Lady Audley laughed aloud, with a gay, triumphant peal as she tripped
out of the room; but as she sat in her own chamber, brooding, she
muttered: "Dare I defy him? Will anything stop him but--death?"

Just then Phoebe Marks arrived to warn Lady Audley that Robert had
appeared at the Castle Inn. She also explained that a bailiff was in the
house, as the rent was due, and she wanted money to pay him out. Lady
Audley, insisted to Phoebe's astonishment, that she herself would bring
the money. She did so; and, unknown to Phoebe, cunningly set fire to the
inn, hoping that Robert Audley would meet his death. She and her maid
then left the inn to make the long tramp back to the Court. Half the
distance had been covered, when Phoebe looked back and saw a red glare
in the sky. She stopped, suddenly fell on her knees, and cried: "Oh, my
God! Say it's not true! It's too horrible!"

"What's too horrible?" said Lady Audley.

"The thought that is in my mind."

"I will tell you nothing except that you are a mad woman; and go home."
Lady Audley walked away in the darkness.


_V.--My Lady Tells the Truth_


Lady Audley next day was under the dominion of a terrible restlessness.
Towards the dinner hour she walked in the quadrangle. In the dusk she
lost all self-control when a figure approached. Her knees sank under her
and she dropped to the ground. It was Robert Audley who helped her to