Miss Chressham assented. "I shall not be delayed more than a few moments."
The Countess Lavinia's maid curtsied gravely, and left the room, as if she departed for the most ordinary errand.
For a second Susannah stood still and dazed. She had, all her life, been a spectator of, and a wise commentator on, other people's actions. Never until now had she been called upon to decide, to act, to accomplish, to put a thing through for the sake of a tremendous end. She could not reflect on what she did nor how she was going to do it. Why she did it was the one paramount fact in her mind. She put it to herself in so many words; and this strange creature who had come to her penetrated her motive.
"I think you would risk a great deal to save the Earl of Lyndwood's name from infamy."
Well, what did it matter if the whole world so thought? She set her teeth and threw back her shoulders. As long as she could save his name from this woman who bore it, she would.
The colour was in her face, and the fire in her eyes, as she went upstairs for her hat and mantle.