“What I am going to tell you now,” she said, “will sound so incredible that you may possibly not believe me. I can scarcely believe it myself, except that there is practically no piece of folly which Melun will not commit when he has one of his mad fits upon him. I sometimes think he is half-crazy.
“To-night Lord Penshurst gives a ball at Trant Hall. The place will be crowded, and the women will be wearing jewels worth a king's ransom.
“More, I think, out of bravado, and with a foolish notion of bringing matters to a head, Melun is taking down half a score of masked men. It will be what I think you call in America ‘a hold-up.’
“Melun says that there is no risk in the business, that he and the others are bound to get away, and even if he is caught he knows the Prime Minister will have to contrive his release. The hour planned for this business is midnight.”
Without a second's hesitation Westerham leapt up from his chair and took out his watch.
“I have just an hour and a half to get there,” he said.
When Lady Kathleen bade good-bye to Westerham she drove first to Downing Street, where she met her father.
Together they travelled down to Trant Hall, and on the way Kathleen gave Lord Penshurst a full account of all that had passed since she had been summoned so suddenly to Rouen.
The Premier sat with bowed head, holding his daughter's hand as he listened to her narrative. For the moment it seemed to crush him utterly, and when Kathleen had finished speaking he lifted up his head and said, in a stricken way:
“So this is the end of it?” He added, after a few moments: “Are you sure that a week is the full limit of time we can obtain?”
“I am only too certain,” answered Kathleen. “If we fail within the next week, then——” she broke off and looked apprehensively about her as though even the cushions of the carriage might have ears. Finally she bent her head and whispered into her father's ear.
At this Lord Penshurst grew paler than before, while great drops of sweat broke out on his forehead.
“That,” he cried, “must never be! Kathleen, great though the sacrifice is, you must make it—make it for our country's sake. Oh! to think that I should have wished to serve her so well and should have served her so evilly.”
