Something must be amiss, and one of the maids had come to warn her. The possibility that the house was on fire, or that burglars had broken in, flashed through her mind.
She sprang to her feet, and switching on the light, called out sharply:—
"Who is it?"
She had not fastened the lock overnight, and her heart beat in great suffocating throbs as she watched the handle turn.
The next moment some one came quickly into the room and closed the door.
It was Max!
Diana fell back a step, staring incredulously.
"You!" she exclaimed, breathlessly. "You!"
He advanced a few paces into the room. He was very pale, and his face wore a curiously excited expression. His eyes were brilliant—fiercely exultant, yet with an odd gleam of the old, familiar mockery in their depths, as though something in the situation amused him.
"Yes," he said. "Are you surprised to see me?"