"Miles, I will not have you talk like that!"
She had turned on him scarlet with anger and humiliation, but Miles only burst out laughing.
"You need not get into such a rage, sweet sister mine! I didn't say it was you, though if the cap fits——" He broke off into a sulky silence. Wolff had entered. He was in full dress, and bespattered with mud, as though he had returned from an arduous ride. In one hand he carried a dispatch case. One glance at his face showed them that he controlled a strong excitement.
"I am awfully sorry, Nora," he said hurriedly, "it is impossible for me to accompany you. I have been driven from pillar to post the whole day, and now I have some work which will take me the whole night. You must give my excuses to General von Hulson. He will understand why it is. A good many officers will be absent for the same reason."
"Then I must go alone?" she asked.
Absorbed as he was, he heard the reproach and annoyance.
"Do you mind that?"
"I shall hate it!" she said emphatically.
The word "hate," with all its too recent associations, caused him to look at her closely. He saw that she had lost her pallor, and that the old defiant light burnt in her eyes.
"Perhaps it would be better, then, if Miles accompanied you," he said. "There is still time."