"It is your revenge; I see it. Yes, you have scored. I will go—at once. Open the door, please!"
There was nothing else to be done. He opened the door for her, and she swept past him. Outside, she paused for a moment, as if she did not know where she was, or in which direction her room lay; then she went slowly—almost staggered—down the corridor, and, bursting into her room, fell into a chair.
So sudden was her entrance, so tragic her collapse, that the nervous Burden uttered a faint shriek.
"Oh, my lady! what is the matter?" she cried, her hand against her heart.
Lady Luce sat with her chin in her hands, her eyes gleaming from her white face, in silence for a moment; then she laughed, the laugh which borders on hysteria.
"Congratulate me, Burden!" she said bitterly; "congratulate me! Lord Angleford is engaged!"
Burden stared at her.
"To—to your ladyship?" she said, but doubtfully. "I do congratulate you."
"You fool!" cried Luce savagely. "He is engaged to another woman. He has jilted me! Oh, I think I shall go mad! Jilted me! Yes, it is that, and no less. Oh, my head! my head!"
Burden hurried to her with the eau de Cologne, but Lady Luce pushed it away.