As they had not broken their fast since morning, Anna ordered tea to be served in the drawing-room. Consumed by the feverish thirst brought on by mental distress, they drank some tea, but would eat nothing.
When the service was removed, both went to Anna’s room, for Drusilla did not dare to trust herself within her own desolated chamber, and they changed their carriage dresses for loose wrappers, and they spent the night in vigil and in prayer.
CHAPTER XXIII.
ALEXANDER’S JEALOUSY.
Ten thousand fears
Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views
Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms,
For which he melts in fondness, eat him up
With fervent anguish and consuming rage.—Thompson.
We must return to the hour when Alexander threw himself into his cab and dashed back to his hotel. He did not go to bed, you may be sure. He had a countryman and an acquaintance in the same house, who was no other than our young friend, Francis Tredegar.
Francis occupied the singular position of being on friendly terms with both Alick and Drusilla, without knowing or even suspecting the relation that these two bore to each other; and, moreover, as he never happened to mention the name of Lord Killcrichtoun to Mrs. Lyon, or that of Mrs. Lyon to Lord Killcrichtoun, neither one of these was aware of his acquaintance with the other.