"I know nothing, but I have grave suspicions."
Mrs. Mountford did not reply immediately. She sank into a chair, and arranged herself like a queen. Gowrie stood beside her with folded hands and looked at her majestic form satirically. Elspeth sat beside Angus, and waited to hear what this formidable looking dame had to say.
"I came here with Mr. Gowrie," said the ex-governess, "as he has had some difficulty with Miss Tedder."
"Deeficulty do ye ca' it, wumon!" cried Gowrie, who could keep silence no longer. "She's nae mair nor a Jeezebel, a Scarlet Wumon o' Babylon, takin' ma hardly earned siller frae me. Deeficulty says she, aye, and rank cheatin', swindling, embeezling, thieving----"
"Hush," Mrs. Mountford waved her hand, as though rebuking a rebellious subject, "be silent. Mr. Herries, this man----"
"Gentlemon, ye bauld limmer. Aye, an a meenister foreby."
"He came to see Miss Tedder to claim his reward for having betrayed your hiding-place."
"He has certainly earned it," said Herries, coolly.
"Miss Tedder refuses to encourage this Judas-like conduct, since she did not wish to pay the reward unless you were convicted."
"And hanged," ended Angus, laughing. "Why don't you finish the sentence, Mrs. Mountford? I am quite aware that my cousin was only too anxious to have my neck stretched provided she got the money."
Elspeth would have burst into indignant speech, but Herries laid a reproving hand on her arm. Gowrie grumbled.
"Judas ye ca' me, ye jade o' Nineveh, yon great city, and a' for askin' for ma ain."
"You betrayed your son-in-law," said Mrs. Mountford.
"Aye, kenning weel I cud save the laddie's neck."
"So Miss Tedder guessed, and so she will not pay the reward."
"I'll county-court the hizzy. Aye, she'll pay doon the siller, or jailed she shall be for a bleezin' slut o' Tophet."
"Mr. Herries," the lady in black appealed to Angus, "I must really ask you to stop this man talking.
"Well, Mrs. Mountford, you can hardly expect me to do that, when you come here calmly to regret that I was not hanged.
"Peace," said Mrs. Mountford, with severity; then addressed herself to Herries. "Believe me, I regret that Maud should have conducted herself in such a way. But love is a short madness, as the Latin Grammar says, and Miss Tedder is in love with Captain Kyles. He, I truly believe, loves her for the money she once had, and will not return to her side unless she recovers her fortune."