On a sudden he heard the key in the door, and the man who attended him entered the room with a candle in his hand. A lady had come to call, and the governor had given permission for her entrance. He would return for the light—and for the lady, in half an hour. He had said all this before Phineas could see who the lady was. And when he did see the form of her who followed the gaoler, and who stood with hesitating steps behind him in the doorway, he knew her by her sombre solemn raiment, and not by her countenance. She was dressed from head to foot in the deepest weeds of widowhood, and a heavy veil fell from her bonnet over her face. “Lady Laura, is it you?” said Phineas, putting out his hand. Of course it was Lady Laura. While the Duchess of Omnium and Madame Goesler were talking about such a visit, allowing themselves to be deterred by the wisdom of Mr. Low, she had made her way through bolts and bars, and was now with him in his prison.
“Oh, Phineas!” She slowly raised her veil, and stood gazing at him. “Of all my troubles this—to see you here—is the heaviest.”
“And of all my consolations to see you here is the greatest.” He should not have so spoken. Could he have thought of things as they were, and have restrained himself, he should not have uttered words to her which were pleasant but not true. There came a gleam of sunshine across her face as she listened to him, and then she threw herself into his arms, and wept upon his shoulder. “I did not expect that you would have found me,” he said.
She took the chair opposite to that on which he usually sat, and then began her tale. Her cousin, Barrington Erle, had brought her there, and was below, waiting for her in the Governor’s house. He had procured an order for her admission that evening, direct from Sir Harry Coldfoot, the Home Secretary—which, however, as she admitted, had been given under the idea that she and Erle were to see him together. “But I would not let him come with me,” she said. “I could not have spoken to you, had he been here;—could I?”
“It would not have been the same, Lady Laura.” He had thought much of his mode of addressing her on occasions before this, at Dresden and at Portman Square, and had determined that he would always give her her title. Once or twice he had lacked the courage to be so hard to her. Now as she heard the name the gleam of sunshine passed from her altogether. “We hardly expected that we should ever meet in such a place as this?” he said.
“I cannot understand it. They cannot really think you killed him.” He smiled, and shook his head. Then she spoke of her own condition. “You have heard what has happened? You know that I am—a widow?”
“Yes;—I had heard.” And then he smiled again. “You will have understood why I could not come to you—as I should have done but for this little accident.”
“He died on the day that they arrested you. Was it not strange that such a double blow should fall together? Oswald, no doubt, told you all.”
“He told me of your husband’s death.”
“But not of his will? Perhaps he has not seen you since he heard it.” Lord Chiltern had heard of the will before his last visit to Phineas in Newgate, but had not chosen then to speak of his sister’s wealth.
“I have heard nothing of Mr. Kennedy’s will.”
“It was made immediately after our marriage—and he never changed it, though he had so much cause of anger against me.”
“He has not injured you, then—as regards money.”
“Injured me! No, indeed. I am a rich woman—very rich. All Loughlinter is my own—for life. But of what use can it be to me?” He in his present state could tell her of no uses for such a property. “I suppose, Phineas, it cannot be that you are really in danger?”
“In the greatest danger, I fancy.”
“Do you mean that they will say—you are guilty?”
“The magistrates have said so already.”
“But surely that is nothing. If I thought so, I should die. If I believed it, they should never take me out of the prison while you are here. Barrington says that it cannot be. Oswald and Violet are sure that such a thing can never happen. It was that Jew who did it.”
“I cannot say who did it. I did not.”
“You! Oh, Phineas! The world must be mad when any can believe it!”
“But they do believe it?” This, he said, meaning to ask a question as to that outside world.
“We do not. Barrington says—”
“What does Barrington say?”
“That there are some who do;—just a few, who were Mr. Bonteen’s special friends.”
“The police believe it. That is what I cannot understand;—men who ought to be keen-eyed and quick-witted. That magistrate believes it. I saw men in the Court who used to know me well, and I could see that they believed it. Mr. Monk was here yesterday.”
“Does he believe it?”
“I asked him, and he told me—no. But I did not quite trust him as he told me. There are two or three who believe me innocent.”
“Who are they?”
“Low, and Chiltern, and his wife;—and that man Bunce, and his wife. If I
