As soon as his back was turned Lady Janet lifted the gold
pencil-case which hung at her watch-chain, and wrote on her
nephew's card (for the information of the officer in plain
clothes), "_You are wanted at Mablethorpe House_." This done, she
put the card into the old-fashioned pocket of her dress, and
returned to the dining-room.
Grace was waiting, in obedience to the instructions which she had
received.
For the first moment or two not a word was spoken on either side.
Now that she was alone with her adopted daughter, a certain
coldness and hardness began to show itself in Lady Janet's
manner. The discovery that she had made on opening the
drawing-room door still hung on her mind. Julian had certainly
convinced her that she had misinterpreted what she had seen; but
he had convinced her against her will. She had found Mercy deeply
agitated; suspiciously silent. Julian might be innocent, she
admitted--there was no accounting for the vagaries of men. But
the case of Mercy was altogether different. Women did not find
themselves in the arms of men without knowing what they were
about. Acquitting Julian, Lady Janet declined to acquit Mercy.
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