"Is there anything I can do--I know what it is. You feel faint----"
Nell smiled.
"God grant you may never know what it is," she thought, looking up at
the girl's face, and feeling years and years older than she.
"Perhaps it is," she said. "But I shall be all right the moment I get
into the air."
Miss Angel whipped off her shawl, which Dick had insisted upon her
wearing.
"Come with me--you can wait just outside the hall. I know what it is;
you want to get outside at once--at once!"
Nell went out with her, and as she felt the cool, fresh air, she drew a
breath of relief; then she turned to the girl.
"I am all right now; you must not wait. I have your wrap----"
Dick came up with the fly, and Drake appeared with her cloak and a glass
of wine. He had got his hat and coat as he came along. She drank some of
the wine, and turned to hold out her hand to the girl and wish her good
night and thank her.
"I am quite, quite right now!" Drake heard her say; and his fears--for
to a man a woman's fainting fit is a terrible thing--were somewhat
dispelled.
They got into the fly, and it drove off. Nell, instead of sinking into
the corner, sat bolt upright and forced a smile.
"What a jolly evening!" said Dick, with a deep sigh. "Don't wonder you
girls are so fond of parties."
"Yes," she said, with a brightness which deceived both of them, "it has
been very jolly. What a pretty girl that is with whom you were sitting
out, Dick!"
"I always thought you had great taste," he said approvingly. "She was
the nicest girl there--as I ventured to tell her."
Nell laughed--surely the hollowness of the laugh must strike them, she
thought--but neither of the two noticed its insincerity, and Dick
rattled on, suspecting nothing.
Drake sat almost silent. To be near her, to have her so close to him,
was all the sweeter after the hateful scene with Luce. Heaven! how
different was this love of his to that other woman from whom he had
escaped! It was a terrible word, but it was the only fitting one to his
mind.
He would tell Nell in the morning. Yes, he would tell Nell who he was,
and--and--of his engagement to Luce. It would be an unpleasant, hateful
story, but he would tell it. There had been too much concealment, too
much deceit; he had been a fool to yield to the temptation to hide his
identity; he would make a clean breast of it to-morrow. Once he
stretched out his hand in the direction of hers, but Nell, though her
eyes were not turned in his direction, saw the movement, and quickly
removed her hand beyond his reach.