“None, madam!” gasped Aurelia, trembling, so that she grasped her chair-back with her free hand for support.  “I never saw him till to-night.”

“Lies will not serve you, false girl.  Come here this instant!  I know that you have been shamelessly receiving my son here, night after night.”

“I never knew!”

“Missie Madam never knew,” chimed in Jumbo.  “All in the dark.  She thought it old mas’r.”

Lady Belamour looked contemptuously incredulous; but the negro’s advocacy gave a kind of courage to Aurelia, and availing herself of a slight relaxation of the fingers she withdrew her hand, and coming forward, said, “Indeed, madam, I know nothing, I was entirely deceived.  Only hearing two voices in the dark alarmed me, so that I listened to my sister, and struck a light to discover the truth.  Then all caught fire, and blazed up, and—­”

“Then you are an incendiary as well as a traitor,” said her Ladyship, with cold, triumphant malignity.  “This is work for the constable.  Here, Loveday,” to her own woman, who was waiting in the outer room, take this person away, and lock her into her own room till morning, when we can give her up to justice.”

“Oh, my Lady,” cried Aurelia, crouching at her feet and clinging to her dress, “do not be so cruel!  Oh! let me go home to my father!”

“Madam!” cried a voice from the bed, “let alone my wife!  Come, Aurelia.  Oh!”

Then starting up in bed had wrenched his broken arm, and he fell back senseless again, just as Aurelia would have flown back to him, but his mother stood between, spurning her away.

Another defender, if she could so be called, spoke for her.  “It is true, please your Ladyship,” said Mrs. Aylward, “that Mr. Belamour called her the wife of this poor young gentleman.”

Jumbo too exclaimed, “No one knew but Jumbo; His Honour marry pretty missie in mas’r’s wig and crimson dressing-gown.”

“A new stratagem!” ironically observed the incensed lady.  “But your game is played out, miss, for madam I cannot call you.  Such a marriage cannot stand for a moment; and if a lawyer like Amyas Belamour pretended it could, either his wits were altogether astray or he grossly deceived you.  Or, as I believe, he trafficked with you to entrap this unhappy youth, whose person and house you have, between you, almost destroyed.  Remove her, Loveday, and lock her up till we can send for a magistrate to take depositions in the morning.  Go quietly, girl I will not have my son disturbed with your outcries.”

Poor Aurelia’s voice died in her throat.  Oh! why did not Mr. Belamour come to her rescue?  Ah! he had bidden her trust and be patient; she had transgressed, and he had abandoned her!  There was no sign of life or consciousness in the pallid face on the bed, and with a bleeding heart she let the waiting-maid lead her through the outer apartment, still redolent of the burning, reached her own chamber, heard the key turn in the lock, and fell across her bed in a sort of annihilation.