"Supposing she were to take it into her head to claim you? What then?"
Mayne stared at his guest for a moment, and then burst into a loud and hearty laugh. "Sooner than that, from what I know of Nancy, she would take a header off Waterloo Bridge."
"Well," replied Teddy, looking at his watch, "I must be off. Jessie is the soul of punctuality,—and I have to be, what the Americans call, 'on time.'"
"I score over you in one way, Teddy," said his friend, "I was never on duty; I had no long engagement,—at the outside, it wasn't more than thirty-six hours!"
CHAPTER XXIX
"THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES"
During these sunny summer days, although Nancy looked remarkably gay and pretty, and went what is called "everywhere," she was secretly miserable,—but bravely concealed her sufferings and kept her anxieties to herself. For more than two years, she had lived in a sort of fool's paradise, or as if she had been in a dream. Now, she had been awakened with a shock, and like a newly-aroused sleeper, began to look about her, and realized a changed world. She had never supposed that Derek Mayne would re-enter her life: he was in India,—that land of vague and indefinite banishments,—and she was in England.
How could they ever meet? Then she had his promise: his letter, treasured in her jewel-case. Nevertheless, here he was in London, actually within a few streets, and he had it in his power to ruin and upset the whole of her life; he could if he chose. She recalled his expression of cool scrutiny, and aloofness, as he looked at her across the railway carriage: his glance was direct, dominating, and almost stern.
Although the future horizon was vague and misty, recently life had gone smoothly for Nancy; she had been gliding along, as it were on a wide placid river; now all at once she seemed to be approaching unknown falls, and to hear the roar of the rapids! In her short life, she had known days, and days of intense mental anguish,—the agony of bereavement. This present pain was neither so sharp, or so poignant, but of an unceasing aching, and gnawing description.