With second thoughts, however, came another decision. No; he must learn all that was taking place.
Quickly circling the grounds, he soon gained a vantage-place behind a group of bushes not far from the house. There he could easily see and hear all that transpired without being seen himself.
He saw Eugene Mallard as he drew the girl beneath the swinging lamp in the hall, and heard the conversation that passed between them.
"So!" he muttered, grinding his white teeth savagely,[245] "the girl is my lady's maid, eh? I dare say, she sent her with some message to me when she was intercepted by Eugene Mallard. But Ida will find that this will not work with me. See her I shall, if I have to stay in these grounds till broad daylight."
He watched and waited until he saw even old Joe relax his vigilance and go into the house.
Royal Ainsley waited there until the old mansion was wrapped in gloom and darkness, then he slipped from his hiding-place, passed noiselessly over the graveled walk, and stood beneath Ida's window.
Stooping, he caught up a handful of pebbles. One by one he flung them up against the window-pane. Just as he had expected, he saw a white, terrified face appear at the window, and two white hands threw up the sash.
He saw at once that it was Ida. He moved out from the shadow of the trees. She saw him at once, and recognized him.
"Is it you?" she cried, in the greatest alarm. "What in Heaven's name are you doing there, pray?"
"Your common sense ought to tell you that;" he retorted, harshly. "Come down here at once, I tell you, and be sure to bring that money with you!"
"Oh, no! no! I can not!" she answered him, piteously.
"Why?" he demanded, with something very much like an imprecation upon his lips.
"I dropped the money in the dining-room as I was passing through it to get out into the grounds. The room is locked; I can not get it until to-morrow morning. Old Joe always carries the key with him."
"It is a lie!" he cried, fiercely.
"No! no! On my life, it is true!" she answered, with a piteous quiver in her voice; adding: "I was hurrying[246] through the room, and there I must have dropped it. I searched for it in every other place."
"Then hear what I say," he retorted, with an oath, "in these very grounds I shall stay until you come to me. I know well that old Joe is astir at dawn. You must be up then, find the money which you say you dropped, and bring it out to me. I will be waiting for you at the same place."
Before she could utter a word of protest, he had turned and disappeared in the darkness.
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