"It isn't true!" said Nell, with a sudden burst of indignation, and with a sudden insight as inexplicable as it was sudden. "He loves her, and she, though she does not know it, cares for him. They would have discovered the truth if you had not come between them and made them hard and cold to each other. Yes, you are cruel, cruel and wicked! But—but perhaps it has not been all your fault—and—I'm sorry if—if I have spoken too harshly."
He scarcely seemed to have heard her concluding words, but repeated to himself: "She cares for him. She cares for Wolfer—her husband!"
"Yes, yes!" said Nell eagerly, anxiously. "I know it; I have seen her when she was most unhappy. I have heard the truth in her voice—I remember little things—the way she has behaved to him, spoken to him, when she was off her guard. Yes, it is true she cares for him as much as he cares for her; but they have hidden it from each other—and you—you have made it harder for them to show their love! But you know the truth now, and—and you will go, will you not?"
In her anxiety she laid her hand on his arm imploringly, and looked up at him with eyes moist with tears.
He looked at her, his brows knit, his lips set closely.
"By Heaven, if I thought you were right!" broke from him; then his tone changed, and his eyes grew hard with resentment. "No; you are wrong, quite wrong! And it is you who have come between us, and will rob us of our happiness! I—I—beg your pardon!" he faltered, for this slave of passion was, after all, a gentleman. "I beg your pardon! If you knew what I am suffering, what she must be suffering at this moment! Miss Lorton, you are her friend—you have no reason to bear me any ill will—I honor you for—for your motives in all this—but I implore you to stand aside. If you will go and bring her, I will wait here, and you shall hear from her own lips that you are wrong in supposing that any affection exists between her and him. I will wait here. Go, I beg of you! There is no time to lose!"
"I will not!" said Nell, her slight figure erect, her eyes more eloquent than the tone of her resolution to save her friend.
"Then I will ring and ask her to come," he said, and he went toward the bell.
Nell sprang in front of it.
"No," she said, in a low voice. "It is I who will ring, and it is the earl who shall come."