"Stafford! You—you don't mean to leave me—to throw me off! Say it—promise me!" She laughed hysterically and would have slipped to her knees at his feet; but he held her firmly. "See, dearest, I would plead to you, pray to you! I am—so afraid. But you won't do that—you won't let anything separate us? Hush! there is my father. Stafford, you will listen, you will agree!"
As Falconer knocked at the door, she released Stafford, but stood near him, with her hand resting on his arm.
Falconer came in and regarded them from under his lowered lids.
"I might have expected to find you here," he said harshly to Maude.
"Yes; I came to him," she said, with a little gesture. "Why should I not? Why should I care—"
Falconer shrugged his shoulders, and turned from her to Stafford.
"I've come to take back what I said this morning," he said, in his dry voice. "I was hasty, and your—insensate folly in giving up the money upset me. I have been talking the matter over with Maude, and we have agreed to—to—continue the engagement."
Stafford lit a couple of candles and the scant light fell upon the faces of the three, the white one of the woman, the stern and set one of Stafford, and the hard and impassive one of Mr. Falconer.
"Of course a large sum of money will have to be found; and I must find it. It will be settled upon Maude—with, of course, a suitable allowance for a nobleman of your rank—"
"One moment," said Stafford, very quietly. "Before you go any further, I have to correct a misapprehension, Mr. Falconer. I do not intend to use my title."