"Were you going out with Sir Archie Walbrooke, Miss Lorton?" he asked coldly.
Sir Archie started slightly, and would have spoken, but Nell looked at him quickly, a look which smote him to silence. She, too, remained silent, her hands clasped, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"Is my inference a correct one?" said the earl, still more coldly. "I find you here—at this unusual hour—and dressed for traveling. And he is here—by appointment, I presume? Ah, do not deny it! It is too obvious."
Sir Archie opened his lips, but once more Nell looked at him, and once more her eyes commanded, rather than asked, his silence. He suppressed an oath, and stood with clenched hands, waiting in helpless irresolution. What was this girl going to do? Was she—was it possible that she was going to screen Lady Wolfer at the cost of her own reputation! The man was not altogether bad, and the remnant of honor which still glowed in his breast rose against the idea of such a sacrifice. And yet—it was for the woman he loved!
The perspiration broke out on his pale face, and he looked from the stern eyes of the earl to Nell's downcast ones.
"I can't stand this!" broke from his lips. "Look here, Wolfer!"
The earl raised his head.
"I have nothing to say to you. I decline to hear you," he said grimly. "I am addressing Miss Lorton. I have asked her a question; but it is not necessary to inflict the pain of an answer. I am aware that I have no legal right to interfere in Miss Lorton's movements, but she is under my roof, she is a connection"—his voice grew a shade less stern—"I am, indeed, almost in the position of her guardian. Therefore, I deem it my duty to acquaint her with the character of the man with whom she proposes to—elope."
Nell raised her head, the crimson staining her whole face; and it seemed to Sir Archie as if her endurance had broken down; but she checked the indignant denial which had sprung to her lips, and, closing her lips tightly, sank back into her former attitude—an attitude which convinced Lord Wolfer of her guilt.
"Are you aware that this gentleman, who has honored you by an invitation to fly with him, is already a married man, Miss Lorton?"