352 The Real Charlotte, 



This feeling was uppermost as he said : " I have never had 

 the least reason to feel a want of confidence in Mr. Lambert, 

 Miss Mullen, and I certainly could not discredit him by 

 going privately to M'Donagh to ask him about the fine." 



" It's a pity all unfaithful stewards haven't as confiding a 

 master as you, Sir Christopher," said Charlotte, with a 

 laugh. She felt Christopher's attitude towards her, as a 

 man in armour may have felt the arrows strike him, and no 

 more, and it came easily to her to laugh. " However," she 

 went on, correcting her manner quickly, as she saw a very 

 slight increase of colour in Christopher's face, " the burden 

 of proof does not lie with James M'Donagh. Last 

 November, as you may possibly remember, my name 

 made its first appearance on your rent-roll, as the tenant 

 of Gurthnamuckla, and in recognition of that honour," — 

 Charlotte felt that there was an academic pohsh about her 

 sentences that must appeal to a University man — " I wrote 

 your agent a cheque for one hundred pounds, which was 

 duly cashed some days afterwards." She altered her posi- 

 tion, so that she could see his face better, and said deliber- 

 ately : " Not one penny of that has been credited to the 

 estate ! This I know for a fact." 



" Yes," said Christopher, after an uncomfortable pause, 

 " that's very — very curious, but, of course — until I know a 

 little more, I can't give any opinion on the matter. I think, 

 perhaps, we had better go round to meet Captain Cursiter — " 



Charlotte interrupted him with more violence than she 

 had as yet permitted to escape. 



" If you want to know more, I can tell you more, and 

 plenty more! For the last year and more, Roddy Lambert's 

 been lashing out large sums of ready money beyond his 

 income, and I know his income to the penny and the farth- 

 ing ! Where did he get that money from ? I ask you. 

 What paid for his young horses, and his new dog-cart, and 

 his new carpets, yes ! and his honeymoon trip to Paris ? I 

 ask you what paid for all that? It wasn't his first wife's 

 money paid for it, I know that for a fact, and it certainly 

 wasn't the second wife's ! " 



She was losing hold of herself ; her gestures were of the 

 sort that she usually reserved for her inferiors, and the 

 corners of her mouth bubbled like a snail. Christopher 



