As she dressed herself with trembling hands, she kept saying to herself—her lips quivering with the unspoken words:
"I have lost Drake—I have lost Drake; I have got to bear it!"
He would be here presently—or, perhaps, he would not come. Perhaps he would write to her. And yet, no; that would not be like him; he was no coward; he would come and tell her the truth, would ask her to forgive him.
And what should she say? Yes; she would forgive him; she would make no "scene" with him; she would not utter one word of reproach, but just tell him that he was free. She would even smile, if she could; would assure him that she was not going to break her heart because the woman he had loved before he had met her—Nell—had won him back. After all, he was not to blame. How could any man resist such a woman as Lady Luce? She—Nell—was just an interlude in his life's story; he had thought himself in love with her; and, perhaps, if this beautiful creature, before whom all hearts seemed to go down, had not desired to lure him back, he would have remained faithful to the "little girl" whom he had chanced to meet at that "out-of-the-way place in Devonshire, don't you know." Nell could almost hear Lady Luce referring to the episode in these terms, if ever it should come to her ears.
No; there should be no scene. She would give him both her hands, would say "good-by" quite calmly, and would then take her broken heart to the solitude of her own room, and try to begin to repair it.
Dick shouted for his breakfast, and she went downstairs. He was busy reading a letter, and his face was full of eagerness, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"I say, Nell, what a good chap Drake is!" he exclaimed. "He never said a word to me about it; but he's been worrying Bardsley & Bardsley for weeks past, and they've written to say that they think they can take me on. Just think of it! Bardsley & Bardsley! The biggest firm in the engineering line! Drake must have a great deal of influence; and I don't know how on earth he managed it. I didn't know he knew any one connected with the profession. It's a most splendid chance, you know!"
Nell went round beside him, and laid her hand upon his shoulder.
"I am very glad, Dick," she said.
Something in her voice must have struck him, for he looked up at her quickly, and with surprise.