“I think it has,” said his son.  “You told me nothing about this, you know.”

“I was not aware of it myself,” replied his father.

“Now that I know, I shall have nothing further to do with this,” continued the young man.  “I’m not going to help you wrong Sisily.”

“I hardly expected such lofty moral sentiments from you,” said Austin, with a dark glance.

His son flushed as though there was a hidden sting behind the jibe.  He appeared to be about to say something more, but checked himself, and went back to his seat by the window.

“Is there no way of keeping this matter quiet, Robert?” said his sister imploringly.

“I see none,” was the rejoinder.  “It is a very painful disclosure, but I think it is inevitable.  Do you not agree with me, Austin?”

“Do not ask my opinion,” his brother coldly replied.  “It is for you to decide.”

Robert Turold paused irresolutely.  “What do you say, Ravenshaw?” he said, glancing round at the silent figure of the doctor.  “I asked you to be present this afternoon to have the benefit of your advice.  I owe much to you, so I beg you to speak freely.”

“Since you have asked my advice,” said Dr. Ravenshaw gravely, “I say that I entirely agree with Mrs. Pendleton.  Your first duty is to Sisily.  She should out-weigh all other considerations.  If you make her illegitimacy public you may live to be sorry for having done so.”

Mrs. Pendleton cast a moist, grateful glance at the speaker, but Austin Turold turned on him a look of cold hostility.

Robert Turold sat brooding for a few moments in silence.  He had asked advice, but his own mind was made up.  The humane views of his sister and Dr. Ravenshaw were powerless to affect his decision.  The monstrous growth of his single purpose had long since strangled such transient plants as human affection and feeling in his heart and mind.

“The facts must be made public,” he said inexorably.  “The honour of a noble family is in my hands, and I must do my duty.  It would be an insult to my Sovereign and my peers, and a grievous wrong to our family, if I concealed any portion of the truth.  I shall make adequate provision for Sisily.  You will not refuse to take charge of her, Constance, because of this disclosure?”

“You ought to know me better than that, Robert.  She’ll need somebody to take care of her, poor child!  But who is to tell her the truth?  For I suppose she must be told?”

“I want you to tell her,” said Robert Turold.  “Choose your time.  There is no immediate hurry, but she must be in no false hopes about the future.  She had better be told before the Investigations Committee meets.”

“Bother the Investigations Committee!” exclaimed Mrs. Pendleton.  “Really, Robert—­”

Mrs. Pendleton broke off abruptly, in something like dismay.  She had a fleeting impression of a pair of eyes encountering her own through a crack in the doorway, and as swiftly withdrawn.  She walked quickly to the door and flung it open.  There was nobody outside, and the passage was empty.