How are the
sisters? Lesbia better? Why, man alive, how queer you look! Nothing
amiss, I hope?'
'Yes, there is something very much amiss. Steadman is dead.'
'Steadman! Her ladyship's right hand. That's rather bad. But you will
drop into his stewardship. She'll trust your long head, I know. Much
better that she should look to her granddaughter's husband for advice in
all business matters than to a servant When did it happen?'
'Half an hour ago. I was just going to Lady Maulevrier's room when you
rang the bell. Take off your Inverness, and come with me.'
'The poor grandmother,' muttered Maulevrier. 'I'm afraid it will be a
blow.'
He had much less cause for fear than Lord Hartfield, who knew of deep
and secret reasons why Steadman's death should be a calamity of dire
import for his mistress, Maulevrier had been told nothing of that scene
with the strange old man--the hidden treasures--the Anglo-Indian
phrases--which had filled Lord Hartfield's mind with the darkest doubts.
If that half-lunatic old man, described by Lady Maulevrier as a kinsman
of Steadman's, were verily the person Lord Hartfield believed, his
presence under that roof, unguarded by a trust-worthy attendant, was
fraught with danger.
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