"As I can abundantly prove," said Mr. Caryll. "I have no lack of friends in London who will bear witness to that much.""Yet," said Mr. Templeton, frowning, perplexed, "this does not make you what you claim to be. Rather does it show you to be his late lordship's - ""There's more to come," said Mr. Caryll, and placed another document before the secretary. It was an extract from the register of St. Etienne of Maligny, relating to his mother's death.
"Do you know, sir, in what year this lady went through a ceremony of marriage with my father - the late Lord Ostermore?
It was in 1690, I think, as the lady will no doubt confirm.""To what purpose, this?" quoth Mr. Templeton.
"The purpose will be presently apparent. Observe that date,"said Mr. Caryll, and he pointed to the document in Mr. Templeton's hand.
Mr. Templeton read the date aloud - "1692" - and then the name of the deceased - "Antoinette de Beaulieu de Maligny. What of it?" he demanded.
"You will understand that when I show you the paper I took from this desk, the paper that I obtained as a consequence of my violence to Mr. Green. I think you will consider, sir, that if ever the end justified the means, it did so in this case. Here was something very different from the paltry matter of treason that is alleged against me."And he passed the secretary a third paper.
Over Mr. Templeton's shoulder, Rotherby and his mother, who -drawn by the overpowering excitement that was mastering them -had approached in silence, were examining the document with wide-open, startled eyes, fearing by very instinct, without yet apprehending the true nature of the revelation that was to come.
"God!" shrieked her ladyship, who took in the meaning of this thing before Rotherby had begun to suspect it. "'Tis a forgery!""That were idle, when the original entry in the register is to be seen in, the Church of St. Antoine, madam," answered Mr. Caryll. "I rescued that document, together with some letters which my mother wrote my father when first he returned to England - and which are superfluous now - from a secret drawer in that desk, an hour ago.""But what is it?" inquired Rotherby huskily. "What is it?""It is the certificate of the marriage of my father, the late Lord Ostermore, and my mother, Antoinette de Maligny, at the Church of St. Antoine in Paris, in the year 1689." He turned to Mr. Templeton. "You apprehend the matter, sir?" he demanded, and recapitulated. "In 1689 they were married; in 1692 she died; yet in 1690 his lordship went through a form of marriage with Mistress Sylvia Etheridge, there."Mr. Templeton nodded very gravely, his eyes upon the document before him, that they might avoid meeting at that moment the eyes of the woman whom the world had always known as the Countess of Ostermore.
"Fortunate is it for me," said Mr. Caryll, "that I should have possessed myself of these proofs in time. Does it need more to show how urgent might be the need for my suppression - how little faith can be attached to an accusation levelled against me from such a quarter?""By God - " began Rotherby, but his mother clutched his wrist.
