But it was not intentional treachery; and
Maude forgave me before she died."
"She knew it! You told her? Oh, you cruel monster!"
"I did not tell her. She did as you have just done--interfered in what
did not concern her, in direct disobedience to my desire; and she found
it out for herself, as you, ma'am, have found it out."
"When?"
"The winter before her death."
"Then the knowledge killed her!"
"No. Something else killed her, as you know. It preyed upon her spirits."
"Lord Hartledon, I can have you up for fraud and forgery, and I'll do it.
It will be the consideration of Maude's fame against your punishment, and
I'll make a sacrifice to revenge, and prosecute you."
"There is no fraud where an offence is committed unwittingly," returned
Lord Hartledon; "and forgery is certainly not amongst my catalogue of
sins."
"You are liable for both," suddenly retorted the dowager; "you have stuck
up 'Maude, Countess of Hartledon,' on her monument in the church; and
what's that but fraud and forgery?"
"It is neither. If Maude did not live Countess of Hartledon, she at least
so went to her grave. We were remarried, privately, before she died. Mr.
Carr can tell you so."
"It's false!" raved the dowager.
"I arranged it, ma'am," interposed Mr. Carr. "Lord Hartledon and your
daughter confided the management to me, and the ceremony was performed in
secrecy in London"
The dowager looked from one to the other, as if she were bewildered.
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