Part 11 (1/2)

”When you have him safely aboard come to me at Penarrow,” he replied, which showed that after all he did not trust Master Leigh any further than he was compelled

The captain was quite satisfied For should his gentleman fail to disburse he could always return Sir Oliver to shore

On that they parted Lionel h made a trumpet of his hands and hallooed to the shi+p

As he stood waiting for the boat that came off to fetch hied face Had Master Lionel seen it he ht have asked hiue who kept faith only in so far as it was profitable And in this h saay to break faith with profit He had no conscience, but he loved as all rogues love to turn the tables upon a superior rogue He would play Master Lionel most finely, most poetically false; and he found a deal to chuckle over in the contemplation of it

CHAPTER VII TREPANNED

Master Lionel was absentday fro certain purchases in Truro It would be half-past seven when he returned; and as he entered he e for you from Godolphin Court,” he announced, and saw his brother stiffen and his face change colour ”A boy ates and bade me tell you that Mistress Rosamund desires a ith you forthwith”

Sir Oliver's heart alallop She asked for him! She had softened perhaps from her yesterday's relentlessness

She would consent at last to see his!” he answered on a note of high exciteo at once” And on the instant he departed Such was his eagerness, indeed, that under the hot spur of it he did not even stay to fetch that parchment which was to be his unanswerable advocate The omission was momentous

Master Lionel said no word as his brother swept out He shrank back a little into the shadows He hite to the lips and felt as he would stifle As the door closed heto follow Sir Oliver Conscience cried out to hi

But Fear ift to answer that outcry Unless he perht pay the penalty

He turned, and lurched into the dining-roos that trembled

He found the table set for supper as on that other night when he had staggered in with a wound in his side to be cared for and sheltered by Sir Oliver He did not approach the table; he crossed to the fire, and sat down there holding out his hands to the blaze He was very cold and could not still his tre His very teeth chattered

Nicholas came in to know if he would sup He answered unsteadily that despite the lateness of the hour he would await Sir Oliver's return

”Is Sir Oliver abroad?” quoth the servant in surprise

”He went out a moment since, I know not whither,” replied Lionel ”But since he has not supped he is not like to be long absent”

Upon that he dismissed the servant, and sat huddled there, a prey to mental tortures which were not to be repressed Hisaffection of which Sir Oliver ever had been prodigal towards him In this very matter of Peter Godolphin's death, what sacrifices had not Sir Oliver made to shi+eld him? From so ue now that not even in extreme peril would his brother betray him And then that bad streak of fear which ue thus was to argue upon supposition, that it would be perilous to trust such an assumption; that if, after all, Sir Oliver should fail him in the crucial test, then was he lost indeed

When all is said, a e of hi himself incapable of any such sacrifice for Sir Oliver, could not believe Sir Oliver capable of persisting in such a sacrifice as future events ht impose He reverted to those words Sir Oliver had uttered in that very rooo, and more firmly than ever he concluded that they could have but one

Then came doubt, and, finally, assurance of another sort, assurance that this was not so and that he knew it; assurance that he lied to hi he did He took his head in his hands and groaned loud He was a villain, a black-hearted, soulless villain! He reviled hi, resolved even in this eleventh hour to go after his brother and save hiht

But again that resolve ithered by the breath of selfish fear

Lihts took a fresh turn They considered now those ed them on that day when Sir Oliver had ridden to Arwenack to claiain that Oliver being removed, what he now enjoyed by his brother's bounty he would enjoy henceforth in his own unquestioned right The reflection brought him a certain consolation If he must suffer for his villainy, at least there would be compensations

The clock over the stables chiht Master Lionel shrank back in his chair at the sound The thing would be doing even now In his erness to the gates of Godolphin Court, and then dark for darkness and fall silently upon hiround, then, bound hand and foot, a gag thrust into his mouth, he beheld him in fancy borne swiftly down the slope to the beach and so to the waiting boat

Another half-hour sat he there The thing was done by now, and this assurance seeain to babble of so overtaken his rowled Lionel, as if in scorn of the idea

”I pray none indeed,” replied the servant ”But Sir Oliver lacks not for enemies nowadays, and 'tis scarce zafe for he to be abroad after dark”