He flung the glove full into Miles's face.
There was a moment of expectant silence. Miles appeared to ignore what had happened. The temporary excitement was over, and the wine was beginning to numb his senses with the first touch of drowsiness. It was Arnold's opportunity. He pushed through the little circle and took Miles firmly by the arm.
"Let me pass!" he said to those about him. "This gentleman is my friend."
Miles yielded passively, and no one made any effort to detain him. The group fell back on either side, as they would have done from people infected with disease, and Arnold guided the wavering Miles across the ballroom. The floor was empty, and Nora felt she must sink beneath the hundreds of eyes that watched them. Yet she carried herself haughtily, and the one thought that flashed clearly through her mind, as the great glass doors swung behind her, was that she was free—that, come what would, she could never see those people again. The last possibility of her existence amongst them was destroyed. Further than that she refused to think.
The drive home was an absolutely silent one. Miles, yielding to the influence of champagne and the late excitement, fell into a disturbed doze, from which Arnold and Nora made no attempt to arouse him. They sat opposite each other in the half-light, avoiding each other's eyes.
Thus they reached the gloomy little house which was Nora's home.
"I had better help him upstairs," Arnold said quietly. "We must make as little fuss as possible."
Nora consented with a brief inclination of the head. She was past all struggle against circumstances. Between them they succeeded in piloting Miles up the endless flights. He seemed, quite unconscious of his state, and talked loudly and incessantly, so that all hope of bringing him to his room unobserved was doomed as vain. Nevertheless, stunned and indifferent as she was, Nora started back involuntarily as Wolff met them in the passage. He carried a candle in his hand, and the light reflected on his pale, exhausted face fell also on Miles, and revealed enough of the truth. He glanced away at Nora, and from Nora to Arnold. His expression betrayed no feeling, but she felt that he was trying to read into the very depths of their souls.
"Please come in here," he said quietly.
He led the way into the drawing-room and switched on the light, and they followed him without protest.