Now, in view of what had happened, her ladyship, ever impulsive,
was all for going there and then to her husband to confess the whole
truth, without pausing to reflect upon the consequences to others
than Ned Tremayne. As you know, it was beyond her to see a thing
from two points of view at one and the same time. It was also beyond
her brother - the failing, as I think I have told you, was a family
one - and her brother saw this matter only from the point of view of
his own safety.
"A single word to Terence," he had told her, putting his back to
the door of the dressing-room to bar her intended egress, "and you
realise that it will be a court-martial and a firing party for me."
That warning effectively checked her. Yet certain stirrings of
conscience made her think of the man who had imperilled himself for
her sake and her brother's.
"But, Dick, what is to become of Ned? " she had asked him.
"Oh, Ned will be all right. What is the evidence against him after
all? Men are not shot for things they haven't done. Justice will
out, you know. Leave Ned to shift for himself for the present.
Anyhow his danger isn't grave, nor is it immediate, and mine is."
Helplessly distraught, she sank to an ottoman.
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