty. 
 
 Sybil looked it through carefully, and a smile 
 rippled over her delicately beautiful little face. 
 
 " I wonder what he wants, mamma ? " 
 
 " Exactly what I wondered, my dear. Your 
 grandfather always used to say that Cammarleigh 
 had the mind of a man who might have been 
 expected to make a competence out of groceries." 
 
 " He's my godfather," said Sybil, " and he's 
 never given me anything." 
 
 Lady Editha looked thoughtful. " I shouldn't 
 wonder if that had something to do with his 
 quarrelling with me. It never struck me before." 
 
 " It has often struck me," said Sybil. 
 
 " But then, you are so much more worldly- 
 wise than I am, dear." This remark addressed 
 by Lady Editha, forty years of age, and handsome 
 in a commanding way, to the glittering morsel of 
 human loveliness before her, sounded almost 
 ridiculous, but it showed her appreciation of her 
 daughter's character. Sybil Travers was one of 
 those feminine natures which seem to have been 
 born on the alert ; not that her manner suggested 
 a distrustful or cynical mind, for she appeared all 
 life and joyousness. A cousin of hers at Eton, 
 in writing her a love-letter had begun it with the 
 words, " You little Duck ! " and he had hit her 
 off to perfection. It was the impression she 
 invariably conveyed to the masculine mind. She 
 had an extraordinary gift for carrying mirth 
 wherever she went, and as a consequence of being 
 an antidote to the most profound boredom she
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 81 
 
 was already enormously popular, although she 
 had only been visible in the transition stage 
 between schoolroom and ballroom. Somebody 
 once described her as a pocket Venus, which was 
 quite absurd, for it would not seem right to talk 
 of Venus as sparkling, and Sybil Travers was 
 nothing if not sparkling. 
 
 " Perhaps, after all," said Lady Editha, " the 
 cravings of natural affection " 
 
 " Don't be silly, mamma. You know per- 
 fectly well there's nothing natural about Uncle 
 Percy. But still, he must save a great deal of 
 money and I've never had a chance of showing 
 him how fascinating I am." 
 
 " You were a beautiful child, but he never took 
 the least notice of you." 
 
 " Have you any natural affection for Uncle 
 Percy, mamma ? " 
 
 " Well, after all, he's my brother." 
 
 " You mean that if he hadn't been you might 
 not have disliked him so much." 
 
 " Perhaps. Your father hated him." 
 
 " What on earth does he want us to meet his 
 secretary for ? " 
 
 " He used to have quite a mania for secretaries ; 
 the way they came and went made one positively 
 dizzy, but in those days he always kept them in 
 the background." 
 
 " Well, are we to go, mamma ? For of course 
 I shall go with you." 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure." 
 
 Sybil's smooth brow puckered with thought. 
 " I think, mamma, I should have a clear 
 
 G
 
 82 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 understanding on that little matter of business 
 first." 
 
 " What a clever girl you are, Sybil ! I had 
 forgotten all about it. You are quite right. I 
 shouldn't wonder if Percy had some idea in his 
 head of behaving even worse than he has done. 
 Of course, the whole thing is quite clear ; that's 
 what he means. I'll write at once. Come and 
 tell me what to say." 
 
 When the letter arrived Cammarleigh was 
 triumphant. 
 
 " There ! You see it's quite impossible." 
 
 Anthony read the letter, and said gently, 
 " You must have behaved pretty badly for your 
 sister to have written you a letter like this. How- 
 ever, it appears there is no other way you'll have 
 to give in." 
 
 "I shall do nothing of the kind." 
 
 " Oh, but you'll have to, as your sister abso- 
 lutely declines to come here unless you do." 
 
 " She can stop away." 
 
 " That is just what she can't do, because I want 
 her to come." 
 
 " Do you think I'm going to throw all that 
 money away for a whim of yours ? " 
 
 " It's not a whim. I have my future to 
 think of." 
 
 "Your future has nothing whatever to do 
 with it." 
 
 Anthony yawned. " Really, Cammarleigh, you 
 are as obstinate as a child of two." 
 
 " Look here," said Cammarleigh, rising to his 
 feet. " For three weeks I have been your
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 83 
 
 slave ; you have poisoned every hour of my 
 existence." 
 
 " Come now," interrupted Anthony, " don't 
 be silly. We have had some very good times 
 together. You have never laughed so often and 
 so much in your life." 
 
 " That is because I try to forget." 
 
 " Cammarleigh, don't be melodramatic." 
 
 But Cammarleigh had grown reckless. " Here 
 you are," he said, " living in my house, a perfect 
 stranger to me, everybody at your beck and call, 
 having drawn on me for thousands of pounds " 
 
 " One can't live without money," interrupted 
 Anthony, easily. " I know I've tried the ex- 
 periment." 
 
 " Most of which I believe you've put in the 
 bank for upon my soul I seem to pay for every- 
 thing. And you may be the son of a damned 
 cook for all I know ! " 
 
 "Oh, come, come, your instinct teaches you 
 better than that," said Anthony, gently. 
 
 " Go to the devil ! " screamed Cammarleigh. 
 
 Anthony walked to the window and looked 
 out. 
 
 <c Singular the amount of leisure the police 
 seem to have," he said, as he went on to the 
 balcony. 
 
 " Come back ! " Cammarleigh's voice was 
 hoarse. 
 
 " Are you going to do as your sister asks ? " 
 
 Cammarleigh looked at him nervously. 
 
 " What's that you've got in your hand ? " 
 
 " This ? Oh, it's a whistle."
 
 84 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 What is it for ? " 
 " It's a police whistle." 
 
 Cammarleigh blanched. " I don't under- 
 stand." 
 
 " You don't expect me to ruin my voice by 
 shouting for the police, do you ? I've been making 
 quite a study of police whistles lately. There's a 
 man on point duty at the corner of the square who 
 has been teaching me." 
 
 Cammarleigh was completely cowed. 
 
 " I'll show you," said Anthony, and put the 
 whistle to his lips. 
 
 "My God! Don't do that! They might 
 rush in." 
 
 " So they might," said Anthony. " I quite 
 forgot that. I must be more careful, because if 
 they came in I should have to give them a reason. 
 Now, would you mind explaining exactly what it 
 was you and your sister quarrelled about ? " 
 
 Cammarleigh commenced a long, rambling 
 statement. Anthony cut him short after the first 
 few sentences. 
 
 " Oh, I quite see. You tried to do her out of 
 a thousand a year. Cammarleigh, when shall I 
 teach you to run straight ? " 
 
 " You are hardly the person to try," chuckled 
 Cammarleigh, feeling that he had got one in at 
 last. 
 
 "You think that accounts for my failure ? 
 Well, perhaps. If I were you I should write and 
 ask your sister to appoint a day to meet you at 
 your lawyer's." 
 
 Cammarleigh moaned.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 85 
 
 " Don't go on in that silly way, Cammarleigh. 
 You are behaving just as if you hadn't got eighty 
 thousand a year." 
 
 " If I were to do this sort of thing eighty times 
 it's just what I shouldn't have." 
 
 " Nobody wants you to do it eighty times. 
 Even the Bible only stipulates for seventy times 
 seven." 
 
 " Don't be irreverent it's bad taste." 
 "A point on which people with guilty con- 
 sciences are very sensitive," answered Anthony. 
 " They believe in the Lord of Evil even if they 
 think it convenient to forget the other side of the 
 question." 
 
 Lady Editha replied in quite an affectionate 
 strain, saying that nobody had deplored more than 
 herself the unhappy difference of opinion in the 
 family, but that before consenting to a meeting 
 she must have it clearly laid down that all arrears 
 should be paid up. No one would have suspected 
 that this eminently practical stroke of business was 
 suggested by her daughter. 
 
 Cammarleigh on reading this letter threw it 
 over to Anthony, and remarked, in a tone of 
 studied carelessness, that that was the end of the 
 matter, as it was evidently impossible to conciliate 
 people who refused to listen to reason. 
 
 " On the contrary," said Anthony, " I think 
 your sister's is a very reasonable request. You 
 would hardly like to feel that you had done her 
 out of a lump sum of money." 
 
 Cammarleigh began to rave and bluster. 
 He knew his sister, and did his best to wriggle
 
 86 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 out of inviting her to his house, but Anthony, 
 who had by this time made himself acquainted 
 with Cammarleigh's family history, knew that 
 it was essential, if he hoped to make Cammarleigh 
 a social lever, that he should be on terms of 
 friendship with his relations as quickly as possible. 
 
 Smiled on by Lady Editha, this would be easy 
 to get on terms with the rest of Cammarleigh's 
 relations. 
 
 Cammarleigh was compelled, therefore, to 
 make an appointment at his solicitor's, and 
 Anthony posted the letter himself. 
 
 " Think what an excellent impression you are 
 making on your sister and your niece. I am 
 quite sure that when they see you they will 
 declare that you are much softened." 
 
 " I hardly know my niece." 
 
 " Well, your sister will say so. The imagina- 
 tion is exceedingly prompt to respond to financial 
 suggestion."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LADY EDITHA and Sybil came to lunch. 
 
 Cammarleigh, who quite dreaded the strain of 
 being left alone with them, implored Anthony to 
 make one of the party. 
 
 " I said I would come in later," replied 
 Anthony. 
 
 "That would look silly. I would much 
 prefer you to be with us from the beginning." 
 
 "Well, as I am very anxious to oblige you 
 whenever possible, I will do so." 
 
 " Can't think what you want them here 
 for." 
 
 " Because I am determined to be on good 
 terms with all your relations." 
 
 "Once you get women in the house you 
 never get them out again and that's more espe- 
 cially the case with one's relations." 
 
 " You had better say nice things about me to 
 your sister ; it will save you a great deal of trouble 
 afterwards." 
 
 " Who am I to say you are ? " 
 
 " Your secretary." 
 
 " Yes, but even a secretary must come from 
 somewhere." 
 
 " It's not necessary ; but let me think. I
 
 88 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 haven't any near relations at least, not relations 
 that I should care to quote." 
 
 " Who was your father ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, I had a father, and I was very fond 
 of him. He was a clergyman. Let me see ; he 
 would be about your age. I suppose you are 
 between forty-five and fifty, aren't you ? " 
 
 " Never mind my age." 
 
 " Well, you were at Oxford with my father. 
 Yes, I think that's about the best thing you can 
 say. It may be quite true. By the way, what 
 did your sister say to you at the lawyer's ? " 
 
 " Nothing. I didn't see her. I was too 
 early, and she was too late, so I signed and came 
 away." 
 
 " I am glad to see," said Anthony, approvingly, 
 "that you are getting into the way of making 
 your explanations sufficiently elaborate ; it saves 
 cross-examination." 
 
 Cammarleigh, thanks to Anthony, could not 
 complain that the luncheon-party suffered from 
 any constraint. Without appearing to be pre- 
 suming, he set the others at their ease. Lady 
 Editha looked a little surprised when her brother 
 called him "Tony," which Cammarleigh did in 
 quite a successful way, just as if it were his own 
 idea. 
 
 " It'll look as if you have taken a great fancy 
 to me," Anthony had said. 
 
 " But I haven't," snapped his lordship. 
 
 " Oh yes, you have." 
 
 But whether he had or not, he addressed 
 Anthony quite affectionately.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 89 
 
 Sybil looked at her uncle curiously. Some- 
 how it didn't sound convincing. Cammarleigh 
 was not the sort of man who would be likely to 
 address a dependant by his diminutive. 
 
 Lady Editha, who would have preserved her 
 beauty better had she shown a wise discretion as 
 to what she considered necessary for its sustenance, 
 remarked on the excellence of the lunch. Anthony 
 had taken the greatest pains over it, since he had 
 heard Cammarleigh say, h propos of his sister, that 
 he didn't mind a man who thought too much of 
 his meals, but that in a woman it was unpleasant. 
 
 Before Cammarleigh could take Lady Editha's 
 compliment to himself, Anthony interposed. 
 
 " I assure you, Lady Editha, this menu is an 
 intellectual effort. Lord Cammarleigh says that 
 I have a gastronomical genius." 
 
 " Don't you think that sounds a little heavy ? " 
 said Sybil. 
 
 "On the contrary," explained Anthony, "it 
 implies a fastidiousness which reduces feeding to 
 its simplest. I quite sympathise with the cook 
 who could never compose a new dish unless he 
 was inspired by Chopin's nocturnes ; he under- 
 stood the true relation of the arts." 
 
 Anthony was wise enough to address himself 
 almost entirely to Lady Editha, though Sybil had, 
 directly she entered the room, stirred him almost 
 fiercely. Previous to their arrival, he had deter- 
 mined that Lady Editha and her daughter should 
 go away with a mutual agreement that he was a 
 very charming young man. Before he saw Sybil 
 he had been perfectly confident of his power to
 
 90 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 convince them of this ; but even such audacity as 
 Anthony's loses a little of its confidence when it 
 takes into account the risks of love. Anthony 
 was a perfect slave to love at first sight. He 
 knew at once that he loved Sybil with an almost 
 terrible passion, and, inasmuch as all real roman- 
 ticists are old in experience as lovers at twenty- 
 three, Anthony realised immediately the dangers 
 of such an emotion at this crisis. It might upset 
 his nerve. A grand passion is terribly demo- 
 ralising to a career ; men who marry for love 
 can seldom be counted amongst the sane for a 
 period of two years. Then they crawl back to 
 their fellow-men tired and ashamed. Courage, 
 moral or immoral, Anthony had never lacked, and 
 the complete success he had achieved with Cam- 
 marleigh had strengthened this quality. His 
 swift-flying imagination already saw himself as the 
 husband of Sybil Travers. 
 
 " What a delicious couple we should be ! " 
 he reflected. "There are so few picturesque 
 marriages that we should be almost unique. 
 Married people become well, married people, as 
 soon as they are married, and I am sure that 
 neither she nor I would ever be that." 
 
 He felt not only that the lunch was good, but 
 that he was at his best, and was saying just the 
 sort of things which would please her, although 
 ostensibly addressed to her mother. There is 
 nothing so stimulating to the conversation of a 
 born talker as the accompaniment of an under- 
 current of pleasurable emotion and Anthony was 
 singing inwardly of her beauty. He had the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 91 
 
 greatest difficulty in keeping within those limits 
 which even the most original private secretary- 
 must observe, for to go beyond them might have 
 jarred. 
 
 Lady Editha did not understand a great deal 
 that he said, but he spoke as one having the 
 authority of humour and wisdom. By the time 
 coffee was reached she had asked him to come 
 and see her. 
 
 "You play Bridge, of course ?" 
 
 " It's impossible to avoid it." 
 
 "Ah, that means that you play exceedingly 
 well." 
 
 " Bridge is a factor in the British constitution, 
 isn't it ? " laughed Anthony. 
 
 "There was a man in town last season who 
 didn't play, and he used to make one quite melan- 
 choly ; he seemed so much alone." 
 
 Anthony had fully grasped Lady Editha's 
 character. A fading beauty, she was mentally too 
 negative to appreciate the fact of her decay, and 
 was contentedly replacing admiration and flattery 
 with cards and good living. She was one of those 
 fortunate, or unfortunate, people, according to the 
 point of view from which it is looked at, who 
 appear to view the passing of their youth without 
 a pang. 
 
 " We generally play Bridge on wet afternoons. 
 The telephone makes such a difference to life, 
 doesn't it ? Without going to the trouble of 
 inviting people and then finding that you want to 
 go somewhere else, you ring up everybody you 
 know till you've made a party."
 
 92 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Mamma had quite an adventure with the 
 telephone the other day," said Sybil, mis- 
 chievously. 
 
 " It shows immense taste on the part of the 
 telephone," said Anthony, with a little wave of 
 the hand, a peculiarity of his, with which he was 
 in the habit of introducing remarks of not quite 
 first-rate excellence. It was truly amazing how it 
 helped them through. 
 
 " It all arose from the stupidity of their 
 arrangements," said Lady Editha, fretfully. 
 "Whenever I rang them up, the girls at the 
 other end were always talking to somebody called 
 May, so I sent for an inspector and complained, 
 and it turned out that May was short for Mayfair." 
 
 Cammarleigh looked severe. " You always 
 had a tendency to think yourself injured without 
 cause, Editha," he said. 
 
 This was very tactless, and Anthony began to 
 see what a very unpleasant companion he must 
 have been as a boy. 
 
 Sybil looked mischievous, and cast her eyes 
 demurely on her plate. Anthony privately deter- 
 mined that if Cammarleigh did it again he would 
 show him the whistle. Lady Editha pretended 
 not to notice the allusion to their cause of quarrel, 
 but began hurriedly to talk about a sale she and 
 Sybil had recently attended. 
 
 " Sybil hates sales." 
 
 " Because," said her daughter, " mamma 
 always gets one thing she wants to a hundred she 
 doesn't want." 
 
 " Oh, my dear Sybil, how can you talk such
 
 93 
 
 nonsense ! My last Court dress was made up 
 entirely of things bought at sales." 
 
 " Yes, mamma, and we estimated that it cost 
 you exactly half as much again as if you had gone 
 to your own dressmaker. Besides, there's some- 
 thing degrading about a sale." She rippled into 
 a smile of enjoyment. "The last sale we went to 
 mamma took off her hat to try on a great bargain, 
 and the next thing we saw was somebody haggling 
 over it with the shop-girl who was attempting to 
 charge an exorbitant price for it." 
 
 " And it was a hat I had had for years," inter- 
 posed Lady Editha. 
 
 "No," continued Sybil, "I don't like what 
 my maid describes as ' ready-bought ' things." 
 
 " It's lucky men can't get their clothes in that 
 way," said Anthony. " A sale of tall hats would 
 be a little colourless." 
 
 Lord Cammarleigh gave a sniff. The ease 
 with which Anthony descended to the inanities of 
 Lady Editha's conversational level annoyed him, 
 for he shrewdly suspected it to be pure cleverness. 
 Now that he saw his sister and Anthony together 
 he grasped the latter's intentions. Anthony had 
 evidently absorbed the maxim that if a man wishes 
 to get on he must have the women on his side. 
 It is curious that the men who think least of 
 women always make the most use of them. Not 
 that Anthony thought little of women ; he esti- 
 mated them largely, and had thought of them too 
 much ; but there was just sufficient of the feminine 
 in his nature to prevent their taking him at a 
 disadvantage.
 
 94 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Lady Editha told him at least three times 
 during lunch that he was most amusing. 
 
 "And life can be so dull, Mr. Brooke," she 
 said pathetically. 
 
 " Oh, there are always new adventures in life," 
 said Anthony, " provided you do not lose courage. 
 The great thing is to be brave." 
 
 " That sounds very virtuous," said Lady 
 Editha, approvingly. 
 
 "As Lord Cammarleigh was saying to me 
 only this morning," continued Anthony, " life is 
 full of the unexpected." 
 
 Cammarleigh, who of course had never said 
 anything of the kind, however much he realised 
 the truth of the remark, looked up with a forced 
 smile. He had, during the last few minutes, been 
 turning over in his mind the possibility of poison- 
 ing Anthony undetected. 
 
 Lady Editha was a little surprised at her 
 brother's silence. She remembered him as talk- 
 ing incessantly on a platform of irritating su- 
 periority, and she subsequently told Anthony that 
 he seemed much improved, indeed, chastened, as 
 though he had experienced a great sorrow. 
 
 It was no wonder that Cammarleigh was some- 
 what silent. If he wished to cut a figure in con- 
 versation it would be necessary for him to turn a 
 mental somersault. It had been his habit to hold 
 forth as a sententious moralist, but with Anthony's 
 eye upon him, and his presumed knowledge of 
 his secret, he found himself at a loss. Once or 
 twice he had started off with a highly moral senti- 
 ment, but the mocking deference with which
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 95 
 
 Anthony bent forward to listen brought him up 
 abruptly, and Anthony had things entirely his 
 own way. Again and again he would have liked 
 to contradict his secretary flatly. 
 
 "Percy, Mr. Brooke is a very sad young 
 man ; he says that we take sin much too 
 seriously." 
 
 At such an opportunity, Cammarleigh would 
 in the ordinary course of events have settled 
 heavily on the spirits of the party, but now he 
 found himself saying baldly 
 
 " Oh, I don't think we can do that." 
 
 " A serious view of sin," said Anthony, " is 
 an unhealthy national sign ; it implies a morbid 
 recognition of its supreme attraction. Look at 
 the Scotch ; no one denies their immorality, 
 and yet their reprehension of vice is most 
 edifying." 
 
 " Dear, dear ! " said Lady Editha. " I always 
 thought it was admitted that we should be a 
 terribly wicked race if it were not for the Scotch, 
 and a terribly stupid race if it were not for the 
 Irish." 
 
 " And a terribly inartistic race if it were not 
 for the Welsh ! " laughed Anthony. 
 
 " I don't know about that," said Lady Editha. 
 " I met an artist the other day who talked as if 
 all painters came from Scotland." 
 
 " Yes ; undoubtedly MacTurner and Mac- 
 Gainsborough do them credit ! They're a re- 
 markable race. They put just as much imagination 
 into their pictures as will not make them unsale- 
 able. But they are quite right to glorify their
 
 96 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 own people. It is no uncommon thing to hear 
 of a Scotchman of the first rank unveiling a 
 memorial to the village poet in some far distant 
 Scotch county, and treating him as if he were a 
 national glory. An Englishman does not boast 
 of his country. He is much too sure of it." 
 
 "Yes," laughed Sybil. "And he looks as if 
 he were sure of it, which is, I suppose, what 
 irritates other nations so." 
 
 When they had gone Cammarleigh said, with 
 what he intended to be crushing sarcasm 
 
 " I thought you were much too superior a 
 young man to encourage women to talk non- 
 sense." 
 
 " How often have I not told you, Cammarleigh, 
 that it is the evidence of mediocrity to ignore 
 little things ! The cleverer a man becomes, the 
 less nonsense he finds in the world." 
 
 Then he added, after a pause, " Miss Travers 
 is rare very rare indeed."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A DAY or two after the luncheon party, Lady 
 Editha was astonished to receive a letter from 
 Cammarleigh saying that he was desirous of giving 
 a ball to mark his niece's entrance into society. 
 So surprised was she that she spoke to Anthony 
 quite seriously when he paid his first call, and 
 asked whether he did not think that her brother's 
 brain might be softening. 
 
 " You know, Mr. Brooke, my brother was 
 never known to be unselfish, and this is all so 
 sudden that it has its alarming side. I don't 
 mind saying so much to you about him because 
 I feel that it is possible to talk to you in 
 confidence." 
 
 " Men do soften as they get older," said 
 Anthony, " although whether the process origi- 
 nates with their hearts or their heads is open to 
 discussion. But still, forty-seven is hardly old, 
 and it is the hardest time of a man's life." 
 
 " I suppose it is," agreed Lady Editha, who, 
 like most people, was prepared to accept as a 
 maxim any phrase which sounded philosophical 
 and well turned. 
 
 " I don't suppose I shall ever grow hard- 
 hearted," said Anthony ; " but if I don't become 
 a cynic I may become a sentimentalist. The 
 
 H
 
 98 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 middle way involves a superb mental equili- 
 brium." 
 
 Lady Editha made no reply to this ; in fact, 
 she wondered what in the world he was talking 
 about. 
 
 " I can't help feeling that Cammarleigh wants 
 something," she said, after a moment's pause. 
 She would have talked to Anthony, even if she 
 had not been so sure of his discretion, on any 
 subject which was personal. 
 
 Anthony was too wise on the occasion of this 
 visit to show the least disappointment at Sybil not 
 being present. He realised that his romance 
 would require great finesse and subtlety. Had 
 he followed his inclination he would have called 
 the day after Lady Editha and her daughter had 
 lunched in Grosvenor Square. He was a little 
 shocked to find what a general state of hurry 
 Sybil Travers' beauty had thrown him into. 
 He had been guilty of standing outside their 
 house in Curzon Street at midnight and wonder- 
 ing which of the bedroom lights was hers. 
 " Some people would think this banal," he said 
 to himself; " but I do it because I have a beautiful 
 nature. If I ever said my prayers it would be 
 to pray that I might always be open to the in- 
 fluence of a beautiful face." 
 
 Lady Editha soon settled on the topic of her 
 daughter, as Anthony knew she would. He was 
 perfectly content to sit there and listen, just 
 throwing in a guiding remark when she showed 
 any disposition to change the subject. 
 
 " Sybil will have a very good time of it," said
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 99 
 
 her mother. "People speak of her as an 
 acknowledged beauty already ; in fact, it is quite 
 possible that she may be engaged before she 
 comes out." 
 
 Anthony hardly moved a muscle, although if 
 Lady Editha had sprung from her chair and 
 stabbed him with energy in several places she 
 could not have hurt or surprised him more. 
 
 " Really ? " he said. 
 
 "The Duke of Frant," explained Lady 
 Editha. " He has played Bridge here five Sunday 
 afternoons running, and has returned to dinner 
 and stayed the evening. It is very significant, 
 especially as he always loses ; and the men of his 
 family are notoriously mean about money." 
 
 " That is indeed remarkable," said Anthony, 
 " when one comes to think how many ways there 
 are for a young man in his position to spend his 
 time." 
 
 Lady Editha saw his point, and laughed good- 
 humouredly. 
 
 " Ah, you men have a splendid time of it ! " 
 
 "We shall pay for it in the next world," said 
 Anthony. 
 
 " The prospect does not seem to be very con- 
 vincing ; at any rate, it is obviously not restrain- 
 ing." 
 
 " Do you think hell ever was a very real 
 bogey except to children and old women ? If 
 men won't give up good living because of gout, 
 they are hardly likely to give up the flesh for fear 
 of the devil." 
 
 " There is less and less religion every day,"
 
 ioo LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 said Lady Editha. "Of that there can be no 
 doubt." 
 
 " That means, I suppose, that we hear less 
 and less of the devil." 
 
 Sybil came in while he was talking to her 
 mother, and gave them tea. 
 
 Anthony was gratified at the unquestioning 
 way in which they accepted him as a person of 
 influence with Cammarleigh. There seemed to 
 be no particular curiosity as to his antecedents, 
 although Lady Editha asked him where he had 
 met her brother. 
 
 " My father was at Oxford with Lord Cam- 
 marleigh, and they had a great regard for each 
 other." 
 
 The choice of the word " regard " pleased 
 him ; it sounded so very old-fashioned and 
 respectable. 
 
 Lady Editha was compelled to leave them to 
 go and write a letter, and for the first time he was 
 alone with Sybil Travers. He could not help 
 contrasting his condition the morning his landlady 
 had refused him breakfast with his present one. 
 How had it been possible for any human being 
 fitted by nature to share the wine and oil to 
 have been so grossly misplaced ? The luxuries of 
 the present were his proper complement ; the 
 charming room, with its canary silk panellings, 
 woodland green carpet and old-world chintzes, 
 the sense of luxury conveyed by the silver of the 
 tea equipage, were the absolute necessities which 
 he had been compelled to do without. If it be 
 vulgar to love the expensive then Anthony was a
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 101 
 
 vulgarian, for taste without expense he believed 
 to be a delusion of small incomes. The fairy 
 princess exalted the atmosphere, and he felt him- 
 self vibrating under the spell of a strong and 
 passionate fascination. He made not the least 
 attempt to conceal from her that he was hope- 
 lessly in love. As a lover his level was classic, 
 and he would have despised himself had he pre- 
 tended not to care. The way to arouse love is to 
 create an electrically romantic atmosphere which 
 will at least transform the commonplace. He knew 
 that glances of intense meaning, a voice subdued 
 to the particular modulation which implies ado- 
 ration, could never in his case be labelled the 
 languishings of " that odious young man." Good 
 looks and a sparkling intelligence were a fluid 
 background. People without a true sense of the 
 proportions of romance might have called his com- 
 bative methods in the tourney of love affectation ; 
 but they would only have exposed their own foolish- 
 ness, and such folk were not worth considering. 
 The arts of war in the campaigns of romance are 
 often labelled thus by the dull. He knew perfectly 
 well that no woman was ever angry with a man 
 for being in love with her ; so from the first he 
 showed himself for what he was, her true and 
 devoted lover. He smiled to himself when he 
 reflected that Cammarleigh had told him that he 
 was incapable of sincerity, that he was simply in 
 love with his own postures. 
 
 Sybil Travers read the challenge and accepted 
 it ; that is to say, she gave him to understand by 
 the subtle process known to lovers, but utterly
 
 102 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 incapable of transcription, that she was also pre- 
 possessed ; that as he was only a man he might 
 offer up his heart as a burning sacrifice on the 
 altar of love, but that, as a woman, she was 
 going to get the very highest price she could for 
 her wares, although not averse to inhaling grate- 
 fully the perfume that arose from the burning of 
 Anthony's sacrifices. 
 
 "You are ambitious," said Anthony. 
 
 Sybil gave a silvery laugh. " How strange 
 you should associate me with ambition ! I 
 don't think I ever thought of anything so 
 serious." 
 
 Nevertheless, she felt that a youth who could 
 detect her real shape beneath the conventional 
 coating was to be reckoned with. 
 
 "All the same, you are ambitious." 
 
 " I don't quite know in what way women can 
 be ambitious." 
 
 "That in itself is a most ambitious remark, 
 for it shows that you are profoundly dissatisfied 
 with the limitations of your sex." 
 
 " I don't think I am," she said. " I want to 
 enjoy myself." 
 
 " Yes, but I believe yours to be a mind which 
 will make provision for something beyond mere 
 enjoyment." 
 
 " You are describing me as an altogether 
 serious person, and I'm not sure that it is very 
 flattering." 
 
 " No, I don't suppose women like to be called 
 serious. They realise that they are in danger of 
 being found out."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 103 
 
 "Do you think, Mr. Brooke, that women 
 have ever really been found out ? " 
 
 Anthony looked at her in amazement. It was 
 one of the most wonderful remarks he had ever 
 heard from so young a girl. 
 
 " I know exactly what you mean," he said. 
 
 Both Sybil and her mother had felt from 
 the first that Anthony was vagabond and adven- 
 turer, and, like women, at once fell in love with 
 the rake who wore what were no doubt the 
 rags of a reputation so gracefully. His tacit 
 admission that with them lay his making or un- 
 doing pleased them, and, feeling that he was not 
 likely to discredit any effort they made for his 
 advancement, they were fully ranged on his side. 
 
 " You believe in pleasure ? " asked Sybil. 
 
 " Everybody believes in pleasure. Personally, 
 I believe in all emotion. People are so foolish ; 
 they see a body exhausted with emotion, and they 
 talk as if the possessor of that body had made a 
 failure of his life, just as they think a rosy-cheeked 
 old gentleman of a hundred has been a physical 
 success. After all, there must be something wrong 
 with the imagination of centenarians." 
 
 "What would you describe as a perfectly 
 successful life ? " 
 
 " A life which has loved and wept to the full 
 of its capacity. It is destructive of the personal 
 appearance, but personal appearance is only of 
 relative importance after you are thirty, and for 
 you and me thirty will never come." 
 
 The door opened, and the Duke of Frant was 
 announced.
 
 104 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 The Duke of Frant, small and anaemic, but 
 who compelled belief in his eminently distinguished 
 appearance just because he was a duke, bowed to 
 Anthony and gave him a weak smile. 
 
 Anthony felt that Sybil had made up her mind 
 to marry the Duke, just as he felt that she had 
 not the least partiality for him. As a matter of 
 fact, she had decided upon the Duke of Frant 
 when she was still in the nursery. She had not 
 lost sight of him during his Eton days, although 
 she had found it infinitely pleasanter to flirt with 
 his schoolfellows. 
 
 The Duke, quite believing that he was sure to 
 get her in the end, did not mind this very much. 
 He had been brought up to believe that, short 
 of a Royal Princess in which case he might have 
 had to exert himself somewhat the selection of 
 a wife was a pure matter of taste. Providing that 
 he chose her outside a lunatic asylum, he did not 
 expect more than mere maidenly coyness. 
 
 Sybil had already been proposed to by a 
 German Prince, whose assets were three sides of 
 a ruined castle halfway up an almost inaccessible 
 mountain. Hers was not a character, however, 
 to snatch at the shadow for the substance, and 
 she realised that to the English social palate 
 nothing can be better than a duke. Besides, the 
 Frant assets were very tangible, and their possessor 
 was a very real power indeed. 
 
 The Duke of Frant did not take tea. 
 
 "Hardly anybody does take tea in this 
 country," said Anthony. " In fact, there are very 
 few palates which know what tea is."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 105 
 
 The Duke looked at Anthony with just the 
 slightest raising of his eyebrows. Intelligent con- 
 versation when it was unconnected with racing or 
 politics seemed to him lacking in taste. There 
 was always the chance that some of the company 
 might find themselves out of their depth. He 
 made no reply to Anthony's statement ; he was 
 waiting for him to go. But Anthony was in no 
 hurry. He knew perfectly well that the physical 
 and mental comparison in Sybil's eyes must be all 
 in his own favour, so he talked on in an entirely 
 outrageous manner, till the Duke wondered 
 if he were mad. 
 
 Sybil, woman-like, encouraged Anthony to do 
 his best. She was not sorry to have even an 
 absolutely ineligible young man to play off against 
 the Duke, and by the time Anthony rose to go, 
 his grace was in a high state of irritation with him 
 for taking the lead in the conversation, and bolting 
 brilliantly across a country where he was utterly 
 unable to follow him. He was much reassured 
 on hearing that he was only Lord Cammarleigh's 
 secretary. After all, he reflected, Anthony could 
 not possibly be taken seriously, and a secretary 
 might be allowed to talk well.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ON returning to Grosvenor Square, Anthony found 
 Cammarleigh sitting in the study where he had 
 first interviewed him. To Anthony's fantastic 
 imagination the smile on the faces of the Japanese 
 masks seemed to deepen every day with the pro- 
 gress of the comedy. 
 
 " I am always glad to get back to our little 
 home," he said to Cammarleigh, as he sank into 
 a chair. 
 
 This was just the sort of absurdity that irritated 
 Cammarleigh beyond endurance. He made a 
 movement of his shoulders, and professed to be 
 profoundly interested in the Nineteenth Century. 
 He would have liked to hint to Anthony that it 
 would be better taste if he did not intrude into 
 his private sanctum. 
 
 Anthony was very delicately inhaling the per- 
 fume of his buttonhole. 
 
 " I think," he said, " that whether to wear 
 buttonholes or not is a question which will never 
 be decided." 
 
 " Then why argue it ? " snapped Cammarleigh. 
 
 " Ah, I knew you were waiting for my next 
 remark. I won't argue the question of button- 
 holes, because, after all, you are not young enough
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 107 
 
 to wear one. You haven't asked me where I 
 have been." 
 
 " I don't want to know." 
 
 " Oh yes, you do. If you don't want to know 
 where I am you very much wish to know where 
 I am not. I have been calling on Lady Editha. 
 How beautiful Sybil Travers is ! " 
 
 Cammarleigh, always on the look-out for a 
 slip on Anthony's part, said, with emphasis 
 
 " Miss Travers is beautiful." 
 
 " I call her Sybil," said Anthony, " because I 
 love her." 
 
 Cammarleigh folded his hands and looked at 
 Anthony with tightened lips. 
 
 " I knew you would overreach yourself," he 
 said, with a triumphant ring in his voice ; and 
 he laughed as if it were the finest joke in the 
 world. 
 
 " I don't quite see what you mean." 
 
 "If you have fallen in love with my 
 niece " 
 
 " I have." 
 
 " Then you are not the clever fellow I took 
 you for." 
 
 " You didn't take me ; I gave myself to you. 
 But do explain to me why it should seem so 
 ridiculous for me to love Sybil ? She is very 
 beautiful. When you come to think of it, to love 
 her is natural, and not to love her would be un- 
 natural." 
 
 " Yes ; but to take yourself seriously " 
 
 " To take one's self seriously is to shut off all 
 retreat. When I take myself seriously no one
 
 io8 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 shall know it. Your niece has made up her mind 
 to marry the Duke of Frant." 
 
 Cammarleigh was annoyed. He had been 
 reserving this piece of information for Anthony's 
 discomfiture. 
 
 "That being the case, don't you think you 
 had better keep your love to yourself?" 
 
 " Now, do you think I look like the sort of 
 person who is likely to keep his love for any one 
 to himself? It's a very good thing for you, 
 Cammarleigh, that I have fallen in love with your 
 niece. It will make me kind to you for her sake." 
 
 " Perhaps you would like to marry her ? " 
 
 " Very much." 
 
 " Do you think she would prefer being Mrs. 
 Brooke to being Duchess of Frant ? " 
 
 " At a first glance, no ; but, at the same time, 
 stranger things have happened. Just think how 
 wonderful the whole situation is ! One marvel 
 more or less won't make much difference." 
 
 "You are mad." 
 
 " All exceptional people are more or less mad ; 
 but I don't think I shall end in a lunatic asylum 
 and even if I did it would solve the problem of 
 one's daily bread." 
 
 " And how do you propose to make my niece 
 love you ? " 
 
 " My dear Cammarleigh, why waste time ? 
 Let us concern ourselves with difficulties." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " She does love me ; we love each other." 
 
 " This is simply amusing," said Cammarleigh, 
 addressing the ceiling.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 109 
 
 " I am glad you find it so. It may perhaps 
 interest you to know that we fell in love with 
 each other at first sight." 
 
 "If you have taken advantage of your position 
 here to go into my sister's house and make love 
 to her daughter, I can only say that I shall not lift 
 a finger to save you from humiliation." 
 
 Anthony laughed aloud. It was always 
 delightful to work Cammarleigh up into a state 
 of pompous patronage. The sure collapse that 
 followed such outbursts was infinitely diverting. 
 
 " When the occasion of my humiliation comes, 
 Cammarleigh, I give you free permission to abstain 
 from raising a finger in my defence." 
 
 "Your self-confidence is a thing not to be 
 believed. Has she told you that she loves 
 you ? " 
 
 " Don't be coarse, Cammarleigh. All lovers 
 worthy of the name feel those things for a long 
 time before they ruin them with words." 
 
 Cammarleigh made no answer ; so Anthony 
 continued 
 
 " I don't think you have any idea, Cammar- 
 leigh, of the wonderful things which are going to 
 happen before you and I part. I don't know that 
 I have a very clear idea of what they are going to 
 be myself, but I am sure they will be wonderful. 
 You must have a big house-party at Cammarleigh 
 Abbey in the autumn." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " Well, ostensibly for your friends ; in reality 
 for me. And for goodness' sake don't say that 
 you will do nothing of the kind. By the way, I
 
 have taken Lady Groombridge's box at the Opera 
 for the remainder of the season." 
 
 " What for ? " 
 
 " Curiously enough, because I am fond of 
 music." 
 
 " You don't propose to sit in a box by your- 
 self? If you wanted to go to the Opera you 
 ought to have taken a stall." 
 
 " I have ; just underneath the box. You see, 
 it appears that Lady Groombridge, on account of 
 a family bereavement, was anxious to get rid of 
 her box, and so I took it in your name." 
 
 " I hate music," said Cammarleigh. 
 
 " I know you do ; but Lady Editha doesn't 
 or if she doesn't care much about music she cares 
 very much about the Opera." 
 
 " She is quite rich enough " began Cam- 
 marleigh. 
 
 " She says she isn't." 
 
 Cammarleigh rose in great agitation, pressing 
 his hand to his forehead. 
 
 " I shall go mad. I know I shall." 
 
 " Oh, don't say that. Anything that I can do 
 to prevent it " 
 
 " Well, you can prevent it by taking yourself 
 off." 
 
 " So I will if you'll give me two things." 
 
 " What are they ? " asked Cammarleigh, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Five thousand a year, and Sybil as my 
 wife." 
 
 Absurd ! " 
 
 " I quite agree with you," said Anthony.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET in 
 
 " It sounds ridiculous ; but those are my 
 terms." 
 
 "It is inconceivable that I should be the 
 victim of such blackmail." 
 
 " Cammarleigh," said Anthony, sternly, " I 
 have told you that I won't have that word used." 
 He reflected for a few moments deeply, and then 
 said : " Look here, I'll make you an offer. If 
 by the end of the year Sybil has not promised to 
 be my wife, I engage to leave you for a sum 
 representing five hundred a year. If before then 
 she has promised to be my wife you shall give 
 me instead a sum representing eight thousand a 
 year." 
 
 It was a tribute to Anthony that Cammarleigh 
 never for one moment questioned his honesty in 
 the transaction. It was a relief to find that he 
 was willing to bargain at all, even though his 
 terms were quite impossible. He wondered 
 whether this self-possessed young man might not 
 be losing nerve. Evidently it was a case for tact, 
 and Cammarleigh prided himself upon his 
 diplomacy. 
 
 " Your terms are absurd." 
 
 " No terms are absurd if you are sure to get 
 them." 
 
 " Has it ever struck you," said Cammarleigh, 
 " that one of these days you may drive me to 
 suicide ? " 
 
 "And do you think," retorted Anthony 
 blandly, " that I am a person to ignore possibili- 
 ties ? Every enterprise has its risks." 
 
 " Now, what would you do," said Cammarleigh,
 
 ii2 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 quite elated at the idea of a situation which 
 he had not the least intention of bringing about, 
 " if you woke up one morning to find that I was 
 dead ? " 
 
 " I should go through your pockets," said 
 Anthony, sweetly. " I should take all the loose 
 cash and lay my hands on such articles of value as 
 were not likely to be missed. Of course, it would 
 be a dreadful come-down from Sybil and eight 
 thousand a year ; but, as I said before, every 
 enterprise has its risks." 
 
 " And suppose I left a letter telling the whole 
 truth ? I think you would look rather foolish." 
 
 " You mustn't talk like that, Cammarleigh, or 
 I shall have to get you a keeper, and lock you in 
 your room at night, and open it the first thing in 
 the morning to see what has happened. And 
 talking of your bedroom, I have ordered you 
 some dressing-gowns of dark-blue silk." 
 
 " What on earth for ? " 
 
 " Because I notice that you always wear red, 
 and I can't imagine anything more exciting to an 
 ill-balanced mind like yours than the sight of a 
 red dressing-gown in the morning I couldn't 
 bear it myself." 
 
 Cammarleigh affected to be busy with the 
 Nineteenth Century. It was his only alternative 
 from flying into a passion, a mode of procedure 
 which so far had never impressed Anthony in the 
 least. He decided to be very clever and wait for 
 Anthony to reduce his terms. "He has pro- 
 bably asked four times as much as he expects to 
 get, and he expects to get four times as much as 1
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 113 
 
 am ever likely to give him." And Cammarleigh, 
 having to his own satisfaction reduced Anthony 
 to one-sixteenth of his conditions, diplomati- 
 cally waited for him to continue the conver- 
 sation. 
 
 Anthony was quite ready. " Well, what do 
 you say ? " 
 
 " What do you mean what do I say ? " 
 answered Cammarleigh, reflecting that, as Anthony 
 appeared to be eager, it was his place to be 
 coy. 
 
 " Don't be silly, Cammarleigh. Your mind is 
 much too fixed on matters financial not to have 
 grasped what I said." 
 
 " You surely don't expect me to take that 
 nonsense about my niece and the money 
 seriously ? " 
 
 " You must either take that seriously or take 
 me for life." 
 
 " Rubbish ! It's quite true that you have 
 me at an advantage ; but please don't imagine 
 that you can get anything you choose to ask 
 for. I am much too sensible not to see that 
 you are in a position to make terms, but it 
 certainly doesn't do you any credit to be pre- 
 posterous." 
 
 "All of which merely means," said Anthony, 
 " that you are trying to beat me down, and I 
 haven't the least intention of being beaten down. 
 Those are my terms ; and now I am going to 
 dress." He went towards the door, but paused 
 for a parting shot. " It's quite unnecessary for 
 you to say yes. We will consider the matter 
 
 i
 
 ii 4 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 settled. After all, I might lose, and you know 
 that I shall stick to my side of the bargain." 
 
 Cammarleigh was left staring at the ceiling 
 with drooping jaw. 
 
 The masks on the wall were almost convulsed 
 with delight.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE grateful Tolly, feeling that an uncle who 
 could be drawn upon in times of financial stress 
 was not to be neglected, took the earliest oppor- 
 tunity of calling in Grosvenor Square to convey 
 his thanks in person. He omitted to tell his 
 father and mother of his intended visit. They 
 had always spoken of his uncle as one of the 
 meanest of men, and Tolly had heard his father 
 say, over and over again, that he would sooner cut 
 off his hand than ask Cammarleigh a favour. 
 Tolly congratulated himself on having performed 
 a brilliant stroke of business in discovering that 
 his uncle was not the hard-hearted monster his 
 parents would have had him believe. 
 
 When the man announced that Mr. Lionel 
 Bruton had called to see him, Cammarleigh's 
 upper lip went down, and he told the servant 
 to say that he was not at home ; and poor Tolly 
 might have had his journey for nothing if it had 
 not been for his good angel, Anthony. 
 
 Anthony met him being shown out, and at 
 once guessed who he was. 
 
 " I am sure your uncle would be most dis- 
 appointed to miss you. He was only saying 
 the other day what a pity it was he did not see 
 more of his nephews. Tell his lordship when
 
 ii6 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 he comes in that Mr. Bruton will be here to 
 lunch." 
 
 Gregsbury had by this time quite realised 
 that whatever Anthony did would be right. He 
 did not profess to explain the situation, but, like 
 a well-bred servant, fell instinctively into the line 
 of conduct which would most advantage him. 
 
 Anthony knew that Cammarleigh disliked 
 Tolly, because he was, after his father, his heir ; 
 and that, however much he might have wished 
 otherwise, he would be bound to have the greater 
 part of his wealth. 
 
 Tolly took to Anthony at once, perhaps 
 because he was offered a cigarette and treated 
 without the faintest degree of grown-up patron- 
 age. He admired Anthony's clothes, and decided 
 that he knew how to dress. Tolly was his 
 father's son, and Lord Cecil Bruton was one 
 of the best dressed men in town, and Master 
 Bruton's Eton suit was cut to perfection. Tolly 
 had noticed that the letter containing the gift of 
 money had not been in his uncle's writing, and 
 he was wondering if it had been Anthony's hand 
 that had penned the note, and if he knew all 
 about it. 
 
 " If you don't mind sitting and talking to 
 me," said Anthony, "while I finish one or two 
 letters " 
 
 Tolly did not mind at all, and smoked his 
 cigarette and read The Times with a very grown-up 
 air indeed. Being a young gentleman of an 
 inquiring turn of mind, he took the opportunity 
 of surreptitiously inspecting Anthony's hand-
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 117 
 
 writing. Yes, undoubtedly it was he who had 
 penned the affectionate note. It was rather 
 strange of his uncle to dictate sentimentalities 
 to his secretary, but then, his father had always 
 declared that Cammarleigh was mad. 
 
 His notes finished, Anthony threw himself 
 back and talked to Tolly in the most affable way, 
 and that unsuspecting young gentleman had, by 
 the time lunch was announced, let him into every 
 imaginable family secret. 
 
 " I don't think father quite understands Uncle 
 Percy," he said. " He can't be so hard-hearted, 
 and yet it's quite dreadful the way father abuses 
 him at times." 
 
 " What does your mother say ? " 
 
 " Well, you see, mother feels that she ought 
 
 to stick up for him because " Here Tolly 
 
 paused and looked dubiously at Anthony. 
 
 Anthony waited. A boy's conversational rele- 
 vance is an uncertain thing ; a question in the 
 wrong place might disturb the convenient flow of 
 his confidences. 
 
 " I don't know whether I ought to say what 
 I was going to," said Tolly. "I only heard it 
 by accident." 
 
 " Have another cigarette," said Anthony, gra- 
 ciously. 
 
 " Thank you. They're awfully good." 
 
 " Abdul's Bond Street. I'll give you a box 
 if you like." 
 
 Anthony spoke just as if he were talking to a 
 crony of his own age, and Tolly, secretly flattered, 
 accepted the proffered cigarettes.
 
 n8 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " As you were saying when I so rudely inter- 
 rupted you ? " resumed Anthony, encouragingly. 
 
 After such a tactful speech Tolly could not 
 very well do otherwise than impart his information. 
 
 " I only heard it by accident " 
 
 " Yes ? " lured Anthony, gently. 
 
 "Well, I think Uncle Percy would have liked 
 to marry my mother." 
 
 From confidences about Lord and Lady Cecil 
 Bruton, Tolly roamed unsuspectingly into little 
 family anecdotes about Lady Editha and her 
 daughter. 
 
 " They get everything they can, you know," 
 he said, " and mamma says it's quite extraordinary 
 the way Aunt Editha wins at Bridge." 
 
 " Miss Travers is very beautiful," suggested 
 Anthony. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. There's a fellow I know 
 who's got a sister, and she's what I call beautiful. 
 She'd make three of Sybil." 
 
 " Miss Travers is small," agreed Anthony, 
 dreamily. 
 
 " Of course I like Sybil," said Tolly, hastily. 
 "And when she came down for the Fourth no 
 end of the fellows got quite cracked about her. 
 My mother says she doesn't think she's got any 
 heart." 
 
 Anthony smiled. Sybil was just the kind of 
 mysterious feminine who would be impenetrable 
 to her own sex. 
 
 " You mustn't mind," said Anthony, on their 
 way downstairs, " if Lord Cammarleigh seems a 
 little preoccupied. He has had a good deal to
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 119 
 
 worry him lately." And Anthony smiled with 
 secret amusement at the absolute truth of his 
 remark. 
 
 Cammarleigh had evidently been told by 
 Gregsbury that his nephew was lunching with 
 him, for he gave a sickly smile of welcome, and 
 a swift glance of resentment at Anthony. 
 
 " It was so kind of you to send me that 
 money, Uncle Percy," said Tolly, sweetly. " I 
 really thought I must come and thank you. Mr. 
 Brooke has been telling me how much you sym- 
 pathised with me in my trouble." 
 
 "I don't think boys ought to be extravagant," 
 said Cammarleigh, with asperity. 
 
 " 1 wasn't extravagant, uncle ; only the other 
 boy played Bridge better than I did." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " I know wasn't it mean ! " said Tolly, mis- 
 taking the cause of his uncle's indignation. " And 
 of course it was most important I should pay." 
 
 " How is your father ? " said Cammarleigh, 
 shortly. 
 
 He was not the least interested in knowing 
 how Tolly's father was, and had been about to 
 give Master Tolly a good talking-to, but had 
 become aware that Anthony's hand was toying 
 with the whistle. As a matter of fact, the action 
 was quite unconscious on Anthony's part, for he 
 would never have thought of using this weapon 
 except for its legitimate purpose, namely, of pre- 
 venting Cammarleigh from getting rid of him. 
 
 "Papa's quite well, and he sent you his 
 love."
 
 120 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 This invention did not do credit to Tolly's 
 instinct. 
 
 " Sent me his love ! " 
 
 Cammarleigh was so obviously astounded, that 
 Tolly got rather red and confused, whilst Anthony 
 surveyed the scene with keenest enjoyment. 
 
 " Well, I think he sent you his love, at any 
 rate." 
 
 " I don't believe it," snapped Cammarleigh. 
 
 Tolly grew crimson, and Anthony frowned. 
 
 " I don't mean that you didn't think so," 
 said Cammarleigh, furious that he should be 
 silently impelled by Anthony to apologise to his 
 nephew, who he was perfectly certain was telling 
 a lie. 
 
 Anthony would have liked to rescue Tolly 
 from his predicament by suggesting that Lord 
 Cecil Bruton had, in sending the message, in- 
 tended a sarcasm, but he was true to his policy 
 of observing in public every decorum of his pre- 
 tended position. 
 
 Whether his uncle was pleased to see him or 
 not, did not affect Tolly in the least. He was 
 quite equal to entertaining himself, and, feeling 
 instinctively that he could count on Anthony in 
 an emergency, was at his ease. He said yes 
 to champagne, and gave no sign whatever of 
 its having upset his equilibrium. Anthony knew 
 what a very valuable ally a boy of Tolly's age 
 can be, and he was determined that he should be 
 perfectly pleased with himself. 
 
 Cammarleigh, who already saw his house in- 
 vaded by nephews and nieces, grew more and
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 121 
 
 more snappish every moment ; but Tolly was a 
 supremely self-possessed young gentleman, and 
 finally devoted his conversation entirely to An- 
 thony. Anthony, who was always ready to give 
 Cammarleigh as much line as was consistent with 
 his realising that he was in leash, asked Tolly if 
 he had made his arrangements for the afternoon. 
 For one moment Cammarleigh thought that 
 Anthony was about to suggest that he should 
 amuse his nephew for the rest of the day, and 
 was very relieved when he offered to take him to 
 the Hippodrome himself. 
 
 Anthony was determined that, if it were pos- 
 sible to conciliate all the members of Cammar- 
 leigh's family, it should be done, even down to 
 Tolly's baby sister, aged two. Fearing the in- 
 flammable effect of Tolly's personality on his 
 uncle's temper, he took him with him whilst he 
 dressed, and nothing could have exceeded the 
 young gentleman's interest in the clothes which 
 were to be selected for the afternoon. He felt 
 quite important when Anthony, in the most 
 natural way in the world, asked his opinion as 
 to the waistcoat he should wear, and was fain to 
 conceal his sense of importance when his advice 
 was accepted. 
 
 As they descended the stairs, after more than 
 one sidelong glance at Anthony's attire, he burst 
 forth 
 
 " I say, you do know how to dress." 
 
 " Tolly, you are a delightful person, and you 
 will get on in the world. You know, I really 
 think schoolboys are improving. You haven't
 
 122 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 mentioned cricket or football once which makes 
 me suspect that you play one of the two, if not 
 both, rather well." 
 
 " I got my Eleven this term," said Tolly, 
 modestly. 
 
 As they drove along Piccadilly, Tolly's brows 
 contracted in thought. 
 
 " It's awfully good of you to take me to the 
 Hippodrome." 
 
 " Oh, don't mention it." 
 
 " I hope it won't bore you," he continued, 
 tentatively. 
 
 There was something in the tone of the remark 
 which gave Anthony a clue as to what lay at the 
 back of his mind. 
 
 "Well, if you would just as soon go some- 
 where else," he replied tactfully. 
 
 "I expect you'd like to go to the Frivolity, 
 wouldn't you ? " 
 
 As a matter of fact, Frivolity burlesques hardly 
 interested Anthony, if sometimes the people in 
 them did. He replied, however 
 
 " I should like it of all things." 
 
 He reflected that he ought to have guessed 
 that Tolly's was a temperament which would early 
 outgrow a circus. He could not sufficiently admire 
 the sang frold with which Tolly seated himself in 
 his stall, and, extracting a pair of opera glasses 
 from their receptacle in front of him, proceeded 
 deliberately to take stock of each attractive per- 
 sonality on the stage in turn. 
 
 " There she is," he murmured at length. 
 
 "Who?" asked Anthony.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 123 
 
 " Kitty Primrose. Gordon in the Upper 
 Fifth quite lost his head about her. Asked her 
 down for the Fourth only his mother explained 
 that he was engaged to her for the day. Poor 
 Gordon looked an awful fool, and Miss Primrose 
 only laughed because there were such heaps of 
 people only too glad to talk to her. Last term 
 her son came, so Gordon looked a bigger fool 
 than ever. Her son's name is Dunton, so I sup- 
 pose that's her married name." 
 
 " I suppose so," assented Anthony, drily. 
 
 For a young gentleman who considered him- 
 self advanced Tolly derived an immense amount 
 of amusement from the low comedian, and at tea 
 at Fuller's consumed an amount of cake and sweets 
 which did him credit. He informed his father 
 and mother that Mr. Brooke was one of the very 
 best. Lord Cecil and his wife, accepting Tolly's 
 version of the visit, and being fully convinced that 
 a miracle had happened, concluded that Cammar- 
 leigh's heart had somewhat late in life blossomed 
 with blooms of love and charity. 
 
 " You might speak to him, Cecil, the next 
 time you meet. Your estrangement has always 
 made me feel most unhappy, and besides, there is 
 always something a little vulgar about members of 
 the same family not speaking." 
 
 As a matter of fact, the quarrel had always been 
 a little flattering to Lady Cecil's vanity, in that it 
 pleased her to believe that it had been as much due 
 to Cammarleigh's disappointment that she should 
 have preferred his brother as it had been to the 
 latter's truly parsimonious treatment of the family.
 
 i2 4 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " The vulgarity was not mine, my dear." 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean to suggest that the vul- 
 garity was anybody's perhaps I didn't mean 
 vulgarity at all." 
 
 Lady Cecil possessed a peculiar habit of 
 making strong statements and then immediately 
 whittling them down till they retained little or 
 nothing of their original point. 
 
 " If Cammarleigh had only allowed Editha to 
 receive for him he might have accomplished very 
 much more politically than he has done.-" 
 
 " Cammarleigh never had an ounce of political 
 ability, my dear. If he had been plain John Brown 
 he would have been a lawyer's clerk. There's a 
 good deal to be said for those Eastern fellows who 
 choose their most able son as their successor," said 
 Lord Cecil, resentfully.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 " I TELL you I will not give a ball." 
 
 " My dear Cammarleigh, that's the fiftieth 
 time you've made that remark, and we are already 
 halfway through the list of guests at least, that 
 is, halfway through your list of guests. Of 
 course, as it is to be a ball in honour of Miss 
 Travers' coming-out, Lady Editha must ask whom 
 she likes." 
 
 " There's one thing," chuckled Cammarleigh, 
 " if you fill the house with my women folk they'll 
 very soon put you in your place." He laid the 
 most ill-bred emphasis on the personal pronoun. 
 
 " I ask nothing better, providing they realise 
 what my place is." 
 
 Cammarleigh began to hum a tune. He was 
 always resorting to little effects of this kind, which 
 were intended to irritate Anthony. As a matter 
 of fact, they did nothing of the sort, and Anthony 
 invariably resumed the business in hand with 
 imperturbable good humour. 
 
 " There will be the dinner-party beforehand 
 twelve will be enough." 
 
 " May I ask if you propose to be one of the 
 twelve ? " 
 
 "Yes, I shall be there to support you. I 
 intend to take in Lady Coleraine."
 
 126 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 ''That is exactly where you give yourself 
 away," said Cammarleigh, adopting an attitude 
 with which he had attempted over and over again 
 to meet Anthony's perfect assurance. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Anthony, 
 sweetly. 
 
 " Why," said Cammarleigh, as if he were quite 
 anxious to help Anthony with his schemes, "if 
 you would but keep yourself modestly in the 
 background at least to begin with " 
 
 "Cammarleigh, we're wasting time, and I'm 
 dining out." 
 
 Cammarleigh shrugged his shoulders with an 
 air as if to say that Anthony's baseness and in- 
 gratitude were beyond comment. 
 
 " I have always admired Lady Coleraine," con- 
 tinued Anthony, "even when I had no prospect 
 of making her acquaintance, and only knew her 
 through the medium of photographs in shop 
 windows. She is still very beautiful. It's quite 
 wonderful to think that she is nearly the same age 
 as yourself. It is difficult nowadays for a woman 
 to make her beauty historic that is to say, in the 
 same way that Helen of Troy, and Berenice, down 
 to the Pompadour and de Recamier, did. At the 
 same time, I think Lady Coleraine belongs to the 
 Royal line of Venus." 
 
 " She was an exceedingly greedy child." 
 
 " She will not object to my taking her in to 
 dinner, you will see." 
 
 " Your self-possession is sublime." 
 
 " I know. Now, let me see. There will be 
 you, myself, Lord Cecil, the Prime Minister, the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 127 
 
 Austrian Ambassador I have chosen the Austrian 
 Ambassador because he is the most exclusive. 
 Now, how many is that five. Whom else do 
 you suggest ? " 
 
 " I should ask the Pope," said Cammarleigh, 
 with a clumsy attempt at humour. 
 
 " He can't come ; he is a prisoner in the 
 Vatican," said Anthony, seriously. 
 
 " Shall we have a Labour member ? " pursued 
 Cammarleigh. 
 
 Anthony was not to be drawn. " He would 
 probably be most uncomfortable ; and besides, I 
 don't believe in mixing the classes." 
 
 "Really " 
 
 " Cammarleigh, you are quite childish. Day 
 after day, and time after time you continue to try 
 and get one in, as the vulgar would say. Don't 
 you think it is just a little foolish ? You know 
 as well as I do that there are only two classes 
 the gentleman absolute, and the rest and it is 
 a platitude to say that to be a gentleman is a 
 question of manners, not morals. And now, 
 who is to be the sixth ? Shall we ask Tolly ? 
 He might amuse the Prime Minister. Oh, I 
 forgot the Duke of Frant, of course." 
 
 Cammarleigh looked at him narrowly. " What 
 are you up to now ? " 
 
 " I don't understand you." 
 
 " I have told you that the Duke of Frant will 
 most likely marry Miss Travers." 
 
 " Well ? Do you think that I am the sort 
 of man to play a second-rate game ? I am quite 
 capable of putting poison in the Duke of Frant's
 
 128 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 wine, but I shouldn't think of giving him a badly 
 cooked dinner beforehand. It is little meannesses 
 that make second-rate criminals. Now, you and 
 I, Cammarleigh, are first-rate criminals." 
 
 Cammarleigh paled. He always did when 
 Anthony touched on the subject which was their 
 bond. Anthony knew this, and did not hesitate 
 now and then to let his victim feel the point of 
 his stiletto. 
 
 "Although, I must say I pay you a great 
 compliment, Cammarleigh, when I call you a first- 
 rate criminal." 
 
 Cammarleigh would have liked to pretend 
 that he was capable of treating the situation with 
 an airy indifference equal to Anthony's. With 
 trembling fingers he lit a cigarette, and with affected 
 carelessness puffed one or two rings of smoke into 
 the air. 
 
 " Your nerves are hardly those of a Robert 
 Macaire." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake be quiet ! " And the 
 cigarette dropped from Cammarleigh's nerveless 
 fingers. 
 
 " I suppose you must have had nerve once, 
 or you couldn't " 
 
 " Damn you, will you be quiet 1 " 
 
 " Sorry but you really are so very timid. 
 I won't worry you any more with the list now. 
 One thing, don't forget that pink is to be the 
 prevailing colour in the flowers and decorations 
 at the ball. Pink is Miss Travers' favourite 
 colour." 
 
 " What's that got to do with me ? "
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 129 
 
 " Oh, everything. You must tell your sister 
 that you found that out it will look like a most 
 delicate attention. Is there anything else you 
 want me to do ? " 
 
 " Where are you going ? " 
 
 " I am going to dine and play Bridge at Lady 
 Editha's. Of course I will put it off if you par- 
 ticularly want me. At any rate, you will know 
 where I am, and if you feel lonely you can ring 
 me up on the telephone." 
 
 Anthony gave Sybil Travers a very good hint 
 that the arrangements of the ball, which was in 
 her honour, were to be entirely as she wished. 
 It was she who had suggested pink as the 
 dominant note. There was to be a cotillon called 
 " Spring," for which the most marvellous effects 
 had been designed by Anthony. At a given 
 signal the ballroom was to be transformed into 
 a bower of apple blossoms, and apple blossoms 
 would be rained upon the heads of the guests. 
 A concealed orchestra of harps would play 
 Mendelssohn's " Spring Song," after which a choir 
 of boys' voices would sing an ode in honour of 
 Sybil as the Queen of Spring. The association 
 of her name with spring was a formal compliment 
 reminiscent of the eighteenth century, for she 
 hardly suggested the song of nature ; she was 
 too intensely at one with the devices of modern 
 civilisation. In one room there was to be a 
 running brook in which everybody would fish 
 for gifts. Cammarleigh declared that the whole 
 thing was calculated to make his house ridiculous, 
 and pointed out that so far, thank God, there was 
 
 K
 
 130 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 no American blood in his family to warrant such 
 vulgarity ; indeed, he tried to dissuade Anthony 
 by every argument at his command from indulging 
 in these extravagances. But they pleased Sybil, 
 and this was quite enough for Anthony. 
 
 It did not take Miss Travers long to grasp 
 the fact that whatever she wanted she would be 
 allowed to have, and although she was consumed 
 with anxiety to know how Anthony managed to 
 turn her uncle round his finger, whilst waiting 
 to find out she took every possible advantage of 
 the fact. 
 
 The society papers duly noted that the historic 
 reception rooms at Cammarleigh House closed 
 since the death of the late Marchioness, the 
 present Marquis's mother were to be reopened, 
 and that the glories which had made it so cele- 
 brated during the early Victorian period were to 
 be revived. Not a few hinted that Cammarleigh 
 had matrimonial intentions, and to his great 
 indignation insinuated as probable brides the 
 daughters of houses which, though noble as far as 
 wealth and title could make them, were of such 
 mushroom growth and vulgarity that Cammar- 
 leigh would sooner have died than have allied 
 himself with them. 
 
 As Anthony had surmised, the arrangements 
 for the ball gave him endless opportunity for 
 calling at Lady Editha's. So far he had been 
 exceedingly careful not to put himself in any way 
 in competition with the Duke of Frant. He 
 realised that it would probably make him look 
 ridiculous in the eyes of Miss Travers, and he
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 131 
 
 instinctively felt that, while it would cause her 
 feline nature to regard him as a cat would a 
 mouse, she would have the same amount of 
 contempt for him as she would have had for any 
 other love-sick youth unable to control the 
 absurdity of his pretensions. That Anthony 
 was in love with her she never doubted for one 
 moment, and was therefore a little puzzled at the 
 attitude which he had adopted ; it was apparently 
 entirely free from sentiment. Those covert 
 allusions and glances supposed to be inseparable 
 from a hopeless passion were absent. In talking 
 of the ball he said 
 
 " It must be the most perfectly suggestive 
 thing as far as electric light will permit us to 
 make it. Who knows, perhaps you may meet 
 your future husband for the first time, and he 
 may be a prince ! " 
 
 "I haven't the least wish to be a princess. 
 Royalties always resent an intrusion into their 
 ranks." 
 
 "You will get everything you want in this 
 world," answered Anthony. 
 
 " That is supposed to be very bad for one, is 
 it not ? " 
 
 "People talk such a lot of nonsense about 
 what is bad and what is good for one. It would 
 simply mean that you would develop along 
 different lines. If people endure suffering and 
 poverty they develop along the lines of sacrifice ; 
 that is what poverty and suffering are for, and 
 it is just as well to learn one's lesson." 
 
 "And if one gets everything one wants ? "
 
 132 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Then you develop along the lines of sheer 
 beauty. That requires a good deal more courage 
 than the other experience. You must expand, 
 and most people when they find themselves 
 expanding into an atmosphere of sheer enjoyment 
 either become gross or lose courage." 
 
 " I don't know what you are talking about," 
 said Sybil. 
 
 " Neither do I," said Anthony ; " but it sounds 
 quite true, doesn't it ! " 
 
 He realised that, like most people with great 
 ambitions and a determination to be supreme 
 in their own sphere, Sybil had a sensuous side 
 which would probably prove to be the breach in 
 her fortifications. She had a certain amount of 
 imagination, and he deemed that it would be 
 enough to enable him to alter the aspect of things 
 for her as it should suit him. Anthony puzzled 
 her, and she was only the more mystified by an 
 incident which happened just before the ball. It 
 was impossible for him to conceal the fact that 
 only a very short time previously he had been an 
 actor. He had known too many of the gilded 
 youth who find a strange glamour in the children 
 of the footlights. He had been the member of 
 a club where it was possible to spend the early 
 hours of the morning in congenial female society 
 without encountering the unrestrained licence of 
 an ordinary night club. There were half a dozen 
 young men whom it was more than probable he 
 would run up against in his present surroundings, 
 and the first one whom he came across was Bobby 
 Marchdown. Bobby Marchdown was the junior
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 133 
 
 member of a family who usually went mad or 
 died of dissipation before they were forty. For 
 a matter of fifteen years he had attended every 
 first night, and as many other nights as possible, 
 of every musical comedy or light opera. It 
 was amazing that, having started with what 
 might be described as a constitution made up of 
 remnants, he should not have given in during the 
 first five years, but although in the early morning 
 an insurance company would have refused him 
 excepting at the figure of ninety-nine per cent., 
 by midnight he had assumed a buoyancy of 
 demeanour which was certainly remarkable. De- 
 spite his great weakness for Bohemian society, he 
 had by no means neglected the setting in which 
 Providence had placed him. The attentions he 
 showed to his enormous circle of relations had 
 saved him from a certain decadence in social 
 atmosphere and attitude which is convention's 
 revenge on those who deliberately seek a lower 
 environment than that in which they have been 
 born. He was not rich enough to be a matri- 
 monial temptation to the ladies of the stage whom 
 he honoured with his attentions, and he was 
 certainly too selfish and too little susceptible to 
 absolute sentiment to offer to share his income 
 of some fifteen hundred a year with a girl of his 
 own class. He was an egoist who lived in the cir- 
 cumscribed area of pleasure, but withal he had a 
 certain sweetness of nature which gave him polish 
 and courtliness, qualities which in a gentleman 
 are very often developed by association with ladies 
 whose training has not taught them to keep their
 
 134 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 tempers in check. The vulgar man will meet 
 these ladies on their own ground and squabble ; 
 the gently bred realise that a smoothly conciliatory 
 manner is the safest way of treating them. 
 
 Bobby Marchdown was announced one after- 
 noon whilst Anthony was playing Bridge with 
 Lady Editha, Miss Travers, and the Duke of 
 Frant. He shook hands with the others, and 
 only on a second inspection recognised Anthony. 
 Anthony realised at once that he had made a 
 tactical error in not having explained that he had 
 been on the stage. There are a great many people 
 who still think actors and actresses, unless they 
 happen to be exceedingly successful and exceed- 
 ingly well born, not very desirable persons to 
 introduce into the home. 
 
 Lady Editha had never thought about the 
 matter at all. She had met actors on occasions. 
 She knew a leading actor and his wife slightly, 
 who cultivated the aristocracy to such an extent 
 that it was a wonder that they had any time to 
 study their parts. Then again, Lord Forfar had 
 gone on the stage. True, he had not so far 
 forgotten what was due to his birth as to display 
 any dramatic ability, and after having made an 
 exhibition of himself in two very bad plays, 
 he had taken to politics as a profession in which 
 there was a larger scope for inferior theatrical 
 talent. 
 
 " How do you do ? " said Anthony, easily. 
 "The last time I met you I was on the stage, 
 wasn't I." 
 
 Lady Editha looked up in astonishment.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 135 
 
 " Dear me, how very interesting ! And you 
 never told us ! " 
 
 Marchdown had always recognised that An- 
 thony was a gentleman, but he had only met him 
 as a particularly impecunious young actor, and 
 somehow he could not say why the position in 
 which he now found him gave him a vague sense 
 that something required explaining. He was, 
 however, the last person on earth to interfere with 
 any man's game providing nothing seemed abso- 
 lutely out of order. 
 
 Anthony took care to let him know within a 
 few minutes that he was Cammarleigh's secretary. 
 He knew that if Bobby Marchdown had the news 
 all their mutual friends would be in possession of 
 it in a very short time which was what happened. 
 
 " I know now where I saw you first," said 
 Sybil Travers, in an undertone, as Anthony was 
 going. 
 
 " Indeed ! Where was that ? " 
 
 " In The American Girl at the Frivolity." 
 And then she added, " I don't understand you." 
 
 "You will some day," he murmured. 
 
 The assurance with which the remark was 
 made puzzled her, and her wonder was not un- 
 mingled with a curious electric joy with which 
 every woman is filled at the first crack of her 
 lover's whip.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 IF the success of the dinner-party and the ball 
 could have mollified Cammarleigh, he would 
 certainly have been conciliated. The Ambassador 
 one of the three men in Europe who knew 
 what a good dinner was, and who always had the 
 absolute comparison to hand declared that it was 
 a romance in A minor. 
 
 Anthony took Lady Coleraine in. 
 
 "We have not met before, Mr. Brooke, have 
 we?" 
 
 " Neither of us is a personality which the 
 other could ever forget." 
 
 Lady Coleraine, who had asked her question 
 as a mere commonplace, looked at him with 
 an access of interest. His answer sounded as if 
 he were competent to amuse her, and a young 
 man who is amusing is a rarity. As a rule, by 
 the time men are amusing they are unpleasant 
 to look at, and Lady Coleraine was fastidious. 
 Men who talked well ate too well and drank too 
 well. Lady Coleraine, as is the case with most 
 beautiful women, liked good-looking men when 
 they were tolerable. She was wondering who 
 Anthony could be. There were plenty of Brookes, 
 both with an " e " and without. It was obvious
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 137 
 
 that he could not be a nobody ; a nobody in such 
 a small and distinguished gathering would have 
 been the unexpected. 
 
 Anthony was conscious of the indefinable 
 barrier which a woman of breeding and distinction 
 manages to preserve between herself and a man 
 she is bound to accept without having seen his 
 credentials. She can devote herself to him 
 through a whole dinner, flatter him, make him 
 feel that he is doing extremely well and showing 
 himself at his best, and yet she will rise from 
 the table, accept the glove which he picks up for 
 her, and unmistakably convey the impression that 
 they really don't know each other. Anthony 
 was perfectly aware that Lady Coleraine was won- 
 dering who he could be. As a matter of fact, 
 she had, since he gave her his arm, tried to fit him 
 into half a dozen different frames. He did not 
 suggest a young, rising politician, for even with the 
 most trivial and youthful member of the House 
 of Commons there is generally a slightly repel- 
 lent gravity of demeanour, something of the moral 
 assertiveness which makes most clergymen uncon- 
 genial. They are afraid of their own humour, and 
 it is as well they should be, for an aspiring young 
 politician with a sense of humour is almost as 
 much handicapped as a pedestrian with a crippled 
 toe. Neither did Anthony suggest diplomacy, 
 and a certain airiness and irresponsibility which 
 seemed to preclude this suggestion prevented her 
 from being able to suit him to any of the pro- 
 fessions to which she was accustomed. There 
 was nothing of the sportsman, and he was certainly
 
 138 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 not a soldier, for he was unique, and how- 
 ever individual a soldier may be he is always a 
 soldier first and an individual afterwards. Perhaps, 
 with the acute instinct of a woman who was 
 nothing if she was not alert, she was puzzled 
 by an incipient defiance about the corners of 
 Anthony's mouth. It is a question whether the 
 attitude towards life of most men is not marked 
 on their faces in some hieroglyphic or other which 
 those who run may read. Ajithony knew that 
 women do not like being mystified, so he said 
 with an air 
 
 " I am Lord Cammarleigh's secretary, and it 
 has always been my ambition to take the most 
 beautiful woman in London in to dinner. I 
 suppose that sounds impertinent, but it's true." 
 
 " I see," answered Lady Coleraine, " that you 
 have a distinct sense of dramatic effect. Each 
 of your remarks so far has been made with 
 a view to impressing me, and you have suc- 
 ceeded." 
 
 " Thank you. I can hear the house thunder- 
 ing with applause," said Anthony, the actor in 
 him coming out. " What shall we talk about 
 or shall we drift ? " 
 
 " Perhaps you had better ask me the usual 
 questions," said Lady Coleraine. "We can im- 
 provise upon them." 
 
 "You are right. Subject-matter is nothing. 
 Who knows, we may develop something worth 
 hearing on the subject of lady novelists ! " 
 
 The Prime Minister heard the beginnings of 
 a conversation with a flavour, and looked across
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 139 
 
 at Anthony and Lady Coleraine enviously. The 
 ambassadress was not amusing, and since he had 
 been in office he had met her everywhere. 
 
 "What are the usual questions?" asked 
 Anthony. 
 
 " They concern literature, the drama, and 
 politics. The last we can't discuss." 
 
 "Obviously," murmured Anthony. "And 
 the second we won't discuss," he continued. 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 "I don't like the theatre; it has ceased to 
 amuse me." 
 
 " Really, you are very young to be so 
 embittered." 
 
 " Oh, I'm not bitter, although I may be 
 spiteful. Our actors are not impressive. Most 
 of our leading actresses would make better low 
 comedians, and most of our leading actors behave 
 like leading ladies. Beauty which suggests an 
 oleograph, and a voice like a brass band, seem to 
 be the only necessary stock-in-trade for a star 
 actress." 
 
 " I often wonder whether artistically we have 
 not gone round in a circle." 
 
 "Don't," said Anthony, nervously. "We 
 might get back to the mahogany period. Although, 
 I don't know," he added reflectively. "The 
 movement which was supposed to better it was 
 worse bamboo, and peacock's feathers. Utility 
 is the basis of true art." 
 
 "Is that why everything which used to be in 
 the kitchen is now brought into the drawing- 
 room ? " asked Lady Coleraine.
 
 i 4 o LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " It has never struck me ; but I suppose we 
 are, so to speak, in the middle of the kitchen 
 period." 
 
 " Perhaps it has something to do with the 
 democratic tendencies of the age." 
 
 "You don't think that the advent of the 
 democracy will be antagonistic to culture ? " 
 
 " Why should it be ? " asked the Prime 
 Minister, who, ignoring the ambassadress, had 
 been listening to Anthony's last remark. 
 
 "With the regulation of industry there will 
 be a larger leisured class, which means more 
 culture." 
 
 " Then," said Anthony, " we may look for a 
 revival of poetry, for nearly all of the great poets 
 have been leisured." 
 
 The Prime Minister nodded appreciatively 
 and turned again to the ambassadress, who was 
 insisting on telling him of a new way to cook 
 mushrooms. 
 
 "The ball is in honour of Miss Travers' 
 coming-out, is it not ? " asked Lady Coleraine. 
 
 "Yes," said Anthony. "She would not dine, 
 as she declared that it was indelicate for a young 
 girl to dine on the evening of her first ball." 
 
 Miss Travers had, of course, said nothing of 
 the kind ; but Anthony was without conscience 
 in the matter of phrase-making, and was always 
 ready to use a friend or acquaintance as a puppet 
 to speak his dialogue. 
 
 " She is quite a beauty, is she not? " 
 
 " Quite," said Anthony. 
 
 "With brains?"
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 141 
 
 " All real beauties have brains although per- 
 haps Miss Travers is too young to be described 
 altogether as a beauty. Beauty is a question of 
 brains : beauty is brains and temperament using 
 a perfect medium." 
 
 The remark could hardly fail to be exceedingly 
 grateful to an acknowledged beauty like Lady 
 Coleraine. 
 
 Later, they were talking of romance, and Lady 
 Coleraine declared that -everybody had secrets. 
 Hearing the word secrets, Lord Cammarleigh 
 looked across quickly. At any time if there were 
 the least suggestion that Anthony was hovering 
 round the forbidden ground, even in mischief, he 
 would lose all his reasoning power, become abso- 
 lutely dazed, and the wildest ideas would enter 
 into his head. He was wondering whether 
 Anthony could possibly have chosen this gathering 
 to create a terrible scene. He grew white to the 
 lips, and Anthony, catching sight of him, was for 
 a moment at a loss to know what had happened. 
 Then he suddenly realised that he and Lady 
 Coleraine were talking of secrets, and a smile of 
 pity played round his mouth. It would have been 
 interesting to know what this awful secret was, 
 the merest hint at which was sufficient to reduce 
 Cammarleigh to the level of a gibbering idiot. 
 Anthony felt that perhaps his power lay largely 
 in his ignorance of it. The possession of the 
 secret might unnerve him. He deftly steered 
 the conversation to another topic. Only Lady 
 Cecil had noticed Cammarleigh's change of colour, 
 and she questioned Anthony about it afterwards.
 
 1 42 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 She was quite a good-natured woman, but if, as 
 the incident had caused her to suspect, Cammar- 
 leigh had heart complaint, common sense suggested 
 that it would be just as well he should not linger 
 and suffer, and ir his complaint would only carry 
 him off speedily she would be Marchioness of 
 Cammarleigh, and a more generous domestic 
 regime would be established. Anthony assured 
 her that there was not the least necessity for alarm, 
 and Lady Cecil tried to look relieved. 
 
 Cammarleigh was not quite sure whether he 
 was pleased or annoyed that the Prime Minister 
 should turn to Anthony when the men were alone 
 and talk to him with evident enjoyment. The 
 Prime Minister believed in young men in politics, 
 and a certain effectiveness in Anthony's personality, 
 born partly of his desire to shine, and partly of 
 his theatrical training, suggested possibilities. 
 
 " The House is easier, and, at the same time, 
 more difficult than it used to be ; easier to get 
 into, as every democratic assembly must be, but 
 more difficult to make a genuine reputation in 
 when you are there." 
 
 " That is an unexpected tribute to democracy, 
 isn't it ? " asked Anthony. 
 
 " Not altogether. It means that many waste 
 their time in trying for the dramatic. Mobs will 
 always have a weakness for the demagogue."
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WHILST Sybil Travers was dressing for this her first 
 ball she was thinking of Anthony, although she 
 knew that the man she had chosen to be her husband, 
 the Duke of Frant, would be there. She was far 
 from being unimaginative, and Anthony impressed 
 her much as the mysterious stranger might have 
 impressed some young girl in her father's mediaeval 
 castle when he suddenly withdrew his mask for a 
 moment to show her the face of her family's best 
 hated foe. She could not have given any reason 
 for feeling that he was Romeo to her Juliet, but 
 the instinct that it was so was strong within her. 
 Sybil Travers, however, would probably at that 
 time have thought Juliet an exceedingly foolish 
 young woman to throw away her chances and 
 create such an imbroglio for the sake of sentiment. 
 From her nursery days her mind had been too 
 constantly fixed on the idea of a great position 
 for her to entertain for one moment the notion 
 of sacrificing her aspirations to love in a cottage. 
 She felt that Anthony saw this point, and she 
 admired his evident comprehension of it. 
 
 She was dressed in white, a sophisticated white, 
 which would probably make a woman like Lady 
 Coleraine smile with satiric appreciation ; but still, 
 it was white.
 
 144 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Would Anthony see the point of that white 
 frock ? 
 
 Her brow puckered a little as she found her 
 thoughts invariably wandering back to him. She 
 instinctively felt that there might possibly be a 
 danger of his glamour sweeping her away, and 
 for the first time she began to realise the headway 
 which he had already made against her will power, 
 and the degree of authority which he had acquired 
 over the stops of her nature. Her brow puckered 
 quite angrily. She was not the sort of woman to 
 sink herself in the unimportance of a secretary 
 adventurer. She reiterated this fact to herself as 
 if she were already doubting her powers of re- 
 sistance. She was a born schemer, and her brain 
 immediately set to work to discover means whereby 
 the Duke of Frant might be made to propose 
 quickly. Once she was married she was not 
 afraid that she would do anything to imperil her 
 position, although at the back of her mind pictures 
 of the future formed themselves vaguely. The 
 joy of life might be intensified by a palpitating 
 personality in the background. Anthony might 
 have his place, and she might compensate herself 
 for her marriage to a man she did not love. 
 Sybil, mature though she was in outlook in many 
 ways, was too young to picture to herself anything 
 beyond a passionate flirtation. Women seldom 
 admit, even to themselves, the possibility of 
 absolute guilt. Sybil felt that it was very hard 
 she should have met the man she loved before 
 she was married. Like most young people, she 
 was beginning to find out with a distinct feeling
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 145 
 
 of discomfort that it is the unexpected in life 
 which counts, the person for whose appearance 
 no provision has been made, the amazing and 
 unlocked for occurrence which compels an entire 
 reconsideration of life's plan. 
 
 She had limited Anthony to one dance, and 
 was a little surprised that he had not contested 
 the point ; but although she felt that his reticence 
 was dictated by tact and a genius for polity in 
 matters of the heart, she was a little piqued that 
 he should not have argued the question. A 
 woman is always somewhat puzzled, and perhaps 
 indignant, when she encounters a feminine weapon 
 in a man's armoury. The withdrawal in order 
 to make the impetus more sure, the restraint 
 and immobility born of the knowledge that she 
 only has to wait her time, are distinctively feminine 
 methods of fence. But they were also very natural 
 to Anthony. The weakness that was overcoming 
 her was born partly of bewilderment that there 
 was nothing to suggest that he would blunder 
 into premature protestations, and perhaps more 
 largely of curiosity. 
 
 The sight of Lady Editha receiving his guests 
 was too much for Cammarleigh, and he retired to 
 his study which Anthony had had the tact not 
 to turn into a cloak-room where he strode up 
 and down, gnashing his teeth in impotent rage. 
 Was it his fancy, or had the smile of amusement 
 on the faces of the Japanese masks deepened of 
 late ? More than once he moved towards the 
 door, too well bred not to feel that it was hardly 
 good manners to be out of the way while his 
 
 L
 
 146 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 guests were arriving, but each time was compelled 
 to remain where he was from sheer inability to 
 control his hysterical rage. 
 
 Anthony missed him at once, and went in 
 pursuit. 
 
 One look at his tormentor's face terrified 
 Cammarleigh into submission. There was some- 
 thing particularly deadly about the quiet tone in 
 which Anthony spoke. 
 
 " There's a time for everything, Cammarleigh, 
 and this is not the time for sulking. I should 
 wish you during the course of the evening to take 
 an opportunity of showing that you depend upon 
 me. You might at a moment of general observa- 
 tion call me and over whisper some instruction, 
 more with the confidence of a father than with 
 the manner you have no doubt been in the habit 
 of assuming towards your secretaries." 
 
 " I believe you are the fiend incarnate," almost 
 sobbed Cammarleigh. 
 
 " If I were," said Anthony, " I should not be 
 working hard to establish myself respectably in 
 the world." 
 
 " I almost wish sometimes," snarled Cammar- 
 leigh, " that I could drop down dead if it were 
 only for the pleasure of seeing what a thundering 
 fool you would look." 
 
 " Yes, I admit that the idea chills me some- 
 what." 
 
 Anthony knew that having told Cammarleigh 
 exactly what he expected him to do, a little victory 
 of this sort, which restored his victim's self- 
 conceit, was very necessary to the genial carrying
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 147 
 
 out of his instructions. He sighed with relief 
 when Cammarleigh arrived in the hall just in 
 time to join Lady Editha in receiving a royal 
 personage. 
 
 Sybil danced three times with the Duke of 
 Frant, and more than one matron hinted con- 
 gratulations to Lady Editha. 
 
 Poor Lady Grimsby, with five handsome 
 daughters, the youngest of whom had already 
 been out two seasons, felt almost a pain at her 
 heart as she smiled one or two commonplaces. 
 She was a good-natured woman enough, but it 
 was certainly very hard. Miss Travers was not 
 an heiress, and yet by some occult means she had 
 managed to capture the secret of making herself 
 talked of as a prize in the marriage market long 
 before she was seen in society. There must be 
 some secret about it, and Lady Grimsby naturally 
 yearned for the knowledge of it. Certainly none 
 of her daughters showed the least signs of matri- 
 monial genius. 
 
 Anthony danced twice with Lady Coleraine, 
 and Lady Coleraine, moving in the orbit of 
 beauties, introduced him to the lovely Mrs. 
 Westerby, who within the first five minutes asked 
 him to call on her before lunch. 
 
 " One is never alone after lunch," she 
 said. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby would have been considered 
 vulgar by orthodox and not too highly placed 
 respectability ; but by a curious paradox her very 
 offences against the social atmosphere, which was 
 hers by right and training, derived a certain
 
 148 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 distinction from the environment in which she 
 moved. She was the sort of woman who in 
 reality slightly offended Anthony's fine sense of 
 fitness, but he appreciated the fact that she was 
 a personality and a power. She had a facility for 
 attracting the right men round her ; that is to say, 
 the men she wanted, the men who were of im- 
 portance in the world. It would have been 
 extremely difficult to say what was the exact 
 attraction. There must have been sympathy 
 somewhere. It is not sufficient for a woman to 
 suggest that she might be dangerous if slighted. 
 She must be a source of inspiration if she is to 
 hold a court worth having, and somehow Mrs. 
 Westerby was a source of inspiration. Perhaps 
 it was her great reserve of common sense. She 
 had an amazing instinct as to what a man should 
 do at a crisis in his career in order to make it an 
 advantageous point of new departure, and men 
 especially if they are not asked for their heart 
 have a singularly greedy way of appreciating a 
 woman of this kind, the more especially if they 
 can depend on her not making them ridiculous. 
 Mrs. Westerby had been a widow for some four 
 or five years, and was determined that if she 
 married again which she was perfectly ready to 
 do it should be a very brilliant match, otherwise 
 she had come to the conclusion that it would not 
 be worth her while to sacrifice her very comfort- 
 able jointure and individual position. Perhaps 
 part of her strength lay in the fact that she had 
 an eye like a hawk for social anomalies. She had 
 the instinct of an adventuress who has never been
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 149 
 
 put to the necessity of using her more sinister 
 abilities. At eighteen she had made a love match, 
 and at twenty she was a great beauty. At twenty- 
 one she was a widow, and so far her position had 
 been altogether too comfortable for her to embark 
 on any intrigue. Still, a woman of her tempera- 
 ment is always ambitious, and she was quite ready 
 to make use of her talents to secure a second 
 husband. The previous season the Duke of Frant 
 had been constantly at her house. He had been 
 in the habit of bringing her his troubles for dis- 
 cussion, and she had been leading him insensibly 
 to associate her with a mental and material com- 
 fort which would, she was inwardly sure, have 
 ended in matrimony, had not Sybil Travers and 
 the physical fascination which she had for him 
 barred the way. She had never seen Sybil till 
 this evening, and she was not reassured by her 
 appearance. "That is a woman who will be 
 beautiful at eighty although she is so small," she 
 reflected. 
 
 " Lord Cammarleigh is giving the ball in 
 honour of his niece, I believe," she remarked. 
 
 "Yes, he is devoted to her," answered 
 Anthony, unblushingly. 
 
 " Do you know them well ? " asked Mrs. 
 Westerby, looking at him questioningly. 
 
 " I am Lord Cammarleigh's secretary," 
 answered Anthony, for about the fourteenth time 
 that evening. He had no particular wish that 
 the world in general should take him for an 
 ordinary secretary, and he just managed to import 
 into the announcement something which awakened
 
 150 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Mrs. Westerby's curiosity as to who he might be 
 apart from his secretaryship. 
 
 " One never heard of Lord Cammarleigh as 
 likely to dispense hospitality from motives of 
 sentiment." 
 
 " No, they tell me he has changed of late," 
 said Anthony. And then he added, laughing, 
 " I am sure a kinder-hearted master no humble 
 servant could wish to have." 
 
 "You look humble." And Mrs. Westerby 
 scrutinised him out of the corners of her eyes 
 with half-closed lids. 
 
 " I am glad of that," said Anthony. " It 
 shows that I have not schooled myself in 
 vain." 
 
 " I am somewhat of a physiognomist, Mr. 
 Brooke, and a more insolent mouth than yours I 
 have never seen. You've got a dimple which 
 hides its full impertinence." 
 
 Anthony looked at her and laughed. " What 
 consummate flattery ! " 
 
 A middle-aged man came to claim Mrs. 
 Westerby. As he moved away with her, he 
 said 
 
 "Do you know who that young fellow was 
 to whom you were talking ? " 
 
 " He tells me he is Lord Cammarleigh' s 
 secretary." 
 
 "You've not heard any other explanation ?" 
 
 " No. Is there a mystery ? Do tell me ! " 
 
 " I don't know ; one has to be so very careful 
 nowadays." 
 
 " My word of honour ! "
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 151 
 
 "Well, they say that but for the lack of a 
 marriage certificate " 
 
 " I quite understand. Where has Cammar- 
 leigh kept him all these years ? " 
 
 " According to all accounts, the young man 
 only discovered the secret of his birth by accident. 
 He walked straight into the house not so long 
 ago and claimed his father. I believe the scene 
 was most pathetic. They say that for the first 
 time since his Eton days Cammarleigh wept." 
 
 "Yes well?" 
 
 "The ice of years melted from around his 
 heart, and, too respectable to admit his youthful 
 error, he installed the young man as his secretary 
 with all the privileges of a son." 
 
 " Your authority ? " 
 
 "The details appear to have meandered by 
 degrees from the servants' hall, and to have been 
 formed into a connected story by Cammarleigh's 
 friends." 
 
 Anthony had been expecting this little scandal 
 to mature for some time. He began to fear 
 that, after all, the footman whom he had selected 
 as his personal attendant had not read certain 
 documents which had been left within his reach. 
 A letter suggesting the above story, written to 
 himself by an imaginary and devoted nurse in 
 the country, but mentioning no names, had been 
 carefully placed by him amid these papers. The 
 footman could not help boasting of his know- 
 ledge to another footman, who told Mr. Gregs- 
 bury, who cross-examined the delinquent with 
 severity, threatening him with instant dismissal
 
 152 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 unless he furnished him with all details, and in- 
 formed him of the exact whereabouts of the letter 
 in question, in order, as he said, that he might 
 warn Mr. Brooke against leaving his correspond- 
 ence within the reach of those who were without 
 a sense of honour. On the footman's evening 
 out Mr. Gregsbury hastened to arm himself with 
 absolute proof of the scandal. To his great dis- 
 appointment, however, when the opportunity came 
 the letter was gone, but this in no way prevented 
 him from throwing out to his acquaintances vague 
 hints of what he thought to be the truth such 
 as, for instance, asking the butler next door if he 
 saw any likeness between the young gentleman 
 who was Lord Cammarleigh's secretary and his 
 lordship. On his friend from next door ques- 
 tioning him, Mr. Gregsbury assumed a look of 
 offended dignity with the person who should pre- 
 sume to think him capable of betraying important 
 family secrets. The next time he opened the 
 subject, however, he turned the other butler's 
 suspicions into a certainty by saying 
 
 " In olden times, Mr. Stummit, bastardy " 
 Mr. Gregsbury was immensely proud of the his- 
 torical flavour of this word " was considered no 
 disgrace. The ancient kings of England, Mr. 
 Stummit, conferred titles upon their bastards." 
 
 " Well, Lord Cammarleigh can't do that 
 nowadays." 
 
 Mr. Gregsbury looked at him in silent con- 
 tempt. 
 
 "Who's talking of his lordship, Mr. Stummit ?" 
 
 "I only thought "stammered Mr. Stummit.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 153 
 
 " It isn't that you think too much, Mr. Stum- 
 mit ; it is that you think all wrong." And Mr. 
 Gregsbury passed on. 
 
 It was not much to go upon, but Mr. Stummit 
 found it enough, and was puffed up because he 
 flattered himself that, for all Mr. Gregsbury's 
 cleverness, he had not been able to hoodwink him. 
 
 The two footmen and the two butlers were 
 quite sufficient to spread the news far and wide. 
 
 It is a known fact that well-bred people do 
 not gossip with their servants, and, considering 
 this, it is quite remarkable how much scandal 
 finds its way from the kitchen to the drawing- 
 room ; usually, be it remarked, via the bedrooms. 
 
 Soon Mr. Stummit' s lady, Mrs. Nuggall, the 
 wife of the great South African millionaire, was in 
 possession of the news, and found people whom 
 she had never in her wildest moments expected to 
 welcome beneath her roof calling upon her to hear 
 the truth of the matter. 
 
 Thus, by the evening of the ball, it was getting 
 quite talked about. 
 
 Anthony had not been unmindful, in spread- 
 ing the report, that it would, so to speak, have 
 the effect of permitting him to give a greater rein 
 to his extravagance. If society in general believed 
 him to have a claim upon Cammarleigh, there 
 would be no great surprise if he appeared to have 
 a good deal of money. 
 
 The last people, of course, to hear anything 
 about the matter were those most concerned, and 
 Cammarleigh's relatives beheld with a certain 
 vague wonder the growing civility with which
 
 154 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Anthony was being treated. They realised, 
 although Anthony had never even hinted as much, 
 that he was responsible for Lord Cammarleigh's 
 unexpected and amazing transformation. The 
 idea that he might appear in the light of an un- 
 acknowledged heir, which so far had not even 
 remotely entered into their calculations, might, if 
 he were not extremely tactful, unite them against 
 him. Of one thing Anthony was certain, and 
 that was that they would never doubt the truth 
 of the story. It would make Cammarleigh's 
 change of front reasonable and comprehensible. 
 That he should, like a latter-day Scrooge, have 
 been revolutionised by a dream seemed incredible. 
 That he should conceive with devilish malignity 
 the notion of giving his relatives the impression 
 that he was about to blossom forth into benevo- 
 lence and benefaction only with the ulterior pur- 
 pose of springing upon them an heir to such of 
 his wealth as he was able to leave, was an act 
 worthy of the Cammarleigh whom they knew and 
 hated. The explanation would be complete. 
 
 Anthony claimed his dance with Sybil, and as 
 they passed Lady Coleraine and Mrs. Westerby, 
 the latter said 
 
 " Do you think those two are alike ? " 
 
 Lady Coleraine, who of course at once thought 
 she saw a family resemblance, answered unhesi- 
 tatingly 
 
 " Yes cousins, are they not ? " 
 
 " So rumour has it." 
 
 "And when rumour whispers a thing like 
 that one should make a point of believing her."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 155 
 
 " I wonder if the family know ? " 
 
 " Perhaps Cammarleigh is enjoying the con- 
 templation of their civilities to him." 
 
 " He has always struck me as being deficient 
 in a sense of humour." 
 
 "It may be sheer malignity. There is an 
 immense amount of wealth which he can leave 
 him. My father had something to do with his 
 estate, and it appears that even at that time he 
 had six or seven hundred thousand pounds, be- 
 sides this house, Cammarleigh Abbey, and Bruton 
 Park." 
 
 " Well, if the family are civil to the young 
 man without a definite understanding that he is 
 not to have more than a competence, they will 
 be angelic." 
 
 Sybil and Anthony were moving rhythmically 
 down the room, as perfectly happy as two beings 
 who are unacknowledged lovers, and are in each 
 other's arms with a reservation, can be. A civi- 
 lisation in which the waltz has held the supreme 
 place for three generations has little to learn from 
 antiquity in immodesty. Of course, as always, 
 it is pure to the pure ; but it has an immense 
 suggestion for the inflammable. 
 
 Neither Anthony nor Sybil spoke throughout 
 the dance, and Anthony could not have desired a 
 more complete confession of her sentiment for 
 him than this vibrating silence. 
 
 When the music slackened and finally ceased 
 they moved, slightly dazed, into the winter garden. 
 On their way Lord Cammarleigh met them. It 
 was an auspicious moment, for the Prime Minister,
 
 156 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 cheered by his excellent dinner and the absolute 
 company which Anthony had provided, had been 
 throwing out vague hints to Cammarleigh of 
 an office of importance which was about to become 
 vacant. It was therefore with a perfectly assumed 
 air of geniality that he stopped, and, resting his 
 hand for a moment on Anthony's shoulder, said 
 some kindly words in quite an affectionate manner. 
 
 Poor Cammarleigh should have known that 
 the Prime Minister always hinted at advancement 
 after dinner if he thought it would please those 
 in whose company he found himself. He had 
 perfect confidence in his ability to steer himself 
 out of the waters of mere promise. 
 
 Anthony forebore to congratulate Cammar- 
 leigh on his splendid acting. He made a point 
 of taking him seriously whenever possible. The 
 curious paradox of the situation was that he was 
 aware that there were two entirely different 
 attitudes in Cammarleigh's mind towards him. 
 At times hate, vengeance, and spite gleamed from 
 his victim's eyes and dominated him ; but Anthony 
 verily believed that at moments when the full 
 subservience of his position was not very keenly 
 felt Cammarleigh was quite fond of him. It was 
 certainly remarkable how well they suited each 
 other. Putting aside his rage with Anthony, 
 born of the latter being his taskmaster, Cammar- 
 leigh found him in other respects very soothing, 
 and he had to admit that he was most excellent 
 company, and that his house had never before 
 been so comfortable. He had begun dimly to 
 appreciate the fact that Anthony's presence must
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 157 
 
 sooner or later become an offence to his relatives, 
 and this was certainly a point in his secretary's 
 favour. He was quite unconscious that this 
 aspect had been gently insinuated to him by 
 Anthony, and congratulated himself on his keen- 
 ness of vision in having detected it. Further, 
 although he had certainly no wish for Anthony 
 to marry his niece, if his sister Editha could be 
 annoyed by a flirtation between them he would 
 not go out of his way to prevent it.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SYBIL and Anthony retired to a far corner of the 
 winter garden and sat down, curiously silent. 
 Anthony was gradually gaining ground with her. 
 He was something which required explaining 
 more and more every moment. Further, he 
 suggested strength, and when a woman, besides 
 a natural leaning towards a man's individuality, 
 realises the presence of strength, and more than 
 suspects a mystery, she is within his grasp. She 
 was wondering how she should begin to question 
 him about himself. If he would only confide in 
 her the secret by which he managed her uncle it 
 would be exceedingly convenient. Just because, 
 however, there was more than the possibility of 
 romance between them, and because, as yet, there 
 had been no avowal, she felt a certain fear and 
 shyness of him. 
 
 " I think the ball is going to be a success, 
 don't you ? " asked Anthony. 
 
 " It is a success," she answered emphatically. 
 
 " Do you know," he said, " I think there 
 ought to be a law against deceptive simplicity." 
 
 She looked at him demurely. " What do you 
 mean ? " 
 
 He turned his chair a little round so that he 
 could look at her conveniently.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 159 
 
 " I believe that the feminine arts of the ages 
 have been merely different stages in the evolution 
 of that frock and by that frock I mean you." 
 
 "You are making me out to be a mass of 
 artifice." 
 
 " Not a mass of artifice, but the fine flower of 
 artifice as distinguished from artificiality. If you 
 were not, you would not even understand what I 
 am talking about." 
 
 " Have you no artifice ? " 
 
 " Oh dear, yes. Why do you ask ? " 
 
 " Because you strike me as being mysterious." 
 
 " And," he said, looking at her with a direct- 
 ness which made her colour, " you would like me 
 to explain myself ? " 
 
 " Then you do need explanation ? " 
 
 " I never said so." 
 
 " I think you must have magical powers." 
 
 " What makes you think that ? " 
 
 " Because you manage Uncle Percy so per- 
 fectly." 
 
 " Do you think I have mesmerised him ? " 
 
 " I sometimes wonder and so does mother." 
 
 " Supposing I were to tell you very frankly 
 that there is a mystery ? " 
 
 " My instinct tells me that, but you won't tell 
 me equally frankly what that mystery is." 
 
 The Duke of Frant came to claim his partner, 
 and Anthony smiled as she left him, raising his 
 eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders as much 
 as to say, " You see, there is no time to tell you 
 now." 
 
 Sybil regretted that she had not given him
 
 160 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 more than one dance, although she reflected that 
 it was impossible he should be going to tell her 
 all that she desired to know with so little per- 
 suasion. If he were, it was most probable that it 
 would not be very much worth hearing. She 
 looked at the Duke of Frant's profile as he bore 
 her away, and was glad that her woman's instinct 
 taught her that profiles are not everything, and 
 that regular features do not necessarily mean 
 regular living. Not that she hoped Frant was a 
 model of the domestic virtues. The only com- 
 pensation for marrying a man solely for his 
 position is that he should speedily console himself 
 elsewhere for the lack of wifely affection at home. 
 From what she had been able to gather, the Duke 
 of Frant would probably be quite easily driven 
 from the domestic hearth. 
 
 As they commenced to dance, she was calcu- 
 lating the possibilities of falling in love with him 
 after marriage, and the mere idea so roused her 
 sense of humour that she got out of step. A few 
 hours ago she had been only too anxious that he 
 should propose, and now she almost shivered at 
 the mere idea, not because she was afraid that she 
 would refuse him, but because she was terrified at 
 the knowledge that she would inevitably accept him. 
 
 " Strange fellow Brooke." The Duke of 
 Frant could not help questioning Anthony's pre- 
 sence. He had talked him over with Bobby 
 Marchdown, and the latter, although quite admit- 
 ting that he was a gentleman, " and all that sort 
 of thing," was also curious as to the explanation 
 of his sudden transition from the position of a
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 161 
 
 penniless, rejected actor, with no social recom- 
 mendations, to that of master of the ceremonies 
 at Cammarleigh House. 
 
 "I have been asking Bobby Marchdown all 
 about him. He doesn't seem to know much." 
 
 "Why should he ? " asked Sybil. 
 
 " Oh, he knocks about the theatres a good 
 deal." 
 
 "The theatres seem to have knocked Mr. 
 Marchdown about a good deal, if it comes to that." 
 
 The Duke wondered whether she meant to be 
 severe or humorous, and, coming to the conclusion 
 that so pure-looking and young a creature must 
 have intended the former, said 
 
 "Oh, Bobby's all right you've only got to 
 know him." 
 
 This is an Englishman's way of defending a 
 questionable friend, although at heart he is aware 
 that knowing him is quite the last way to put 
 him right. 
 
 " Of course, I haven't had much experience," 
 said Sybil, " but, as far as I can make out, men 
 are made rather more endurable by being battered." 
 
 Frant thought she might be right, and, know- 
 ing that he had gone through a certain amount of 
 battering himself, felt that he might take it as a 
 compliment. 
 
 "All the same, I can't help wondering why 
 Cammarleigh engaged him as secretary." The 
 Duke had not heard the rumour as regards 
 Anthony's birth. 
 
 " Perhaps he liked his handwriting," suggested 
 Sybil. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " I never thought of that," said the Duke, 
 quite seriously. 
 
 " Or perhaps he understands English grammar, 
 and in that case he really would be a possession, 
 wouldn't he ? " 
 
 The Duke of Frant began to hope that Sybil 
 would not be too clever for him. 
 
 The cotillon was an amazing success. There 
 was a large party which thoroughly took to the 
 idea of fishing. The Prime Minister sat patiently 
 with a miniature rod, unmoved when a witty peer, 
 belonging to the Opposition, accused him of 
 fishing for votes. He managed to secure a packet 
 done up in waterproof, which was found to con- 
 tain butterscotch. 
 
 Everybody was in the wildest spirits, and 
 Anthony, without making himself too prominent, 
 was largely responsible for the general good- 
 humour. 
 
 He saw Lady Editha and her daughter to 
 their carriage, and, considering how splendidly 
 everything had gone, was a little perplexed at the 
 curious intonation in Lady Editha's voice as she 
 said good night ; indeed, it almost startled him, 
 and he stood watching the carriage as it rolled 
 away, a noticeable figure on the red carpet between 
 the rows of footmen, till a voice from the out- 
 skirts of the little crowd said in musical Cockney 
 
 "Pore young man 'e's down-'earted now 
 she's gone 'ome." 
 
 Anthony, forgetting where he was, and with 
 the instincts of his Bohemian days asserting them- 
 selves, answered sweetly
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 163 
 
 "Never downhearted while you're about, 
 dear." 
 
 He looked round, horrified. Luckily, only 
 the servants and crowd had heard him, and they 
 thought him a very condescending young aristocrat. 
 
 He returned to the ballroom slightly per- 
 turbed. Lady Editha had seemed quite civil, and 
 yet, though a person of ordinary perception might 
 not have noticed anything amiss, the change to 
 Anthony was apparent. He wondered whether 
 Lady Editha had begun to suspect that he was in 
 love with her daughter, or, what would be more 
 awkward, whether she suspected that her daughter 
 might be capable of falling in love with him. 
 
 " I suppose that is the sort of thing that people 
 cannot hide," he reflected, " however secretive 
 they are by nature." 
 
 Had Anthony known what it was that had 
 caused the change in Lady Editha's manner he 
 would not have been so put out. Lady Editha 
 had been told in very strict confidence by a distant 
 relation of the family what people were saying 
 about Anthony and Cammarleigh. She had left 
 her brother's house with the full determination 
 not to mention such a matter to her daughter. 
 So many mothers make a firm resolve never to 
 discuss any doubtful matters with their daughters, 
 and end by discussing everything. Sybil gathered 
 from Lady Editha's manner that she had some- 
 thing on her mind, but displayed no anxiety to 
 find out what it was, knowing perfectly well that 
 before her mother went to bed she would have 
 told her everything. They reached home, and
 
 1 64 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Lady Editha had not spoken, but still Sybil dis- 
 played no curiosity even when her mother, 
 impressing a kiss upon her brow, said 
 
 " Good night, my darling ; I hope you will 
 sleep well." 
 
 Sybil was quite aware that Lady Editha was 
 congratulating herself on a great triumph of self- 
 control. Her admonition to sleep well was 
 delivered with the air of one who would say, 
 " You, who are young and have no trouble, may 
 probably sleep ; I shall not." 
 
 Sybil knew that Lady Editha would not be 
 able to hold out much longer. She was right, 
 and just as her maid had finished brushing her 
 hair, the door opened, and her mother re-entered. 
 
 " I want to speak to you, Sybil." 
 
 Elliot, having looked round to see that every- 
 thing was in order for her mistress's progress to 
 bed, left the room. 
 
 At one time, Lady Editha had suggested that 
 she and her daughter should share a maid, but 
 Sybil had declared that she could not think, even 
 for the sake of economy, of doing her mother 
 such an injustice. 
 
 There was nothing simple about Sybil's room. 
 Pink brocades of a by no means inexpensive kind 
 were exquisitely contrasted with a green-and-white 
 background, and the Sheraton furniture was of 
 
 O * 
 
 the most elegant. Where most girls of her age 
 would have had a simple white dressing-gown of 
 some washing material, she was robed in billowy 
 waves of pink silk. 
 
 "My dear," said Lady Editha, "I have
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 165 
 
 decided after all to tell you although I am sure 
 it is exceedingly difficult to mention such a sub- 
 ject to one's daughter." 
 
 If Lady Editha had had the finesse of Gregs- 
 bury, her task might have been simplified by the 
 ancient Kings of England. As it was, she began 
 somewhat clumsily. 
 
 Sybil, unlike Anthony, had not the least fear 
 that her mother would suspect her of taking a 
 sentimental interest in him. There was nothing 
 in Sybil's character, as her mother knew it, to 
 suggest that she would fall in love with an in- 
 eligible. She was more than astonished, therefore, 
 when her mother commenced by bringing his 
 name into the conversation. 
 
 " Sybil," she began impressively, " do you 
 see any likeness between your Uncle Percy and 
 Mr. Brooke ? " 
 
 " None whatever," replied Sybil, decidedly. 
 
 This was not at all the answer that Lady 
 Editha wanted. The rumour required nurturing 
 even by those who were most interested in its not 
 being true. There was no pleasure in killing a 
 scandal until, at any rate, it showed that it was a 
 fine, healthy infant. 
 
 " Oh, my dear, think again. Surely the 
 nose " 
 
 "They've both got rather straight noses." 
 
 "Exactly," said Lady Editha. "And their 
 mouths." 
 
 " One can't see Uncle Percy's mouth he's 
 got such a heavy moustache." 
 
 Lady Editha, who had not seen her brother's
 
 1 66 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 mouth for twenty years, said, with the greatest 
 conviction 
 
 " I remember Percy's mouth perfectly ; it is 
 very like Mr. Brooke's." 
 
 Sybil was not slow in apprehension, but she 
 looked at her mother mystified. 
 
 "Well?" said Lady Editha. 
 
 " I don't know what you mean, mother." 
 
 Lady Editha began to have an uncomfortable 
 feeling that perhaps her daughter was reproving 
 her for mentioning such a subject. 
 
 "I admit that it is a delicate matter, my 
 dear." 
 
 " What, the subject of Mr. Brooke's and Uncle 
 Percy's noses ? " 
 
 " I said they were alike, Sybil." 
 
 As Sybil still gazed at her in bewilderment 
 Lady Editha continued to stalk her with innuendo. 
 
 " It has always surprised us that your Uncle 
 Percy has never married. And," pursued Lady 
 Editha, still receiving no assistance from her 
 daughter, " Mr. Brooke is very like him." 
 
 " What have you got to do with Mr. Brooke's 
 marrying, mother ? " 
 
 "I never said anything about Mr. Brooke 
 marrying, Sybil. What I am alluding to is a 
 most unpleasant rumour. I hear it is suggested 
 that your Uncle Percy and Mr. Brooke are father 
 and son." 
 
 Sybil sat and gazed at her mother in amaze- 
 ment, and then broke into a peal of laughter. 
 
 " My dear, I don't know what you are laughing 
 at it may be true."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 167 
 
 " I know." 
 
 " Sybil, how can you laugh at such a thing 
 it's almost improper of you ! I have been wonder- 
 ing all the way home who his mother could have 
 been," added Lady Editha, with a sudden change 
 of tone. 
 
 " Well, she must have been rather nice 
 looking." 
 
 " I don't quite like the tone you take on the 
 subject, my dear." 
 
 Sybil began to laugh again. " How very funny 
 of Uncle Percy ! " 
 
 " Funny ? " said Lady Editha. " It's exceed- 
 ingly wicked." 
 
 " Mr. Brooke would be my cousin, wouldn't 
 he, mother ? " 
 
 " Certainly not he would be nothing of the 
 kind." 
 
 " But he must be, mother. Blood is thicker 
 than water." 
 
 " Of course, these things do happen," said 
 Lady Editha. " There was a man who was after- 
 wards in the House of Commons, and called him- 
 self Bruton-Smith. His mother was Smith and 
 his father was Bruton a great-uncle of yours, 
 Sybil and they gave him a peerage, only it died 
 with him, which was a very good thing for every- 
 body." 
 
 " Who told you this story about Mr. Brooke, 
 mother ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Gomersall." 
 
 " Mother, you must admit that she's a terrible 
 scandal-monger."
 
 1 68 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Yes, but she always knows everything that is 
 worth knowing." 
 
 " What was her proof ? " 
 
 " Oh, my dear Sybil, directly she mentioned it 
 I saw the whole thing at a glance." And Lady 
 Editha, evidently nervous about being examined 
 as to what she had seen at a glance, rose. " Well, 
 my dear, I must not keep you up a moment longer. 
 We will go into the whole thing to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 " What do you propose to do when you have 
 gone into it ? " 
 
 " Oh, the family must talk it over." 
 
 " Well, if they do I hope they will leave me 
 out of it." 
 
 " It would hardly be proper to include you in 
 such a discussion." 
 
 Tired as she was, Sybil lay awake thinking the 
 matter over. The idea of Anthony being her 
 cousin, and that consequently in a certain way they 
 belonged to each other, gave her a strange pleasure. 
 At last, however, she fell asleep. Had she been 
 an orthodox heroine she would have dreamt of 
 Anthony, St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, and wedding 
 favours ; instead of which, she dreamt of nothing 
 at all, and it was not till she had drunk her 
 morning cup of tea that she remembered to think 
 about Anthony, or Frant, or anybody. 
 
 Lady Editha concealed from her daughter that 
 she intended to visit Lord and Lady Cecil in the 
 course of the morning to discuss the matter. She 
 had an extension of the telephone in her bedroom, 
 and whilst still in bed she rang up her sister-in-law.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 169 
 
 During the usual delay that ensued she lay back 
 on the pillow with the rapt smile which people 
 are apt to assume when they are holding the 
 receiver to their ear. 
 
 " Yes what is it ? " said an irritable voice. 
 
 " Are you there ? " 
 
 " Of course I'm here. Who are you ? " 
 
 " I am Editha." 
 
 Lady Cecil tried to throw a little geniality into 
 her voice. 
 
 "Oh, my dear, I was asleep." 
 
 " I'm so sorry," said Lady Editha, hypo- 
 critically, knowing that she had counted on 
 catching her sister-in-law in bed, and being quite 
 indifferent as to having roused her out of a pleasant 
 sleep. " But shall you be in this morning ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think so. Tolly is taking me to the 
 Academy at one o'clock. I always go during the 
 luncheon hour, because there's nobody there." 
 
 " Would you be in if I came round about half- 
 past eleven ? " 
 
 " Yes. Is it anything serious ? " 
 
 " Yes it's about Percy." 
 
 " Has the attack of hospitality been too much 
 for him ? " 
 
 "I can't discuss it on the telephone. Ask 
 Cecil to be in too. Good-bye, dear here's my 
 breakfast." 
 
 Later, Lady Editha walked round to North 
 Audley Street in the broad morning sunlight 
 beneath the shelter of a crimson parasol. She met 
 her brother in the hall. She was ten minutes before 
 her time, and he had calculated his exit so as just
 
 170 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 to miss her. He had concluded that as usual her 
 important business was something quite trivial, and 
 had no wish to be dragged into a family discussion 
 with his wife and sister. 
 
 "Don't go, Cecil," asked Lady Editha, 
 earnestly. " It is really something that you 
 ought to hear." 
 
 With a sigh Lord Cecil delayed his pleasant 
 morning stroll in the Row, and followed his sister 
 into his wife's morning-room. This room, the 
 pleasantest in the house, had three large windows 
 opening into a conservatory. Just inside the 
 door there was a deep chair in which Tolly, 
 hidden from view, was reading a novel by Pierre 
 Louys in the original, not understanding all of 
 it, but grasping a great deal more than he ought 
 to have done. Long experience had taught 
 Tolly not to obtrude the fact of his presence 
 unnecessarily, so he kept quiet when he heard 
 his aunt say 
 
 " Do you mind shutting the door, Cecil, for 
 this is hardly a thing for people to hear, even 
 although all London seems to know about it at 
 least, I should think all London knows about it, 
 for Mrs. Gomersall knows about it, and that 
 always means the same thing sooner or later." 
 
 " You said it was something to do with Percy," 
 suggested Lady Cecil. 
 
 "Well, so it is." 
 
 " I hope there's no scandal," said Lord Cecil, 
 nervously. "You never know what these prigs 
 are up to." 
 
 " It all depends," said Lady Editha, " upon
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 171 
 
 what you call a scandal. Things which were 
 scandals twenty years ago don't seem to matter 
 nowadays. As far as I can make out, nobody 
 seems to mind what any one has done." 
 
 " Yes, but what has Percy done ? " asked Lady 
 Cecil. 
 
 A sudden thought crossed Lord Cecil's mind, 
 and he paled. 
 
 " You don't mean to say he's married ? " 
 
 " I said a scandal." 
 
 "That would be a scandal," answered Lord 
 Cecil, decisively, "a crying scandal. I shouldn't 
 have had so many children if there had been the 
 least likelihood of Percy ever marrying." 
 
 This was a pet delusion of Lord Cecil's, and 
 he aired it on every possible occasion. It created 
 an atmosphere of duty around him. 
 
 " No, he is not married," said Lady Editha. 
 " If he were the matter might not be a scandal." 
 
 " You don't mean to say he's got a family ? " 
 asked Lord Cecil. 
 
 " There again," said Lady Editha, " it all 
 depends what you call a family." 
 
 " I call children a family." 
 
 " No, Percy hasn't got children." 
 
 " Thank God ! " said Lord Cecil, much 
 relieved. " Has he been cheating at cards ? 
 You never can trust Percy where money is 
 concerned." 
 
 "No," said Lady Editha, "but you know 
 Mr. Brooke?" 
 
 " What Cammarleigh's secretary ? Very nice 
 young fellow. I am told that he was responsible
 
 for the fact that we had such an excellent dinner 
 last night." 
 
 " People are saying," said Lady Editha, " that 
 he is " 
 
 " That he is what ? " asked Lord Cecil, looking 
 at her sternly. 
 
 "Don't look at me like that, Cecil," pleaded 
 Lady Editha. " It wasn't I who invented the 
 rumour." 
 
 " Oh, what rumour, Editha ? Do tell us." 
 
 " Why, the rumour that Mr. Brooke is Percy's 
 son." 
 
 " Rubbish ! " said Lord Cecil ; but nevertheless 
 he looked very uncomfortable. 
 
 "Well, it appears that everybody is talking 
 about it." 
 
 " I don't think that Percy is the sort of man 
 to give a thing like that away after having kept it 
 secret for years." 
 
 "Well," said Lady Cecil, "from what I can 
 gather he seems to occupy a very extraordinary 
 position in Grosvenor Square. He manages 
 everything." 
 
 " Oh, I think," broke in Lady Editha, hastily, 
 " that the reforms he has effected are perfectly 
 marvellous." 
 
 She and Sybil had had so very much the run 
 of Cammarleigh's establishment since Anthony's 
 advent that she had not the least wish to injure 
 his position, even if he really were Cammarleigh's 
 son. She reflected that such a rumour was of 
 primary concern to Cecil, and as Cecil had always 
 been so very dictatorial the prospect of a rival to
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 173 
 
 his own children for Cammarleigh's personal 
 property might have a chastening effect. 
 
 From treating the matter with absolute con- 
 tempt Lord Cecil soon found himself discussing it 
 with as much interest as his sister and wife. Lady 
 Cecil discovered that Anthony was very like the 
 picture in the gallery at Cammarleigh Abbey on 
 the right hand side of the fireplace. 
 
 " You mean the one on the left, Hilda," said 
 Lady Editha. 
 
 This led to some discussion, in which Lord 
 Cecil joined, and it turned out finally that they 
 all meant a different picture. 
 
 " I think that Mr. Brooke is rather like Tolly," 
 said Lady Editha. 
 
 "Tolly is very handsome," said his mother, 
 indulgently ; " but I always thought him like my 
 father." 
 
 " Nonsense, " said Lord Cecil ; " he's a good- 
 looking boy, and a Bruton all over." 
 
 Tolly was glad that he had remained to listen. 
 He felt that when three grown-up people sat 
 down and grew enthusiastic about his personal 
 appearance he could go through life with a cer- 
 tain feeling of confidence. As a matter of fact, 
 although he was by no means a conceited boy, in 
 the small sense of the word, he could not resist 
 assuming a self-conscious smirk, which he would 
 most probably, had a looking-glass been placed 
 in front of him, have admitted to be highly 
 ridiculous. 
 
 The probabilities of Anthony being Cammar- 
 leigh's son were gone into at length ; in fact, it
 
 174 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 might have been thought that so far from being 
 anxious to prove the contrary they were concerned 
 in establishing the fact. There was great pleasure 
 in tracking the suspicion to a certainty. 
 
 " If you come to think of it," said Lady Cecil, 
 " there is no reason why Percy should not have 
 married." 
 
 "And he is secretive by nature," put in Lord 
 Cecil ; adding, with brotherly warmth, " Cammar- 
 leigh always did aggravate me, even when we 
 were children. We had a nurse who used con- 
 stantly to say, * His lordship is an aggravator.' 
 And so he is." 
 
 Neither of the women was prepared to deny 
 that Cammarleigh was both aggravating and 
 secretive. 
 
 " Well, suppose," said Lord Cecil, " that, for 
 the sake of argument, this young man is a Bruton 
 on the wrong side of the " 
 
 " Cecil ! " remonstrated his wife. 
 
 " Well, on the wrong side of the matrimonial 
 preserve. What can be Cammarleigh's object 
 in suddenly springing him upon us although it's 
 quite wonderful how people will accept these 
 things if they are done discreetly and by degrees. 
 If he intends to make him his heir there is nothing 
 more to be said, but I shall give him a very good 
 piece of my mind." 
 
 " I wonder who his mother was ? " Lady Cecil 
 put the question tentatively, almost as if the 
 crowning impropriety of the matter were that 
 Anthony should have had a mother at all. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," assented Lady Editha, who
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 175 
 
 had been dying to get on to this most important 
 and fascinating side of the question. 
 
 All three looked thoughtful. They were in 
 reality going through the strenuous mental task 
 of selecting a victim for immolation. Finally, 
 with a sigh of disappointment which was almost 
 comic, they all looked at one another with an 
 expression as if to say, " I give it up." 
 
 " I think she must have been a lady, because 
 he looks a gentleman." 
 
 " Oh, he's a gentleman right enough," said 
 Lord Cecil. " Just the faintest suggestion of 
 something flashy and yet flashy is hardly the 
 word." 
 
 " It struck me," said his wife, " as if it were 
 were just a touch of something brazen." 
 
 " Yes," assented Lord Cecil. " It's a sort of 
 expression as if he knew that there was some- 
 thing wrong, and was determined to face it out. 
 Well, if Cammarleigh makes him his heir to as 
 much as he is able to leave him it can't be helped. 
 There will be enough to go round even then. I 
 should have sixty thousand a year." 
 
 " I wonder who his mother was," murmured 
 Lady Editha, with a strong accent on the word 
 " wonder." 
 
 Again the two ladies set their minds to work, 
 but without result. 
 
 At this moment there was a slight noise in 
 the conservatory. Tolly found himself being 
 surveyed by his father with the greatest dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 " What are you doing there, sir ? " And as
 
 176 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Tolly made no reply he took him gently by the 
 collar and helped him into the room. " What 
 were you doing there, sir ? " 
 
 Tolly was really afraid of his father, and, 
 having hesitated for a moment he lost his head 
 and stammered out 
 
 " I was wondering who his mother was." 
 
 " Leave the room, sir," said his father, sternly ; 
 " I will speak to you afterwards." 
 
 Tolly left the room and went for a long walk. 
 
 " He must be taken away from Eton," said 
 Lady Cecil, as the door closed upon him. 
 
 " Nonsense," answered her husband. " Do 
 you want the boy to grow up a fool ? " 
 
 " He must have heard us discussing his 
 looks," said Lady Editha. " How very un- 
 pleasant ! It is so bad for a boy to know that 
 people think him good-looking." 
 
 " I hope to goodness Tolly won't go and 
 mention the matter to Mr. Brooke. There may 
 not be a word of truth in it, and we may all find 
 ourselves let in for a libel action." 
 
 " With Tolly in the witness-box against us,'* 
 added Lady Editha. 
 
 "Well, at any rate, in that case we should 
 know whether the story was true or not," said 
 Lord Cecil, with some logic.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ANTHONY called on Mrs. Westerby before lunch 
 as she had asked him to do. He found her 
 seated at a large desk which more suggested the 
 clerical work of a man than that of a woman. 
 It was littered with papers of an imposing and 
 official aspect. 
 
 " I'm perfectly sick of the name of charity," 
 she said, as she greeted him. "The committee 
 and writing work that it entails is endless. You 
 don't want any employment of that kind, do 
 you ? " 
 
 " I don't want it," said Anthony, " because 
 Lord Cammarleigh's correspondence is quite 
 sufficient to take up all my time ; but that sort 
 of thing is sometimes useful." 
 
 " You are frank." 
 
 " Well, you see, I have nothing of the snob 
 about me. Socially, I want as many friends as I 
 can make, and when I say friends, of course I 
 don't mean friends I mean that I want to know 
 as many people as I can make use of." 
 
 Mrs. Westerby looked at him curiously. 
 She knew perfectly well that he was, so to speak, 
 writing up his part to impress her ; he knew that 
 she knew it, and, not to make it too complicated, 
 Mrs. Westerby knew that Anthony knew that
 
 1 78 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 she knew it. Neither of them was, however, the 
 less impressed because each was conscious of the 
 other's histrionics. Mrs. Westerby leaned her 
 chin upon her hand and looked at Anthony, 
 laughing. 
 
 " You need not make the least further effort 
 to interest me, because I am interested in you 
 already." 
 
 "It is no effort," said Anthony. "I am 
 wondering what it is like," he added, looking at 
 her, " to be a professional beauty." 
 
 " The term is hardly accurate," said Mrs. 
 Westerby. " It went out with peacock's feathers 
 and the aesthetic craze." 
 
 " Ah, what a period ! " said Anthony. " It 
 seems to me that we have become more and more 
 ugly every day. But you know what I meant by 
 a professional beauty." 
 
 " I understand," she answered ; " and it is 
 exciting ; but if one values social pre-eminence as 
 I do, it's a very poor makeshift." 
 
 " What is the secret of social progress ? I 
 ask quite humbly, as a student." 
 
 " The secret of social progress is the secret of 
 success in everything which has ever been faith. 
 There are secondary secrets, of course. Those 
 we learn as we go along, but they are occult 
 secrets." 
 
 " I see," said Anthony ; " you are like Morgan 
 le Fay a lady versed in magic." 
 
 " Social magic," corrected Mrs. Westerby. 
 Then she leant forward and asked, "And what 
 is it like to be an adventurer ? "
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 179 
 
 Anthony was not in the least taken off his 
 guard, and laughed. 
 
 " What is an adventurer ? " he asked. 
 
 " One who is not concerned with the morality 
 of methods. Disraeli was an adventurer 
 although one ought perhaps not to say so, as he 
 was successful." 
 
 They talked for some time in this strain. 
 Mrs. Westerby had a curious feeling that Anthony 
 ought to be useful to her ; and Anthony was 
 quite sure that Mrs. Westerby would be useful 
 to him. At the same time, they were not very 
 clear what they wanted of each other. The feel- 
 ing that had prompted Mrs. Westerby to ask 
 Anthony to call was of the same kind which had 
 caused him to accept her invitation without delay. 
 It was the instinct of the social parasite to cling 
 to anything which came in the way and happened 
 to give support. 
 
 Anthony had gathered from more than one 
 source that the Duke of Frant had, prior to trans- 
 ferring his attentions to Miss Travers, been a 
 great deal in the company of Mrs. Westerby ; 
 but how furious she felt at his defection was 
 known only to herself, just as only she knew the 
 particular point to which she had brought that 
 amiable young man on the road to proposing 
 matrimony with herself. Anthony did not ap- 
 preciate that she had been so near success. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby was a little curious about his 
 relations with Sybil. She had seen them together 
 in the winter garden, and, having a genius for 
 detecting such things, had wondered why Sybil
 
 i8o LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Travers should flirt with her uncle's secretary 
 when she was supposed to be doing her best 
 to secure the Duke of Frant. She would have 
 been very glad for Anthony to enlighten her 
 on this point. 
 
 " The ball at Cammarleigh House was a great 
 success, Mr. Brooke. Who arranged every- 
 thing ? " 
 
 " Miss Travers and I. It was in her honour, 
 you know." 
 
 "Lord Cammarleigh must be very fond of 
 her." 
 
 "Very." 
 
 " But then, she is going to be a duchess, isn't 
 she?" 
 
 " I don't know. I'm only the secretary." 
 
 " Only the secretary ? " queried Mrs. Westerby. 
 
 "Yes." And Anthony looked at her with a 
 laugh in his eyes, as if to say, " You are much 
 too clever a woman to believe that." 
 
 But Mrs. Westerby had a weakness for the 
 dramatic in conversation. 
 
 " You know who people say you are ? " 
 
 " Why should they say that I am anything but 
 Anthony Brooke ? " 
 
 " Well, you see, a short time ago you were 
 a very hard-up young actor. I remember 
 you as the footman in that play in which the 
 duchess ran away with the chauffeur if she had 
 run away with the footman I could have under- 
 stood it. I thought it was so nice of you, because 
 you made not the least effort to speak like a 
 footman."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 181 
 
 " It is always a sign of a bad actor to try to 
 be like anybody but himself," said Anthony. 
 
 " That sounds a paradox, but would seem to 
 be true, judging by the successes." 
 
 " But you have forgotten to tell me who I 
 am," said Anthony, gently bringing her back to 
 the point. 
 
 " Well, people say and I am rather inclined 
 to believe them that you are Lord Cammar- 
 leigh's son." 
 
 "Who says so?" 
 
 "Well, I really don't know who said so at 
 first, but everybody says so now." 
 
 "Lord Cammarleigh has certainly been very 
 kind to me," said Anthony, thoughtfully. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby shrewdly reflected that he was 
 not Lord Cammarleigh's son, but that he evidently 
 had not the least objection to people thinking so. 
 
 "You are not indignant? " she asked. 
 
 " I don't know I must think about it." 
 
 Mrs. Westerby laughed. " You are very 
 deliberate, and yet I should say that you had a 
 temper." 
 
 " I've got a very bad temper. Till lately I 
 have nearly always allowed it to get the better of 
 me. Now I see that I must make a supreme 
 effort and conquer it if I am to get what I want." 
 
 "Ah, we all have our ambitions." 
 
 " What is yours ? " 
 
 " Mine is to be a duchess." And she gave 
 Anthony a swift look as he held a match to her 
 cigarette. 
 
 " Why a duchess ? "
 
 1 82 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Because, socially, it is the high-water mark. 
 Of course it depends a good deal on the duchess." 
 
 "Obviously," assented Anthony. "There are 
 duchesses without any social position whatever. 
 Who told you that I was Lord Cammarleigh's 
 son?" 
 
 " I make a point of always repeating a scandal," 
 said Mrs. Westerby, " but of never giving the 
 name of the author. Is Lord Cammarleigh going 
 to entertain on a large scale ? " 
 
 "I believe that there will be great doings at 
 Cammarleigh Abbey." 
 
 Anthony forbore to explain that these great 
 doings had entirely originated in his own brain, 
 and that locked up in his desk in Grosvenor 
 Square there was a full programme of what he 
 intended Cammarleigh to do in order to revive 
 the former splendours of one of the most mag- 
 nificent and historic places in England. Nothing 
 like it would have been seen since the visit of 
 Queen Elizabeth, not very many years after the 
 comfortable Brothers had been driven from Cam- 
 marleigh Abbey, and the first Earl had entered 
 into his ill-gotten gain. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby gathered from what Anthony 
 said that she might be sure of an invitation, and 
 inwardly wondered how it was in his power to 
 give such an assurance, even in the most round- 
 about way, if he were the poor, unimportant 
 secretary that he asserted himself to be. 
 
 Before Anthony left the house, Mrs. Westerby 
 had conveyed to him the impression perhaps 
 more fully than she had intended that she was
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 183 
 
 exceedingly piqued at the defection of her ducal 
 admirer. 
 
 As he walked back to Grosvenor Square, 
 Anthony reflected deeply as to what use Mrs. 
 Westerby might be to him. So far his most 
 fantastic schemes had succeeded, and he had an 
 inward conviction that, so long as he continued to 
 soar high enough, his flight would be successful. 
 He was daily expecting the announcement of 
 Sybil's engagement to Frant. The prospect, how- 
 ever, by no means dismayed him. He was living 
 in a realm of romance as exotic as anything which 
 had ever been penned by old or modern writer, 
 and all things seemed possible. His business was 
 to see that the engagement was broken off some 
 time after it should have become public property. 
 The world would at once assume that the Duke 
 had thought better of it, and the question would 
 arise as to why he had done so. This would 
 leave Sybil under a cloud, and then would come 
 his chance. His great danger lay in Cammar- 
 leigh's natural cupidity, for when he found 
 Anthony keeping his word, and making such a 
 serious and deadly onslaught on his money chests, 
 he might, with his back up against the wall, take 
 all risks. Anthony gave a little shiver at the mere 
 idea, although it was almost insufferably hot walk- 
 ing across the Park. He sat down under a tree 
 to think. There was one comfort, Cammarleigh 
 valued his skin even more than his money, and 
 Anthony was of opinion that till he attempted to 
 take the said skin off his back, Cammarleigh would 
 continue to give in. There was not the least
 
 184 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 prospect that it would be necessary to proceed to 
 such extremities, however. As he sat thinking, 
 watching the people on the tops of omnibuses in 
 Park Lane, looking above the railing as if they 
 were sailing along on tea trays, he became con- 
 scious that he was being observed by a more than 
 middle-aged man seated a little way off. It was 
 not a cheerful face, although the colour of the 
 nose suggested that it was wont to be matched 
 by an equally rubicund countenance. He was 
 looking at Anthony in a doubtful sort of way, as 
 if he hardly expected that he would recognise him, 
 and Anthony would not have done so had he not 
 turned away with a sort of half shrug which might 
 have expressed the word " Snob ! " It then dawned 
 on him that they had once been in the same com- 
 pany together. He was too well acquainted with 
 poverty not to see that the other's gloom arose 
 from empty pockets. There is a lack of life, and 
 a particular listlessness which, when they are born 
 of want, are unmistakable to the connoisseur in 
 these matters. Anthony was essentially good- 
 hearted. He had the instincts of the old high- 
 wayman who took what he wanted from the 
 occupants of the lord's coach, but spared the 
 impecunious traveller who was a-foot, even when 
 he had something worth taking. Anthony's former 
 colleague was now sitting with his back to him, 
 as if to show very plainly that he had no wish to 
 intrude his acquaintance where it was not wanted. 
 Anthony rose and crossed to him. 
 
 " Don't you remember me, Gow ? " 
 
 The other looked up vaguely, and went
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 185 
 
 through the conventional stage formula for recog- 
 nising lost friends and relations ; then, having 
 paid his own pride sufficient respect, he grasped 
 Anthony's outstretched hand and shook it warmly. 
 He knew that he was a seedy, disreputable-look- 
 ing object, and was touched by the young man's 
 unpatronising friendliness. 
 
 " Why, it's young Brooke, isn't it ? " 
 " Yes, don't you remember, we were on tour 
 together with The Girl from Nowhere, and a very 
 jolly little tour it was." 
 
 " Ah, laddie, anybody can see that you're 
 getting on although you always were a swell. 
 Have you got a shop ? " 
 
 Anthony winced. The jargon of the second- 
 rate theatrical struck him as sordid. 
 
 " No, I've not got an engagement at present." 
 " Come into money, laddie ? " 
 " No, I'm working for my living." 
 " Never ! " answered the other, recollecting 
 that he was a comedian and therefore expected to 
 be humorous. 
 
 " Yes, I've been driven to that at last." 
 " You seem to be making a good thing of it." 
 "Well, you see, Gow, just as the juvenile 
 man has to be well dressed, so a private secretary 
 depends upon his appearance. How are you 
 getting on ? " 
 
 " Not much to boast of. Three weeks in the 
 spring, and a couple of special fortnights." 
 
 " I suppose you're having a bad time of it ? " 
 The dejected low comedian hesitated for a 
 moment, and then said intensely
 
 1 86 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 "Rotten, laddie, rotten. This is my sitting- 
 room," he added, waving his hand round the 
 park. "And a very pleasant sitting-room, too, 
 when it's fine and warm and when it isn't, there 
 are the free libraries." 
 
 " I always preferred the picture galleries," said 
 Anthony, simply. 
 
 " I dare say I dare say," said Gow, in a voice 
 that had the slackness of an instrument which 
 wanted stringing up. " Some people like art, 
 others like literature." 
 
 "It wasn't exactly that," said Anthony, "but 
 the free libraries were always so stuffy." 
 
 " They are rather," agreed Gow. " In cold 
 weather that's rather comfortable than otherwise." 
 
 Anthony knew perfectly well that the poor 
 fellow was sadly in need of money, and from 
 what he could remember of him, he was not a 
 sponger. It was therefore difficult to know how 
 to offer it, but Anthony was anxious to get back, 
 so he came to the point at once. 
 
 " You're hard-up, old chap, aren't you ? " 
 
 Gow reddened. "Well, yes, laddie, I am 
 although the word hard-up sounds a little pre- 
 tentious when you haven't got a sixpence in the 
 world." 
 
 " Can I be of any use ? " 
 
 Gow reflected, and then, taking into considera- 
 tion Anthony's splendid appearance, said 
 
 " Well, if you can go to half a quid " 
 
 Anthony took out his cigarette-case, a slender, 
 elegant thing in green leather, bearing his mono- 
 gram in gold. He never went out without a
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 187 
 
 considerable sum of money packed in behind his 
 cigarettes. It was quite possible that at any time 
 on returning to Grosvenor Square he might find 
 the doors closed against him, in which case it 
 would be advisable to be well provided for. True, 
 he now had a banking account, but even that did 
 not give such a feeling of security as the notes 
 in his cigarette-case. He took out two ten-pound 
 notes, and handed them to Gow. The latter 
 thought that Anthony was playing a joke, and for 
 a moment suspected the genuineness of the notes. 
 
 Anthony laughed. " It's all right. I've had 
 rather a stroke of luck lately been winning 
 money at Bridge, you know and I have a sort 
 of superstition that if I do something of this sort 
 it will continue." 
 
 " I don't know your reason for doing it, 
 laddie, but you've lifted me straight up to heaven. 
 This will keep me for weeks, and I promise 
 faithfully " 
 
 " No, you don't. Don't return it. If you 
 did, it would bring me bad luck. Good-bye I 
 must go." 
 
 " Good-bye, laddie, and God bless you." 
 
 Anthony left the low comedian gazing ecstati- 
 cally up through the branches above his head and 
 sensuously taking time to decide what particular 
 house of refreshment he should first visit, and 
 which of his favourite dishes he should order ; 
 indeed, the pangs of hunger were lessened by the 
 knowledge that he could assuage them at any 
 moment. 
 
 When Anthony reached Grosvenor Square, he
 
 1 88 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 was informed that Master Bruton had been wait- 
 ing for him for some time. 
 
 He found Tolly in his private room, stretched 
 at full length on the most comfortable divan, with 
 a cigarette between his teeth, reading a French 
 novel which he had found on Anthony's table 
 for Tolly was a fluent French scholar. 
 
 Anthony gently took the book from him and 
 laid it on a table. 
 
 " I don't quite see what they're driving at," 
 said Tolly, imperturbably. 
 
 " I should hope not," said Anthony. 
 
 Tolly rose and shook hands politely, for he 
 was a gentleman, and the very fact that Anthony 
 was good to him and allowed him a wide latitude 
 was a reason for his not omitting the least degree 
 of deference. 
 
 " You don't mind my smoking, Mr. Brooke, 
 do you ? " 
 
 " No, not one cigarette. It has always struck 
 me as being particularly absurd and hypocritical 
 to object to boys smoking when a small amount 
 of example would be the most effectual cure in 
 the world." 
 
 Tolly looked at him without understanding, 
 and, with the instincts of his class, politely began 
 to talk of something else. 
 
 " I say, there's been an awful row at home." 
 
 " Indeed ! What about ? " 
 
 Tolly had firmly made up his mind that 
 nothing on earth should induce him to repeat to 
 Anthony what he had heard said about him. It 
 would have seemed wiser, therefore, to keep out
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 189 
 
 of his way, but somehow the suggested mystery 
 had invested Anthony with an added fascination, 
 and he rather enjoyed hovering, as it were, over 
 the danger of committing treason against his 
 family. 
 
 Tolly looked vague. " I don't think I ought 
 to tell you," he said. " At least, I am quite sure 
 that they wouldn't care about your knowing." 
 
 " Who wouldn't care about my knowing ? " 
 
 " Why, mother and father, and Aunt Editha." 
 
 " Was Lady Editha there too ? " 
 
 " Oh, rather ! She started the whole thing. 
 She telephoned my mother early this morning, 
 and came over to have it out. Women love 
 having it out, you know. They never let rows 
 fade away. I remember when I was little that 
 after mother had been angry with me she always 
 wanted to make a fresh fuss by forgiving me." 
 And Tolly shot out his chin and frowned, looking 
 like Ganymede in a fit of the blues. 
 
 " You see," he went on, " I wasn't supposed to 
 hear. I was sitting in the conservatory, and Aunt 
 Editha came in in such a state of excitement " 
 
 " What, into the conservatory ? " asked 
 Anthony. 
 
 " No, into the morning-room. Well, she was 
 in such a state of excitement that I knew some- 
 thing interesting was up, so I lay low." 
 
 " You listened," said Anthony, with cheerful 
 frankness. 
 
 " Well, I suppose I did," admitted Tolly ; and 
 then he added, " Well, it wasn't so much that I 
 listened I overheard."
 
 1 90 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " You're quite right," said Anthony, " I 
 should call that lying low." 
 
 " Oh, I know I oughtn't to have done it. 1 
 know that now. One learns by experience." 
 And he looked a little rueful. " Still, I mustn't 
 tell you what they said, must I ? " 
 
 " How can I say ? " 
 
 " By Jove ! " said Tolly, frantically dancing 
 in and out of danger, " you would give anything 
 to know." 
 
 " No, I wouldn't," said Anthony ; " not any- 
 thing. For instance, I wouldn't give the chance 
 of marrying the girl I intend to marry." 
 
 " Perhaps you do know," said Tolly. " Look 
 here, will you give your word of honour never to 
 say who told you ? " 
 
 Tolly, it will be observed, was true to human 
 nature, inasmuch as while protecting himself he 
 was prepared to give a vigorous stir to the mis- 
 chief which was brewing. 
 
 Anthony felt that it would be beneath his 
 dignity to give any such assurance, and, besides, 
 it would never do for anybody to think that he 
 had done so, so he answered diplomatically 
 
 " My dear Tolly, 1 never repeat anything " ; 
 and mentally added, " unless it becomes necessary 
 for the advancement of my own interests to 
 do so." 
 
 Tolly looked thoughtful. He had expected 
 that Anthony would so solemnly swear secrecy on 
 the subject that he would be justified in telling 
 him all about it. Inwardly, he knew quite well 
 that he was going to tell him.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 191 
 
 " Do you mean to say you never repeat any- 
 thing you hear ? " he asked. 
 
 Such a possibility at Tolly's age seemed un- 
 thinkable. 
 
 " Never," said Anthony. 
 
 " Then," said Tolly, briskly, " I don't see 
 why I shouldn't tell you." 
 
 Anthony proceeded with a note he was writing. 
 He knew that Tolly was dying to enchain his 
 attention, and that the more indifference he dis- 
 played the more likely he was to bring that young 
 gentleman to the point. 
 
 " It's about whose son you are," said Tolly. 
 
 Anthony guessed that it was highly probable 
 that sooner or later Lady Cecil would find out 
 that her son had betrayed the family suspicions, 
 and that Tolly would be called upon to give an 
 exact account of his behaviour under the circum- 
 stances. He therefore looked up with a startled 
 expression, which even Tolly thought curious, 
 and said 
 
 " Whose son I am ? What do you mean ? " 
 
 For one moment Tolly wondered whether 
 things would end in his receiving a very severe 
 castigation. 
 
 " Perhaps I had better not tell you any more," 
 he said hastily. 
 
 "You had better tell me the whole thing 
 now." And he looked at Tolly in a way which 
 mesmerised him. 
 
 " Well, Aunt Editha says that people are 
 saying " Tolly paused. 
 
 For the first time his juvenile mind was
 
 192 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 brought face to face with the fact that he was 
 dealing with a matter of enormous importance. 
 It was bound at his age to be more a matter of 
 instinct than a knowledge of fact, but he immedi- 
 ately tried to defend himself and his belongings 
 by saying 
 
 " It was Aunt Editha who started it." 
 
 " But what did she start ? " 
 
 "Why," blurted out Tolly, "she said that 
 you were Uncle Percy's son." 
 
 " Oh ? " said Anthony, in a quiet voice, which 
 was successful in giving to Tolly the impression 
 that he wished to convey, namely, that the rumour 
 was true. 
 
 " Of course, I don't see," continued Tolly, 
 feeling that some deference should be paid to his 
 own youthful modesty and supposed ignorance, 
 " how that can be, considering that Uncle Percy 
 has never been married." 
 
 " Don't talk rubbish, my boy," said Anthony, 
 curdy. 
 
 Tolly was wondering whether Anthony ought 
 to be called FitzBruton, or whether that was a 
 privilege reserved for the natural sons of Royalty. 
 If he had had some vague idea that Anthony 
 would make a confidant of him, and that, having 
 obtained the truth of the matter, he might return 
 home and deliver it to his people under solemn 
 promise not to say who told them, he was much 
 mistaken. 
 
 Not quite liking the curiously reflective look 
 on Anthony's face, and mistaking it for suppressed 
 anger, he said what he thought would be the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 193 
 
 most sweetly comforting thing under the cir- 
 cumstances 
 
 " You see, if you were Uncle Percy's son, 
 you would be my cousin at least, well, I don't 
 know would you ? " 
 
 "That all depends, Tolly," said Anthony, 
 shaking his head and laughing enigmatically. 
 
 A new aspect of the question suddenly burst 
 upon Tolly. As things were, Tolly would one 
 day be a marquis, but if Anthony's mother were 
 married to Lord Cammarleigh, why, Anthony 
 would be the marquis, and Tolly would be no- 
 where. Everybody wants to be a marquis if he 
 gets the chance, even a schoolboy except people 
 who are something higher. All Radicals and 
 Socialists who pretend that they have no such 
 ambition are only accentuating their snobbish- 
 ness. 
 
 Tolly looked considerably depressed. He 
 would willingly have given up his pretensions to 
 innocence if he could have brought himself to the 
 pitch of committing such an error of taste as to 
 ask Anthony to produce his mother's marriage 
 certificate. He would have disliked Anthony on 
 the spot had he been able to, but somehow he 
 couldn't dislike him. He was unable to say why, 
 but his uncle's secretary, or his cousin, or what- 
 ever he was, fulfilled his ideal. Perhaps the 
 rakish side of Tolly's temperament recognised a 
 fellow-spirit. He got no more satisfaction, how- 
 ever, out of Anthony that afternoon, and so far 
 from having triumphantly extracted information 
 for which his parents were thirsting, he had the
 
 i 9 4 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 uncomfortable feeling that he had betrayed them 
 to the enemy and had nothing to show for it. 
 
 After Anthony had bade Tolly a cordial fare- 
 well, he stood thinking deeply as he watched him 
 crossing Grosvenor Square in his faultless Eton 
 suit and tall hat. Then he shook his head de- 
 liberately three times, finally murmuring to him- 
 self 
 
 " Very good very good indeed. But where 
 on earth is the sense of honour boys are supposed 
 to learn in our public schools ! "
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 " IT won't do to show that we have the least 
 suspicion," Lord Cecil said to his wife. " I have 
 no doubt that if we lie low we shall get at the 
 truth. A young fellow like that is sure to give 
 himself away sooner or later. Personally," he 
 continued, flattering himself that he was displaying 
 a cunning and address worthy of the entire Jesuit 
 Brotherhood, " I shall be very civil to him." 
 
 "Well, darling, you couldn't very well be 
 anything else we've no proof, and, even if we 
 had, it's not the poor young man's fault." 
 
 " c The sins of the fathers,' " said Lord Cecil, 
 sententiously. 
 
 " Don't talk rubbish, Cecil ! Surely you are 
 not so hard-hearted as to wish any child to be 
 visited with the consequences of Cammarleigh's 
 sins ? " 
 
 " My dear, don't talk as though Percy were a 
 criminal." 
 
 " I've never abused him half as much as you 
 have done." 
 
 This was so perfectly true that Lord Cecil 
 thought it better to hold his tongue. He was 
 not, however, so determined to be civil to 
 Anthony as Lady Editha and her daughter were. 
 It had given the former a certain amount of 
 
 D
 
 196 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 satisfaction to convey the news to her brother that 
 Anthony might possibly be Lord Cammarleigh's 
 son, legitimate or illegitimate, but there she left 
 it. It could not be a matter of profound interest 
 to her. Sybil, on the other hand, feeling herself 
 more and more possessed by Anthony's person- 
 ality, had become profoundly inquisitive on the 
 subject. It was undoubtedly a very good explana- 
 tion of Anthony's position in Grosvenor Square. 
 She felt that she had a certain right to the truth 
 from his own lips. 
 
 That there was a mystery about him she had 
 felt sure from the very beginning. Other people 
 must have felt it too, or they would not have been 
 so anxious to explain him. Sybil was at least no 
 exception to her sex in the matter of curiosity, if 
 indeed curiosity can be said to be a special weak- 
 ness of either sex. To be in love with a man 
 about whom there is a mystery and not to have 
 the key of that mystery is quite sufficient to 
 arouse the purpose and concentration of any 
 woman. Sybil was not singular in risking every- 
 thing for the sake of knowing all about the man 
 she was in love with. It is a curiosity compre- 
 hensible and insatiable. So far, Anthony had not 
 realised how strong a weapon he had in his hand. 
 He began to grasp the fact vaguely from a con- 
 versation with Sybil shortly after the dance at 
 Cammarleigh House. He had called and found 
 her alone. She refrained from mentioning that 
 she had given directions that she was to be out to 
 the Duke of Frant, nor that she had intended to 
 be out to everybody, only changing her mind
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 197 
 
 when the servant came to inform her that Anthony 
 was below. 
 
 He found her in a cool little room at the back 
 of the house, looking diaphanous and lovely, in a 
 perfect bower of gorgeous flowers. 
 
 "How nice," he said frankly, as he sank into 
 a chair opposite to her, " you are alone." 
 
 " Mother has gone to Ranelagh with the 
 Rawson girls they are sort of relations, you 
 know, and are always wanting to be chaperoned, 
 although the youngest is twenty-eight." 
 
 Sybil mentioned " twenty-eight " with all the 
 superiority and glory of her eighteen summers. 
 
 " We are alone that is the great point," said 
 Anthony, " and that being the case we are perfectly 
 happy." 
 
 Sybil raised her eyebrows perceptibly, as if 
 she intended to convey the slightest amount of 
 surprise that he should have underlined the 
 situation in this way. She was not quite sure 
 that the remark was in keeping with the 
 absolutely delicate touch with which he had 
 hitherto treated their relations. 
 
 Tea was brought in, and until they were alone 
 again they talked commonplaces. With the arrival 
 of tea, Sybil's Yorkshire terrier hastily descended 
 from his mistress's lap and scrambled on to 
 Anthony's knee. 
 
 " You mustn't feed George." 
 
 " I never feed George he feeds himself o ut 
 of my hand." 
 
 Having made her protest in favour of George's 
 figure, Sybil said
 
 198 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " I remained at home, because there was 
 something I wanted to think out." 
 
 " Did it require thinking out ? " 
 
 " If you had been asked to marry," said Sybil, 
 planting what she considered a bombshell into 
 Anthony's camp, "wouldn't you give it some 
 consideration ? " 
 
 " It all depends who had asked me," replied 
 Anthony. " Nobody has ever asked me to marry 
 them, although, for the life of me, I have never 
 been able to see why a woman who is in a position 
 to keep a man comfortably I will not say respect- 
 ably shouldn't have the privilege of proposing. 
 Stay, there was a middle-aged lady who used to 
 play Duchesses and things of that sort on the stage. 
 Behind the footlights she was quite convincing, 
 and a chronic affection of the tonsils made her 
 delivery irresistibly comic. She tried to dazzle me 
 by suggesting that her salary was enough for two." 
 
 " Why didn't you accept ? " asked Sybil, 
 mischievously. 
 
 "Oh," said Anthony, imperturbably, "whilst 
 I was thinking about it she had her tonsils cut out, 
 and with the improvement in her voice her 
 humour, and her money value with it, disappeared, 
 so I had a lucky escape." 
 
 " How very sad ! " said Sybil, with mock 
 sympathy and a twinkle in her eye. 
 
 " Most of our actors and actresses depend for 
 their individuality on some vocal defect, and a 
 fair number on physical deformity." 
 
 Anthony still reserved the stiletto for his 
 former profession.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 199 
 
 " You have not answered my question." 
 
 " Well, I don't think if I had been asked to 
 be a Duchess that I should give it much con- 
 sideration I should say yes, and I am sure that 
 you will, because you are grasping." 
 
 " How dare you say such a thing ! " said 
 Sybil, without, however, the least trace of offence 
 in her voice. 
 
 " Because we are both grasping." 
 
 " Will you advise me ? " she asked. 
 
 Anthony stroked George affectionately. 
 
 " I don't think that is quite nice of you. 
 Are we the people to give each other advice ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " If I were the Duke of Frant would you 
 marry me ? Or, wait, I'll put it in another way." 
 
 The delicate morsel of bread and butter which 
 was on its way to Sybil's mouth was arrested in 
 mid-air. 
 
 " You must be mad." 
 
 " Of course I am," he replied, "all lovers are 
 mad. It seems to me absolutely absurd not to 
 admit frankly that we love each other." 
 
 Even Sybil, self-possessed as she was, was 
 amazed at such assurance, and yet she felt that 
 Anthony might be trusted not to betray her to 
 herself. She was hardly able to answer him. So 
 long as he was sitting where he was she felt safe. 
 She would not have been a woman if in her heart 
 of hearts she had not been to a certain extent carried 
 away by his audacity. She took an unconscion- 
 able time drinking her cup of tea, and was glad 
 that Anthony kept his eyes fixed on George.
 
 200 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " Of course," he continued, "you must marry 
 the Duke, as there is not the least likelihood of 
 your marrying me. Still, we are under no par- 
 ticular obligation to marry the person we are in 
 love with, are we ? " 
 
 " I think," said Sybil, " it is exceedingly unkind 
 of you to talk to me in this way. Things are 
 easy and straighten themselves out if they are not 
 talked about." 
 
 " Don't tell me that there is any harm in 
 speaking the truth," said Anthony. " I have 
 found the experiment quite refreshing." 
 
 He was wondering what would happen if he 
 took Sybil in his arms and kissed her. He deter- 
 mined, however, not to run any risks. 
 
 " It will be rather nice to be a duchess at 
 eighteen," said Sybil. 
 
 " Yes ; you might be a widow at twenty-one." 
 
 " And yet do you believe that all that sort of 
 thing makes up for love ? You see, I'm very 
 young, and can hardly be expected to know." 
 
 "Well," said Anthony, "I've had a great 
 deal of experience of love, but I haven't had any 
 experience of that sort of thing, as you call it." 
 
 Sybil at once became very interested in An- 
 thony's heart-experiences. 
 
 " It doesn't seem much of a compliment to be 
 loved by you," she said. 
 
 <c I don't know. To be loved by somebody 
 who is young enough not to have lost fervour, 
 and who is experienced enough to have a culti- 
 vated taste,i would seem to show a more special 
 homage."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 201 
 
 "That sounds very affected," said Sybil. 
 " Sometimes, indeed, I think you really are 
 affected." 
 
 "At such times your powers of discernment 
 are at their best," replied Anthony, unabashed. 
 
 " I don't believe that you could be in love." 
 And Miss Travers grew a little tearful. 
 
 After all, the situation was extremely difficult. 
 To be seated so near to a young man who had 
 the strongest physical attraction for her, and to 
 have the knowledge that he could never be any- 
 thing to her at any rate, for some months was 
 very trying. 
 
 Anthony looked at her reproachfully, and not 
 even Sybil could have accused him of being 
 affected when, with all the guile gone out of his 
 face, an intense expression of youthful ardour in 
 his long, narrow eyes, he leant forward and mur- 
 mured 
 
 "Don't say that, because it is not true. If 
 things were different you would see that it is not 
 true." 
 
 Sybil quite forgot, in the ecstasy of Anthony's 
 avowal, that she was merely allowing a few hours 
 of decent, maidenly hesitation to elapse before 
 promising her hand to the Duke of Frant, and 
 that Lady Editha had gone off to Ranelagh per- 
 fectly happy in the assurance that her daughter 
 was to be brilliantly provided for, and congratu- 
 lating herself that Heaven did not always desert 
 and neglect the helpless widow, compelled to make 
 both ends meet on a paltry pittance of three 
 thousand five hundred a year. Of course, Sybil's
 
 202 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 trousseau would be a terrible tax, and she was 
 already beginning to consider the possibility of 
 persuading Cammarleigh to provide the means. 
 It would be very unlike him, but there was dear 
 Mr. Brooke or Cousin Anthony, as the case 
 might be who seemed to be able to do anything 
 with her brother. Perhaps his services might be 
 available. At any rate, Sybil was no doubt at that 
 moment penning quite the right letter to Front, 
 whereas in reality Sybil was saying good-bye to 
 Anthony, with, for the first and only time, as she 
 assured him, her head upon his breast, whilst 
 George, with his huge blue bow under his chin 
 instead of at the back of his neck, was gazing at 
 them in perplexity, and wondering why they should 
 find such a proceeding more interesting than cake 
 and bread and butter. 
 
 Sybil had the greatest pity for herself. Frant 
 was a poor creature when compared with Anthony, 
 physically and mentally. The physical difference 
 Sybil being a woman might have been over- 
 come, but it was the suggestion of strength com- 
 bined with mental agility which fascinated her in 
 Anthony. Although she could not have put it 
 so explicitly to herself, she loved him with some- 
 thing of the same mesmerised passion that the 
 htgbwajinaii'i mistress might ;u\e rVl:. He h.-d 
 about him a distinct atmosphere of danger, and 
 the way he rode the whirlwind charmed her to 
 distraction. 
 
 Anthony felt that sub-consciously Sybil under- 
 stood him, and, what was more remarkable con- 
 sidering her bringing-up, that she appreciated
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 203 
 
 him. In fact, they thoroughly appreciated each 
 other. Had it been otherwise, they would, instead 
 of with charming and unusual philosophy accept- 
 ing the situation, have been calling each other 
 selfish and heartless and exemplifying their own 
 individual selflessness by each calling upon the 
 other to give up all worldly advancement, and 
 cheerfully face poverty and hardship for love's 
 sake ; indeed, Anthony put it to Sybil very seri- 
 ously whether they ought not to go through the 
 usual formula, but at the mere idea they laughed 
 unrestrainedly. 
 
 There was one thing Sybil did not understand 
 about Anthony ; indeed, not knowing what mar- 
 vellous successes he had lately had in the world 
 of unreality and romance, how could she ? What 
 she did not grasp was Anthony's determination 
 to fight for her till she was actually Duchess of 
 Frant. The usual commonplace lover would 
 crudely have informed her of this fact, thereby 
 filling her with feminine pleasure in the know- 
 ledge that she would have two lovers, at any rate 
 as far as the altar-steps. Besides, she would be 
 on the defensive ; and Anthony knew that a 
 woman on the defensive holds the most strongly 
 fortified position in art or nature. 
 
 When they had finished saying good-bye they 
 sat down, and Sybil poured out some more tea, 
 whilst Anthony cut another piece of cake, whereat 
 George gave a sigh of relief and stood on his 
 hind legs. 
 
 Sybil was very anxious to ask Anthony for 
 some information on the subject of his birth, but
 
 204 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 she found it even more difficult than Tolly had 
 done. Tolly had only to surmount the presumed 
 ignorance of childhood ; Sybil would have to 
 wriggle unobserved through the complicated re- 
 straints imposed on her by her sex. 
 
 Anthony realised what her object was, per- 
 haps even before she had begun, and played with 
 her the more enjoyably that he was in love. A 
 little cruelty seasons love wonderfully at any 
 rate, to the epicure. 
 
 " Do you know that people say very strange 
 things about you ? " she asked. 
 
 " I am sure they do," he answered. " I am 
 a personality, and I require explanation." And 
 he began to talk of something else. 
 
 Again and again Sybil brought the conversa- 
 tion back in the hope of inducing him to return 
 to the subject, but he eluded her every time. 
 Finally, when she was really reduced to a high 
 state of nerves by the manner in which he balked 
 her, she said irritably 
 
 " I told you the other evening that there was 
 a mystery about you, and I am sure there is." 
 
 Anthony gave her the benefit of a glance from 
 his wide-open eyes. 
 
 " Yes, there is a mystery. I should say that 
 it was the most extraordinary mystery that could 
 be imagined." 
 
 " Does anybody know it ? " 
 
 " No," said Anthony, " nobody. Would you 
 believe it if I told you that I found a magic wand 
 lying in Grosvenor Square ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you showed it to me."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 205 
 
 " I won't do that, but one of these days there 
 will be somebody that I shall show it to." 
 
 " And who will that be ? " 
 
 "My wife." 
 
 Anthony made the remark lightly as a sort of 
 revenge in jest for the fact that she was about to 
 marry another man, but as soon as he had made 
 it some vague conviction that he had found the 
 weapon he wanted entered his mind, why he 
 could not say. 
 
 Woman's strongest passion is curiosity.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 " WHAT shall we do in August ? " asked Anthony 
 one morning, as, seated by his victim's bedside, 
 he performed his secretarial duties of opening 
 Cammarleigh's correspondence. 
 
 "What do you mean what shall we do in 
 August ? I wish you wouldn't assume that we 
 are going to do anything. As a matter of fact, 
 I have had an engagement ever since the begin- 
 ning of the year to join the Havants at Perth 
 Palace." 
 
 " The Duke of Havant is very interesting," 
 said Anthony. " He has ideas. He studies 
 Eastern religions as if the most important 
 religion in the East were not woman. But I 
 don't want to go to Scotland." 
 
 Cammarleigh's spirit failed within him. 
 
 " It is my intention to go," he said, with that 
 shaky firmness that he always assumed when 
 he was afraid that Anthony meant to upset some 
 cherished plan. 
 
 Anthony reflected deeply. " Very well, then," 
 he said at last, " you shall." 
 
 "Thank you," said Cammarleigh, with satiric 
 gratitude. 
 
 " I'll go on the Continent."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 207 
 
 " You can go to the devil." 
 
 Ignoring this remark, and knowing perfectly 
 well that Cammarleigh was very interested in his 
 doings, Anthony continued 
 
 " I shall probably go to Homburg. If people 
 would go to Homburg in their youth instead of 
 waiting till their old age, there would not be so 
 many wrecks. You are quite sure you won't 
 come to Homburg with me ? " 
 
 " I am perfectly well, thank you." 
 
 " I am not sure that at your age it isn't a 
 mistake to go in for cures," said Anthony. " You 
 would probably only find out that you are ill. 
 One day's perfect health would frighten you into 
 a lifelong convalescence." 
 
 " That is the sort of foolish remark you are 
 always making," said Cammarleigh, who would 
 have given worlds to have been able to say any- 
 thing half as good. 
 
 " Yes," said Anthony, chiming in blithely 
 before Cammarleigh could complete his reprimand. 
 " I don't find any difficulty in saying that sort of 
 thing ; it comes quite natural to me." 
 
 " Does it ? " said Cammarleigh. " Well, it 
 sounds singularly unnatural." 
 
 Anthony ignored the remark. " It used to 
 do me a lot of harm when I was on the stage. 
 Theatrical managers are like schoolmasters ; they 
 don't allow anybody else to be witty on their 
 premises. But since I've been under your pro- 
 tection people are beginning to repeat the things 
 I say, with the result that if any stupid person 
 says anything clever, I very possibly get the credit
 
 208 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 of it, and that is how a reputation for wit, Cam- 
 marleigh, is built up." 
 
 " Most of our wits have been highly unde- 
 sirable people," said Cammarleigh, with a length- 
 ened upper lip. 
 
 " It's difficult to be moral and entertaining. I 
 expect that even Rochester was dull after the 
 worthy bishop who converted him had finished 
 his task. When shall you be at Cammarleigh 
 Abbey?" 
 
 Cammarleigh, seeing that Anthony meant 
 business, said 
 
 " I expect to be there at the end of August." 
 
 "Can you spare me till then ? " 
 
 " I'll try. There is not the least need for you 
 to come to Cammarleigh Abbey." 
 
 " My dear Cammarleigh, who on earth would 
 see to the accommodation of all those guests ? " 
 
 " Guests ? " screamed Cammarleigh. 
 
 " Of course," said Anthony, looking at him 
 in a puzzled way. " What do you mean ? You 
 can't stop entertaining all of a sudden. Your 
 heart is supposed to be overflowing with the milk 
 of human kindness. Why, they're thinking of 
 having a cartoon of you in Vanity Fair as the 
 modern Scrooge, pawning your coronet for the 
 purpose of charity." 
 
 " I'll soon see about this," said Cammarleigh, 
 thrusting an appallingly skinny leg out of bed. 
 
 "I wish you'd put that leg back," said 
 Anthony ; " it makes me sick." 
 
 Under an impulse of vanity Cammarleigh 
 hurriedly covered up his unappreciated limb.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 209 
 
 " I won't have it. It'll cost a small fortune to 
 make the place fit to receive people in." 
 
 "Yes, but merely a small fortune. You 
 seem to forget, Cammarleigh, that I may only 
 have a year in which to enjoy myself in this way, 
 and that at the end of that time I may find my- 
 self out of Paradise, with a paltry income of five 
 hundred a year, and without the woman I 
 love." 
 
 " If " began Cammarleigh. 
 
 "You know," said Anthony, quite gravely, 
 " that I always keep my word." 
 
 He forbore to mention the fact that, in case 
 the worst should happen, his banker's balance was 
 being very carefully nursed, and that he expected 
 that at the end of the time limit it would have 
 amounted to considerably more than five or six 
 times the sum which Cammarleigh was to give 
 him, and, moreover, he concluded that there would 
 be a handsome commission from the firm who 
 undertook the repairs and decorations at Cam- 
 marleigh. 
 
 The prospect of getting rid of Anthony finally 
 never brought Cammarleigh quite that sense of 
 relief which he felt it should have done. He had 
 begun to realise vaguely that he had grown to 
 like him, or perhaps, what was more true, that he 
 exercised an extraordinary fascination over him. 
 That Anthony would succeed in marrying Sybil 
 within the year he did not for one moment 
 believe, although the thought of the sum of 
 money which he would have to disburse if such, 
 by some extraordinary fatality, became the case, 
 
 p
 
 210 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 made him shiver. Suddenly an inspiration struck 
 Cammarleigh. He looked very gracious, and 
 said, with studied carelessness 
 
 " Have you ever seen the Alps ? " 
 
 " No," said Anthony, seeing his drift at once, 
 " but I should like to."' 
 
 " I dare say I could spare a fortnight," said 
 Cammarleigh, " to go there with you." 
 
 Anthony looked at him indulgently. 
 " My dear Cammarleigh, just as if I should 
 trust myself with you on the Alps ! I haven't 
 the least intention of allowing you to risk your 
 neck by pushing me down a crevasse. The idea 
 is particularly uncomfortable. Let us dismiss the 
 subject. Here is a letter from your sister. Will 
 you read it ? " 
 
 " I expect it is to tell me that Sybil is engaged 
 to Frant," said Cammarleigh, crushingly. " You 
 can read it." 
 
 " I don't mind betting that that is the case," 
 said Anthony, coolly. " Yes, here we are." And 
 he read 
 
 U< MY DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 " c I write to tell you that the Duke 
 of Frant has asked Sybil to be his wife, and that 
 she has accepted him. I shall feel her loss 
 terribly.' ' 
 
 Both Anthony and Cammarleigh smiled 
 broadly, not because they did not believe in 
 the sincerity of Lady Editha's affection for her 
 daughter, but because they shrewdly guessed that
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 211 
 
 Lady Editha would not so much lose a daughter 
 as that Frant would gain a mother-in-law. 
 
 " c I write to you as the head of the family first. 
 I am afraid the wedding will be a great expense to 
 me, but I must do the best I can. No one can 
 do more.' 
 
 " That means," said Anthony, " that she wants 
 you to pay for the trousseau, and of course you 
 could hardly do less ; and besides, you must give 
 Miss Travers a diamond tiara and necklace. 
 
 " ' We hope,' concluded Lady Editha, ' that 
 the wedding will be in November. 1 ' 
 
 Anthony looked a little thoughtful. It was 
 certainly rather soon. It came upon him as some- 
 what of a shock. However, he must do his best, 
 and if he lost Sybil he did not altogether ignore 
 the fact that, when it came to the point, Cammar- 
 leigh might be unwilling to part with him. 
 
 " It's a splendid match," said Cammarleigh. 
 " Frant is enormously rich. He has pleased him- 
 self there was no need for him to do otherwise." 
 
 "Yes, he can afford to ignore the United 
 States. I hope you will at once write and ask 
 Lady Editha and Sybil I mean Miss Travers 
 and the Duke to Cammarleigh Abbey in Sep- 
 tember." 
 
 " What ! Frant as well ? " questioned Cam- 
 marleigh, curiously. 
 
 " Of course. You couldn't very well leave 
 him out under the circumstances." 
 
 " I hope you are not plotting some dreadful 
 scandal," said Cammarleigh, suspiciously. 
 
 " I certainly hope that there will be no scandal.
 
 212 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Scandal is the last thing which would serve my 
 purpose." He thought deeply for a moment, 
 toying with the braiding of his dark green smok- 
 ing-suit. Then he rose and left the room without 
 a word. This always made Cammarleigh feel 
 nervous and uncomfortable. He would, if such 
 remnant of pride as remained to him had per- 
 mitted, have called after him in order to assure 
 himself that Anthony was not angry. 
 
 Anthony paid his respects to Lady Editha, 
 and said such charming things about her daugh- 
 ter's engagement that she was quite touched, and 
 Lady Cecil, coming in while he was there, and 
 both ladies having made up their minds that he 
 was Cammarleigh's son, they very soon found 
 themselves talking to him as if he were one of the 
 family. When he had gone, they both pronounced 
 him charming, till Lady Editha suggested that, 
 after all, his mother might have been married to 
 Cammarleigh. Lady Cecil, who could not bear 
 such a thought more on account of her darling 
 Tolly than for the sake of herself or her husband 
 grew rather piqued, and finally departed in a 
 decidedly bad temper with both her sister-in-law 
 and Anthony.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 MUCH to Cammarleigh's indignation, Anthony 
 insisted on their going down to Cammarleigh 
 Abbey for a week-end towards the close of July. 
 
 " If you don't come I shall have to go alone," 
 said Anthony, " and then it will simply be a case 
 of giving me carte blanche" 
 
 Cammarleigh tried to wriggle out of the 
 expedition, told Anthony that he was looking 
 seedy, and that the sooner he was off to the Con- 
 tinent the better. Anthony professed to be much 
 touched by his consideration, but said he was 
 unable to accept Cammarleigh's assurance that it 
 would be time enough if they went there a few 
 days before the house-party arrived. 
 
 " You have a reputation to keep up, Cammar- 
 leigh a reputation which you owe to me, it is 
 true, but that makes me all the more determined 
 that my trouble shall not be thrown away." 
 
 Cammarleigh groaned inwardly, but assumed 
 a pleasant smile. Experience had taught him that 
 this was the most dignified way of submitting to 
 the pressure of the iron hand beneath the velvet 
 glove. Before they left town, Anthony made a 
 discovery which somewhat perturbed him. It 
 was that Cammarleigh was in the habit of carrying 
 about with him a small packet of deadly poison.
 
 2i 4 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Cammarleigh was unaware that Anthony was 
 compelled in self-defence although much regret- 
 ting the vulgarity of the act to go through all 
 his pockets when he was asleep. Whether the 
 poison was meant for himself or Anthony, the 
 latter was unable to say, but the fact of having to 
 keep a constant look-out was a strain which he 
 resented. 
 
 " Railway travelling is rather spoilt for me," 
 said Anthony, lighting a cigar as they were locked 
 into their reserved carriage at Euston. The fact 
 of his having had a carriage reserved was just one 
 of those things which Anthony knew perfectly well 
 a man of his own age, who was hardened to wealth, 
 would not have done. He was quite conscious 
 of this fact, and in order to protect himself when 
 a particular piece of extravagance came into notice 
 he would let drop some remark which would leave 
 the impression that it was Cammarleigh's doing, 
 such as, " His lordship will give me no peace if 
 this or that is not done." Or, " Lord Cammar- 
 leigh insists, so what can I do ? " 
 
 Cammarleigh was perfectly aware of these and 
 many other little ruses by which the onus of any- 
 thing which might be unpopular was shifted from 
 Anthony's shoulders to his own. 
 
 " Why should railway travelling be spoilt for 
 you ? " It was one of those things which irritated 
 Cammarleigh most, that he never could be in- 
 different to what Anthony had to say. He was 
 obliged to admit that he was constantly amusing, 
 and besides, he was always hoping that Anthony 
 might inadvertently let fall how much or how
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 215 
 
 little he knew of his secret. Such a simple 
 explanation of the whole matter as that Anthony 
 was in complete ignorance of it never entered his 
 head. Anthony, on his side, preferred not to 
 know what Cammarleigh's secret was ; or perhaps 
 that is not a quite fair definition of his attitude. 
 He had given the matter full consideration, and 
 had come to the conclusion that it would be safer 
 not to know. It might be something appalling 
 which would unnerve him, although, taking into 
 consideration Cammarleigh's craven character, it 
 was far more likely not to be so serious as Anthony 
 had at first been inclined to believe. Yes, taking 
 all things into consideration, it would be as well 
 to remain in ignorance. Cammarleigh might dis- 
 cover, should he attempt to find out the truth, 
 that he knew nothing at all. Undoubtedly, the 
 safe attitude to take up was the one he had 
 adopted, namely, to refuse to discuss the matter 
 at all. In this way he ran no danger. 
 
 "The reason," said Anthony, "why railway 
 travelling is rather spoilt for me is because I have 
 been an actor in second-rate touring companies. 
 If for weeks on end you had been flying about 
 the country in a third-class smoking compartment 
 with a low comedian who suffered from chronic 
 depression, a leading man who was an amateur 
 pugilist, and several other scarecrows, a railway 
 carriage would depress you as it does me." 
 
 " You could have read a book," said Cammar- 
 leigh. " You could have improved your mind." 
 
 "That was impossible." 
 
 " Why ? "
 
 216 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 "Because I was too occupied in winning as 
 much of their salaries as I could manage at poker." 
 
 " It seems to have been a highly undesirable 
 form of existence." 
 
 " Oh, most," said Anthony. " You mean from 
 the moral I mean from the material point of 
 view. When we dribbled into a town, a thin 
 stream of ultra-shabby Bohemianism, my melan- 
 cholia became acute. We had a lady in the 
 company once who played the heroines and who 
 was so decrepid that she was always mistaken for 
 the manager's grandmother, but at night she used 
 to play Jeanie Deans, and really didn't look a day 
 more than fifty-five." 
 
 "These reminiscences are not very edifying," 
 said Cammarleigh. 
 
 Anthony sighed. " That is the worst of you, 
 Cammarleigh. Your interests are so limited. 
 Now, I am interested in everything ; and, do you 
 know, that's what makes people charming or other- 
 wise ? I have noticed, since I have mixed in the 
 great world, that the big men are always interested 
 in every phase of life, providing it is put before 
 them in an interesting way. It argues a larger 
 consciousness ; and, after all, the development of 
 consciousness is the object of life, and that is why 
 innocence is so immoral." 
 
 Cammarleigh had always been rather surprised 
 that Anthony, despite his usual attitude of spark- 
 ling levity, was able to talk when he wished on a 
 higher philosophic level than he himself was capable 
 of, so he had adopted a trick, which, while saving 
 him from the necessity of replying, was intended
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 217 
 
 to convey that he could no longer continue a con- 
 versation conducted in such a childish vein. This 
 consisted in leaning back and closing his eyes 
 wearily. Any aggressive rudeness of this kind 
 always brought out the guttersnipe in Anthony's 
 nature, and as he had not the least objection to 
 Cammarleigh seeing this side of his character, he 
 generally took his fill of as much irritation as it 
 was capable of inflicting. 
 
 " Thinking makes your brain ache, doesn't it, 
 poor old thing ! Never mind me go to sleep." 
 And Anthony began to whistle an air out of a 
 popular musical comedy a form of music for 
 which in reality he had a profound dislike. 
 
 When they reached Cammarleigh station, 
 Anthony could not help smiling as he saw the 
 servility with which the station-master, a fine, 
 virile, north-country specimen, opened the door 
 for Cammarleigh. 
 
 The station was not far from the park lodge. 
 Entering the gates, they drove for a time along 
 a road vaulted by the interlacing branches of mag- 
 nificent trees centuries old. This leafy vault was 
 the more impressive inasmuch as the trees on 
 either side sprang from a steep bank. After they 
 had gone about a mile and a half, suddenly, in 
 front of them, framed like a picture in the arch 
 of foliage which terminated the road, lay the un- 
 dulating green sward of the park ; and, set on a 
 knoll which sloped down to the old fishponds, 
 stood Cammarleigh Abbey in the mellow splendour 
 of its lordly terraces, its time-stained, massive 
 masonry, and battlemented roof. Close by stood
 
 218 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 the old Abbey church, one of the most perfect 
 specimens of Norman architecture in England. 
 
 Anthony was intensely sensitive to the beauty 
 of such a scene. The stateliness, the peace, the 
 hoary building, sunning itself on this gorgeous 
 July afternoon like a great, brown lizard, sent a 
 thrill through him, and he turned to Cammarleigh, 
 and said simply 
 
 " Cammarleigh, how did such a home produce 
 you?" 
 
 The remark came as a distinct shock to Cam- 
 marleigh. He had noticed the effect that the 
 panorama of his ancestral home had made on 
 Anthony, and he had concluded that it would 
 raise him in his tormentor's eyes. To find that 
 it only drew an unfavourable comparison was 
 humiliating to a degree. 
 
 The ancient approach to Cammarleigh had 
 been from the opposite direction, and as they 
 drew near Anthony saw that the village lay about 
 a mile to the rear of the Abbey, straggling up a 
 hillside. Finally they reached the splendid old 
 gateway, and rolled beneath it. 
 
 " It seems absurd to enter a place like this in 
 a lounge suit, doesn't it, Cammarleigh ? " 
 
 " I don't know that I have ever entered it in 
 anything else." 
 
 "We ought to have changed our clothes at 
 the station, and ridden here on horseback in tie 
 wigs, with pistols in our holsters." 
 
 " I trust," said Cammarleigh, " that you won't 
 take it into your head to do anything fantastic. 
 Remember, I am Lord-Lieutenant of the county."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 219 
 
 "That's just the point you can give me 
 every advantage." 
 
 Two children standing just outside the Abbey 
 courtyard cheered and waved their caps, while a 
 couple of young labourers pulled their forelocks. 
 Cammarleigh acknowledged the salutes, but with 
 no great grace of manner or cordiality of expression. 
 
 " Really, this is a very poor display two 
 young men and a few children ! And you have 
 always insinuated that you were so popular ! 
 You must give a tea to the children, and a dinner 
 to the tenants, with a cricket-match." 
 
 " Look here," said Cammarleigh, " I warn you 
 once and for all that if you make me ridiculous 
 in the county I shall not care what happens." 
 
 "It would be rather picturesque," said Anthony, 
 unheeding, " to give a grand fete, and to show the 
 storming of Cammarleigh Abbey by the Crom- 
 wellian troops." 
 
 Cammarleigh made no answer. Opposition 
 invariably brought about the very catastrophe he 
 wished to avoid. He felt that at the Abbey 
 he would be more secure than he had been since 
 Anthony first appeared in his life, for, at any rate, 
 that abominable whistle would be quite ineffective. 
 
 " I have often promised you," said Anthony, 
 " that the day was coming, and was perhaps not 
 so far distant, when you would be free of me, 
 but, upon my soul, I shall find it very difficult 
 to give up the Abbey. You must show me all 
 over it." 
 
 This Cammarleigh did the next morning. 
 Anthony was most careful not to go through
 
 220 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 any low arched doors, or down dark staircases in 
 front of Cammarleigh, but always made him go 
 first. He believed that he saw danger in his 
 victim's eye at last, and concluded that he was 
 drawing a new stock of courage from the fact 
 that he was in a place where he was acknowledged 
 lord and master. 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder," he thought, " if he 
 hadn't made up his mind to use that little packet 
 of poison." And he laughed. The idea of Cam- 
 marleigh undergoing all the moral pangs of tempta- 
 tion to murder under the impression that he was 
 possessed of a deadly poison was very amusing 
 indeed. 
 
 " I must give him his opportunity quite soon, 
 although it is extremely doubtful whether he will 
 have the courage to take it." 
 
 That evening, after dinner, when they were 
 sitting over their wine, Anthony made some excuse 
 and went out of the room, leaving his glass of port 
 half full. When he returned from the other side 
 of the door, he knew from actual observation that 
 Cammarleigh had taken his chance. He very 
 slowly lit a cigar, surveying him under his almost 
 closed lids. Cammarleigh took a cigarette, and 
 Anthony swiftly struck a match and handed him 
 a light. 
 
 " Why, Cammarleigh, your hand is shaking ! " 
 
 "Nonsense, why on earth should my hand 
 shake ? " 
 
 "I don't know, I'm sure, but it is shaking, 
 and your face is quite green. You are not 
 worrying, I hope ? You must really cheer up."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 221 
 
 "I'm all right, thank you," quavered Cam- 
 marleigh. 
 
 Anthony raised his glass to the light, Cam- 
 marleigh watching the while, fascinated. 
 
 " This port is very cloudy," said Anthony. 
 
 He raised it to his lips and tasted it. Then 
 he set it down on the table and looked severely 
 at Cammarleigh, who was shaking as if he had an 
 ague. 
 
 " Cammarleigh, you have been trying to 
 poison me." And Anthony raised his forefinger 
 reprovingly. " Now, I won't have it once and 
 for all, I won't have it." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " said Cammarleigh, 
 holding on to his chair in his agitation. 
 
 " It's the sort of thing," said Anthony, " that 
 you may easily fall into the habit of doing, and 
 it's quite impossible to put up with it." He got 
 up and rang the bell. 
 
 " Mercy ! " wailed Cammarleigh, wringing 
 his hands. 
 
 " Bring me another glass, please," he said to 
 the servant who answered the summons. 
 
 When it had been brought, Cammarleigh sank 
 whimpering into his chair. 
 
 " How did you find out ? " he asked, in a 
 hoarse whisper. 
 
 " I didn't find out ; I guessed." 
 
 If Cammarleigh had been in a less abject frame 
 of mind he might have wondered how much more 
 Anthony owed to pure guesswork ; but he was 
 too completely cowed by the event. 
 
 Anthony preferred that Cammarleigh should
 
 222 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 think his detection entirely due to guesswork. 
 The incident had one good effect ; it made Cam- 
 marleigh quite abject during the remainder of 
 their stay at the Abbey. He looked on without 
 a protest while a large sum was spent on a suite 
 of rooms decorated and furnished in the Queen 
 Anne style. The period was to be maintained, 
 but they were to be gorgeously renovated. The 
 state bedrooms cost Anthony, and the London man 
 who came down to consult, a whole day of anxious 
 thought and discussion. These discussions were 
 made the more difficult by reason of Anthony's 
 digressions. He had so much to say about 
 modern art in general, and wandered so far from 
 the particular detail in hand, that it was at times 
 extremely difficult to get back to the point of 
 departure. He explained at length different ways 
 in which the London firm might treble its busi- 
 ness, and was anxious to show its representative 
 that in commercialism imagination was the 
 strongest factor. 
 
 " Now, what do you think," he said, offering 
 his hearer one of Cammarleigh's best cigars in 
 order to soothe him into auricular acquiescence, 
 " what do you think has made our merchant 
 princes, our trust magnates, and our money deal- 
 ing Leviathans ? " 
 
 " I don't know, sir, I'm sure work, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " That is the fundamental error which keeps 
 most men poor," said Anthony, triumphantly. 
 " It's imagination. The fool writes sonnets. Of 
 course," he added, parenthetically, "the great
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 223 
 
 poet is ruled out of the discussion." It was very 
 condescending of Anthony to call it a discussion. 
 " The wise man turns his imagination into golden 
 ingots. Now, I began as an artist." 
 
 " Indeed, sir ! " said the man, anxious to 
 please. " I should like to see some of your 
 pictures." 
 
 " When I say an artist, I mean an actor ; but 
 I very soon found a better market for my imagi- 
 nation than the stage." 
 
 Finally, an order was given to make Queen 
 Elizabeth's sitting-room a piece of pink perfection. 
 
 Statuary which had been placed at a disadvan- 
 tage Anthony had moved and brought where 
 effects of light and shade revealed its true beauty. 
 All furniture and hangings which were in bad 
 taste, and which he described as meaningless 
 accumulation, he condemned to destruction, He 
 had a grand bonfire in a field, the foundation of 
 which was the bamboo and macrame period, and 
 the main fuel early - Victorian atrocities, sur- 
 mounted by wicker chairs, cheap and tasteless 
 photograph frames, and a piano by an English 
 maker. 
 
 " But the associations ! " ventured Cammar- 
 leigh, recovering some faint trace of spirit. 
 
 Anthony, seated on a fence in white ducks, 
 pink shirt, and a Panama, smoking a cigarette, 
 answered coolly 
 
 "Who ever heard of bamboo brackets and 
 associations ! If one wishes really to preserve 
 one's taste, one should keep clear of associating 
 sentiment with furniture."
 
 224 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Cammarleigh muttered an inward wish that 
 Anthony were in the middle of the flames. 
 
 Anthony sniffed the air critically. 
 
 " It doesn't even smell nice, like an ordinary 
 bonfire. I think that must be the macrame 
 work," he said, as a particularly offensive odour 
 floated to them on the wind. " Or is it the 
 English piano ? Perhaps it is the smoky symbol 
 of all the bad music that has been played on it. 
 Let's get round to the other side. It's curious 
 how dull those early- Victorian things are : they 
 can't be brilliant even in a bonfire. I suppose 
 they don't think it respectable." 
 
 "You might at least have had a jumble-sale 
 amongst the villagers for some charity," said 
 Cammarleigh. 
 
 " I can't understand," said Anthony, wither- 
 ingly, " how people like you, brought up amongst 
 ermine, coronets, and castles, can be so middle 
 class. Do you mean to say that you would really 
 debauch your villagers with that rubbish after 
 you've seen the effect it has had on your own 
 family ? You would exchange their beautiful 
 tiled floors, wholesome deal tables and shining 
 pots and pans, for your pseudo-artistic nonsense ? 
 I can only return thanks that I am here to pre- 
 vent it." 
 
 The bonfire was seen for miles. Anthony 
 said that he began to realise the spirit which 
 animated the old inquisitors. They must in watch- 
 ing their bonfires have felt the exaltation of a duty 
 done, a sensation of being cruel only to be kind. 
 
 Cammarleigh suffered acutely as he saw all
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 225 
 
 the worthless rubbish destroyed. He was the 
 sort of man who would have kept a dilapidated 
 writing-case all his life because he had had it as 
 a boy ; not from any feeling of sentiment, but 
 from a dislike to parting with anything. On 
 Anthony's pointing out that certain of the family 
 portraits were very badly painted, he asked him 
 if he would like to add them to the bonfire. 
 
 " That is a foolish question, Cammarleigh," 
 he said. "A portrait always has a certain indi- 
 viduality, and if you take it away it leaves a gap, 
 whereas the rubbish we have just destroyed will 
 never be missed. The artistic value of furniture 
 may generally be measured by the amount of 
 dusting it requires. Things which are worthless 
 require an immense amount of dusting. Most 
 people ought to keep a housemaid especially to 
 dust their photograph frames." 
 
 Everything having been arranged to Anthony's 
 satisfaction, down to the accommodation for the 
 chefs second assistant, they returned to town. 
 
 " By Jove ! " said Anthony, " what a lot I am 
 doing for you ! You will appear in people's 
 memoirs as a great gentleman with a genius for 
 hospitality." 
 
 " And how will you appear ? " asked Cam- 
 marleigh, satirically. 
 
 " As a statesman," replied Anthony, coolly. 
 
 " A statesman ? " echoed Cammarleigh. He 
 really believed that Anthony's brain had given 
 way under the stress of success. 
 
 "You are going to help me to a political 
 position." 
 
 Q
 
 226 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 How ? " 
 
 " 1 am too tired to discuss the question to- 
 night." 
 
 Anthony yawned, and, wishing Cammarleigh 
 a polite good night, went to bed.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 BEFORE he left for the Continent Anthony had 
 one long talk with Sybil. He submitted to her 
 what he had arranged for her and her mother's 
 rooms at Cammarleigh Abbey, and asked her if 
 there was anything further that she could suggest. 
 
 " Your uncle is really quite wonderful," he 
 said, with a perfectly grave countenance. " When 
 I told him that I had ordered a small Ibach grand 
 for your sitting-room he was quite delighted." 
 
 "A funny thing," said Sybil, looking at him 
 with her eyes half-closed, " is that, though Uncle 
 Percy does all these things, he appears to hate 
 being reminded of them." 
 
 " That is so often the case with really chari- 
 table people, don't you think so ? " 
 
 " I should like to know," said Sybil, " why 
 you are able to make Uncle Percy do exactly as 
 you like." 
 
 " Who says that I can make him do exactly as 
 I like ? " 
 
 "Well, other people may be taken in, but I 
 am not. Has the mystery about you anything to 
 do with him ? " 
 
 Anthony smiled. " That is part of the secret 
 which only my wife will be told." 
 
 "I don't see any particular reason for your
 
 228 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 telling your wife," said Sybil, " but I think there 
 is a very good reason why you should tell me." 
 
 " You mean that because I love you I ought 
 to do anything that you ask me. I don't see it." 
 
 " And you said you were romantic ! " 
 
 " I beg your pardon." 
 
 " Oh, but you are always talking about 
 romance." 
 
 "Yes, but I've talked myself out of its reality. 
 I live with the shadow." 
 
 " I don't understand you." 
 
 " Why should you ? We should be very 
 happy without understanding each other. Besides, 
 no two people ever understand each other until 
 they are married. That is why there are so many 
 unhappy marriages." 
 
 Anthony spoke of marriage out of deference 
 to Sybil's sex and youth. What he really meant 
 was that no two people could understand each 
 other till they had had the opportunity of 
 investigating each other's sex psychology, and 
 even then it might have the opposite effect and 
 confuse the issues. 
 
 " You won't tell me, then ? " 
 
 " Why do you want to know ? At least 
 don't answer, I'll tell you why you want to know. 
 It's just for the mere vanity of feeling that you 
 have an exceptional power over me ; and when I 
 had allowed you to triumph you would despise 
 me for having given myself away for nothing." 
 
 " Well, I can't marry you, can I ? " 
 
 " No. So don't you think the kindest thing 
 would be to have mercy on me ? " This was a
 
 LORD CAiMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 229 
 
 very brilliant stroke on Anthony's part, for an 
 appeal for mercy to a woman in matters of the 
 heart is always certain to be of little avail ; and if 
 Sybil were given the idea that he was but a poor 
 moth fluttering round the flame, she would pro- 
 bably play with him, or imagine she was doing 
 so, till she found, too late, which was the moth 
 and which the flame. Thinking, therefore, that 
 Anthony was vulnerable to her attacks, she, from 
 this moment, turned the whole battery of her 
 fascinations upon him, being, with all her instinct, 
 too young to realise that when her last shot had 
 been fired the citadel would remain defenceless. 
 
 " And you are going to tell your wife," she 
 said, with a light laugh. 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " And whom do you think you will marry ? " 
 
 " Somebody very rich, and somebody very 
 beautiful." 
 
 " Really ? As a rule, heiresses require value 
 in exchange for their money especially when 
 they are beautiful." 
 
 Anthony laughed. 
 
 " Don't you think the man you have fallen in 
 love with would be a prize for any woman ? " 
 
 It was a superb compliment, a blushing piece 
 of adolescent flattery, charmingly awkward and 
 unwieldy, but redolent of youth. 
 
 Anthony laughed to himself as he made it. 
 It was so perfectly calculated, and had Sybil not 
 been a prematurely evolved creature of artifice 
 she must have detected its incongruity coming 
 from lips so manifestly practised. She actually
 
 230 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 estimated the compliment at the mere face value 
 of the words, a mistake which the too subtle 
 frequently make in the most unexpected manner. 
 
 " Will you introduce me to your wife ? " 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 Sybil made a wry face. He was not at all in 
 a nice mood, and she threatened that if he did not 
 show a better disposition he should not be allowed 
 to carry George. 
 
 They had met by sheer accident on the north 
 side of the Serpentine ; at least they both 
 preserved the illusion that there was no pre- 
 meditation. Whenever Sybil was long in the 
 company of Anthony she felt the heart-ache, which 
 had been born as a little infant-throb on the day 
 of her engagement to Frant, growing perceptibly. 
 However much she tried to stunt its growth by 
 full draughts of the wine of pleasure it throve 
 amazingly. The infant was now palpably out of 
 short clothes, and would soon want short-coating 
 when, past the more somnolent period of infancy, 
 it would use its limbs and lift up its voice. It 
 was not so easy to marry the man you did not 
 love as she had imagined it would be. 
 
 "I should think," said Sybil, "it would be 
 very nice if you were never to marry if you 
 were to be like one of those people one reads of 
 in books who are always in love with one woman 
 and treat her with distant respect all their lives." 
 
 " And then ? " said Anthony. 
 
 " What do you mean by f and then ' ? " 
 
 " It is an inconclusive form of repartee used 
 in the north of England when one business man
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 231 
 
 has proposed a transaction to another from which 
 he will obviously derive all the benefit." 
 
 " Sometimes I imagine," said Sybil, " what it 
 would be like to be your wife, and then I can't 
 help seeing all the advantages of the other side. 
 I dreamt of myself at the next coronation the 
 other night. I really looked quite beautiful." 
 
 " Which would you sooner be," said Anthony, 
 " the wife of the man you loved, if he were very 
 young and very brilliant and everybody were 
 talking of him as a coming statesman, or the 
 wife of Frant ? " 
 
 " I want to be a duchess," said Sybil, fretfully, 
 while her heart-ache grew a whole inch in half a 
 second. " I have always wanted to be a duchess." 
 
 " One of the things that surprises me most," 
 said Anthony, " is the snobbery of the nobility. 
 The middle-classes may be snobbish, but their 
 snobbishness isn't in it with the snobbishness of 
 those who ought to know better. To hear a 
 viscount talking about a duke is quite surprising. 
 It's as bad as a subordinate on the subject of the 
 Chief of a Government Department." 
 
 " It carries with it so many advantages," per- 
 sisted Sybil. 
 
 " You don't believe in being happy then ? " 
 
 " I am sure I don't know what I believe in, 
 and what I don't believe in it never struck me 
 to think it out. I only know what I want." 
 
 " We both know what you want you want 
 me ; and when you are married and you pass me 
 by in gilded halls and marble palaces with a broken 
 heart, you will not even have the consolation of
 
 232 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 saying, like the lady in the song, * Oh, thou hast 
 been the cause of this anguish, my mother.' ' 
 
 " Well, my mother does wish me to be a 
 duchess, too." 
 
 " You are surely not going to make poor Lady 
 Editha responsible for anything you say or do ? " 
 
 "No," said Sybil, "I have always found 
 mother the reverse of disobedient." 
 
 " I think it only fair," said Anthony, decisively, 
 " to warn you that I shall most certainly not leave 
 you alone after you are married, and I cannot 
 even promise to treat you with distant respect 
 indeed, between lovers the term is paradoxical. 
 It is not respectful to be distant to the woman 
 you love. There is nothing like having an object 
 in life, and our object must be to see that Frant 
 doesn't find us out We have had the good 
 Duchess and the bad Duchess, and now you shall 
 simply be the delicious Duchess." 
 
 " I meant to do my duty," said Sybil, " till I 
 met you." 
 
 " Oh, as far as that goes I won't let you make 
 any mistakes. There is one thing, we shall pro- 
 bably find it very much easier to be faithful than 
 if we had married." 
 
 "We mustn't talk like this," said Sybil, 
 suddenly. "It has just struck me that it is very 
 wicked. I shall go home and try to forget you." 
 
 When he left her, Anthony sat down, with his 
 cigarette held loosely between his lips, and thought 
 deeply. Finally, he gave a little shrug of his 
 shoulders which was almost a shiver at some grim 
 thought of possible failure.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 ANTHONY had never enjoyed himself as much as 
 he did during that month of August. He had 
 freed himself from Cammarleigh ; he had put 
 away his love. He went to Ostend for the 
 rococo, Dinard for all that was Parisian and chic, 
 and had intended to go to Homburg for the cure. 
 Then, feeling somewhat of a wreck, he changed 
 his mind as regards Homburg which, with all 
 its attractions, would hardly have been the place 
 in which to recuperate. He did not wish to 
 return to Cammarleigh and produce an unfavour- 
 able impression on Sybil, who was very sensitive 
 to external influences. 
 
 Anthony was absolutely free from prejudice, 
 and he revived himself by a cure which he had 
 been told was magical. He went to a sana- 
 torium in Hampshire. It was presided over by 
 a kindly old doctor who was considered a crank 
 because he would persist in seeking for health 
 instead of for disease. Anthony had seen an 
 advertisement of it somewhere, and had grasped 
 the virtue of the method at once. He bathed at 
 dawn in clear, running streams ; he lay all day 
 naked in the open air, and allowed the sun to 
 search him through and through. At night, 
 wrapped in a blanket, he slept out of doors
 
 234 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 dreaming of Sybil, or ecstatically enjoying the 
 sense of purification which comes of lone com- 
 muning with the stars. He gave himself com- 
 pletely up to the rapture of this embrace with 
 Nature, for, as he very wisely said to the small 
 community of earnest devotees who gathered 
 round the breakfast-table 
 
 " Who should really understand Nature so 
 well as the sin-stained child of the * City of Dread- 
 ful Night.' Or, to correct the quotation, the 
 < City of Dreadful Nights.' ' 
 
 Anthony said so many strange things that the 
 motley little group of faddists were delighted that 
 they in their turn had an opportunity of sitting in 
 judgment on somebody for a want of mental 
 equilibrium, and they decided with acclamation 
 that Anthony was mad. 
 
 " Mad ! " said the old gentleman who lived 
 on one corn-cob a week. 
 
 " Mad ! " agreed the Irish lady poetess in 
 sandals, her angularity positively rattling with 
 judicial excitement. 
 
 One gentleman attired in cellular knicker- 
 bockers and a shirt worn open to the waist, and 
 with a rolling eye which suggested the need for 
 a straitwaistcoat, was deeply concerned for An- 
 thony's sanity. 
 
 The cure, however, was, as he had been pro- 
 mised, magical, and he returned brown as a nut 
 and sweet and fresh as the morning, and with the 
 haunting melodies of wood-fairy and river-sprite 
 ringing in his ears. 
 
 He deferentially arrived at Cammarleigh Abbey
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 235 
 
 a few days before his lordship. Perhaps in this 
 there lay not deference but a desire to have a free 
 hand in completing all his arrangements. He 
 had kept a great many of these secret from Cam- 
 marleigh. The ancient refectory, which had 
 never been very much altered, was destined to 
 witness a scene without parallel in the annals of 
 the Abbey. Anthony was going to have it made 
 into a theatre, and there was to be a gala perform- 
 ance. It was largely with an eye to this that he 
 had had the electric light installed during the time 
 he had been away. He was not going to have 
 any amateur performance of an archaic comedy, 
 or an incompetent presentation of some drawing- 
 room drama in vogue at the moment. The 
 performance would be given entirely to gratify 
 his own vanity and ambition. He was going to 
 play Hamlet, largely supported by professionals, 
 whilst the young folk of the county could be 
 made very useful as supers. His own costume 
 he had been measured for before he left town. 
 Cammarleigh disliked the theatre ; he said it was 
 unreal just as if anybody was prepared to con- 
 tend that it was not. 
 
 " Then you disapprove of art generally ? " 
 said Anthony. 
 
 Considering that Cammarleigh held what he 
 thought to be a great reputation as a connoisseur, 
 the remark certainly sounded almost insulting. 
 
 " What I mean is," continued Anthony, " that 
 you are Nonconformist at heart. You cannot 
 conceive a love of art for art's sake ; in fact, you 
 really think it all quite wicked and something
 
 236 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 which will have to be atoned for on the Day of 
 Judgment. Mind you, I don't say you are not 
 right. I have often had such a feeling myself. 
 Perhaps we are born into the world to overcome 
 art. We shall find that the artists are the goats 
 and the rest of mankind the sheep." 
 
 " How much more of this sort of thing am 
 I to endure ? " said Cammarleigh, addressing 
 space. 
 
 " No," continued Anthony, " you know a 
 Claude from a copy, and you might possibly be 
 a better artist if you did not ; but your real plea- 
 sure in art consists in vanity in your supposed 
 powers of discernment. Shall we leave it at 
 that ? " 
 
 " I don't disapprove of elevated art," said 
 Cammarleigh, acidly. 
 
 " Elevated art ! You will begin to talk of 
 moral art next. I suppose you don't think there 
 is any elevated dramatic art? " 
 
 " I can conceive some performances of Shake- 
 speare which might be elevating." 
 
 " I wonder if you will think my ( Hamlet ' 
 elevating ? " 
 
 And Anthony gazed at Cammarleigh thought- 
 fully, as was his wont when he was preparing to 
 listen impassively to a storm which he did not 
 intend should turn him from his purpose. 
 
 For a moment Cammarleigh thought that 
 Anthony was anxious to return to the stage, and 
 that he was hinting at a compromise by which he 
 would be relieved of his presence. He became 
 quite genial, and said pleasantly
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 237 
 
 " I am sure your { Hamlet ' would not be 
 uninteresting. You have always struck me as 
 possessing an instinct for matters of psychology 
 and culture if at your age you are necessarily 
 deficient in reading." 
 
 " I believe," answered Anthony, impertinently 
 for praise from Cammarleigh did not arouse 
 the best side of his nature " that in time you 
 will achieve a very fair imitation of my conver- 
 sational style. Your touch is somewhat heavy at 
 present." 
 
 " You have the ingratitude of a guttersnipe," 
 snapped Cammarleigh. 
 
 " How on earth do you know anything about 
 guttersnipes ? But the point is that you are 
 going to see my ' Hamlet ' in a fortnight's 
 time." 
 
 " Where in the village schoolroom ? " 
 
 And Cammarleigh laughed unpleasantly, as 
 he had a habit of doing when he conceived he 
 had scored a point. 
 
 " No, here, in the refectory. It has made a 
 charming theatre, and the large gallery will give 
 it quite the right effect. It is, curiously enough, 
 more square than oblong " 
 
 But Cammarleigh was out of the room and 
 flying down the corridors. Anthony followed 
 him leisurely. He heard a howl of pain in the 
 distance. Cammarleigh had not realised that if 
 the refectory had been made into a theatre it 
 could not possibly be the big, empty place it 
 usually was. He had banged himself, with all 
 the impetus of a real loss of temper, against the
 
 238 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 short, improvised staircase which led on to the 
 stage from the back. 
 
 Anthony made his way to the other end of 
 the refectory. 
 
 "Wait a moment, and I'll turn on all the 
 lights. You can't possibly see the effect without." 
 
 A temporary sun in the middle of the ceiling 
 blazed up, illuminating every corner of the old- 
 fashioned monastery dining-room. The curtain 
 was raised, and showed great pieces of scenery 
 leaning up against the wall. 
 
 "I shall not put up any draperies. It's a 
 perfect place for sound, and they might just 
 spoil it." 
 
 Cammarleigh said nothing. He stood in the 
 centre of the undressed stage and gazed furiously 
 at Anthony, who was speaking to him from the 
 other end of the theatre. Finally he burst out 
 
 " You have dared to do this ! " 
 
 " That's splendid," said Anthony, clapping his 
 hands. " It gives me just the effect I want. Your 
 attitude has shown me the proportions. Say that 
 again in just the same way." 
 
 Cammarleigh came down from the stage hur- 
 riedly. 
 
 " I know enough about the stage, at any rate," 
 he said, " to be quite sure that if you are going to 
 play Hamlet with a lot of amateurs my guests will 
 be considerably amused. They say there is no 
 vanity like that of an actor." 
 
 " That was written by a certain Minister for 
 Education, who, feeling that his histrionic quali- 
 ties as a comedian were of such a poor order as
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 239 
 
 could only expect to find appreciation in the 
 House of Commons, grew bitter. As a matter 
 of fact, I have not the least intention of playing 
 with amateurs." 
 
 "Then what do you intend to give a read- 
 ing?" 
 
 " My dear Cammarleigh, as if there were a 
 single actor in England competent to give a read- 
 ing ! It would involve learning the rudiments 
 of the art, and the English actor is not sufficiently 
 busy to do that." 
 
 " Then what are you going to do ? " 
 
 " I have engaged Mr. Dodo's Shakespearean 
 Company. You needn't look alarmed. Nearly 
 all the men, excepting one or two who do the 
 acting, have been Oxford and Cambridge under- 
 graduates or, at least, so the public think 
 whilst all the women come from Bedford Park, 
 and they are not supposed to act the leading 
 lady won't let them. So, you see, the thing will 
 be quite high class." 
 
 "I don't see anything of the kind." 
 
 " Cammarleigh," said Anthony, gently, " I 
 say that it will be high class. I am only afraid 
 that the dulness and respectability of my company 
 will bore your guests. I shall have to warn the 
 house-party to be on its best behaviour." 
 
 " And the theatrical company " began 
 
 Cammarleigh. 
 
 " They must rouse themselves, and be gay and 
 irresponsible for once. I shall have my picture 
 painted as Hamlet by Major, R.A. He is the 
 only man who always paints a picture as if it had
 
 240 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 footlights. And then I shall take my farewell of 
 the stage." 
 
 " If you come on that stage as Hamlet," said 
 Cammarleigh, firmly, " I shall hiss you." 
 
 Anthony paled. He had been an actor, and 
 the threat for the moment unnerved him. His 
 extraordinary powers of invention, however, which 
 seemed to be growing every day, came to the 
 rescue. 
 
 " I shall have you seated in an armchair con- 
 nected electrically with the stage, and if you 
 attempt to spoil my performance it will shut up. 
 Besides, Cammarleigh, to hiss me would be the 
 most dangerous thing you could do. I am an 
 actor, and I should revenge myself effectively." 
 
 He smiled when he reflected how very easily 
 Cammarleigh could have ruined his performance 
 without the least display. Anthony had tried the 
 method once. It was to go to the theatre on a 
 first night and yawn hard throughout the piece. 
 It was more than probable that by the middle of 
 the first act everybody would be yawning and 
 would be terribly bored. Anthony had found it 
 highly successful with an actor-manager against 
 whom he had conceived a grudge, although he 
 was compelled to admit that his plan had been 
 materially assisted by the actor's performance. 
 
 Cammarleigh felt for a moment like springing 
 at Anthony's throat there and then, but instead 
 went to bed. 
 
 He lay awake for hours, racking his brain for 
 some method of getting rid of his tormentor 
 without danger to himself. Anthony must have
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 241 
 
 relations of some kind. Would it not be possible 
 to induce them to lock him up as a lunatic ? The 
 scheme seemed plausible enough, and he had 
 worked it out completely to his satisfaction, and 
 already beheld a vision of Anthony as a permanent 
 inhabitant of Colney Hatch, ineffectually attempt- 
 ing to explain the situation, when he suddenly be- 
 thought him of the consequences should Anthony 
 detect him in the act or conspiring against his 
 liberty. 
 
 " 1 think he must be the Devil incarnate," 
 murmured Cammarleigh to himself, as he tossed 
 restlessly from side to side. " I shall be the 
 laughing-stock of the county. No, on second 
 thoughts, that is a little unfair. He doesn't make 
 absurd mistakes, and so long as people are enter- 
 tained and enjoying themselves, they don't mind 
 how it is managed." 
 
 And with a sigh he dropped off to sleep.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 "THEATRICALS? How delightful!" said Sybil, 
 as she and her mother were driving to the Abbey 
 on their way from the station. "What is it 
 to be ? " 
 
 " f Hamlet,' " said Anthony. 
 
 " c Hamlet ? ' What an extraordinary idea ! " 
 
 "I know it is," answered Anthony, coolly. 
 " But Lord Cammarleigh fancies that I can play 
 the part. He may be wrong, but he is quite 
 obstinate about it. He has some idea of raising 
 the tone of home theatricals." 
 
 "Are you going to play it all ?" asked Lady 
 Editha, blankly. 
 
 Anthony quite saw the humour of entertaining 
 a smart house-party with a performance of Hamlet. 
 He did not for one moment suppose that they 
 would enjoy it very much, but he knew that he 
 could play the part ; and he knew that it would 
 impress Sybil, and he was callous to every other 
 consideration. 
 
 " No, not quite all, Lady Editha. I shall cut 
 a good many of the other parts down." 
 
 " I shall play * Ophelia,' " announced Sybil. 
 
 This was the moment that Anthony had feared. 
 
 " I would much rather you didn't, Sybil," said 
 Lady Editha, plaintively. " She goes mad, and
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 243 
 
 your poor Aunt Mary went mad and you are so 
 very like her. No, dear, I couldn't bear it." 
 
 Anthony was exceedingly grateful to Lady 
 Editha for providing such an admirable excuse, 
 which, founded on sentiment, was capable of 
 infinite expansion. 
 
 When the house-party learned that they were 
 to see Anthony as " Hamlet," they only put it 
 down as the price that they were expected to pay 
 for entertainment. It was always the case ; you 
 were invariably imposed on by your host. Some 
 declared that Cammarleigh was spoiling the young 
 man. 
 
 When Anthony announced at dinner on the 
 night of Sybil's arrival that he was going to play 
 " Hamlet " in deference to Cammarleigh's earnest 
 wish, he really thought he had gone too far. 
 
 Cammarleigh yellowed, and a grin of fury 
 which was quite ghastly crossed his face. By a 
 supreme effort, however, he controlled himself, 
 and Anthony quickly drew the attention of the 
 company away from him to his end of the table. 
 
 " Rather a big part to attempt, isn't it ? " said 
 Lord Cecil Bruton. 
 
 " Well, you see, I was an actor before I became 
 your brother's secretary." 
 
 " Really ? " said Lord Cecil, and, as laymen 
 will do when talking of the stage, he began to 
 babble the most amazing nonsense. " What was 
 the name of that piece ? " he asked, giving a loud 
 laugh at the mere thought of what he remembered. 
 " By Jove, it really was a very funny piece ! 
 There was a fellow had a lot of papers, and a
 
 244 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 lot of other fellows wanted them, and they all 
 struggled and fell about. It was exceedingly well 
 written." 
 
 After this lucid description of the play, the 
 conversation turned on theatrical matters in 
 general. 
 
 The next day Mrs. Westerby arrived. She 
 had travelled down with the Duke of Frant. 
 Anthony had written suggesting that she should 
 catch the eleven-forty-five from Euston, and when 
 Mrs. Westerby found that the Duke of Frant 
 was going by the same train, she began to think 
 that it was quite possible that she and Anthony 
 had grown to understand each other without 
 having been put to the discomfort of an explana- 
 tion. She had a genius for managing young men 
 of Frant's type. Like the majority of the aris- 
 tocracy and nobility, his instincts were primarily 
 commercial, and as, during the days he had been 
 a good deal at her house, she had obtained a very 
 great insight into his business affairs, he soon 
 found himself asking her advice and confiding in 
 her in quite the old way. He felt that some ex- 
 planation was due for having kept away from her, 
 and a little uncomfortably he explained that he 
 had not been to see her because 
 
 "My dear Frant," said Mrs. Westerby, "I 
 quite understand. You are going to be married. 
 You must have a great many calls on your time ; 
 but remember I am always there if you should 
 want me." 
 
 Frant thought this was very friendly of her 
 indeed. He had been dazzled by Sybil, but he
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 245 
 
 had never felt when with her that ease and 
 serenity of spirit which Mrs. Westerby's com- 
 panionship filled him with. He had a feeling at 
 the back of his mind that she was the woman for 
 him. In the case of a temperament such as his, 
 if temperament it could be called, a soothing in- 
 fluence like Mrs. Westerby's was more comfortable 
 than a disturbing and restless piece of butterfly 
 brilliance like Sybil. He had a sense of painful 
 inferiority in the presence of the latter, while 
 Mrs. Westerby, who was notorious for her 
 mentality, always made him feel perfectly satisfied 
 with himself. He was quite sorry when the 
 journey ended, and remembered with appreciation 
 a remark she had made to the effect that because 
 a man was married he was not necessarily debarred 
 from making a friend of another woman, and 
 turning to her for advice in matters in which 
 she was a specialist. 
 
 Anthony noticed the air of excellent comrade- 
 ship with which they arrived at the Abbey. Quite 
 unprejudiced by his own passion for Sybil, he 
 knew perfectly well that neither she nor Frant 
 would have any married life to speak of, whereas, 
 married to Mrs. Westerby, Frant would be as 
 happy as possible, united to a woman who would 
 succeed in convincing him that he was a very 
 important personality. 
 
 According to an absurd custom, Frant took 
 Sybil in to dinner, and they were closely watched 
 by Anthony. He and Sybil were somewhat 
 distant with each other at the moment. They 
 had had a distinct quarrel on the subject of
 
 246 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 "Ophelia." Anthony was by no means averse 
 to quarrelling with her. He knew that Frant's 
 lymphatic temperament would get on her nerves, 
 and for her a lover who would strike fire was 
 necessary. He had very definitely refused to 
 allow her to play " Ophelia." He knew perfectly 
 well that she would make a very bad actress, at 
 any rate, to begin with, and he did not propose 
 to have his performance spoilt. 
 
 "It is absurd to try and persuade me that 
 you are refusing because of what mother said. 
 You simply think that I shall spoil the piece. 
 Well, there have been heaven-born actresses 
 before now." 
 
 " Yes," said Anthony, "so we are told ; but, 
 when you come to think of it, we have never 
 seen one. The years go by, and a certain number 
 of actresses are endurable because they have had 
 little or no experience, but just think what they 
 are like when they know their business, as they 
 call it." 
 
 " That's an argument in favour of my playing 
 < Ophelia.' ' 
 
 Anthony was annoyed. In his anxiety to give 
 his opinion of actresses in general, he had rather 
 shown his hand. 
 
 " I don't see the use of having theatricals in 
 a house if you have nothing but professionals to 
 act. Where does the fun come in ? " 
 
 " You must blame your uncle, not me." 
 
 "That may take other people in, but you 
 surely don't think that I believe it ? You know 
 perfectly well that it is simply your own vanity."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 247 
 
 "That is very true," said Anthony, "and I 
 don't mind admitting it in the least, as there is 
 nobody here as witness." 
 
 " I begin to think you are quite unprincipled." 
 
 Anthony looked at her and smiled sweetly. 
 
 Sybil was too clever to interpret this smile, 
 although she was quite aware of its meaning. 
 She felt that Anthony had intended it to convey 
 that a girl who was selling herself for rank was 
 hardly the one to object to a lack of principle. 
 She knew perfectly well that Anthony had made 
 up his mind that she should not play " Ophelia," 
 and his determination, accompanied as it was by 
 almost unvarying sweetness of manner, fascinated 
 whilst angering her. When they were alone she 
 was too completely conscious of being with her 
 master to take as much pleasure in influencing 
 his decisions as she would have done in the case 
 of a man who meant less to her. She had already 
 the fastidiously selective instinct of the woman of 
 taste, the frank sex appreciation of the great ladies 
 of the Renaissance, such as Beatrice of Milan, or 
 her more brilliant sister, Isabella of Mantua. 
 Anthony's curious psychological composition, in 
 which she rightly detected a strength, supple and 
 elastic, multi-coloured with the complicated meta- 
 physical painting of our age, englamoured her 
 more and more daily. He was like a Toledo 
 blade, which, encountering some substance un- 
 pierceable, flashed brilliantly in the very act of its 
 curved compromise, springing forward with more 
 deadly intention almost before its failure was 
 apparent. As a matter of fact, since she had read
 
 248 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 the part of " Ophelia " carefully, with a view to 
 its performance, she had been more than anxious 
 that he should adhere to his decision. She felt 
 that such a poetical abstraction was not in her line. 
 In the solitude of her own chamber, her sole 
 garment a nightdress which was a mass of Valen- 
 ciennes fluttered here and there with her favourite 
 pale pink, she had wound the roses with which 
 her room was, by Anthony's direction, always 
 gardened in her hair, and had surveyed herself 
 in the Psyche. She felt that although she looked 
 more charming than ever " Ophelia " could have 
 looked, she did not in any way suggest her. She 
 had further essayed a mad scream, which had re- 
 minded her strikingly of her Yorkshire terrier 
 howling because he had inadvertently been shut 
 out of the room. 
 
 Cammarleigh was astonished to find that he 
 quite enjoyed having the house full of guests. 
 Anthony had a way of making him satisfied with 
 himself as an organizer in respect to plans and 
 details of the entertainment with which he had 
 had nothing whatever to do. The country-side 
 was much mystified as to what had brought about 
 this transformation. Cammarleigh's reputation 
 for neglecting every duty of his position was so 
 notorious that the news that there was a large 
 house-party, and that the entertainments were not 
 to be limited to the great folk, but that no one, 
 from the highest to the lowest, would be for- 
 gotten, became the talk of that corner of the 
 county which owned the Abbey as its most im- 
 portant place. Gently and by degrees Anthony
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 249 
 
 broke to Cammarleigh the full scheme for the 
 entertainment of his neighbours, both the exalted 
 and the meek. The theatricals were to be a 
 function in themselves, to which a great many of 
 the townspeople were to be asked. Then there 
 was to be a ball for the county, and a garden-party 
 for all classes, down to the lower middle much 
 the sort of thing that is given in a larger way by 
 Royalties, and which betrays the astonishing want 
 of pride in people who will wander about the 
 grounds of a palace, to the intimate convivialities 
 of which they have not the remotest chance of 
 being invited. Finally, Anthony had arranged 
 a dance for the servants and smaller tenants, or, 
 at any rate, all such as did not think themselves 
 socially above the servants' hall. This last enter- 
 tainment would, no doubt, be more aptly described 
 as " a hop."
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 CAMMARLEIGH noticed with some surprise that 
 Anthony refrained from offering any suggestions 
 in regard to the arrangements for shooting. At 
 breakfast, on the First, Mr. Crutchley asked 
 Anthony if he were going with them. 
 
 " I don't shoot," he answered simply. He 
 knew perfectly well that such an announcement 
 lowered him morally in the eyes of the men of 
 the party. 
 
 Cammarleigh asked his reason. 
 
 " I do not care about killing things unneces- 
 sarily." 
 
 With that curious lack of courtesy which the 
 best bred Englishman displays when he feels that 
 a slur has been cast on the sacred social duty of 
 slaughter for pleasure's sake, Crutchley said 
 
 " Ah, you would if you were a rattling good 
 shot." 
 
 " I am," said Anthony. " In the cause of 
 humanity, and to show that I am not sheltering 
 my incompetence under the cloak of a kind heart, 
 I will emulate William Tell, and shoot an apple 
 off Lord Cammarleigh's head at fifty yards." 
 
 " You will do nothing of the kind," said 
 Cammarleigh ; and nobody offered to take his 
 place.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 251 
 
 " You hunt, I suppose ? " asked Frant. 
 
 No." 
 
 " Don't approve of it ? " And Mr. Crutchley 
 spoke almost as if he were humouring a lunatic. 
 
 " I think it is unspeakable." 
 
 " You must admit that it gives a man nerve 
 and manliness." 
 
 " I suppose that's what the Romans said to 
 those weaklings who objected to seeing young 
 girls eaten by lions. It was no doubt very 
 squeamish of them." 
 
 " I have always felt," said Lady Editha, " that 
 it was not quite nice of women to hunt. They 
 should leave that sort of thing to men." 
 
 Lady Cecil differed. She had hunted a great 
 deal as a girl. 
 
 " And there is simply nothing like it for the 
 figure," she announced triumphantly. 
 
 "There is at least something broadly Pagan 
 about that," said Anthony ; "a libation of foxes' 
 blood offered up at the shrine of Venus that she 
 may have pity on the waist of an English- 
 woman." 
 
 " I suppose you are a tremendous enemy to 
 war ? " 
 
 "Not to the same extent. I don't so much 
 object to shooting men when they've got as good 
 a gun as my own in their hands." 
 
 Crutchley attempted to revive the argument 
 on the question of hunting more than once, but 
 Anthony declined to give battle. He knew per- 
 fectly well that two or three of his opponents 
 feeling that there was not a word to be said for
 
 252 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 hunting any living creature for pleasure would 
 lose their tempers. 
 
 " 1 wish to goodness you wouldn't say that 
 sort of thing," said Cammarleigh, when they were 
 alone. 
 
 " What sort of thing ? " asked Anthony. 
 
 " All that rubbish about hunting and shooting 
 from you, too. Why, if people here only knew 
 
 the truth " And Cammarleigh waved his 
 
 hands and worked himself into a high state of 
 moral indignation. 
 
 "Yes?" said Anthony, calmly. "If they 
 knew the truth, that is to say, the whole truth ? " 
 
 With an exclamation of impatience Cammar- 
 leigh left the room. 
 
 "You are a wonderful young man," said 
 Mrs. Westerby, meeting Anthony later in the 
 haunted walk for Cammarleigh Abbey, like 
 every other self-respecting country mansion, had 
 its ghost. In the haunted walk, four hundred 
 years before, a young monk had been found in 
 the arms of a village maiden. From that night 
 he had never been seen again, but his ghostly 
 counterpart was supposed to haunt the place 
 during the small hours. 
 
 " You are a wonderful woman, Mrs. Westerby. 
 You have already filled the ardent lover with 
 misgivings." 
 
 " Do you really think I have got as far as 
 that ? " 
 
 " I am sure of it." 
 
 Anthony and Mrs. Westerby had grown to 
 understand each other without anything so obvious
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 253 
 
 as an expressed agreement. Neither could say 
 that the other had ever made suggestions or 
 brought forward plans. They were simply tacitly 
 agreed to use all their cleverness, and any means 
 which came to hand, she to marry Frant, he to 
 secure Sybil. 
 
 " Time is pressing." 
 
 " I know," said Anthony ; " but we are going 
 to win, you will see. We have an example of 
 how the thing can be done in the house." 
 
 "Who is that?" 
 
 " Lord and Lady Southwick. He was engaged 
 to Katherine Hillborough, but Pamela Gray 
 that was Lady Southwick's maiden name man- 
 aged to break it off a week before the wedding." 
 
 " I remember," assented Mrs. Westerby. 
 " She was a protegee of the Duchess of Havant, 
 one of those unexplained young girls who glide 
 without credentials into the high places. If her 
 former benefactress had not been the great lady 
 she is, she would have quarrelled with her by 
 now. Mrs. Gresham told me that she carried on 
 disgracefully with Lord Bellamy just before he 
 shot himself, and that afterwards she showed not 
 the least trace of feeling." 
 
 " How very delightful 1 I must cultivate 
 her." 
 
 " I think she makes a pose of not being inte- 
 resting now. She is cold, and aims at being very 
 exclusive." 
 
 " I suppose that is why Cammarleigh insisted 
 on her coming." 
 
 The word " insisted " slipped out. He would
 
 rather it had not, as it went a considerable way 
 to confessing that he had much to do with the 
 inviting of the guests and the ordering of the 
 entertainment. Mrs. Westerby did not matter 
 as anybody else would have done. They were 
 both born knights of the social road, and there 
 was honour between them. " Cammarleigh adores 
 respectability. He fancies that it conceals all his 
 vices." For one moment Mrs. Westerby hoped 
 that Anthony might become communicative on 
 the subject of his reputed father, but to her dis- 
 appointment he changed the conversation. 
 
 " I dislike plots," he went on ; " but I am 
 afraid that we shall have to use one just a very 
 simple one." 
 
 " I have no objection to plots," said Mrs. 
 Westerby, " unless I am likely to be found 
 out." 
 
 " They always seem to me a little clumsy 
 the resource of the second-rate conspirator but, 
 then, as you say, we have so little time." 
 
 " What is your plot ? " 
 
 " Oh, it will be very much better if I keep it 
 to myself till I want your assistance." 
 
 Mrs. Westerby declared that she had not the 
 least objection ; she would very much sooner be 
 a tool in the hands of one she trusted than be a 
 leader ; it saved so much trouble. 
 
 Anthony enjoyed that chat in the haunted 
 walk with her exceedingly. 
 
 " I feel that we shall always be great friends," 
 he said, " and when you are a duchess you will be 
 able to do a very great deal to help me."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 255 
 
 "In what way ? " 
 
 " You will see." And then he added, with a 
 courtly bow, and a deliberation which suggested 
 the more efflorescent manners of an earlier period : 
 " You shall be near me in my niche in history." 
 
 " That means that you are aiming at playing a 
 great part, and that this is merely the beginning." 
 
 " Yes. Do you think you will recognise the 
 youth from nowhere in the statesman of the 
 future ? " 
 
 She put her hand on his arm with a gentle 
 pressure of camaraderie. 
 
 " I believe in you, and it is a privilege to have 
 heard the overture to your life's opera," she said ; 
 " and in the meantime I am very anxious to see 
 your Hamlet. You don't think him mad, do 
 you?" 
 
 " Certainly not." 
 
 " Then how do you play him ? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know. It will be a beau- 
 tiful performance, but I can't say that I exactly 
 ever had any views on the subject. I simply 
 understand him. If I could explain him I should 
 certainly not understand him half as well." 
 
 Just before lunch the company which was to 
 aid and abet Anthony in his performance came 
 over to rehearse. All the women of the house- 
 party had driven some miles to meet the guns and 
 have lunch with them, and they were no doubt 
 at that moment being inwardly anathematised 
 modern sport not conducing to chivalry for 
 delaying the intoxicating pleasure of slaughtering 
 defenceless animals. Anthony felt a rousing of
 
 256 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 his Bohemian blood as he looked around at the 
 quaint company he was entertaining at lunch ; for 
 even if a theatrical company is entirely drawn from 
 the educated classes and there have been such the- 
 atrical combinations it always presents a motley 
 appearance. It is probably because the actor's 
 profession teaches him to develop all his physical 
 eccentricities, with the result that, as a body, actors 
 exhibit a physical differentiation which the unversed 
 might imagine to be the outward sign of strongly 
 marked intellectuality and character. There is 
 one peculiarity about the actor, and that is that 
 nothing overawes him. Perhaps it is that he 
 views the grandest surroundings merely as a more 
 elaborate stage setting. 
 
 They lunched in the magnificent banqueting 
 hall with the greatest condescension. They abated 
 not one whit of their effervescent spirits, and 
 drank as much champagne as they could get. 
 Perhaps they looked upon it as a huge joke, 
 which Anthony was perfectly content for them to 
 do till the rehearsal commenced ; and then, as he 
 was paying an absurdly high fee for their services, 
 he kept them severely in hand. 
 
 " He knows what he wants," murmured the 
 First Gravedigger, who, not being required till 
 the last act, and having thoroughly enjoyed the 
 champagne, was seated at the extreme end of the 
 hall alternately dozing and conducting a critical 
 conversation with Osric, who, being the most 
 intellectual member of the company, was con- 
 demned to play the most superficial character. 
 
 " The guv'nor must be getting a tremendous
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 257 
 
 price for this," he went on ; " and personally I 
 don't mind it will be a pleasant little outing." 
 
 The rehearsal being over, they had tea under 
 a shady tree near the ruins of an old chapel a 
 couple of hundred yards away from the house, 
 and they left in time for their evening perform- 
 ance at an adjacent town. 
 
 The evening of the theatricals arrived, and 
 there was a large audience. The only people 
 whom Anthony had not invited were the villagers, 
 despite the fact that there would have been 
 plenty of room in the gallery. Cammarleigh 
 suggested that it would be a very excellent thing 
 to fill up with them. Anthony looked at him 
 severely. 
 
 " You say that on purpose, because you know 
 perfectly well that whatever happens on a stage 
 a villager always laughs. It's like playing to 
 lunatics." 
 
 " Who ever thinks of doing that ? " 
 
 " Oh, heaps of people amateurs, mostly. I 
 know a distinguished lady amateur who told me 
 that her reception at Colney Hatch was a thing 
 to be remembered, and that she aroused the 
 wildest enthusiasm at Bedlam." 
 
 " Have you ever played in a lunatic asylum ? " 
 asked Cammarleigh, meaningly. 
 
 " Once ; but there's rather a painful memory 
 attached to it. By way of showing his sense of 
 humour a member of the company went up to 
 our low comedian as we were making a move to 
 go, and, saying good-bye cheerfully, told him that 
 he would be well cared for, and that the company
 
 258 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 would always include him in the cast when they 
 came again. The perpetrator of this piece of 
 humour was one of those people who can only act 
 when they are playing a practical joke, and our 
 poor comedian went off his head and had to stay 
 where he was for three months." 
 
 " I don't call that funny," said Cammarleigh, 
 icily. 
 
 " Funny ? " said Anthony. " Who said it was 
 funny ? " 
 
 To clear himself of any charge of vanity, he 
 had frankly told the company that it had been 
 Cammarleigh's lifelong ambition to have a good 
 performance of Hamlet in his own house, but as 
 he stood waiting for his entrance he felt that he 
 had somewhat strained the situation to gratify 
 his vanity. Nobody could deny that he looked 
 extremely well ; still, as he walked on the stage 
 he did not feel particularly inspired. The moment, 
 however, he had spoken the magical line which 
 never seems to lose its music, " 'Tis not alone my 
 inky cloak, good mother," the desire which had 
 been his all his life to express himself in the most 
 varied part ever written leapt up within him, and 
 feeling and thought rushed together with a power 
 which made him a rare and vibrant instrument 
 for the interpretation of the metaphysical emotions 
 of the most multi-coloured of all dramatic creations. 
 The audience, who had expected to be profoundly 
 bored, found themselves under the spell of an 
 extraordinary fascination. 
 
 Cammarleigh was too much a man of culture 
 not to be interested, and his feelings about
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 259 
 
 Anthony became tempestuous, for it was a fact that 
 he never hated Anthony so much as when he was 
 growing to like him more, and he never liked him 
 so much as when his passion of hate was in 
 full play. 
 
 After the performance all the house-party and 
 the theatrical company assembled for supper, the 
 actors and actresses still in their war-paint. Cam- 
 marleigh took in the Queen as being the lady 
 of the highest rank present, whilst the King 
 took in the Duchess of Havant, who, being a 
 great court lady, curtseyed as she took his arm. 
 Ophelia, being mad, was taken in by a relative 
 of the Lord Chancellor's, who as everybody 
 knows is the legal guardian of the insane. 
 These conceits, which were entered into with the 
 greatest spirit, could only have been possible 
 where there was a power of originality like An- 
 thony's. There was a distinct protest at the very 
 excellent supper which the Ghost ate. Even 
 Cammarleigh, glad that the performance was over, 
 became remotely mirthful, and as none of the 
 actors offered to recite there was nothing to spoil 
 the evening's enjoyment. At least, this was 
 hardly true, as the King, who conceived himself 
 to be an excessively fine tragedian, in the course 
 of explaining to the Duchess of Havant how 
 Macbeth's line, " Hang out our banners on the 
 outer wall," should be delivered, said it in all the 
 different ways which he conceived to be wrong, 
 with equal strength of lung and passion, and so 
 interested the general company that everybody 
 began to give his or her opinion and to instruct
 
 260 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 their next-door neighbour to hang out their 
 banners on the outer wall with varying emphasis. 
 Neither, when the ladies had retired for the night, 
 was his majesty at a loss, for his smoking-room 
 stories made Mr. Crutchley laugh to such an 
 extent that Anthony thought he would have a fit, 
 and was finally compelled to escort the King to 
 the royal bedchamber. 
 
 Cammarleigh was, for him, in high good- 
 humour. He had got on capitally with Ophe- 
 lia, and had spent the latter part of supper-time 
 in advising her how to compel her mother's land- 
 lord to put a bathroom in the house at Bedford 
 Park. 
 
 Of course, Cammarleigh could not let the 
 occasion pass without some remarks expressive of 
 his disapproval of the Restoration dramatists. 
 
 " Men of most reprehensible lives," he began, 
 and then caught Anthony's eye. He was not yet 
 quite accustomed to having amongst his audience 
 one who was supposed to be acquainted with his 
 inner life. After all, it is a little hard if you are 
 never to give forth a moral sentiment because you 
 happen to have a secret. 
 
 " I can't understand what their lives have to 
 do with their work except, perhaps, that the 
 greatest sinners have written the most interesting 
 things." 
 
 " I cannot agree with that," said Cammarleigh. 
 " As a rule, we can do without their work." 
 
 " Really ? " said Anthony. " There are one 
 or two things against David, but they were very 
 glad to have his psalms in the Bible, and the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 261 
 
 Shakespeare sonnets are somewhat of a stumbling- 
 block." 
 
 " I am aware," said Cammarleigh, " that 
 modern views on art are somewhat unsound." 
 
 " I don't believe in art without morals," said 
 the King, readjusting his crown which, under the 
 influence of champagne, was somewhat over his 
 left eye. " I believe in the moral drama." 
 
 " Perhaps I might do so also," said Anthony, 
 " if I had ever seen such a thing, but in my 
 opinion whenever it has attempted to be moral it 
 has ceased to be drama." 
 
 " True art is tested by sincerity," said the 
 Queen, in a deep contralto. "That is why the 
 efforts of children so often amaze us by their 
 truth in spite of crude execution." 
 
 Anthony looked at her with an amused smile. 
 The quotation was, word for word, correct, but 
 the Queen forbore to acknowledge her authority. 
 
 "In England," he said, "the artist is never 
 given credit for sincerity unless he be a prig. 
 We consider it indecent to express ourselves 
 properly ; thus we are more shocked than other 
 nations at the nude because it is the complete 
 expression of the physical." Then, feeling that 
 a company of actors might think a dissertation on 
 art a little dull, he changed the subject. 
 
 "You played Hamlet very well," Cammar- 
 leigh said to him when they were alone. " In my 
 poor opinion " of course he meant in his price- 
 less opinion, as people do when they allude to the 
 poverty of their critical faculty "you are the 
 best I have ever seen."
 
 262 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 And Anthony, touched on his most vulnerable 
 point, forbore to answer, " I know I am." 
 
 Sybil was completely conquered, although it 
 was a little difficult to realise why she should have 
 been. She had always seemed too calculating to 
 be much affected by anything so unreal as a 
 theatrical performance. The truth of the matter 
 was that she was just a little too clever ; or rather, 
 she was too temperamental to be always sure of 
 taking her brains to the best market. Although 
 she had so far not the least intention of going 
 back on her bargain she began to realise what it 
 would mean to be married to Frant. Physically, 
 he had never been pleasing to her, and her dis- 
 taste for him, as Anthony's fascination grew, had 
 developed into repulsion. Yet she was still deter- 
 mined to go on. She put fetters upon her 
 imagination ; or at least attempted to do so, and 
 did her best to prevent herself from picturing the 
 unpleasant moments which must be hers as the 
 Duke's wife. The more she realised how alto- 
 gether difficult the situation would be, the more 
 she felt a certain kind of growing irritation with 
 Anthony. Why was he so ineligible ? It was 
 too ridiculous. With that extraordinary lack of 
 proportion in their introspection which the young 
 always import into their love-affairs, she declared 
 that no such tragedy had ever befallen maiden before. 
 Against her own will she encouraged the growth 
 of her heart's malady. She was like a dogged 
 garrison which rights inch by inch the disputed 
 ground, although it knows that the greater part 
 of the enemy's force is already within the citadel.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 263 
 
 Anthony was both intuitive and observing, 
 but even he did not realise to what an extent the 
 fortune of war was on his side. Of course he 
 made love to Sybil daily, and, Frant being out 
 shooting, he had the ground to himself.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE garden-party was a tremendous function, if 
 only from the point of view of numbers. The 
 good burgesses of Cammarleigh town were de- 
 lighted to tread the same lawns and wander about 
 the same garden paths as the County, not to speak 
 of the pleasure of shaking hands with the hitherto 
 unapproachable Marquis and his sister, Lady 
 Editha. Bands played popular music, a thing 
 which Anthony never could bear ; glee-singers 
 warbled in a grove ; and, as it was a grown-up 
 party, there was a Punch-and-Judy show. There 
 were fully five hundred guests, and provisions for 
 a thousand, inasmuch as no one would take less 
 than two teas, and it was most probable that the 
 large majority would take three. The heat was 
 tropical, but very few people seemed to mind it. 
 Cammarleigh would have liked to retire to his 
 own apartments, but Anthony would not hear 
 of it. 
 
 " You must take the Mayoress of Cammar- 
 leighburgh and get her some tea." 
 
 And accordingly the Mayoress, in gray satin 
 with steel trimmings, and her face a positive 
 cascade from nervous excitement, was led by 
 Cammarleigh across the lawn in full view of 
 those professional folk of Cammarleighburgh, who,
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 265 
 
 except in her official position, would not have 
 recognised the wife of the leading haberdasher of 
 the town. The Mayor, with a chain about his 
 neck, which made him look as if he were in charge 
 of the wine-list, beheld the scene with pride, and 
 tried to appear indifferent. The good lady was 
 so overcome by the exalted station of her host, 
 that although she was dying to make as she 
 did make later on a good tea, she contented 
 herself with two small mustard-and-cress sand- 
 wiches, and a cup of tea with sugar in it a thing 
 she never could take, but which she was much 
 too nervous to refuse. To do Cammarleigh 
 justice, when he was driven into a position of the 
 kind he acquitted himself exceedingly well ; in 
 fact, it was part of what Anthony called the aggra- 
 vating hypocrisy of his nature. The Mayoress 
 having been taken back to her seat and left 
 ruminating as to whether she would get a chance 
 of a better meal later on, Anthony proceeded to 
 make himself exceedingly civil to his Worship 
 and certain of the aldermen. He had discovered 
 that these gentlemen practically ran the political 
 organisation of the town. 
 
 " The other party haven't a chance, sir," said 
 the Mayor, who was chairman of the local Liberal 
 Association, and who imagined that he was talking 
 to the unacknowledged son of Lord Cammarleigh. 
 Anthony knew perfectly well that, whereas, had 
 the Mayor's scullery-maid produced a baby without 
 a husband he would have bundled both her and 
 her offspring into the workhouse, the reputed 
 illegitimate son of the Marquis of Cammarleigh
 
 266 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 had a glamour in his eye almost equal to the real 
 article. So Anthony had been very careful that 
 the rumour which had done him so much good 
 in town should permeate what in former times 
 had been a pocket-borough of the Lords Cam- 
 marleigh. 
 
 " It has been a great grief to us," said the 
 Mayor, lowering his voice a little, " that his lord- 
 ship should have left us for the opposite party ; 
 but what could we do? No man would ever 
 have respected us again if we had imitated 
 him." 
 
 At the same time, the Mayor gave Anthony 
 the impression that he would much have liked to 
 have done so if it could have been achieved with 
 the least show of decency. His paternal heart 
 was further delighted at this moment by seeing 
 Master Tolly escorting his youngest daughter 
 towards refreshment. This was in accordance 
 with Anthony's expressed request to that young 
 gentleman. 
 
 " I think," said Anthony to the Mayor, " that 
 his lordship is getting very tired of his present 
 position in politics. He has lost sympathy with 
 the Government." 
 
 "Ah, I don't wonder a dreadful lot of 
 scoundrels, the present Government, sir. Now, 
 what a good thing it would be if we could only 
 have some one connected with the family, or at 
 least some one nominated by the family, to re- 
 present us ! It has seemed like treachery sending 
 a London lawyer to Parliament, whom, as you 
 may say, none of us know from Adam."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 267 
 
 "You've heard the news?" said Anthony, 
 dropping his voice and speaking confiden- 
 tially. 
 
 "Well, no, I haven't," replied the Mayor, 
 dropping his voice and speaking equally confi- 
 dentially, and trying to look as if, should Anthony 
 have any particular State secret to impart, he might 
 be trusted. 
 
 " They say your member is going to be given 
 a judgeship." 
 
 " Good gracious me, you don't say so ! " 
 
 " I have heard so on reliable authority." 
 
 The Mayor might well be surprised, for the 
 gentleman in question, being a red-hot partisan, 
 was hardly an ideal nomination for the judicial 
 Bench. 
 
 "Now, isn't that like a lawyer," said the Mayor, 
 turning red, " never to say a word to leave us 
 in the lurch at the last moment ! It'll mean 
 another election, and there isn't a soul that I 
 know of rich enough to stand the racket." 
 
 " I suppose the Central Organisation could 
 find you a candidate." 
 
 " That's just what our Association is so set 
 against. Oh dear, we shall have trouble ! " 
 
 " If Lord Cammarleigh were to find a candi- 
 date I mean a candidate to whom money would 
 be no object " 
 
 " We should simply jump at him." 
 
 And then he grew a little thoughtful. He 
 began to have a gathering suspicion of what the 
 young man was driving at. Anthony said no 
 more. He merely pinched himself in order to
 
 268 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 be convinced that Cammarleigh Abbey, Grosvenor 
 Square, and the Mayor of Cammarleighburgh were 
 not all a dream, and proceeded to mark out for 
 especial attention those worthies of Cammarleigh- 
 burgh with political influence in that party of 
 whose organisation he wished to avail him- 
 self. 
 
 It was a curious thing, but Cammarleighburgh 
 society, in talking over the garden-party, found 
 itself as much interested in Anthony as anything 
 else, and perhaps even more. The subject of his 
 birth was discussed by the older married people, 
 and obscurely hinted at before their grown-up 
 sons and daughters. It was a sad story, it was 
 rumoured, and accounted a good deal for Lord 
 Cammarleigh's misanthropy ; but after many years' 
 search he had found the child, and was endeavour- 
 ing in some measure to make up for the error of 
 his youth. Thus respectability, viewing the sin 
 from which its very organisation was made to 
 protect it surrounded by a halo of heraldic decora- 
 tion, and walking dignifiedly and richly apparelled 
 through the stately halls of Cammarleigh Abbey, 
 found itself in a Christian and a forgiving mood, 
 and murmured that, after all, it was not its place 
 to put any obstacle in the way of the righting of 
 a wrong, and that the secret of their overlord's 
 maintained celibacy was explained. In fact, so 
 enthusiastic were they in their moral generosity, 
 that Anthony became as it were glorified and 
 sanctified by the lack of a marriage certificate, and 
 for having been, as everybody in Cammarleigh- 
 burgh knew before the week was out, brought up
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 269 
 
 by a cruel and narrow-minded old aunt, who had 
 spirited him away from his mother's death-bed in 
 order to bring him up with a due sense of the 
 shame of his position. All this meant, of course, 
 that human nature has not altered, and that it 
 seems to regard it as a condescension in kings 
 and nobles to have natural children a form of 
 condescension in which the said kings and nobles 
 have always been very obliging. 
 
 " I did what you asked me," said Tolly, later. 
 "I took that Miss Baker to tea. 1 don't think 
 I could do it again. She had on cotton 
 gloves." 
 
 "Don't be a snob, Tolly," said Anthony, 
 gently. 
 
 " Good gracious ! " said Tolly. " You don't 
 imagine that it's because cotton gloves are cheaper, 
 and rather common, that I object to them ? It's 
 because they're ugly, and they wrinkle and don't 
 fit. And she never looked at me the whole time, 
 but kept on wiping her face with her handkerchief 
 and keeping her eyes on the ground. I believe 
 she'd have liked to cry. 1 was rather in a funk, 
 because if she had cried people would have 
 thought, I had been rude, or had said something 
 that a boy oughn't to say to a girl." 
 
 " No, Tolly, nobody would have thought that 
 of you. At a first glance people might think it 
 possible for you to be a little heartless and, by 
 the way, Tolly, don't be heartless, cultivate heart, 
 it's the most perfect sauce for all the emotions. 
 Drench all your pleasures in heart, and you will 
 enjoy life ever so much more. Men in your class
 
 270 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 don't get too much opportunity of developing 
 their hearts, and that is what is wrong with most 
 of them." 
 
 " I'll remember that," said Tolly. " I try to 
 remember all the things you tell me, because they 
 sound so useful. I suppose you would call what 
 I did for that girl this afternoon cultivating heart. 
 She wanted more strawberries, only she was too 
 shy to say so, and refused them three times, so I 
 went and got them of my own accord." 
 
 "Yes, Tolly, that is heart. Women refuse 
 all sorts of things that they really want, and you 
 must insist on their having them. You might 
 write out that story of the strawberries in copper- 
 plate, and hang it up in your room." 
 
 Tolly's chief attraction at the moment was 
 Mrs. Westerby. She was essentially the striking 
 woman who catches the imagination of a boy who 
 already feels that women are going to make life 
 very interesting. Mrs. Westerby was a woman 
 who would never despise any admirer, even if he 
 had been in his cradle, and Tolly gave promise 
 of being in a very few years an exceedingly hand- 
 some young man. That astute young gentleman 
 confided to Anthony that he firmly believed that 
 Frant was very fond of Mrs. Westerby, and that 
 somehow it seemed to him a much more natural 
 thing than his supposed affection for Sybil. 
 
 Sybil and Tolly did not get on ; possibly 
 because they were curiously alike. Physically, 
 they were both surprisingly beautiful, and psycho- 
 logically they had the same unexpected mixture of 
 heart and selfishness. Sybil laboured under the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 271 
 
 further disadvantage, as far as Tolly was concerned, 
 of having played with him in the nursery. He 
 had seen her with her nature on view, as it were, 
 and it irritated him to behold with what speed 
 she had managed to weave for herself an outward 
 garment of social deceptions.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE next morning Anthony drove over to Cam- 
 marleighburgh and called on the Mayor. They 
 had a long consultation together, after which 
 Anthony strolled down the High Street with his 
 arm laid familiarly on the Mayor's, and lunched 
 with him at the Liberal Club. Here Anthony met 
 most of those to whom he had been so civil at the 
 garden-party. Mr. Platt, the proprietor of the 
 Cammarleigburgh Weekly Trades Register , a journal 
 which was little more than an alphabetical sea of 
 advertisements upon which floated here and there 
 a few items of news, was completely subjugated 
 by Anthony's general remark : " You newspaper 
 proprietors wield an immense power." Mr. Platt 
 tried to look as though he would not cheerfully 
 have crowded out the most important piece of 
 national intelligence in order to squeeze in another 
 advertisement. He agreed that the responsibility 
 was vast, but added, speaking for the newspaper 
 proprietors of Great Britain, that he believed that 
 they rose to the situation. 
 
 Anthony was a born electioneerer. He could 
 assume a certain cheapness of manner without 
 which no public man in the United Kingdom can 
 hope to strike the imagination of the electorate. 
 He could give the most ordinary commonplace a
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 273 
 
 certain epigrammatic turn, and he had that assur- 
 ance which the lower middle-class Englishman 
 considers insolence in his shop boy, and mental 
 authority if the young man happens to be his 
 social superior. 
 
 " Our commercial stability is dependent upon 
 our political self-control," said Anthony, inclining 
 his head slightly to the Mayor, as he raised 
 to his lips the glass of excellent champagne which 
 his worthy host had ordered. 
 
 "Very true," said the Mayor, "very true." 
 And the others who heard nodded their heads 
 sagaciously. 
 
 " I feel," said Anthony, looking round him 
 at the quaint collection of faces, which, framed 
 as they were, each with a more extraordinary and 
 varied pattern of beard and whisker than the other, 
 suggested nothing so much to his whimsical mind 
 as a shooting-gallery, " that what we lack in politics 
 is sound men." As he spoke he gave his coat 
 a little twitch, a habit of his which emphasised, as 
 it were, its perfect fit and style. " Everybody is 
 trying to be effective instead of trying to be 
 useful." 
 
 Human nature being the same everywhere, 
 the Cammarleighburgh worthies, although they 
 did not quite follow him, smirked complacently 
 and accepted his eulogium on their intellectual 
 superiority. Perhaps, never having thought of 
 themselves as effective, they were delighted to 
 have their useful side emphasised. 
 
 In the presence of such company Anthony 
 would have delighted in giving free rein to his
 
 274 LORD CAMMARLELGH'S SECRET 
 
 gift of humour, but he knew that to allow the 
 least doubt of his sincerity to enter the minds of 
 these free and independent British electors would 
 be fatal. To them their opponents were in all 
 seriousness a band of organised ruffians with 
 their hands on the throat of the national liberty, 
 and their eyes on the money chests of their 
 neighbours. Perhaps they were not far wrong 
 in instinctively feeling that the political system 
 could not be run unless each party was profoundly 
 convinced of the awful and wilful wickedness of 
 the other. 
 
 Anthony rode back to the Abbey in high good 
 humour with himself, and reflecting how absurdly 
 handicapped the ordinary man of ambition is if 
 he happens to be born in the wrong point of 
 vantage. There was probably in Cammarleigh- 
 burgh at the moment a man who had worked and 
 saved and toiled all his life for this very chance 
 which Anthony had only to put out the long arm 
 of aristocratic domination to possess himself of. 
 
 The next morning Cammarleigh alluded to 
 the member for Cammarleighburgh having ac- 
 cepted a judgeship, the announcement being in 
 that morning's papers. He was about to expatiate 
 on the subject before his guests, but Anthony 
 found means to stop him. He had no wish for 
 him to give himself away at that moment. It 
 would only have made the political somersault 
 which Anthony had determined he should turn 
 more astonishing. The fact that his own family 
 borough, which in former times used to return 
 the nominee of the Lords Cammarleigh without
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 275 
 
 even pausing to inquire whether the candidate 
 were in his right mind or not, had refused to 
 follow him in his political vagaries, had been a 
 terribly sore point. One of his great objections 
 to the garden-party had been that he would be 
 obliged to endure the presence of these treacherous 
 people in his own grounds. 
 
 Anthony, on his part, had seen the advantage 
 of this. Certain folk in Cammarleighburgh might 
 interpret it as a political olive branch, which was 
 the very thing that he wanted. 
 
 Before lunch Anthony mentioned to Cam- 
 marleigh that he would like to have a talk with 
 him. 
 
 Cammarleigh by this time knew him well 
 enough to be able to deduce from a certain sweet- 
 ness of manner that he was meditating a master- 
 stroke. As was always the case, Cammarleigh 
 made up his mind that this should be the occa- 
 sion of his putting his foot down. No matter 
 what Anthony asked he would refuse. The 
 situation only required the firmness with which 
 he had been wont to tackle difficulties before he 
 met Anthony, and the latter would crumple up 
 and slink away. Cammarleigh must have had 
 a good deal of the optimist in him, for he was 
 perpetually picturing to himself the moment of 
 his great triumph. Had it not been for these 
 sops to his vanity he might possibly have collapsed 
 altogether and been driven to some desperate 
 course of action which would entirely have spoilt 
 Anthony's plans. He used to revel in his 
 imaginary victories, and he would even rehearse
 
 2j6 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 the superb attitude with which, when he had said 
 all that was in his mind, he would point to the 
 door when the moment had come for Anthony's 
 dismissal, and say, " Go ! " His only fear was 
 that when that time came he should not remember 
 anything like all the things he wished to say, and 
 all those things which Anthony deserved to have 
 said to him. Cammarleigh never ceased to believe 
 that this moment would come, and at times he 
 even persuaded himself that he was tolerating 
 Anthony and that the latter's lease of power was 
 entirely due to his own good nature. He fully 
 made up his mind, or at least he thought he did, 
 that this was to be the occasion upon which he 
 would make a stand. He did not know what 
 particular folly was brewing in Anthony's brain, 
 but he would most certainly not give in to it. 
 
 After lunch, Anthony asked him if he would 
 take a stroll as he had something very particular 
 to lay before him. Cammarleigh would have 
 preferred that the library should have been the 
 scene of the interview. He had not, so to speak, 
 rehearsed Anthony's dismissal out-of-doors ; but 
 putting on a felt hat, so old that it had no par- 
 ticular shape, which he generally wore in the 
 grounds, he followed Anthony with a ludicrous 
 attempt to look as if he himself had commanded 
 the interview. 
 
 There had been rain in the night, and the 
 brook at the bottom of the lawns was swollen to 
 the dimensions of a small river. So as to be out 
 of earshot, Anthony led Cammarleigh away from 
 the house towards this spot, and, leaning against
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 277 
 
 the parapet of the ornamental bridge, he proceeded 
 to unfold his scheme while he smoked a cigarette. 
 Cammarleigh's blood chilled within him as he 
 realised what he was expected to do, and what he 
 fully realised Anthony would make him do. He 
 tried to keep his head, and began by giving what 
 he considered to be a dignified refusal, but he 
 found that this evoked a manner on Anthony's 
 part to which he was so far unaccustomed. It 
 was not that Anthony was more violent than 
 usual, but that there was a certain tightening of 
 the lines about the mouth, with a drawing back 
 of the lips, which gave just the slightest sugges- 
 tion of a snarl which quite terrified him. There 
 was something altogether so very deadly and 
 menacing that he was more frightened than he 
 had ever been. Instead of the firm attitude 
 which he had made up his mind to take he found 
 himself descending to argument, and even entreaty. 
 Later on, if Anthony would only wait, it might 
 be possible to find him a seat on the side which 
 he, Cammarleigh, favoured. If he changed his 
 politics again, he would be the laughing-stock of 
 the country, and it was not likely that the 
 electorate of Cammarleighburgh would take any 
 nominee of his seriously. 
 
 " Oh, they'll take me seriously," said Anthony. 
 " You've only got to do as I tell you. You know 
 perfectly well that I shouldn't go into a thing like 
 this without thinking it out." 
 
 O 
 
 As Cammarleigh realised the deadliness of his 
 intention he lost his head. 
 
 " I'll do anything you like," he almost
 
 278 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 whimpered, " only don't ask me to do this. It's 
 cruel upon my soul it is." 
 
 " Cammarleigh, for the first time in your life 
 you have come face to face with a definite line of 
 action, leading to a definite purpose. It will be 
 a grand moral lesson for you, and may give you 
 a taste for consistency. You mustn't think that 
 I am not astonished at myself, because I am. I 
 have a sort of feeling that if I don't complete my 
 task, and, as a result, my future, while I am about 
 it, I may break down the same sort of feeling 
 that I have no doubt poets have when they are in 
 the middle of a great work. Once let the thread 
 of inspiration be snapped, and the rest of the task 
 goes on crutches." 
 
 O 
 
 " If you only wouldn't say so much about it," 
 moaned Cammarleigh. " But " and he sud- 
 denly began to talk very hurriedly and somewhat 
 incoherently " I won't do it, I won't there's 
 an end of it. You are driving me off my head. 
 I'll cheat you yet." 
 
 "This is simply vulgar," said Anthony. 
 " You will do as I tell you." 
 
 There was something in his voice which goaded 
 Cammarleigh to the highest pitch of desperation. 
 Anthony himself felt that his intonation was just 
 a little sharp, but he had no conception from what 
 he had seen of Cammarleigh that temper could 
 rouse him to do anything so foolish as to jump 
 from the bridge into the fairly deep and now 
 turbulent waters below. Neither would Cam- 
 marleigh have done so if he had thought for two 
 seconds longer, and halfway down to the water
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 279 
 
 he would have returned had it been possible. It 
 was the act of a man who had been childishly 
 determined on having his own way all his life. 
 Anthony gave a deep curse at his own stupidity, 
 and an additional oath which nobody unacquainted 
 with the gutter could have used. 
 
 He had by no means confidence in his 
 prowess as a swimmer. He had no experience 
 whatever in life saving, and there was not a soul 
 near. Some distance off, on one of the terraces, 
 Crutchleyand Lord Cecil were walking. Anthony 
 raised the whistle to his lips and blew it shrilly, 
 waving his arms wildly, in order to indicate that 
 a catastrophe had occurred. Then, commending 
 himself to the devil, he leapt into the water. 
 
 Cammarleigh was by this time thoroughly 
 terrified, but in reality he had the most absolute 
 confidence in Anthony, and believed him capable 
 of anything, even of saving his life. The result 
 was that directly Anthony seized him, deeming 
 himself to be as good as saved, he began to 
 struggle and to declare that he would drown. 
 
 "That you certainly will," gasped Anthony. 
 " I'm a wretched swimmer, and you'd better keep 
 still, because I'm by no means sure of saving 
 myself." 
 
 And, indeed, by the time Bruton and Crutchley 
 had arrived, with Tolly dancing round them and 
 shouting directions, and the house-party in full 
 cry from the Abbey, matters had really become 
 serious. 
 
 Crutchley fixed his eyeglass firmly in his eye 
 and prodded away at Cammarleigh and Anthony
 
 280 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 with a boat-hook, apparently determined to keep 
 them under water. Anthony permitted Cammar- 
 leigh to be the recipient of the attentions of the 
 sharp end of the boat-hook, and, clutching the 
 upper part, allowed himself and his burden to be 
 manoeuvred to land. By this time everybody 
 was on the scene. Anthony was so furious that 
 he very nearly fell upon Cammarleigh's prostrate 
 form with the blunt end of the boat-hook. He 
 was excessively uncomfortable. His clothes clung 
 to him in the most disagreeable way, and his hair 
 usually groomed close to his head hung 
 about his eyes, so as to make him look like an 
 American dude at a football match. The Duchess 
 of Havant, who never allowed an occasion to 
 pass without saying something meaningless, re- 
 marked 
 
 " Why, Mr. Brooke, what a lot of hair you've 
 got ! " 
 
 Anthony ran for the house, and Tolly, from 
 sheer excitement, ran halfway with him, and then, 
 remembering that his uncle was still unconscious, 
 and that if he were drowned his father would be 
 the heir, ran back in a state of the greatest excite- 
 ment to see if he were dead. 
 
 Cammarleigh was not long in recovering con- 
 sciousness, but he had really had a shock, and he 
 had to be put to bed. 
 
 It took Anthony barely five minutes to 
 change. 
 
 Cammarleigh, on recovering his speech, might 
 be incoherent, and there was no telling what he 
 might say. As he was assisted into the hall
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 281 
 
 everybody was astonished to see Anthony descend- 
 ing the stairs dressed as if he had been hours 
 over his toilet and perfectly self-possessed. He 
 took the care of their damp host entirely out of 
 the hands of the other guests with a positively 
 filial solicitude which was quite touching as viewed 
 by those around. He declared that Cammarleigh 
 above all things must be kept perfectly quiet, and 
 he begged that no one would enter his room, at 
 any rate, till the doctor had seen him. 
 
 When Cammarleigh found himself in bed, 
 and with no one else in the room but Anthony 
 to attend on him, he trembled. He had never 
 felt so helpless since the moment Anthony had 
 clutched him on the shoulder at his own front 
 door in Grosvenor Square. He lay silently 
 watching the slim figure of his persecutor stand- 
 ing between him and the light. Every now and 
 then Anthony moved to the dressing-table to 
 give his hair a brush. Such a wetting had not 
 agreed with it at all. He was roused from his 
 meditations by a deep sigh from the bed. He 
 crossed over, and said, not unkindly 
 
 " How do you feel now ? " 
 
 "I feel better, thank you," said Cammarleigh, 
 weakly. 
 
 " I've saved your life, you know," said 
 Anthony. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Of course, it wouldn't have suited me at all 
 for you to drown. It would have been a great 
 score for you. As it is, you have only made 
 things more difficult for yourself, and very much
 
 282 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 easier for me." As the figure in the bed pre- 
 served a gloomy silence, Anthony continued. 
 " You see, you'll have to pretend to be grateful 
 to me, and you'll find that very difficult. On the 
 other hand, you see how much easier that makes 
 it for me to accept things from you." Cam- 
 marleigh still made no reply ; in fact, he felt that 
 such courage as he had ever possessed lay at the 
 bottom of the river. Anthony continued. He 
 himself was feeling soothed and rested after the 
 excitement. " You see," he said, settling himself 
 comfortably in the broad, old-fashioned window- 
 seat, " combined with the growing suspicion that 
 I am your son " 
 
 At last Cammarleigh, in a far-off" voice, replied. 
 The statement was so astounding that he almost 
 wondered whether it were not a phase of delirium. 
 He raised himself on his elbow in order to assure 
 himself of the reality of Anthony's presence. 
 
 " My son ? Who says you are my son ? " 
 
 " I believe a good many people say so." 
 
 " Did you spread the rumour ? " 
 
 " Thank you, no," said Anthony. And then, 
 with real dignity, he added, " I would sooner be 
 the son of my father than the son of any other 
 man." 
 
 No well-bred person could answer this, and 
 Cammarleigh was again silent ; but the idea 
 seethed within his brain, and finally he gave a 
 small, decrepid cry of anguish, and, beating the 
 pillow with a skinny fist, croaked 
 
 " My son my son oh, it's too disgraceful ! 
 It's enough to destroy one's faith in Providence."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 283 
 
 " Nothing amazes me more," said Anthony, 
 " than the way people wax indignant over their 
 petty grievances. How many times do you 
 imagine have these peasants, crouching in their 
 kennels at the gates of your splendour and 
 affluence, cursed you in their hearts ? " And 
 Anthony waved his hand in a highly dramatic 
 way towards the window. 
 
 " Why should they curse me ? " Cammarleigh 
 prided himself on being a very excellent land- 
 lord. 
 
 " Why should they curse you ? The question 
 is, why shouldn't they ? When one comes to 
 think that by far the greater portion of their 
 profits goes into your pockets, doesn't it strike 
 you that their instincts whatever convention may 
 have taught them to pretend to the contrary 
 teach them to regard you as what you are, a 
 vulgar pilferer ? " 
 
 Perhaps this digression was rather unreason- 
 able, and it most certainly had nothing to do with 
 the subject. Anthony felt that he could not too 
 soon adopt a political attitude. 
 
 " What I wish to point out is that if you had 
 had to suffer twenty times as much at my hands 
 as you have done, you would still have a con- 
 siderable balance on your side as regards the 
 material things of this life. And now I think I'll 
 leave you. You had better have a good sleep, 
 and then you will be able to get up after the 
 doctor has been." 
 
 " I have not the least wish to see the doctor." 
 
 "And there's not the least reason why you
 
 284 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 should, but, at the same time, I think perhaps it 
 will be better for you to do so." Then Anthony 
 left him, closing the door quietly. 
 
 Outside he met Lady Cecil, and wondered if 
 she had been listening. 
 
 " Is he quite recovered, Mr. Brooke ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he is in a deep sleep." 
 
 " Ah, then I won't disturb him. How splendid 
 of you, Mr. Brooke ! We are all so grateful. 
 Lady Editha has been in tears. Really, you are 
 like a son to Cammarleigh." 
 
 " I try to do my duty," said Anthony. 
 
 At tea Mrs. Westerby whispered as he handed 
 her cup 
 
 " Of course the whole thing was stage- 
 managed ? " 
 
 Anthony smiled enigmatically.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE rapprochement between Mrs. Westerby and 
 Frant had arrived at the stage of surreptitious 
 meetings. Frant actually found himself getting 
 up early in the morning because he knew that 
 Mrs. Westerby would be in the rose garden 
 punctually at eight o'clock. This extraordinary 
 effort on the part of both would have been quite 
 impossible had the one not been so much in 
 earnest, and the other so intensely curious about 
 his own feelings. Neither of them considered 
 early rising civilised. Mrs. Westerby felt that 
 she did not look her best, and was obliged to tilt 
 her large garden-hat at its most acute angle in order 
 to secure the right amount of becoming shade. 
 Frant had never considered that it was necessary 
 for a man to study his personal appearance in 
 order to conciliate a woman, and his rank had not 
 tended to cure this defect. He was only con- 
 cerned as to whether he felt less or more cheap 
 than he was accustomed to do at that hour of the 
 morning. As he approached her his figure 
 looked positively decrepid in its loose flannels, and 
 his eyes gazed wildly from his hatchet face. 
 
 "What on earth are you doing up at this hour ?" 
 Mrs. Westerby always commenced with this 
 remark.
 
 286 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " God only knows ! " was his grace's reply. 
 He seated himself at her side. "I shall be simply 
 dead by ten o'clock," he continued, closing his 
 eyes in almost a doze. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby likewise felt that the loss of 
 a couple of hours' sleep at that time of the morn- 
 ing would require a good deal of making up if 
 indeed such a thing were possible but it was a 
 tribute to the need they had of each other that 
 they were soon, despite their jaded condition, 
 conversing with animation. 
 
 " Fancy old Cammarleigh getting a ducking 
 like that ! " 
 
 " It was very fortunate that Mr. Brooke was 
 there to pull him out." 
 
 " Can't see how he managed to fall in a 
 place he had been accustomed to from a boy. 
 Mysterious fellow, Brooke." 
 
 " Interesting," said Mrs. Westerby. 
 
 " Oh, I don't dislike him. Wonderful chap 
 in many ways. Always says the right thing. 
 Seems to run the show here, doesn't he ! " Then 
 he paused, opened one eye, and said hesitatingly, 
 " You know what they say ? " 
 
 " What, about Mr. Brooke being " She 
 
 paused abruptly, and Frant took up the current 
 of insinuation. 
 
 " Cammarleigh' s son ? " 
 
 " I have heard something about it." 
 
 " One never knows. There's no need to keep 
 it so beastly quiet. It's quite respectable 
 Cammarleigh's a bachelor." 
 
 " I don't think they do keep it quiet."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 287 
 
 " By Jove ! " said Frant. " If he's Cammar- 
 leigh's son, he would be Miss Travers' cousin." 
 
 " Perhaps that's the bond of sympathy between 
 them." 
 
 There was a pause, and then Frant said rather 
 stiffly 
 
 " A bond of sympathy I don't under- 
 stand." 
 
 Mrs. Westerby became wide awake, and dis- 
 played quite an after-dinner animation. 
 
 " My dear Frant, you surely don't think I am 
 trying to make mischief ! " 
 
 " No, of course I don't ; but if you think that 
 
 Miss Travers prefers this fellow Brooke " 
 
 And then he cut himself short. It was hardly 
 chivalrous or in good taste to discuss such a 
 matter. At the same time, Mrs. Westerby had 
 been quite right in assuming that the relations 
 between Sybil and himself had become uncomfort- 
 able. There had been something in Sybil's 
 manner ever since his arrival at Cammarleigh 
 which had got on his nerves. He could not 
 define it, but it was a certain flippancy in dealing 
 with him, which, when combined with her ex- 
 tremely acute intelligence, was apt to produce 
 irritability on her part and sulkiness on his. He 
 felt that this flippancy was being used for some 
 subtle purpose of her own, and he was beginning 
 to suspect that it might be to keep sentiment 
 at bay. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby had carefully noted these signs 
 and symptoms of the dissolution of an attachment 
 which had never been dictated by anything deeper
 
 288 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 than interest on the one side and superficial 
 fascination on the other. 
 
 " You are quite right, Frant," she said, inter- 
 preting this pause. " It is hardly for us to discuss 
 the matter and yet if you cannot discuss a matter 
 like this with your friends with whom are you to 
 discuss it ? " 
 
 Frant murmured something about her being a 
 thorough good sort ; indeed, at the moment he 
 was wondering how he could ever have been 
 foolish enough to forsake such a companionable, 
 charming woman for a girl who, he flattered him- 
 self, was probably too unsophisticated to appre- 
 ciate him. 
 
 Having reached the point of confessing to 
 himself that Sybil did not appreciate him, it was 
 not a great way from this condition to one of 
 acute resentment, a resentment all the more intense 
 because physical fascination was by no means dead. 
 
 " I should be so sorry, Frant," continued 
 Mrs. Westerby, " if anything should occur to 
 interrupt our friendship." 
 
 "Why should it? It won't be my fault." 
 And there was that in the atmosphere which made 
 Frant feel that it would perhaps be wiser not to 
 get up early and meet Mrs. Westerby in the rose 
 garden. Despite his irritation, it had not so far 
 entered his mind to break off with Sybil ; indeed, 
 he quite saw that within so short a time of their 
 marriage such a thing would be absolutely impos- 
 sible. He began to experience a certain sensation 
 of fright at the idea of being at the tender mercies 
 of Sybil, for whatever certainty Anthony felt as to
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 289 
 
 being her master, Frant felt nothing of the kind. 
 He was afraid of her. He knew perfectly well 
 that he was not a match for her, and yet if he had 
 been asked for an opinion off-hand he would have 
 said that Mrs. Westerby was the cleverer of the 
 two, and Frant certainly thought himself a match 
 for Mrs. Westerby. This was just where his 
 masculine weakness showed itself. He was under 
 the impression that because he got on with her he 
 was a match for her. As a matter of fact, he was 
 very much less of a match for Mrs. Westerby 
 than he was for Sybil ; but, being a man, he stood 
 no chance at all in a fight with the woman who 
 really wanted him. She fought the engagement 
 entirely with hidden batteries, and, the weapons 
 being Cupid's, and finding their mark without 
 betraying their presence, he had no notion to 
 what an extent his defences were being damaged. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby was frankly amused at the 
 way she was fighting her battle on the mere 
 strength of Anthony's promise to step in and give 
 the finishing touch to the enemy. She felt that 
 she would have been put down as a woman of very 
 little discrimination had she been called upon to 
 admit that she was staking her future on the word 
 of a young man whom she, at any rate, knew to 
 be an adventurer. She was sure that no one of 
 the opposite sex would ever have done anything 
 so foolish, and yet she was also sure that in her 
 trust she showed the superiority of her woman's 
 instinct. She would have laid ten to one on 
 Anthony's being a winner. The air was electric 
 with success. 
 
 u
 
 2 90 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 She was not in the least surprised when 
 Anthony appeared a little distance off. She knew 
 perfectly well that he had come to see how they 
 were getting on, and she could tell by the laughter 
 in his eyes as he greeted them that he was pleased 
 with her progress. 
 
 " What brings you out so early, Mr. Brooke ? " 
 
 " Roses, Mrs. Westerby. If youth desires 
 the roses which are its due, it should always be 
 up betimes." 
 
 " For whom are your roses ? " 
 
 "For Miss Travers with the Duke's per- 
 mission." 
 
 Frant gave a curious jerk with his head which 
 might have meant anything. 
 
 Anthony carefully snipped a glorious La France 
 rose that had been languishing towards him, 
 apologising for her effrontery with pale pink 
 blushes. 
 
 " Do you think the House of Commons would 
 take me seriously ? " And Anthony picked a 
 thorn from the tip of one of his long, tapering 
 fingers. 
 
 "Sounds a bit irrelevant," said Frant. 
 
 " Mr. Brooke is never really irrelevant," said 
 Mrs. Westerby. " He always means something 
 if you only wait long enough." And she smiled 
 her thanks as Anthony handed her a cluster of 
 white and red roses. 
 
 " I've had an invitation from the Liberal 
 Association to contest the division. Cammar- 
 leighburgh, you know, always shows its inde- 
 pendence by choosing its own candidate."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 291 
 
 Frant prided himself on being a bit of a 
 politician. It was a very little bit of a politician, 
 but there was an immense deal of pride about it. 
 
 " But I thought that Cammarleigh was " 
 
 he began. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby looked at the Duke and then 
 at Anthony as much as to say, " And that is what 
 I thought." 
 
 " You mean," said Anthony, " that you 
 thought he was a Government man ? So he 
 was, but Cammarleigh is not a cut-and-dried 
 politician." 
 
 Mrs. Westerby was bewildered. She wished 
 that Anthony would confide in her a little 
 more. She did not for one moment believe that 
 his being asked to contest the division originated 
 with Lord Cammarleigh, and it was very evident 
 that Anthony did not particularly mind whether 
 she believed it or not. She knew perfectly well 
 that his appearance in the rose garden, and the 
 almost careless way in which he had imparted the 
 intelligence to them, had been very carefully 
 calculated. 
 
 "Are you going to accept ? " asked Frant. 
 
 " I think so. A public life suits me ; and, 
 after all, the House of Commons is the only field 
 for a really ambitious man." 
 
 " That settles it," thought Frant. " He must 
 be Cammarleigh's son." 
 
 Having dropped his explosive, Anthony 
 moved away. 
 
 When they were left alone the Duke looked 
 at Mrs. Westerby and raised his eyebrows.
 
 292 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " This will give the whole show away," he 
 said. 
 
 " I don't think he cares." 
 
 " Why should he ? But what a weathercock 
 Cammarleigh is ! He'll be the laughing-stock of 
 both parties. I shouldn't care to go into the 
 House as his/>r<?/<^" 
 
 " They won't laugh at Mr. Brooke." 
 
 The Duke looked at her suspiciously. " I say, 
 you seem to think a lot of the fellow." 
 
 " I do. He interests me very much indeed." 
 
 " Humph ! " His Grace felt a distinct twinge 
 of those nerves which communicate with the 
 jealous centres of the brain. He glanced towards 
 the windows where he knew Sybil's room to be, 
 and, though he was not imaginative, he conjured 
 up a picture of her as she was wont to appear the 
 first thing in the morning, fresh and sweet, alert and 
 lithe ; yet, somehow, the vision left him cold, and 
 he turned with somewhat of a weight at his heart 
 to the more mature beauty at his side. He hoped 
 that he had not made an awful ass of himself. 
 Although he could not have explained it, Mrs. 
 Westerby's cause was largely assisted by the fact 
 that he was suffering from injured vanity, as men 
 are apt to do when they fall in love with a very 
 young girl. It was quite certain that had Sybil 
 not suffered such a severe heart-attack almost at 
 the same moment that she became engaged she 
 would have been clever enough to play the Duke 
 until he was safely landed, but inasmuch as she 
 was quite sure of him she made him bear not a 
 little of her resentment against fate.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 293 
 
 " Cammarleigh left his traditional party because 
 he said they were too advanced. I wonder what 
 excuse he will give for going back to them, con- 
 sidering that they are about three times more 
 advanced than when he left them ? " 
 
 " The political world has a short memory."
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 HAVING given a servant the roses with instruc- 
 tions that they were to be handed to Miss 
 Travers' maid, Anthony proceeded to Cammar- 
 leigh's room and placed the letter from the 
 Association before him. 
 
 " You must see, Cammarleigh, that I am not 
 likely to draw back now. You know that you 
 are dealing with a perfectly reckless man, and you 
 are much too clever and astute not to accept 
 the situation ; in fact, you would be surprised to 
 know what a great admiration I have for your 
 character in that direction." 
 
 " Please don't think that flattery has any effect 
 on me," said Cammarleigh, showing despite his 
 protest that he was distinctly warmed by it. 
 
 " I'm not given to flattering you, Cammar- 
 leigh. It is a fact that a bold stroke like yesterday's 
 was the only thing I really feared. It was my 
 weak point, and, as I told you, you very nearly got 
 home or went home, as the case may be. Now, 
 everything is going to end quite happily. You 
 are absurdly rich ; you are going to part with 
 about half your savings ; I am going to marry 
 your niece " 
 
 Cammarleigh made a movement. 
 
 " Oh no, I shan't marry her till I've got the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 295 
 
 money, because, as your nephew, it would be 
 impossible for me to use this whistle. So you 
 see, once the money is paid and I am married, 
 you will be perfectly safe ; and if I fail, you know 
 quite well I shall keep my word and go out of 
 your life." 
 
 As usual, Cammarleigh did not feel the 
 intense joy and relief which ought to have 
 accompanied this promise. 
 
 "After all, you know, Cammarleigh, it will 
 look much better for you if at any rate you appear 
 to choose the member for Cammarleighburgh, 
 even if you don't do so actually. Old Baker says 
 that the Association is quite enthusiastic at the 
 idea of your returning to them, and is ready to 
 give you a tremendous reception." 
 
 Anthony knew exactly the point at which to 
 leave Cammarleigh to think matters out. He 
 only added as he left him, " I've sent a messenger 
 over to ask Baker to call upon you this morning, 
 and I carefully explained to him that I am entirely 
 in your hands." 
 
 As he was leaving the room Cammarleigh 
 made the most generous speech of his life 
 
 " Brooke " 
 
 "Why not Tony ?" murmured Anthony. 
 
 Cammarleigh did not respond to the invita- 
 tion to be more familiar, and went on 
 
 " I consider it only fair to tell you that you 
 have the instincts of a gentleman so far as they 
 are consistent with your being a " 
 
 Anthony would not let him finish, but left the 
 room, murmuring
 
 296 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " I am very fond of you, Cammarleigh I am 
 indeed." 
 
 As he joined the breakfast party there 
 descended a sudden silence. To his astonish- 
 ment, Sybil was there. With the exception of 
 Tolly, she was the youngest present, and therefore, 
 with the exception of that young gentleman, was 
 generally the last person down. Frant had just 
 imparted to the general company Anthony's com- 
 munication. It had been greeted with a positive 
 Babel of comment, everybody talking at once. 
 The freedom of the remarks was somewhat 
 conditioned by the presence of so many members 
 of the family. Lord Cecil led off, however, by 
 saying 
 
 "Apparently that young man intends to be 
 Prime Minister all in five minutes." 
 
 " What is the essential quality demanded in 
 English politics ? " asked Lady Southwick. 
 
 " Sincerity, I should have thought." 
 
 Lady Southwick and Mrs. Westerby were 
 the only people present of an intellectual stature 
 capable of conducting a discussion on such a 
 subject. 
 
 "And yet," continued Mrs. Westerby, "it is 
 the most difficult quality to ascribe to any one 
 it is so extraordinarily elusive. People seem 
 to have it, and then not to have it, in the most 
 bewildering way." 
 
 " Mr. Brooke strikes me as having genius." 
 
 And Lady Southwick peeled a nectarine medi- 
 tatively. This was probably why she had been 
 so exceedingly civil to Anthony. She had a rare
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 297 
 
 instinct for men, which dated from the days when, 
 as Pamela Gray, she had selected her husband and 
 the means of obtaining him with almost scientific 
 precision. She had been called an adventuress 
 herself, and it was perfectly true that it was not 
 very clear where the Duchess of Havant had 
 found her. Her tolerance of Anthony was not, 
 however, the result of any fellow-feeling. She 
 fancied she detected, as Mrs. Westerby was sure 
 she detected in him, the atmosphere of success, 
 and, woman-like, she was quite prepared to help 
 in the making of what was sure to succeed. 
 
 " Genius is a large order," said Crutchley. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby laughed, a full laugh, which 
 showed that her sense of humour had been strongly 
 appealed to. 
 
 " And I am sure Mr. Brooke's order will be 
 as large as his genius can make it." 
 
 Sybil was silent, as a young girl should be 
 when a young man is being discussed freely ; 
 but, at the same time, she was a little surprised. 
 Evidently other women had discovered a certain 
 power in Anthony, and held him in high estima- 
 tion. The discovery tamed her vanity. So far 
 she had sub-consciously considered it a conde- 
 scension to allow Anthony to make love to her, 
 but nevertheless she was dominated by him, and 
 perhaps on this account she had encouraged the 
 theory of condescension the more tenaciously. 
 
 "Well," said Lord Cecil, "I never liked 
 Cammarleigh leaving the old party although 
 they have gone rather off the rails of late. Of 
 course," he added, feeling that as a member of
 
 298 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 the family some apology was due for the eccentric 
 political gyrations of its head, " Cammarleigh never 
 could compromise, and compromise is absolutely 
 necessary unless you are going to give the im- 
 pression of a cat on hot bricks." 
 
 "Politics is a game," said Mrs. Westerby, 
 u and that country has the best political life where 
 the game is played without cheating, and that is 
 why I should think the active participation of 
 women would be disastrous." 
 
 Anthony entered at this moment, and the 
 conversation languished till he had seated himself. 
 
 " I am almost excited," he said. " I shall be 
 in the House of Commons before I am twenty- 
 five." 
 
 " There's many a slip," murmured Lord Cecil, 
 who never could make out why Anthony's assur- 
 ance did not get on his nerves as it ought to have 
 done. 
 
 " Those people who look for failure find it. 
 I am sure that you can create the atmosphere of 
 success." 
 
 " It all sounds very magical and unpractical," 
 said Lady Editha. 
 
 " The great careers are very magical. I wonder 
 if the general public quite know how magical they 
 are ? " 
 
 Anthony caught Mrs. Westerby's eye, and the 
 faintest smile of understanding passed between 
 them. Then he glanced at Sybil to enjoy the 
 pleasure of seeing his roses in her belt. He was 
 thinking what a lucky thing it was that the road 
 to her possession lay the same way as his political
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 299 
 
 ambitions. He did not deceive himself; he knew 
 perfectly well that under no circumstances would 
 he have been able to follow out any other scheme 
 until he had secured her. 
 
 Sybil ate her breakfast in silence. She was 
 really growing unhappy, and was no longer capable 
 of the pretence that she was playing a game with 
 Anthony a very reprehensible game, but still a 
 game. She had surrendered unconditionally to 
 the instincts of her youth, and she found herself, 
 without even seeing the absurdity of it as she 
 would formerly have done, picturing a scheme of 
 happiness based on love in a cottage. She went 
 for a walk to think the matter out, hoping that 
 Anthony would follow, which, however, he did 
 not. He was not chary of allowing her as much 
 of Frant's company as was going. He was sure 
 that he was a dry brand which would have no 
 attractions for Sybil's youthful palate, and he 
 wanted her fully to realise the horrors that were 
 before her. 
 
 Lady Editha never in her wildest moments 
 dreamed that Sybil would regret her choice. She 
 fancied that she knew her daughter's character 
 thoroughly, and that she was not in the least 
 likely to be sufficiently swayed by sentiment to 
 hesitate where a ducal coronet was concerned. 
 Lady Editha had never had depth enough to 
 warn her daughter that there can be no greater 
 danger for a woman than to be perfectly assured 
 that she has her affections in hand, and that to 
 think so at eighteen is more likely than not to be 
 disastrous. To theorise about life in youth is to
 
 300 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 dig pitfalls. Still, it requires a prodigious effort 
 of will to throw away such a golden prospect. 
 Sybil had imagined that she could show herself 
 the equal of a brilliant mountebank, that in this 
 comedy of mock-love she could be as sparkling 
 and as original as her partner, that she would 
 play Columbine to his Harlequin, and that her 
 feelings would be as unreal as the emotions of 
 those fairy people ; but she did not want to 
 pretend any longer, and was seized with a sudden 
 terror lest Harlequin had never meant anything 
 else. It was better that he should not have 
 meant anything else, she told herself. Nothing 
 could come of it, and yet this was not to be ad- 
 mitted even in moments of complete solitude 
 without a sudden rush of pain ; indeed, the little 
 lady who had considered herself as unimpression- 
 able as a finely cut diamond was caught in the 
 very weaknesses of her own conceit and proved 
 to be malleable flesh and blood. She was paying 
 very dearly for that ecstatic scene in the little 
 drawing-room in Curzon Street. She was really 
 afraid that brooding over Anthony would spoil 
 her looks. If he were such a genius as everybody 
 said, why did he not do something wonderful, 
 and come forward and claim her ? Perhaps he 
 did not want to claim her. Of course, in her 
 innermost self she knew that this was not true, 
 but for the purpose of wrecking her nerves it was 
 a sufficient possibility. 
 
 She sat herself down on a low wall which 
 commanded a view of that part of the county, 
 and Frant formally joined her. He had been in
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 301 
 
 the habit, since his arrival at Cammarleigh, of 
 taking her for a walk after breakfast. He felt 
 that he was expected to ask her, and she felt that 
 she was expected to accompany him. He was 
 smoking a cigar. This offended her sense of 
 fitness. Anthony did not smoke cigars after 
 breakfast, and she realised that she would never 
 as long as she lived dissociate the scent of Egyptian 
 cigarettes from a certain tone of blue-green flannel 
 which a smart tailor had cut most perfectly to 
 Anthony's figure. 
 
 Frant was wondering what had become of 
 what from his anaemic point of view he had con- 
 sidered the delirium of the early days of his en- 
 gagement, whilst Sybil was thinking that he would 
 be more difficult to endure than she had imagined. 
 
 "There's a view rather like this at Frant. 
 Don't you remember it ? " 
 
 Sybil felt a sudden dislike for people who 
 instituted scenic comparisons, and said that she 
 did not. 
 
 " I don't think you thought very much of 
 Frant, did you ? " 
 
 " It's very stately," said Sybil, politely. 
 
 "Yes, it rather reminds one of a town hall, 
 doesn't it ? My father always said that." 
 
 The allusion to Frant rather set Sybil up. 
 Although she had not shown much enthusiasm, 
 to be mistress of such magnificence would be no 
 small triumph. For the space of quite thirty 
 seconds the thought of Frant Palace blotted out 
 Anthony, but with incredible swiftness its lordly 
 turrets and towers, its stately terraces, and colossal
 
 302 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 and hideous architectural design, faded away, leav- 
 ing her mental vision occupied instead by a figure 
 with magnetic charm in blue-green flannel. 
 
 Frant droned away, experiencing considerable 
 difficulty in finding subjects for conversation. 
 The fact that he should have considered it necessary 
 to converse at all when he had nothing to say was 
 proof positive that they did not get on together, 
 for what two lovers ever felt the need of con- 
 versation ? With love, words are apt to spoil 
 everything. Frant was thinking that if she would 
 only give him a chance he would convey as 
 delicately as possible that he rather thought they 
 had made a mistake. At so advanced a stage it 
 was quite impossible for him to make the least 
 retreat without being given the initiative. 
 
 At this moment, four portly-looking gentle- 
 men passed them, trying to look very much at 
 their ease in one of the Cammarleigh carriages. 
 Their appearance at that hour of the morning was 
 altogether so strange that Frant remarked on it. 
 
 "Perhaps they're something to do with the 
 election," said Sybil. That she should have sur- 
 mised so much showed the intense interest she 
 was taking in everything that concerned Anthony. 
 
 They sat watching the vehicle, which, with its 
 top-hatted, black-coated occupants, irresistibly sug- 
 gested a municipal funeral, till it passed beneath 
 the gateway and disappeared. 
 
 Cammarleigh had likewise seen the arrival of 
 the Cammarleighburgh magnates. As Anthony 
 had guessed, the mere fact of receiving the deputa- 
 tion compensated him for the unpleasant political
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 303 
 
 pill that he was obliged to swallow, and it began 
 to be borne in upon him that he was considered 
 a political nobody. It was essential that he should 
 do something in order to assert himself. It was 
 quite true that the Government in whose interests 
 he had ratted had behaved very badly to him. 
 He had not even been offered Court appointment 
 such as his rank might have entitled him to. It 
 was therefore only a feeling that he was bound to 
 look more or less ridiculous that made him object 
 to Anthony's scheme, but he had one good point 
 in his character which played into the latter's 
 hands, and that was that when a thing had become 
 inevitable he could accept it with a certain amount 
 of dignity. He made one last stand when Anthony 
 came to inform him that the deputation was 
 awaiting him. 
 
 "You must tell them that I know nothing 
 about it," he said. 
 
 "Lord Cammarleigh," said Anthony, solemnly, 
 " is it likely that at such a moment as this I should 
 hesitate to use strong measures ? The accident 
 that put you in my power has led me to this 
 point. It is a crisis, and I cannot afford to give 
 way an inch." 
 
 The last vestige of rebellion disappeared from 
 Cammarleigh, but merely to save what he con- 
 sidered his dignity, he said 
 
 " Very well, then ; when you see the leading 
 newspapers on the subject you will be sorry that 
 you insisted. I shall look so ridiculous that 
 people will be ashamed to vote for you." 
 
 "It takes a lot to make a great landed
 
 304 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 proprietor look ridiculous in his own county. I'll 
 take the risk." 
 
 " What on earth am I to say to them ? " 
 
 " You must say that in presence of a great 
 national danger " 
 
 "There is no great danger there never has 
 been a quieter time." 
 
 " There is always a national danger from the 
 point of view of the Opposition, and you must 
 say that at this time of national danger you are 
 indeed pleased to see old friends rallying within 
 these walls historic with memories of reform, to 
 take counsel as to how the old battle against 
 oppression and privilege may best be waged. It 
 sounds cheap, but they will take them as golden 
 words of wisdom from a Marquis, and a nation 
 which has believed in the Whigs will believe in 
 anything." 
 
 " They did nothing of the kind when I wanted 
 them to follow me." 
 
 " You must have shown a lack of tact some- 
 where. You can also mention that the garden- 
 party was a social stepping - stone to this 
 reconciliation." 
 
 " Really," said Cammarleigh, having got all 
 the assistance he wanted, " one would think I 
 hadn't known these people since I was a boy." 
 
 Anthony opened the door which led from the 
 inner library where their interview had taken 
 place, and, making room for Cammarleigh to 
 precede him, followed him into the outer library. 
 The deputation were walking about with their hats 
 in their hands, trying to show how perfectly at
 
 their ease they were by examining the backs of 
 rare editions, while Mr. Baker, with his head on 
 one side, and the manner of an art critic, was 
 inspecting with a certain air of appreciation in- 
 cidental to his sex, an exquisite reproduction in 
 marble of the Venus of Milo. 
 
 As Cammarleigh entered, their scattered ranks 
 closed up, and they became again a deputation. 
 Cammarleigh shook hands with Mr. Baker and 
 the other three gentlemen. 
 
 " Won't you sit down ? " 
 
 There was a slight diversion whilst with ex- 
 treme affability Anthony helped to place chairs in 
 convenient positions. 
 
 Cammarleigh enjoyed nothing so much as a 
 situation of this kind, and, placing the tips of his 
 fingers together, he surveyed the perspiring group 
 in front of him with what he fondly imagined to 
 be a smile of statesmanlike benevolence. 
 
 Anthony spoke first, somewhat to Cammar- 
 leigh's surprise. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I should first like to say that 
 I have in this matter merely been acting as Lord 
 Cammarleigh's mouthpiece. The initiative was 
 his. It was he who suggested that I should put 
 myself in your hands, and I can only say that if 
 the beginning of my political career should be as 
 member for your ancient borough, my thanks will 
 be equally due to the electors of Cammarleigh- 
 burgh, whose interests I shall faithfully try to 
 serve, and to his lordship, who, after having had 
 a full opportunity of judging, has considered me 
 worthy of his support."
 
 306 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Cammarleigh felt that there was not on the 
 shelves around him a volume sufficiently large or 
 heavy to have been Anthony's due, but he was 
 true to the Red Indian instincts of his rank, and 
 smiled gently. 
 
 The gentlemen in front nodded their heads 
 rhythmically with each emphasising period of 
 Anthony's speech. He then, with an apparent 
 display of modesty, moved and placed himself so 
 that he faced Cammarleigh, and was able, as it 
 were, to head the admiring attention and ex- 
 pectancy with which they awaited his speech. 
 
 "I have long felt, gentlemen," began Cam- 
 marleigh, " that the reasons for which I was 
 compelled to sever my connection with your 
 Association have ceased to carry weight. I have 
 daily found myself more and more in sympathy 
 with the later programme of the historic party 
 with which I was formerly connected." Here 
 there was a slight burst of applause. The mem- 
 bers of the deputation felt in a chivalrous mood ; 
 they had fought Cammarleigh, and had beaten 
 him. 
 
 " Mr. Brooke, the son of a very dear old 
 friend of mine " here the deputation fixed its 
 eye discreetly on the ceiling, and Cammarleigh 
 gulped " is eminently suited for a political 
 career. I can assure you, gentlemen, that he is 
 a young man of the highest integrity." Anthony 
 smiled sympathetically. He could thoroughly 
 appreciate the pleasure this speech must have 
 given Cammarleigh. " His rectitude," continued 
 Cammarleigh, " is known to me."
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 307 
 
 "So like him," thought Anthony, "to spoil 
 a good joke by repeating it." 
 
 " His abilities are also known to me, and I 
 presume, gentlemen, that your confidence in him 
 is the result of such conversations as you have had 
 
 together. I shall regret to lose Mr. Brooke " 
 
 Here he bowed towards Anthony, and Anthony 
 returned the inclination, whilst the deputation 
 regarded them sympathetically. " But I should 
 not think of standing in his way, and as he is in 
 a position to enter Parliament, I can only say that 
 such poor support as I am able to place at his 
 command is his, a support, which, as you know, 
 gentlemen, has not always been effective." 
 
 This was a thrust at what Cammarleigh con- 
 sidered to have been the disloyalty and treachery 
 displayed by the Association at the last election. 
 Cammarleigh leant back in his chair and again 
 became a Red Indian, smiling placidly at the door 
 of his wigwam, with murder at his heart. 
 
 There was a pause, and the deputation looked 
 towards Mr. Baker. Anthony placed himself 
 behind Cammarleigh. 
 
 " My lord, it would be beyond me to describe 
 to your lordship the pleasurable feelings which 
 were aroused in our breasts by the information 
 that you had once again consented to lead us to 
 victory. Only the strongest convictions on our 
 part induced us respectfully to decline to follow 
 you on a former occasion. We may have been 
 right, we may have been wrong, but it fills us 
 with the greatest pleasure, indeed, I may say 
 enthusiasm " By way of showing its wild
 
 enthusiasm the deputation here murmured a weak 
 approval. The approval was there, but the envi- 
 ronment had a somewhat damping effect " to 
 give our unqualified support to a nominee of your 
 lordship's. Mr. Brooke has already privately 
 given us full assurance of his devotion to the 
 cause of reform and economy." The devotee of 
 economy here bowed. 
 
 " I have only formally to request him to 
 address the Association, at the conclusion of 
 which address we shall, I am sure, be able to 
 invite him to contest the division." 
 
 There should have been cheering in the back- 
 ground in order to fill in the picture. 
 
 Anthony responded with a few appropriate 
 words, and then, it being too early for the party 
 to be asked to stay to lunch, they all adjourned 
 to the banqueting hall and took a glass of wine 
 in honour of the event. Cammarleigh, in spite 
 of himself, was forced to admire the intuitive tact 
 with which Anthony managed these very self- 
 important local dignitaries, and was inclined to 
 agree with what he had said on a former occasion, 
 and, at the time, much to Cammarleigh's annoy- 
 ance. 
 
 " Human nature can only be modified very 
 slightly in either direction by ermine or rags, from 
 guttersnipe to emperor you influence a man 
 through his vanity. Always treat men whom you 
 are anxious to use as if they are of a special 
 importance to their surroundings." 
 
 And this was what Anthony was doing ; going 
 from one to the other, and, as it were, setting
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 309 
 
 them apart in their own estimation. The very- 
 intonation of his voice as he mentioned the 
 commonplace name of Baker, or the still more 
 hideous appellation of Scroggs, was a lesson to an 
 expert in diplomacy, and Cammarleigh felt that, 
 after all, there was some satisfaction in knowing 
 that Anthony was likely to be a credit to his own 
 judgment. 
 
 " Do you think I am wonderful ? " asked 
 Anthony of Cammarleigh when they were alone. 
 
 " Oh, you're clever enough." 
 
 "And yet," said Anthony, who was always 
 ready to grease the wheels of Cammarleigh's 
 vanity, " I am coming to the conclusion that I'm 
 not as clever as you are. Your self-control was 
 marvellous. You said just enough, and not a 
 word too much." 
 
 " At any rate, I am very glad that I had an 
 opportunity of mentioning that you were the son 
 of an old friend of mine." And Cammarleigh 
 was fully convinced that the deputation had 
 believed him.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 " Do you feel impatient ? " 
 
 Anthony joined Mrs. Westerby as she was 
 strolling up and down in the cool of the cloisters. 
 
 " Not impatient exactly, but sometimes I get 
 an all-overish feeling, and I do so want to be a 
 duchess before the Coronation." 
 
 "You shall. With your auburn hair you 
 shall look like a great lady of the Norman period." 
 
 " I should be happier if I had more to do in 
 the scheme if there were a little more plotting." 
 
 " There is no need to work in that way. We 
 are simply giving nature every chance, and are 
 drifting towards our proper mates." 
 
 " Well, then, I suppose all I can do is to cast 
 spells and be patient." 
 
 " Yes, but be very particular about the spells. 
 After all, you know, men of the Frant type always 
 return to the woman they are comfortable with. 
 As a matter of fact, I suppose that applies to all 
 men." 
 
 "At any rate, that is the theory we women 
 go on." 
 
 " It is unwise to give away a secret, even in 
 jest." 
 
 " You certainly keep yours very well. Are
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 311 
 
 you quite sure that you will never be weak enough 
 to divulge it ? " 
 
 " Quite sure." 
 
 Then, seeing Sybil in the distance, he threw 
 aside all subtlety and hurried in pursuit. 
 
 Sybil, who had been perfectly conscious of his 
 vicinity, allowed him to overtake her, but gave a 
 studied start to mark the unexpected nature of his 
 appearance. 
 
 " You are dull." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that I am not enter- 
 taining ? " 
 
 " No, I mean that you are bored." 
 
 " I can't quite admit that." 
 
 " What would you like to do ? I won't 
 allow you to be dull or bored, or sad for a single 
 moment. Would you like to ride ? " 
 
 It was an admirable suggestion, but the 
 coquette in her caused her to hesitate for a 
 moment ; and then, showing her growing weak- 
 ness by a fear that he should back out of the 
 invitation, she said hastily 
 
 " I should like it above all things." 
 
 The rest of the men were out shooting, and 
 Lady Editha's conscience was not likely to labour 
 the point in propriety ; indeed, she would more 
 probably credit herself with an indiscreet action 
 than Sybil. 
 
 Tolly was luckily out of the way, or he would 
 most assuredly have insisted on accompanying 
 them. 
 
 In twenty minutes Sybil was ready, and the 
 horses had been brought round. They were
 
 312 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Anthony's selection, and betrayed the theatrical 
 taint in his blood. He was riding a black mare, 
 whilst Sybil's mount was a milk-white Arab. Both 
 animals were so perfect of their kind that they 
 redeemed their flaunting singularity. Sybil laughed 
 as she looked at them, and her eyes met Anthony's. 
 
 " We shall look rather like a circus." 
 
 " Why not ? We can imagine ourselves as 
 unreal as those people who ride into a town at the 
 head of a circus procession. You know Cammar- 
 leigh chose Mahomet for you ? " Of course 
 Sybil knew that this meant that the horse was 
 Anthony's selection. " I will tell you a secret. 
 He is to be yours as a wedding present." 
 
 " Don't spoil my ride." Then she grew 
 crimson. It was an unpremeditated confession, 
 and she felt that it was just a little vulgar. 
 
 Anthony sympathised with the mistake, which 
 was quite unnecessary to show him where he 
 stood. For one moment Sybil looked as though 
 she contemplated flight, which showed how com- 
 pletely love had taken her unawares. Then she 
 accepted Anthony's hand and sprang into the 
 saddle. 
 
 They could easily have ridden for miles with- 
 out leaving Cammarleigh's demesne, but somehow 
 they both felt the need of being away from any- 
 thing which could tie them to the reality of their 
 lot. Almost immediately they passed through a 
 gate, and, cantering down a short lane, reached 
 the high road. Anthony's horsemanship had 
 completely redeemed him as a sportsman in the 
 eyes of the philistines staying at the Abbey.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 313 
 
 They were as beautiful as a young couple out 
 of a penny novelette, and the sensation of riding 
 away together, anywhere, nowhere, filled them 
 with romantic exhilaration. 
 
 " I hope you will win your election." 
 
 " Shall you help me ? " 
 
 " I don't know anything about politics." 
 
 " So much the better you can't make any 
 mistakes." 
 
 " Do you know that everybody here has 
 guessed that there is some mystery about you ? " 
 
 At this moment answer was impossible, for 
 Anthony opened a gate which led into a prodi- 
 giously long field, and as the gate swung behind 
 them he set his horse at a gallop, and the wine of 
 the most glorious exercise in the world entered 
 into their blood and they gave themselves up to 
 its intoxication. When they drew rein they were 
 at the foot of a high grass hill, of which, however, 
 the slope was very gradual. 
 
 " What is the favourite guess ? " asked An- 
 thony, as they walked their horses easily up the 
 hill. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know that anybody has made 
 a definite guess. Perhaps people feel that it 
 wouldn't be quite nice of them. Still, I don't 
 think they are right." She was too much in love 
 not to be afraid of making him angry, but An- 
 thony knew perfectly well what she meant, and 
 answered lightly 
 
 " You mean that you don't think the explana- 
 tion accounts for the phenomenon ? " 
 
 " I don't know what phenomenon means and
 
 314 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 I shouldn't think it very nice of any girl of my 
 age who did." 
 
 " Well, you mean that you don't think that 
 the explanation accounts for the strange things 
 that are happening ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And you are feverish with curiosity ? " 
 
 " I should like to know the truth," said Sybil, 
 with childish pleading in her voice. 
 
 Anthony looked at her longingly, and a thrill 
 ran through his nerves. His long, gray eyes 
 grew almost moist as he murmured pathetically 
 
 "You little dear!" 
 
 " I should never tell anybody." 
 
 " Then there wouldn't be the least enjoyment 
 in your knowing. Tell me, have you made a 
 guess ? " 
 
 " I've made a hundred. If it's any satisfaction 
 to you, I wake up early in the morning to think 
 about it." 
 
 " With no results ? " 
 
 " Well, my explanations all break down. At 
 first I thought that you were the real Lord 
 Cammarleigh, and that Uncle Percy knew all 
 about it." 
 
 " If I were the real Lord Cammarleigh the 
 whole world would know all about it. Shall we 
 gallop?" 
 
 They were now crossing a large stretch of 
 common upland. Above them the September 
 sun was already beginning to cool its fires. Be- 
 neath them the broom made one yellow carpet. 
 There was a touch of autumn in the air. Nature
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 315 
 
 around them was less green than she had been. 
 She wore a jaded, sunburnt tone, as if she were 
 somewhat weary of her summering and were 
 thinking wistfully of the long, deep sleep of 
 winter. 
 
 Anthony had an almost mystic intuition about 
 life, and he knew that these hours were golden, 
 that they were the exquisite alchemy by which he 
 should test Sybil in the years to come, and that 
 the memory of them, with a nature like his, would 
 keep her ever before him as a prize, something 
 to be desired, even long after possession had 
 whispered an excuse to satiety. It was all wonder- 
 fully strange ; dreamland did not hold a more 
 extraordinary fate than his had been, and yet his 
 very genius bade him to beware, and to remember 
 that chances such as his do not repeat themselves, 
 and that though respectability is dull, and is much 
 scorned by the superior folk who have it not, yet 
 it is sure. 
 
 Leaving the common-land, and still climbing, 
 they reached the highest eminence in those parts. 
 They turned their horses' heads to look over a 
 gate from whence they could see the entire way 
 by which they had ascended. Far away below, 
 looking like a little gray toy, was the Abbey. A 
 distant shot rang out in the clear, still air. 
 
 "Look," said Sybil, pointing with her whip 
 to the miles and miles of fairy-land below them ; 
 " what a long way we have come, and how 
 quickly ! " 
 
 " Yes," answered Anthony, enigmatically ; " a 
 long way and how quickly ! "
 
 316 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 She looked at him sharply, and then said 
 quietly 
 
 " I know what you mean." 
 
 That ride together had shown her how per- 
 fectly they were mated, and when she thought of 
 Frant she was dismayed. 
 
 Anthony saw that the time had come to play 
 trumps. He laid his hand on hers and said very 
 seriously 
 
 " On what conditions would you marry me ? " 
 
 She looked at him startled, and then tried to 
 laugh. 
 
 " You forget " 
 
 " I forget nothing," he said, growing more 
 serious. 
 
 " I see my life ahead, and I have sufficient of 
 the feminine in me to play the respectable part if 
 it comes my way. You see, I discuss all the philo- 
 sophy of the situation, and accept you as an equal." 
 
 She looked at him haughtily. 
 
 " Oh, you know what I mean. I am older 
 than you are ; and besides, I have had more 
 schooling than you will ever have I allude, of 
 course, to material adversity." 
 
 She did not answer, so he said again 
 
 " On what conditions will you marry me ? 
 Will you take about seven thousand a year, a seat 
 in the House of Commons, accompanied by 
 well, you know how much cleverness and the 
 man you love, in exchange for a few out-of-date 
 strawberry leaves ? " 
 
 Still she did not answer, and he murmured 
 feelingly
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 317 
 
 Sybil ! " 
 
 She whimpered. 
 
 " It's not fair to bring me all the way up here, 
 and then to tempt me like this ! " 
 
 Their horses were close together. He put his 
 arms round her with an enchantment which she 
 felt to be decisive. 
 
 " Don't be afraid," he said. " I will save you 
 yet." And he laughed. 
 
 His laugh piqued her. She wanted him to 
 go on talking in that curious, unusual way which 
 seemed somehow to build a wall between them 
 and the rest of the world. 
 
 " Besides," he said, " I offer you a kingdom 
 for everybody reigns in their own kingdom 
 of love. That sounds like cheap melodrama, 
 doesn't it ? " 
 
 " No why ? " said Sybil, hastily. 
 
 As a woman, she did not think it cheap melo- 
 drama at all. 
 
 " Well, I've told you what my prospects are 
 in the most respectable way." 
 
 "You see, I'm too young to judge," said 
 Sybil, recovering herself somewhat. 
 
 Anthony appreciated the joke, and laughed. 
 "There is one thing I forgot to mention, and 
 that is when we are married I shall tell you my 
 secret. Not when you've promised to marry me, 
 you understand, but when we are married." 
 
 They turned their horses homewards, chatter- 
 ing and laughing like children, and only when 
 they neared Cammarleigh did Sybil's spirits leave 
 her as she thought of Frant.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 OF course, Cammarleigh's part in the election was 
 bound to cease with the interview in the library, 
 for as a member of the Upper House he was 
 debarred from taking any actual part in the elec- 
 tion. Lord and Lady Cecil, Lady Editha and 
 Sybil, helped largely. Anthony had had an in- 
 terview with Lord Cecil, at the end of which they 
 had perfectly understood each other. It was while 
 they were smoking a cigar together in the haunted 
 walk. 
 
 "Lord Cammarleigh has been wonderfully 
 good to me. He is very warm-hearted." 
 
 Lord Cecil frankly laughed. " Is he ? " 
 
 " Well, when I came into that money the 
 other day " 
 
 "I hadn't heard?" 
 
 " It was from an old uncle of mine in Aus- 
 tralia. When the news came, your brother at 
 once suggested that I should seize the opportunity 
 of the vacancy in Cammarleighburgh." 
 
 Lord Cecil liked Anthony, although he was 
 distrustful of his intentions. If he were his 
 nephew, he thought him on the whole a credit. 
 It was only natural that the bar sinister should 
 produce a slightly bizarre effect.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 319 
 
 " I am sure you'll get on," he said en- 
 couragingly. 
 
 " Well, you see," said Anthony and this was 
 his point in seeking the interview " I can never 
 expect to have any more money than I have now, 
 so I shall have plenty of leisure ; and office, if 
 I ever get it, will be agreeable, financially and 
 otherwise." 
 
 He repeated these remarks more than once 
 during the interview, and Lord Cecil grasped 
 what he meant. 
 
 " I see," he reflected. " He means to say 
 that he and Cammarleigh have come to an arrange- 
 ment, and that he is, so to speak, provided for. 
 It's very decent of him." 
 
 In order that there should be no further mis- 
 understanding, Anthony mentioned casually that 
 he had no sympathy with people who left the heir 
 of a great name without money to keep it up, 
 and that, as far as he was concerned, he was a 
 richer man with his income than a duke would 
 be with ten times the amount. 
 
 "I can't understand why on earth Cammar- 
 leigh doesn't own up," said Lord Cecil, in re- 
 porting the interview to his wife later. "He's 
 in every way a son to be proud of, and it isn't 
 likely that a man of Cammarleigh's income 
 can have arrived at his age without an ad- 
 venture." 
 
 " No men are horrid," said Lady Cecil. 
 
 Lord Cecil treated the remark with the indif- 
 ference with which men have treated it from time 
 immemorial at any rate, after marriage.
 
 320 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " He might at least confide in us. The boy 
 is loyal to the place and the name. He had to 
 watch his words in order to prevent himself from 
 being carried away about the place. I was quite 
 affected upon my soul I was." 
 
 It was evident that Anthony's wits were not 
 blunting. 
 
 " We must see him through this election. If 
 it'll suit you, we'll stay and work for him." 
 
 " Supposing Cammarleigh leaves him all his 
 private fortune ?" asked his wife. 
 
 " Well, that's just it he isn't going to." 
 
 " Who says so ? " 
 
 Lord Cecil felt that he was probably a little 
 optimistic. 
 
 " Well, Anthony " He had been warmed 
 
 by the interview with his imaginary nephew into 
 using his Christian name. "Well, of course, I've 
 only his word for it." 
 
 " I should like to see it in black and white," 
 said Lady Cecil. 
 
 As the woman, she possessed the greater 
 financial acuteness. 
 
 " Well, at any rate, the more he's got, the 
 less he'll want." 
 
 " Members of Parliament are not paid yet, 
 Cecil, and the income is hardly likely to be worth 
 having when they are, except to those Labour 
 people." 
 
 " Yes, I don't suppose the country will have 
 the justice to pay members according to their 
 social position." 
 
 "It would be only fair," assented his wife.
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 321 
 
 They had good reason to know what a great 
 deal of money rich people need. 
 
 Despite Lady Cecil's scepticism, she threw 
 herself into the fray, and scoured the constituency 
 with Lady Editha and Sybil. Frant was in town 
 during this exciting period. He was to return to 
 Cammarleigh for a short time prior to the wedding, 
 which was to take place in November. Nothing 
 showed Anthony's ability more than the election. 
 For an actor he had quite a surprising amount of 
 general information, and the fact that he could 
 converse intelligently on general topics had always 
 made him unpopular in the green-room. Still, he 
 was perpetually being met with questions on sub- 
 jects of which he was entirely ignorant. That he 
 was profoundly at sea on most political problems 
 gave him not the least misgiving as to his ulti- 
 mately developing into a statesman of the first 
 rank. Why should it have done ? At a crowded 
 and noisy meeting his experiences in the melodra- 
 matic houses of the East End proved to be of the 
 greatest service. The fact that he had been an 
 actor leaked out somehow, and on one occasion 
 when he made a dramatic pause with folded arms 
 he was told by a voice at the back of the hall that 
 he was not playing Hamlet. 
 
 " No, gentlemen," was his prompt reply ; 
 "but I am down for a leading part." Which, 
 recalled in the early hours of the next morn- 
 ing, sounded a little tame, but was immensely 
 effective at the time. He was pathetically im- 
 plored to give a song and dance. Considering 
 the stories that were abroad as to his parentage, 
 
 y
 
 322 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 there was extreme bad taste in the interrogatory : 
 " Does your mother know you're out ? " and he 
 could hardly duplicate the reply of the young 
 aspirant to Parliamentary honours, who, on being 
 asked the same question delivered the quick re- 
 joinder, <l Yes, and to-morrow she'll know I'm 
 in." 
 
 He was luckily an Opposition candidate, and 
 therefore he had only to attack and nothing to 
 defend. The story of his saving Cammarleigh's 
 life was of course used largely. Anthony, 
 always with an eye to the gallery, racked his 
 brain for a scheme by which he should perform 
 some further deed of heroism and transform him- 
 self into a local hero, but all the plans which he 
 thought out involved too great an amount of risk 
 to himself. His opponent was a candidate from 
 the Central Organisation of his party, and there- 
 fore started heavily handicapped. He entreated the 
 electors to think imperially, but the patriotic palate 
 was jaded with foreign stimulants, and craved for 
 a cool and refreshing homebrew. He attempted 
 to make considerable capital out of the fact that 
 apparently Anthony's aspirations towards public 
 life dated from the moment Cammarleigh was 
 able to find him a seat. He was a young man 
 positively gorged with Blue Books and statistics, 
 and it certainly was rather galling to find himself 
 opposed by that irresistible force, personality, 
 which assefted itself at every turn, and seemed to 
 give the most commonplace utterances or situ- 
 ations an almost weird vitality. 
 
 Strangely enough, Anthony's most pronounced
 
 success was with the agricultural labourer. His 
 speech on Peasant Proprietorship sounded as 
 logical as a simple addition sum, and seemed like 
 a promise of the Garden of Eden. Everybody 
 detected his likeness to Cammarleigh. None but 
 a fool could have failed to see anything so obvious. 
 There was quite a fair amount of bribery done 
 where Anthony thought it safe. This was easy, 
 considering that so many of the electors were 
 tenants of Cammarleigh's. As the day of the 
 polling approached, even Cammarleigh was carried 
 away by the excitement. Anthony took very good 
 care that the local Gazette should mention that it 
 was obvious he had learned his politics from a 
 first-rate authority, namely, Lord Cammarleigh. 
 It is impossible to describe the effect of a piece of 
 flattery like this on Cammarleigh, and Anthony 
 followed it up by asking his advice on every 
 possible occasion, and even at times following 
 it. Before the day came the result was a fore- 
 gone conclusion, and Anthony had had his final 
 tussle with Cammarleigh. The family lawyer 
 had drawn up the transfer of the money, but 
 Anthony, true to his word, had handed the 
 documents to Cammarleigh. 
 
 " You shall give me these on my wedding 
 morning." 
 
 Cammarleigh was a little sorry for Anthony, 
 especially as he was behaving so well. The idea 
 of Sybil giving up a duke for an obscure member 
 of Parliament was altogether too funny. Such 
 things only happened in fairy tales. And so he 
 told Anthony.
 
 324 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 " But this is a fairy tale. Haven't you grasped 
 that, Cammarleigh ? We must go straight on," 
 he continued, " till the dream is accomplished. 
 He who hesitates is lost, especially in dreamland. 
 If I pause I shall find myself back in the little 
 room in Pimlico." 
 
 " You need never go back there," said Cam- 
 marleigh, graciously. 
 
 " I don't intend to," retorted Anthony, gaily. 
 
 On the night of the election Anthony was 
 escorted to the Abbey by a torchlight procession. 
 
 " He's a picture, that he is," said the hostess 
 of The Speckled Dragon as he passed. " Upon 
 my word, it's quite a relief after all them stuffy 
 old fogies in Parliament who do nothing but 
 talk ! " 
 
 " Just like you women," said her husband 
 in reality equally under the spell of Anthony's 
 glamour. " Always deceived by the outer man." 
 
 " Well, it's the women that have won him the 
 election." 
 
 " It won't be long before he runs alone." 
 
 Tolly, seated on the box, waved his hat grace- 
 fully to little Miss Baker, standing on the balcony 
 of her father's house. As he told Anthony, his 
 flirtation with the little maid had been a small 
 contribution to the campaign, but a contribution 
 ungrudgingly given. As a matter of fact, it had 
 been of considerable value ; for Mrs. Baker, being 
 of a speculative and optimist turn of mind, had 
 already seen the heir of Cammarleigh, true to his 
 youthful attachment, leading her Clementina to 
 the altar. Why not ? Stranger things have
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 325 
 
 happened, and Spain is a country in which castles 
 of prodigious size and splendour are going rent 
 free. Had the good lady only known the cool 
 worldliness that lay beneath Tolly's Ganymede- 
 like exterior her hair would have stood on end. 
 Eton does not breed the primitive virtues. 
 
 " When you are Lord Cammarleigh, Tolly," 
 Anthony said, "I shall be a withered but picturesque 
 Prime Minister ; but we shall always understand 
 each other, and when I have completely ruined the 
 Empire for we have so many empire-builders that 
 it is as well to have an original ambition I will 
 sit on the terraces of Cammarleigh and feed 
 peacocks. That is the art which that creature 
 with the beautiful name, Benjamin Disraeli, culti- 
 vated to perfection. He fed peacocks and looked 
 admiringly at their tails and that is the secret of 
 success." 
 
 " I will remember that," said Tolly, " and as I 
 grow up try to find out what it means. I'm sure 
 it must mean something by the way you say it." 
 
 " Quite right, Tolly. Manner makes the 
 wit." 
 
 As Anthony watched the last red glow of the 
 torches disappearing through the woods on their 
 homeward journey, he murmured 
 
 "And now for Sybil." 
 
 Y 2
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 "WE must part," said Anthony. 
 
 Sybil did not reply, and he led her towards the 
 rose-garden. It was after dinner, and there was a 
 beautiful moon. It was a perfect night for any 
 one to lose their head on. The senses reeled at 
 the liquid blue which floated everywhere and the 
 wonderful perfumes which steamed up from the 
 earth. 
 
 Frant had arrived that afternoon, and all the 
 way down from town he had been restless and 
 agitated by the conflicting emotions roused by his 
 desire for Mrs. Westerby, and his pledge to Sybil. 
 The truth of the matter was that he was not 
 altogether out of love with Sybil, but he was 
 sufficiently occupied with Mrs. Westerby to be 
 in a considerable state of uncertainty. 
 
 Shortly before dinner Anthony had a 
 mysterious and secret conversation with Mrs. 
 Westerby. It is impossible to say what passed at 
 that interview, but as she left him Mrs. Westerby 
 said, with a certain triumphant exultation in her 
 eyes 
 
 " At last we act." 
 
 "I am going to town to-morrow," Anthony 
 said, as he and Sybil entered the rose-garden, 
 "and we must part to-night, here amongst the
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 327 
 
 roses. We shall never meet again till after you 
 are married which will be in about six weeks. 
 You are quite decided on strawberry leaves, even 
 although the early dew of feudalism has been 
 drunk from them by the sun of modern 
 democracy ? " 
 
 " I should like to refuse them even now, but 
 I can't I haven't the strength of mind." 
 
 Anthony smiled curiously. He was not 
 unsophisticated enough to have trusted to a 
 woman's decision on such a matter. It was a 
 case in which she must be decided for; and he 
 led her to the sun-dial in the middle of the rose- 
 garden, murmuring love passages rather as though 
 he were on the stage and had an eye to his voice 
 reaching the back of the gallery. 
 
 " Don't speak so loudly," said Sybil, who had 
 about as much real idea of giving up the Duke as 
 she had of being married in her travelling-dress. 
 
 Anthony led her to a particular spot which 
 was, as it were, in the centre of the stage, and 
 said 
 
 " Sybil, I must say it I must say it before 
 the moon in order that she may bear witness. I 
 love you. Tell me that you love me. Say it, 
 even if it sounds a little obvious." 
 
 " You know I love you," said Sybil. 
 
 Mrs. Westerby rose from her seat on the 
 other side of the sun-dial steps and discreetly 
 fled. 
 
 The Duke, looking very pale and fish-like in 
 the moonlight, but also very dignified, passed 
 round to the other side and faced Sybil and
 
 328 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Anthony. He looked at them for a moment 
 without speaking, and then said quietly 
 
 " I shall return to town to-morrow morning." 
 He left them. 
 
 There was a long pause, and the moonlight 
 seemed to vibrate with excitement. 
 
 " Sybil," said Anthony, in a low, tense voice, 
 " you are saved." 
 
 The poor child was thunderstruck. 
 
 " It can't be real," she said. " It's some 
 mistake." 
 
 Anthony took her in his arms and comforted 
 her. He pointed out how foolish it would be 
 under the circumstances not to look on the bright 
 side of the affair, and finally persuaded her that 
 the best thing to do was to go to Lady Editha 
 directly Frant had left the Abbey. 
 Sybil fled to her room. 
 
 Anthony murmured to Frant in the smoking- 
 room that she had promised to marry him. 
 
 " I thought it only fair to tell you," he said 
 courteously. 
 
 Lady Editha hardly knew what to say or do 
 when the facts were put before her. What she 
 feared most was the attitude of her family, and 
 she was not a little astonished when Cammarleigh, 
 with a gulp, said it was a very good thing. And 
 Lord and Lady Cecil, after an interview between 
 the former and his brother, in which Cammarleigh 
 had been carefully coached by Anthony as to what 
 he should say, promised to assist in smoothing the 
 rough edges of the affair. 
 
 " You see," said Anthony, the night before
 
 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 329 
 
 his wedding, as he sat and talked to Cammarleigh, 
 " I told you it was a fairy story. There has never 
 been anything like it, never." 
 
 " Never," assented Cammarleigh. 
 
 "After all, Cammarleigh, you are rather glad 
 I am going to be your nephew. You know that 
 I shall behave uncommonly well, that I shall 
 always look after you, and that I shall never ask 
 you for another penny." 
 
 Cammarleigh looked genuinely pleased. 
 
 They were in the room where they had had 
 their first interview. 
 
 "I feel mad with joy when I think that 
 to-morrow she will be mine. I am drunk with 
 love. She is like a pearl one white pearl set in 
 brilliants. I believe, Cammarleigh, I was sent 
 from Heaven to soften your heart. Everybody 
 thinks that there is some mystery, and so every- 
 body will come to the wedding." 
 
 Cammarleigh was really perturbed at the idea 
 of Anthony leaving his household. Now that 
 they were to be related he was actually casting 
 about in his mind how he could arrange for 
 Anthony to manage his affairs without having him 
 and Sybil too much on his hands. 
 
 The wedding was an enormous success, judg- 
 ing by the crowd. In order that there should be 
 a unique gathering at his wedding, Anthony cir- 
 culated a report that somebody who was connected 
 with the mystery of his life was going to put in 
 an appearance and make a scene. As soon as this 
 became known there was a positive rush for tickets 
 of invitation. On their way back from the church
 
 330 LORD CAMMARLEIGH'S SECRET 
 
 Anthony told Sybil the story of his influence over 
 Cammarleigh, and Sybil was unable to repress an 
 exclamation of genuine admiration when he had 
 finished. 
 
 Cammarleigh and Anthony had one last inter- 
 view in the room in which hung the Japanese 
 masks, and it was a fact, as Anthony pointed out, 
 that they were shouting with laughter. 
 
 Cammarleigh was happier than he had been 
 for a long time. Anthony would not betray a 
 relative by marriage. His secret was safe, safe. 
 He grew almost hysterical with relief, and stood 
 on the steps of the house in Grosvenor Square 
 with tears in his eyes, smiling at the bride and 
 bridegroom as they entered the carriage to drive 
 to Charing Cross. 
 
 Just as the horses were about to start, Anthony 
 called out 
 
 " Stop ! " and beckoned to Cammarleigh. 
 
 Cammarleigh approached the door of the 
 brougham, and Anthony, leaning forward, 
 whispered in his ear 
 
 " By the way, what is your secret ? " 
 
 And the carriage dashed away. 
 
 THE END 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.


 
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