"But you shan't lose!" cried Susie. "You shan't lose; not even if I have to—to—"
"Not even if you have to—?" prompted the Prince, eagerly, as she stammered and stopped.
"To play my trump card," she finished, with a little unsteady laugh.
"Don't ask me what it is, but it's a good one!"
* * * * *
Meanwhile, as she walked beside the invalid chair, Nell was making her confession.
"Lord Vernon," she began, in a low voice, "for a time last night, I feared that I had utterly ruined your cause."
He glanced up at her quickly.
"In what way?" he asked.
"You remember the note you wrote m—us the first day?"
"Perfectly," he answered, noting the stammer, and understanding it, with a quick leap of the heart.