Drake put his hand to his brow and stood still, looking after the two figures, now disappearing in the darkness, made more intense by the contrasting streaks of light from the windows.
"My God! How like!" he muttered, taking a step or two forward unconsciously.
But Lady Luce's voice aroused him from the half stupor into which he had fallen, and he turned back to her.
"I must be mad or dreaming!" he muttered. "What folly! And yet how like—how like!"
"Why, what is the matter, Drake?" asked Lady Luce, laying her hand on his arm, and looking up at him anxiously. "You are quite pale. You look"—she laughed—"as if you had seen a ghost!"
He smiled grimly. She had described his feelings exactly. In the resemblance of the girl, whoever she was, on the violinist's arm, he had in very truth seen the ghost of Nell of Shorne Mills.
Nell hurried Falconer along, but presently was forced to stop to regain her breath. Her heart was beating so wildly that she had to fight against the sensation of suffocation which threatened to overcome her.
"Let us wait a minute," said Falconer gently. "You are nervous, overtired. We will wait here."
But Nell had got her breath again by this time.
"No, no!" she said, almost vehemently. "Let us go. I know the way——"