They might dwell upon the fact that you were so much together, and
that you had such opportunities--mark me, Reginald, _opportunities_--
for tampering with the one solitary life which stood between you and
fortune. They might say all this, might they not?"
"Yes," replied Reginald, in his gloomiest tone, "they might."
"Very well, then, if you take my advice, you will cut your cousin's
acquaintance from this time. You will take care to let your friends of
the clubs know that he has supplanted you in the affections of the
woman you loved, and that you and he are no longer on speaking terms.
You will cut him publicly at one of your clubs; so that the fact of the
coldness between you may become sufficiently notorious. And when you
have done this, you will start for the Continent."
"Go abroad? But why?"
"That is my secret. Remember, you have promised to obey me blindly,"
answered Victor. "You will go abroad; you will let the world know that
you and Douglas Dale are divided by the width of the Channel; you will
leave him free to devote himself to the woman he has chosen for his
wife; and if, while engaged to her, an untimely fate should overtake
this young man--if he, like his elder brother, should be removed from
your pathway, the most malicious scandal-monger that ever lived could
scarcely say that you had any hand in his fate."
"I understand," murmured Reginald, in a low voice; "I understand.
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