‘And you actually did this for me—how good and sweet of you it was. I have not been used to receive such favours from my own sex. But why did you do it? What am I to you?’
‘You are his wife,’ answered Nell, in a low voice, ‘and he loves you. Lady Ilfracombe. I believe you know who I am.’
‘Yes, I think I do,’ said Nora with a little confusion; ‘I guessed it; I recognised you, when we first met, from your description. You—you—are Nell Llewellyn, are you not—who—who—’
‘Don’t be afraid of wounding me by saying it,’ replied Nell, gently; ‘and don’t shrink from me, for I shall never intrude on your presence again.’
At these words, so sweetly and humbly spoken, all the generosity of Lady Ilfracombe’s nature was roused at once.
‘Shrink from you, my dear girl, and when you have just rendered me the greatest service possible?’ she exclaimed. ‘What a brute you must think me. Why should I? Neither you nor I is to blame, and you have been so sorely injured. We are both Ilfracombe’s wives, I suppose, in God’s sight, though I happen to bear his name. It is funny, isn’t it, that a Christian country should make such a wide difference between a few words pronounced by the law, and God’s great law of Nature? But Nell, I am sorry for you, indeed I am, and always have been.’
‘I believe you,’ replied Nell. ‘For I heard you say so that night. But I did not come here to speak with you of my own affairs, only to give those letters into your keeping, and to beg of you, as you value your reputation and your husband’s happiness, never to have any secret dealings with Mr Portland again.’
‘Indeed, you may be sure of that. He is a pitiless scoundrel, without heart or honour. I have suffered too much at his hands to trust him again. But how did you manage to get these letters from him? That is what puzzles me. How did you bribe him, or have you got him somehow in your power?’
‘It little matters,’ said Nell, with a shudder of remembrance; ‘he cannot harm me, and I shall not suffer in consequence. But you will let me speak plainly to you, Lady Ilfracombe?’
‘Say anything you like,’ replied Nora, ‘for I can never thank you enough for what you have done for me.’