Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 3.djvu/241

 very poor when I was a girl,' she added, in a different manner. 'You yourself recognised it just now, in speaking of the insignificant character of my fortune.'

'It had to be a fortune, to be insignificant,' said Muniment, smiling. 'You will go back to your husband!'

To this declaration she made no answer whatever; she only sat looking at him in a sort of desperate calmness. 'I don't see, after all, why they trust you more than they trust me,' she remarked.

'I am not sure that they do,' said Muniment. 'I have heard something this evening which suggests that.'

'And may one know what it is?'

'A communication which I should have expected to be made through me has been made through another person.'

'A communication?'

'To Hyacinth Robinson.'

'To Hyacinth' The Princess sprang up; she had turned pale in a moment.

'He has got his ticket; but they didn't send it through me.'

'Do you mean his orders? He was here last night,' the Princess said.

'A fellow named Schinkel, a German—whom you don't know, I think, but who was a sort of witness, with me and another, of his undertaking came to see me this evening. It was through him the summons came, and he put Hyacinth up to it on Sunday night.'

'On Sunday night?' The Princess stared. 'Why, he was here yesterday, and he talked of it, and he told me nothing.'