The earl raised his head.

"I have nothing to say to you. I decline to hear you," he said grimly.

"I am addressing Miss Lorton. I have asked her a question; but it is not necessary to inflict the pain of an answer. I am aware that I have no legal right to interfere in Miss Lorton's movements, but she is under my roof, she is a connection"--his voice grew a shade less stern--"I am, indeed, almost in the position of her guardian. Therefore, I deem it my duty to acquaint her with the character of the man with whom she proposes to--elope."

Nell raised her head, the crimson staining her whole face; and it seemed to Sir Archie as if her endurance had broken down; but she checked the indignant denial which had sprung to her lips, and, closing her lips tightly, sank back into her former att.i.tude--an att.i.tude which convinced Lord Wolfer of her guilt.

"Are you aware that this gentleman, who has honored you by an invitation to fly with him, is already a married man, Miss Lorton?"

Nell made no sign, but Sir Archie started and ground his teeth.

"He has carefully concealed the fact; but--well, I happen to know it, and I think he will not venture to deny it."

He paused, but Sir Archie remained silent.

"Were you ignorant of it?" asked the earl.

Nell opened her lips, and they formed the word "Yes."

"I expected as much," said the earl. "And now that you know the truth, are you still desirous of accompanying him?"

Nell, with her eyes fixed on the ground, shook her head.

"No!" she whispered.

Sir Archie swore under his breath.

"I can't stand this!" he said desperately. "Look here, Wolfer, you are making a d.a.m.nable mistake. Miss Lorton----"

The earl turned to him, but looked above his head.

"Excuse me," he said, "I have no desire to hear any explanation of your conduct--it would be impossible for you to defend it. But, having received Miss Lorton's reply to my question, I have the right to ask you to quit my house--and I do so!"

Sir Archie went up to Nell and looked at her straight in the face.

"Do you--do you wish me to remain silent?" he said hoa.r.s.ely. "Think before you speak! Do you?"

Nell looked up instantly.

"Yes!" she replied, in a low voice. "If you will go--forever!"

Sir Archie gazed at her as if he had suddenly become unconscious of the earl's presence.

"My G.o.d!" he breathed. "You--you are treatin' me better than I deserve.

Yes, I am goin'," he said, turning fiercely to the earl, who had made a slight movement of impatience. "But I want to say this. I want"--he moistened his lips, as if speech were difficult--"to tell you--and--and her--that--that what has taken place will never be spoken of by me while I live. I am goin'--abroad. I shall not return for some time."

The earl made a gesture of indifference.

"Your movements can be of no interest to me," he said, "and I trust that they may be of as little importance to this unhappy girl, now that she knows the character of the man whom she was about to trust."

Sir Archie laughed--a laugh that sounded hideously grotesque at such a moment; then he took up his hat and gloves; but he laid them down again.

"Will you give me a minute--three--with Miss Lorton, alone?" he asked, biting his lip.

The earl hesitated for a moment, and glanced at Nell searchingly; then, as if satisfied, he said:

"Yes, I will do so, on condition that you leave this house at the expiration of that time. I will rejoin you when he has gone."

As he left the room, Sir Archie turned to Nell.

"Do you know what you have done?" he asked hoa.r.s.ely, and almost inaudibly. "Do you know what this means: that you have sacrificed yourself for--for her?"

Nell had sunk into a chair, and she looked up at him, and then away from him; but in that momentary glance he had read the light of an inflexible resolution, an undaunted courage in the gray eyes.

"Yes, I know," she said. "He--he thinks, will always think, that it was I----" She broke off with an irrepressible shudder.

Sir Archie's hand went to his mustache to cover the quiver of his lips.

"My G.o.d! it's the n.o.blest thing! But--have you counted the cost--the consequences?"

"Yes," she said. "But it does not matter. I--I am n.o.body--only a girl, with no husband, no one who loves, cares for me; while she----Yes, I know what I have done; but I am not sorry--I don't regret. I have your promise?" she looked up at his strained face solemnly. "You will keep it?--you will not break your word? You will go away and--and leave her?"

His hands clenched behind him, and he was silent for a moment; then he said:

"Yes, by Heaven! I will! The sacrifice shall not be all on your side.

Tell her--no, tell her nothin', or you will have to tell her all. Tell her nothin'. Miss Lorton----" His voice broke, and he hesitated. Nell waited, and he found his voice again. "When I hear that there are no good women, no n.o.ble ones, I--I shall think of what you have done this mornin'. Good-by. I--I can't ask you to shake hands. My G.o.d! I'm not fit for you to touch! I see that now. Good-by!"

He went out of the room with drooping head, but he raised it as he pa.s.sed the earl, and the two men nodded--for the benefit of the footman who opened the door.

Nell hid her face in her hands and waited, and presently the earl reentered the library.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Lord Wolfer stood, with his hand resting upon the table, in silence for a moment or two, regarding Nell, no longer sternly, but with an expression of pity which was novel in him. Nell sat with her head resting in her hands, her eyes downcast. She was still pale, but her lips were set firmly, as if she were prepared for rebuke and reproach.

"Do not be afraid," he said, at last. "I have not returned to--to blame you. You are too young to understand the peril--perhaps, too, the sin--of the step which you meditated taking. I am a man of the world, and I can appreciate the temptation to which you have been subjected.

Sir Archie--well, all the world knows that such men are difficult to resist, and--and your inexperience betrayed you. I know the arts by which he gained your affections and hoped to mislead you."

It was almost more than she could bear; but Nell set her teeth hard and held her breath; for she felt it well-nigh impossible to resist the aching longing to utter the cry of the unjustly accused. "I am innocent--innocent!" But she remembered the unhappy woman whom she had saved, and suffered in silence.

"That you bitterly regret your--your weakness I am convinced," said Lord Wolfer; "and I am quite satisfied with your promise that you will not see him--I wish I could add, not think of him--again. He is a dangerous man, Miss Lorton"--he paused and paced to the window, and his lips twitched--"such men are a peril to every woman upon whom they--they chance to set their fickle fancy. At one time--yes, I owe it to you to be candid--at one time I feared"--he stopped again, and drummed upon the windowsill with his forefinger--"I feared he was paying Lady Wolfer too much attention. Even now I am not sure that my fears were groundless. He came to the house frequently, and was at my wife's side perpetually, before you came."

Nell held her breath. Had her sacrifice been in vain? Had he got an inkling of the truth? But he went on sternly and in a low voice:

"If there were any reason for my suspicions, it is evident that he transferred his affections to you. It is a terrible thing to say, but--but I feel as if--as if--your presence here had averted a dreadful catastrophe from us. Yes; that letter might have been meant for my wife, and I might have found her here instead of you. Do not think it heartless of me if I say that, deeply as I sympathize with you and grieve for your--your trouble, I am relieved--relieved of an awful apprehension on--on Lady Wolfer's account. I have suffered a great deal during the past few months."