Mountjoy observed that deep discouragement, and failed to understand
it.
Here was a desperate adventurer, whose wanderings had over and over
again placed his life in jeopardy, now apparently overcome by merely
having his thoughts directed to the subject of death! To place on the
circumstances such a construction as this was impossible, after a
moment's reflection. The other alternative was to assume that there
must be some anxiety burdening Lord Harry's mind, which he had motives
for keeping concealed--and here indeed the true explanation had been
found. The Irish lord had reasons, known only to himself, for recoiling
from the contemplation of his own future. After the murder of Arthur
Mountjoy, he had severed his connection with the assassinating
brotherhood of the Invincibles; and he had then been warned that he
took this step at the peril of his life, if he remained in Great
Britain after he had made himself an object of distrust to his
colleagues. The discovery, by the secret tribunal, of his return from
South Africa would be followed inevitably by the sentence of death.
Such was the terrible position which Mountjoy's reply had ignorantly
forced him to confront. His fate depended on the doubtful security of
his refuge in the doctor's house.
While Hugh was still looking at him, in grave doubt, a new idea seemed
to spring to life in Lord Harry's mind. He threw off the oppression
that had weighed on his spirits in an instant. His manner towards
Mountjoy changed, with the suddenness of a flash of light, from the
extreme of coldness to the extreme of cordiality.
"I have got it at last!" he exclaimed. "Let's shake hands. My dear sir,
you're the best friend I have ever had!"
The cool Englishman asked: "In what way?"
"In this way, to be sure! You have reminded me that I can provide for
Miss Henley--and the sooner the better. There's our friend the doctor
down-stairs, ready to be my reference. Don't you see it?"
Obstacles that might prevent the marriage Mountjoy was ready enough to
see. Facilities that might hasten the marriage found his mind hard of
access to new impressions.
"Are you speaking seriously?" he said.
The Irishman's irritable temper began to show itself again.
"Why do you doubt it?" he asked.
"I fail to understand you," Mountjoy replied.
Never--as events were yet to prove--had words of such serious import
fallen from Lord Harry's lips as the words that he spoke next.
"Clear your mind of jealousy," he said, "and you will understand me
well enough. I agree with you that I am bound to provide for my
widow--and I mean to do it by insuring my life."