Before the coming of the servants and the lamps there was a pause of
silence and loneliness, an interval during which Lady Maulevrier lay
gazing at the declining orb, the lower rim of which now rested on the
edge of the hill. It seemed to grow larger and more dazzling as she
looked at it.
Suddenly she clasped her left hand across her eyes, and said aloud--
'Oh, what a hateful life! Almost half a century of lies and hypocricies
and prevarications and meannesses! For what? For the glory of an empty
name; and for a fortune that may slip from my dead hand to become the
prey of rogues and adventurers. Who can forecast the future?'
CHAPTER XXV.
CARTE BLANCHE.
Lady Kirkbank's house in Arlington Street was known to half fashionable
London as one of the pleasantest houses in town; and it was known by
repute only, to the other half of fashionable London, as a house whose
threshold was not to be crossed by persons with any regard for their own
dignity and reputation. It was not that Lady Kirkbank had ever actually
forfeited her right to be considered an honest woman and a faithful
wife.
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