She encountered the Earl of Seabright a dozen steps away, and he looked about him eagerly.
“Miss Nugent, have you seen Lady Elaine?” he asked.
“Yes, my lord,” she smiled. “I would not advise you to interrupt a very interesting tête-à-tête.”
He grasped one of her wrists and looked straight into her eyes.
“Is Viscount Rivington with my daughter?” he demanded.
“I have just seen Lady Elaine in the viscount’s arms,” replied Miss Nugent, with a light laugh. “Not very flattering to my absent cousin, but girls’ hearts are not made to break.”
The earl was delighted, and the two went away, Miss Nugent to impart the news to an aristocratic scandalmonger, who added to her income by writing sensational paragraphs for a certain unscrupulous society paper, and the earl to excuse Lady Elaine’s absence to Colonel Greyson, who had only recently arrived, and had made an inquiry for her.
“My dear colonel,” he said, “I am sorry to disappoint you, but I do not think that my daughter would welcome your presence just now.”
“I am of a different opinion,” Colonel Greyson said, stoutly. “You and I, my lord, will never agree upon one point. What that is you know only too well.”
“I have no desire to discuss the matter,” the earl replied, “and I do not thank you for interfering in what is purely a family matter. As I told you recently, I never wish to hear the name of Sir Harold Annesley again. My dear colonel, if Lady Gaynor knew that you had followed me here to-night, of all nights, for the express purpose of annoying me, you would incur her severe displeasure.”