‘Trust me,’ I said.  ’You have trusted me enough to agree to marry me.  Trust me in everything.’

I did not venture to tell her just then what my scheme was.

She went to her lodging that night in my brougham.  After she had gone I found poor old Mrs. Dant drugged in the kitchen.  On the next morning Camilla and I were married at a registry office.  She objected to the registry-office at first, but in the end she agreed, on the condition that I got her a spray of orange-blossom to wear at her breast.  It’s no business of yours, Polycarp, but I may tell you that this feminine trait, this almost childish weakness, in a woman of so superb and powerful a character, simply enchanted me.  I obtained the orange-blossom.

Then you will remember I sent for you, Polycarp, made my will, and accompanied you to my safe in your private vault, in order to deposit there some secret instructions.  I shall not soon forget your mystification, and how you chafed under my imperative commands.

Camilla and I departed to Paris, my brain full of my scheme, and full of happiness, too.  We went to a private hotel to which Darcy had recommended us, suitable for honeymoons.  The following morning I was, perhaps, inclined to smile a little at our terror of Ravengar; but, peeping out of the window early, I saw Ravengar himself standing on the pavement in the Rue St. Augustin.

I told Camilla I was going out, and that she must not leave that room, nor admit anyone into it, until I returned.  I felt that Ravengar, what with disappointed love, and jealousy, and fear of the consequences of a past crime, had developed into a sort of monomaniac in respect to Camilla.  I felt he was capable of anything.  I should not have been surprised if he had hired a room opposite to us on the other side of that narrow street, and directed a fusillade upon Camilla.

When I reached the street he had disappeared—­melted away.

It was quite early.  However, I walked up the Rue de Grammont, and so to Darcy’s, and I routed him out of bed.  I gave him the entire history of the case.  I convinced him of its desperateness, and I unfolded to him my scheme.  At first he fought shy of it.  He said it might ruin him.  He said such things could not be done in London.  I had meant to carry out the scheme in this flat.  Hence the reason, Polycarp, of the clause in my will which provides for the sealing up of the flat in case I die within two months of my wedding.  You see, I feared that I might be cut off before the plan was carried out or before all traces of it were cleared away, and I wanted to keep the place safe from prying eyes.  As it happened, there was no need for such a precaution, as you will see, and I shall make a new will to-morrow.

Darcy said suddenly:  ’Why not carry out your plan here in Paris; and now?’

The superior advantages of this alternative were instantly plain.  It would be safer for Camilla, since it would operate at once; and also Darcy said that the formal details could be arranged much better in Paris than in London, as doctors could be found there who would sign anything, and clever sculptors, who did not mind a peculiar commission, were more easily obtainable in the Quartier Montparnasse than in the neighbourhood of the Six Bells and the Arts Club, Chelsea.