“You must try to like me a little, Theresa,” she said, when they were alone for a few minutes. “I felt disappointed at first, because I did not believe that Harold could really know his own mind. And then, you know, Lady Elaine Seabright is a very dear friend of mine.”
“But she was unworthy of my darling!” Theresa replied, quickly. “I do not wish to hear her name again!”
“No! no! my dear! It was all a misunderstanding, though, of course, it would never do to tell Sir Harold now! Lady Elaine loves him still; indeed, she is somewhere in London, and I dread a meeting between her and my cousin.”
There was a wicked light in Margaret’s downcast eyes when she noted the deadly pallor of Theresa’s lovely face.
“Why should you tell me these things?” she said, piteously. “Ah, Lady Elaine never loved Sir Harold as I love him! He has told me many times that I am all the world to him!”
“But when his memory returns, Theresa,” Margaret said, “you must be prepared.”
And every word she uttered was as painful as a knife-thrust in poor Theresa’s heart.
CHAPTER XX.
THE AWAKENING BEGINS.
Although Margaret Nugent had strongly advocated as short a stay in London as possible, she placed every obstacle in the way of the Annesleys’ speedy departure.