Blind Love

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."