"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 God! it's the noblest thing! But--have you counted the cost--the
consequences?"
"Yes," she said. "But it does not matter. I--I am nobody--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 noble ones, I--I shall think of what you have done this
mornin'. Good-by. I--I can't ask you to shake hands. My God! 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
passed 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
reëntered the library.