"What have I been witnessing?" he murmured. "A piece of acting merely, or a reminiscence of a real tragedy?"
Beatrice, deadly white, and with her eyes closed, lay back upon an ottoman silent and motionless.
"What do you say?" said Lorelie, coming quickly forward in response to a remark from Idris.
"I think Miss Ravengar has fainted," he repeated.
"Egad! Lorelie," said Ivar, amused. "There's a tribute to your acting, if you like."
Lady Walden instantly busied herself in applying restoratives to the swooning Beatrice.
"I am sorry to have frightened you," she said in gentle tones to Beatrice when the latter had recovered. "It was very absurd of me to act so."
But Lorelie's tenderness met with no response from Beatrice, whose eyes were full of a wild haunting horror. She shrank from Lorelie's touch; she avoided her glance; her whole manner showed that she was anxious for nothing so much as to get away from her presence.
"I—I think I'll go home now," she said, glancing at Idris. "Godfrey will be waiting for us. We promised to return early."
"The walk through the fresh air will do you good," remarked Idris, who was himself desirous of withdrawing.