"Let us go back to the house, sir," she said.
Sir Francis flushed and hesitated. My lord observed him with narrowed eyes.
"We are engaged for this dance," said Miss Boyle desperately. "I think it hath begun." She laid her hand tremblingly on her cousin's arm, and he was turning in answer to the appeal that she breathed forth to her very finger-tips, when Rose Lyndwood spoke.
"I vow you are very fickle, Miss Boyle." His soft voice was pointedly reckless. "Had you not promised me your company upon the lake?"
There followed the pause of a second, while my lord flung his domino over his shoulder and fingered the rose under his chin.
"Is this true?" asked Sir Francis.
The Earl's eyes seemed to laugh.
"Call it a lie. Will it not equally serve?"
"My lord!" cried Miss Boyle.
"What is your meaning, Lord Lyndwood?" inquired Sir Francis softly.