"It is a necessary evil," said the Earl.
"But you love her!" broke from Susannah.
A pause followed. My lord took a half-turn across the room followed by his cousin's bewildered, appealing eyes, then he turned and faced her. His demeanour was changed, his voice when he spoke was low and grave.
"You have mistaken me," and he put his hand to his heart in some agitation. "I think you can never have known me; but it moves me that you should take this trouble in my affairs, and I can do no less than confess."
"Confess, and to me!" cried Susannah.
"To no one else could I speak," said the Earl; "what is the use, even to you? But it is strange that you should have so misunderstood me."
"I thought I knew you very well," breathed Susannah.
"Not so well, my dear," he returned half sadly. "I—I never loved this lady, it was a fair pretence, but no more; how could there be love when there was no knowledge? She was to me a faint, sweet figure who"—he shrugged his shoulders—"and I—why, she knew nothing of me but what I chose to show her. It was pleasant, a delicate episode; but to marry her!"
"You forget some incidents of this story," said Miss Chressham with lowered eyes; "you let her think you cared—if Marius and my lady had been willing, you averred, you would have married her—what of that?"
My lord laughed faintly.