"But you were not engaged to her?" said Nell, drawing her hand from his head, where it had rested lightly.
"No," he said. "But I should have been, and she knows it. The whole truth, dearest! No, I am free, thank God! Free to win back my old love."
Nell drew a sigh of relief, and her hand stole back to him.
"She will let me go calmly and easily enough. There are at least two marriageable dukes in the market, and Luce——"
"Ah, Drake, I do not like to hear you speak so harshly—even of her."
"Forgive me, Nell. You are right," he said penitently. "But I can't forget that by her play acting on the terrace that night she nearly robbed me of you forever, and caused both of us months of misery. I can't forget that."
"But you must!" said Nell gently. "After all, it may not have been acting."
He laughed again, and drew her down to him.
"Ah, Nell, not even after the experience you had at Wolfe House, do you understand the fashionable woman, the professional beauty. It was all 'theater' on Luce's part, believe me! She would have made a magnificent actress. But do not let us talk about her any more. Tell me again how you used to live in Beaumont Buildings. Nell, we'll go there after we are married—we'll go and see the rooms in which you lived. I want to feel that I know every bit of your life since we parted."
At the "after we are married," spoken with all the confidence of the man, Nell's face grew crimson.