I was dreaming; I cannot remember
everything. One thing is clear. She called to me that you might be free
from Lord Rosmore if you knew a secret which the Abbey holds."
"Do you know it, Martin?"
"Yes; she told me, and it is a secret."
"What is it, Martin?"
"A secret, but I was to tell you if you helped her."
"Stop this foolery!" said Sir John, seizing his arm sharply. "You shall
be locked up until this wayward niece of mine is safely married."
"Married! Would you die, master?"
"Die?"
"Surely. The stars showed it me long ago. Two planets in conjunction,
that was the marriage, and then across the night sky the flash of a
meteor, dead and cold in a moment."
"Curse your dreams and the stars!"
"Listen!" said Fairley. "Cannot you hear the music of chinking money?
Look, master! I see gems like eyes--white and red and blue--diamonds,
rubies, and sapphires. That is all part of the secret, that and the
Nun's Room."
"Tell me the secret," said Sir John.
"If you help my mistress."
"I know nothing."
"I have forgotten the secret," Martin whispered.
He moved away slowly and then stopped.
"Master, why not be rich? What is it to you and me what happens to
Mistress Barbara, so we can be rich? I would be rich, too.
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