He stops and regards me coldly.
"Do you want me? Can I do anything for you?"
"'Duke! how can you be so unkind, so unforgiving, so—so cruel to me?" I exclaim, going a little nearer, a suspicion of tears in my voice, large visible drops in my eyes. "Are you going away without saying one word to me?"
"What have I to say? You have left me nothing. When last we spoke I asked you to do a very simple thing to please me, and you refused."
"I know. But afterwards I was sorry. I—you must have seen—I did not mean to vex you."
"I saw nothing. The knowledge of what I was to see in defiance of my entreaty was not reassuring, I left the ball-room then and did not return to it again. I was glad there was no necessity why I should do so: they were all going."
"Then you do not know—I did not dance with Sir Mark—after all?" I ask, eagerly, laying the bare tips of my fingers upon his arm.
"No!" laying down the candle, while his color grows a shade deeper. "Did you refuse him, then?"
"Yes; I said I was too tired; I said—-"
"Oh! Phyllis! darling—darling!" cries 'Duke, catching me in his arms before I can finish my confession, and straining me to his heart.