"I will go straight to the station."
"You do not wish to see Ada?" he said, speaking of his wife by her
Christian name, for the first time in Nell's hearing.
"No," she said, quietly but firmly.
"Perhaps it is best," he murmured. "I will order a carriage for you--you
will have something to eat?"
"No, no; I will not! The carriage, please! Tell--tell Lady Wolfer that I
had to go home suddenly. Tell her anything--but the truth."
He inclined his head; then he went to the bureau and took out some
notes.
"You will let me give you these?" he asked, very humbly and anxiously.
Nell looked at the money with a dull indifference.
"What is owing to me, please. No more," she said.
"If I gave you that, it would leave me beggared," he said gravely.
"Please give me your purse."
He folded some notes and put them in her purse, and held out his hand.
"You will let me go to the station?" he asked.
"No, no!" said Nell. "I would rather go alone."
"You are not afraid?" he ventured, in a low voice.
Nell was puzzled for a minute; then she understood that he meant afraid
of Sir Archie. It was the last straw, and she broke down under it; but,
instead of bursting into tears, she laughed--so wild, so eerie a laugh,
that Wolfer was alarmed. But the laugh ceased suddenly, and she lowered
her veil. He held out his hand again, and held hers in a warm and
grateful grasp.
"God bless you, my dear!" he said. "If you are right, I--I shall owe my
life's happiness to you!"
Nell went up to her room and told Burden to pack a small hand bag. "I am
going away for a few days," she said; and though she endeavored to speak
easily, the maid looked at her anxiously.
"Not bad news, miss, I hope?" she said.
"No; oh, no!" replied Nell.
The earl was waiting for her in the hall, and put her into the brougham;
and he stood and looked after the carriage with conflicting emotions.
Then he went upstairs, and, after pausing for a moment or two, knocked
at his wife's door.
"It is I," he said.
He heard her cross the room, and presently she opened the door. She was
in her dressing robe, and she looked at him as if she were trying to
keep her surprise from revealing itself in her face.