"How did you imagine I would take it?" he asked quietly. "I reap what I sowed when I married Mr. Hilton's daughter."
She gave a little gasp, and the string of pearls broke and came away in her hot hand.
"A noble way you vindicate your gentle blood, my lord," she said in a voice faltering with passion. "I have been your convenience and your scorn."
"And my wife," he interrupted, "before the world, my wife; which is what you, I think, desired, madam."
"Your wife!" she echoed wildly.
He answered her coldly.
"Your life has been as you have made it."
"My life hath been Hell," answered the Countess vehemently; she cast the pearls down on the table beside the flaring unsnuffed candle. "Ever since I met you I have lived in bitter unhappiness." She looked at the Earl with dangerous eyes. "Had I married your brother I might have been a contented woman, he is an honourable man."
Rose Lyndwood laughed.