When they came nearer to him, the girl’s eyes dilated wildly and she screamed loudly:
“Oh, my lady! my lady! It is Sir Harold himself!”
Then Lady Elaine forgot the news of his marriage, and cast herself at his feet in a paroxysm of tears.
CHAPTER XXII.
“TO-MORROW SHALL DECIDE.”
It was a trying moment—a moment never to be forgotten by Sir Harold and Lady Elaine—never to be forgotten by Nina, who was looking helplessly on.
“Not false, Harold—not false to you in word or deed!” cried Lady Elaine. “Oh, my dear love, why did you doubt me? Why were you so cruel?”
“Hush!” he whispered. “I am not yet quite clear as to your meaning. My brain is on fire. Let me think—think! All this is so strange. You do not know what has happened—you—oh! the pain is maddening! I cannot bear it!”
In an instant my lady was on her feet, in her eyes a look of infinite love and pity.
“I know that there is now an impassable barrier between us, Sir Harold,” she said, “and that it is wrong for me to even speak to you upon familiar terms. Do not think that I shall forget my duty.”