"There was nothing of any consequence, my dear. Indeed, from what he said I gathered that only some hussars and the Life Guards have been actually engaged with the enemy. Charles himself -"
She stopped, for Lucy had sprung up, her face so ghastly and her manner so distraught that for a moment Judith almost feared that she had taken leave of her senses. "Charles? What is he to me?" Lucy said hoarsely. "It is George - George! Was there no word? No message for me? Lady Barbara, for God's sake tell me, or I shall go mad with this suspense!"
"George?" gasped Judith, grasping a chairback for support.
"Yes, George!" Lucy cried fiercely. "I can bear no more! I must know what has become of him, I tell you!"
"He is perfectly safe," said Barbara coolly.
Lucy gave a long sigh and dropped on to the sofa. "Oh, thank God, thank God!" she sobbed. "What I have undergone -The torture! The suspense!"
Across the room, Barbara's eyes met Judith's for a moment; then she glanced down at Lucy's bowed head, and said: "Oh, confound you, must you cry because he is safe?"
Judith stepped up to the sofa and laid her hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Lucy, what is this folly?" she asked. "What can Lord George be to you?"
Lucy lifted her face from her hands. "He is my husband!" she said.
A dumbfounded silence fell. Barbara was staring at her with narrowed eyes, Judith in utter incredulity. With deliberation, the Earl polished his quizzing glass, and raised it, and gazed at Lucy in a dispassionately considering fashion.