"What are you going to do?" asked the Countess. There was a goading note in her voice that touched the unbearable. "Why do you not go?"
"I must see my lord," he answered hoarsely.
"You will not tell him?"
"I must," he muttered. "What else?"
"Cannot you keep silence? Cannot you leave us our secret? Will you not go away, as I have asked you?"
He raised his despairing young face.
"What of my lord's position?"
"Why do you consider—him?" She suddenly left the door and came lightly to the other side of the table. "Marius," she said eagerly, "think of me a little. What did you say to me once—ah, what did you say, Marius?"
She had not known his name when last they met; he did not care to hear her use it now.