"Here—so near? Oh, let me think!" and she clasped her hands over her eyes.
"That is what I have been doing; thinking," he said grimly. "It has been a terrible blunder. I do not know all the circumstances—scarcely any, indeed—of the case; I only know that it was the duke to whom she was engaged."
"Was? Then it is broken off?"
"Yes," he said gravely. "By Miss Lisle—for good and sufficient reasons, I am certain."
She looked at him keenly.
"You know her—you have known her all along." She saw him color, and added in a breath—"Ah, I understand!"
"Yes," he said, "I have known Miss Lisle a long time. I had hoped once to induce her to become my wife, but——."
"And now?"
"I am engaged to another lady," he said, rather stiffly. "Miss Lisle refused me. That is all that need be said on that point, Lady Eleanor."
She inclined her head.