"Miss Lorton!" he exclaimed, under his breath, so taken aback that the shock of his disappointment was revealed in his face and voice. "I--I thought--expected--to see Lady Wolfer. Is--is she up? Does she know that I am here? You have a message for me?"
He tried to speak casually, and forced a smile, as if the appointment was quite an ordinary one; but Nell saw that the hand that held his hat shook, and that his color, which had risen as he entered the room and greeted her, had slowly left his face, and her courage rose.
"Yes, I have a message for you, Sir Archie," she said, keeping her voice as steady as she could, and saying to herself: "It is to save her--save her!"
"Yes?" he said, with suppressed eagerness and anxiety. "What is it? I--I am rather pressed for time." He glanced at his watch. "Won"t she see me?
If you would go up and ask her. I shan"t detain her more than a minute."
"No; she cannot see you," said Nell. "I am to ask you to go--where you are going--without seeing her."
He looked at her steadily, gnawing his lip softly.
"I--I don"t understand," he said, still trying to smile. "She--told you that I am going--abroad?"
Nell inclined her head gravely.
"Yes? But didn"t she tell you that--that I must see her before I go?
That--that it is important?"
"She cannot see you," said Nell, her heart beating fast. "She wishes you to go, and--and to remain abroad----"
His face crimsoned, then went pale.
"You know--she has told you why--why I have come this morning?" he said, in a low voice.
"Yes, I know," a.s.sented Nell, the shame, for him, dyeing her face.
He stared at her for a moment in silence; then he said, half defiantly, half sullenly:
"Very well, then. If you know why I am here, you must know that I cannot take such a message, that I cannot go--without her. For Heaven"s sake, Miss Lorton, go and fetch her! There is no time to lose. Her--my happiness is at stake. I beg your pardon; I"m afraid I"m brusque; but----For Heaven"s sake, bring her! If I could see her, speak to her for a moment----"
Nell shook her head.
"I cannot," she said. "It would be of no use. Lady Wolfer would not go with you."
He came nearer to her and lowered his voice, almost speaking through his teeth.
"See here, Miss Lorton, you--you have no right to be in this business--to interfere with it. You--you are too young to understand----"
Nell crimsoned.
"No," she said, almost inaudibly. "I understand. I--I have seen your letter." Her calm, almost her courage, broke down, and, clasping her hands, she pleaded to him. "Oh, yes, I do understand! Sir Archie, go; do, do go! It is cruel of you to stay. If--if you really love her, you will go and never come back."
His face went white and his eyes flashed.
"No, you don"t understand, although you think you do. You say that I am cruel. I should be cruel if I did what she asks me, what you wish me to do, to leave her in this house, to the old life of misery. I love her; I want to take her away with me from the man who doesn"t care an atom for her, whom she does not love."
"It isn"t true!" said Nell, with a sudden burst of indignation, and with a sudden insight as inexplicable as it was sudden. "He loves her, and she, though she does not know it, cares for him. They would have discovered the truth if you had not come between them and made them hard and cold to each other. Yes, you are cruel, cruel and wicked! But--but perhaps it has not been all your fault--and--I"m sorry if--if I have spoken too harshly."
He scarcely seemed to have heard her concluding words, but repeated to himself: "She cares for him. She cares for Wolfer--her husband!"
"Yes, yes!" said Nell eagerly, anxiously. "I know it; I have seen her when she was most unhappy. I have heard the truth in her voice--I remember little things--the way she has behaved to him, spoken to him, when she was off her guard. Yes, it is true she cares for him as much as he cares for her; but they have hidden it from each other--and you--you have made it harder for them to show their love! But you know the truth now, and--and you will go, will you not?"
In her anxiety she laid her hand on his arm imploringly, and looked up at him with eyes moist with tears.
He looked at her, his brows knit, his lips set closely.
"By Heaven, if I thought you were right!" broke from him; then his tone changed, and his eyes grew hard with resentment. "No; you are wrong, quite wrong! And it is you who have come between us, and will rob us of our happiness! I--I--beg your pardon!" he faltered, for this slave of pa.s.sion was, after all, a gentleman. "I beg your pardon! If you knew what I am suffering, what she must be suffering at this moment! Miss Lorton, you are her friend--you have no reason to bear me any ill will--I honor you for--for your motives in all this--but I implore you to stand aside. If you will go and bring her, I will wait here, and you shall hear from her own lips that you are wrong in supposing that any affection exists between her and him. I will wait here. Go, I beg of you! There is no time to lose!"
"I will not!" said Nell, her slight figure erect, her eyes more eloquent than the tone of her resolution to save her friend.
"Then I will ring and ask her to come," he said, and he went toward the bell.
Nell sprang in front of it.
"No," she said, in a low voice. "It is I who will ring, and it is the earl who shall come."
Sir Archie stood, his hand outstretched to push her aside. Men of his cla.s.s and character dislike a scene. He was not physically afraid of Lord Wolfer, but--a scene and a scandal which would leave Lady Wolfer at Wolfer House, while he was turned out, was a contretemps to be avoided, if possible.
"You must be mad!" he said, between his teeth. "Worse; you are laboring under a hideous mistake. She loves me, and you know it--she has never cared for Lord Wolfer. Please stand aside."
He put out his hand to gently remove her from before the bell, and at his touch the strain which Nell was undergoing became too tense for endurance. The color left her face and left it deathly white. With a faint moan she put her hand to her throat as if she were choking, and swayed to and fro as if she were giddy.
Sir Archie caught her just in time.
"Good heavens, don"t faint!" he exclaimed, in a horrified whisper.
At the sound of his voice, at his touch, Nell recovered her full consciousness.
"Let me go! Don"t touch me!" she breathed, with a shudder; but, before she could free herself from his hold, the door opened, and the earl entered.
With an oath, Sir Archie turned and glared at him, and Nell sank against the mantelshelf, and leaned there, faint and trembling.
The two men stood quite still and looked at each other. In these days we have taught ourselves to take the most critical moments of our lives quietly. There is no loud declamation, no melodramatic denunciation, no springing at each other"s throats, or flashing of swords. We carry our wrongs to the law courts, and an aged gentleman in an ermine tippet, and a more or less grimy wig, avenges us--with costs and damages.
The earl was pale enough, and his eyes wore a stern expression as they rested upon his "friend"; but yet there was something in his face which seemed to indicate relief; and, presently, after a moment which seemed an age to Nell, his gaze left the other man"s face and fixed itself on her.
"Were you going out with Sir Archie Walbrooke, Miss Lorton?" he asked coldly.
Sir Archie started slightly, and would have spoken, but Nell looked at him quickly, a look which smote him to silence. She, too, remained silent, her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"Is my inference a correct one?" said the earl, still more coldly. "I find you here--at this unusual hour--and dressed for traveling. And he is here--by appointment, I presume? Ah, do not deny it! It is too obvious."
Sir Archie opened his lips, but once more Nell looked at him, and once more her eyes commanded, rather than asked, his silence. He suppressed an oath, and stood with clenched hands, waiting in helpless irresolution. What was this girl going to do? Was she--was it possible that she was going to screen Lady Wolfer at the cost of her own reputation! The man was not altogether bad, and the remnant of honor which still glowed in his breast rose against the idea of such a sacrifice. And yet--it was for the woman he loved!
The perspiration broke out on his pale face, and he looked from the stern eyes of the earl to Nell"s downcast ones.
"I can"t stand this!" broke from his lips. "Look here, Wolfer!"