She answered quickly.
"So I was—till this moment. I came to select a book to distract me, not knowing I was disturbing Mr. Lyndwood."
Her lie came too glibly, and the readiness of it made Marius wince.
The Earl crossed the room. He looked from his brother to his wife, and then down at the blank sheet of paper and the newly sharpened unstained quill upon the desk.
"What is the matter, Marius?" he asked, with a slight smile.
"Matter, sir?"
The Countess was rigid in her own defence, but Marius interrupted.
"Hush!" he said, almost sternly; then he turned to his brother.
"The Countess Lavinia was my Aspasia," he said manfully and simply. "You will remember, my lord—she hath come down here to ask me to leave her house. Old memories are ofttimes painful. I will go to London with the dawn."
The Countess sank heavily into the chair against the wall.