"'Tis a long way round," said madam, dryly.
"It is a long way to Rome, madam," said the man, with meaning in his voice.
She nodded and shifted uneasily in her seat. "You think that the one means the other?" she said at last.
"I do, madam. But there is a new point, which has just arisen."
"There is a design, and it presses," the man answered in a low voice, and as if he chose his words with care. "It will be executed within the month. If it succeed, and my lord be still where he is, and unreconciled, I know no head will fall so certainly. Not Lord Middleton's influence, no, nor yours, my lady, will save him."
"Yes, madam, for he has made his peace, and proved his sincerity."
"I believe it," she said, grimly. "He is the devil. And his wife is like unto him. But there's Sidney Godolphin--what of him?"
"But, odds my soul, sir," she cried, sharply and pettishly, "if everybody is of one mind, where does it stick that the king does not come over?"
"On a life, madam," Smith answered, letting each word fall slowly, as if it were a jewel. "One life intervenes."
"Ha!" she said, sitting up and looking straight before her. "Sits the wind in that quarter? Well, I thought so."
"Still, man," she said, "our family has done much for the throne; and his Gracious Majesty has----"
"Has many virtues, my lady, but he is not forgiving," quoth the tempter, coolly.
On that she sighed, and deeply; and I, hearing the sigh, and seeing how uneasily she moved in her chair, comprehended that in old age the passions, however strong they may have been in youth, become slaves to help others to their aims; ay, and I comprehended also that, sharply as she had just rated both the man and the woman, and great lady as she was, and arrogant as had been her life--whereof evidence more than enough was to be found in every glance of her eye and tone of her voice--she was now being pushed and pushed and pushed, into that to which she was but half inclined. But half inclined, I repeat; and yet the battle was over, and she persuaded. I think, but I am not quite sure, that some assenting word had actually fallen from her--or she was in the act of speaking one--when a gentle knock at the door cut short our conference. Mr. Smith raised his hand in warning, and the woman, gliding to the door, opened it, and after speaking a word to someone without, returned.