"For me?" inquired the Earl, smiling.
Miss Chressham pushed the locks back from her forehead.
"For all of it"—she was very pale, her lips seemed to move stiffly; "and there is another question, which, since I get no other chance, I must ask in this half public manner: what of the money, Rose? My lady is very extravagant. I do what I can, but she has no thought for expense, and I hear Mr. Hilton's fortune hath been damaged."
The Earl gave his soft pleasant laugh.
"Mr. Hilton is insolent; is it already a matter of comment, my difficulties?"
"Then you are—entangled," said Susannah breathlessly. "Oh, no, I never heard any mention of it—who should to me?—but from my own observation."
Rose Lyndwood lifted his shoulders.
"Is it not inevitable?" He turned his face away. "After all," he said irrelevantly, "how can life be dull when one has always the thought of death?"
Susannah Chressham stood still, fingering her mask.
"You have resolved that you will not be frank with me, that I must not understand you, and I can scarcely plead with you to be plain; nor have I any right nor any power to be your monitor; you sacrificed yourself once, to Marius and my lady, and I think it was insane nobility; now, well, I must either unlock my heart and frighten you or be silent, so, I am silent."