"Hush! hush! in Heaven's name!" he cried. "You will alarm the whole household. You are not seriously hurt!"
"Some one was trying to murder me!" shrieked Iris, hysterically.
"No, no!" he returned, quickly. "Listen, Iris, for Heaven's sake! One of the panes of glass of the conservatory directly overhead was broken, and—and a little part of it fell in, grazing your shoulder. It is a deep and painful scratch, I can well understand; but it is only a scratch, I can assure you."
"Oh, it has ruined my dress!" cried the girl, in anger and dismay, never thinking for an instant of doubting the truth of his assertion. "I can not appear in the ball-room again. No one must know that we were here together," she went on, hastily—"not one human soul! You must give out that I—I became suddenly indisposed and went to my own room."
"Yes, I think your suggestions are best," he agreed.
The guests received this explanation of the sudden absence of the beauty of the ball with regret, and more than one whisper went the rounds of the room how this seemed to disturb handsome Harry Kendal, for his face was very pale, and he seemed so nervous.
At the earliest opportunity Harry Kendal slipped away from the merry throng and up to Dorothy's apartment, hastily knocking at the door.
She opened it herself.
"Step out into the corridor," he said, sternly; "I want to speak to you."
And trembling with apprehension caused by his stern manner, Dorothy obeyed.