"Really, Lord Effingham, I should be obliged to you not to continue this conversation any further; I do not suppose it possible for you to comprehend the effect produced on my mind by your audacity; pardon me, but it is the only word that sufficiently expresses my impression of your conduct on the occasion to which you allude. Let it be forgotten, I would not for worlds disturb my cousin with any revelation so likely——"
"Yes," interrupted Lord Effingham, absently, "I perceived, at a glance, that the fair widow was ignorant of the affair, but be it as you choose, for the future, only, if you are to continue her inmate, take my advice, and withhold the disclosure altogether."
And he smiled with an expression of insolent power, that made Kate's heart thrill with indignation.
"My Lord, I do not require a stranger's advice, what to confide to, or what to withhold from my earliest and dearest friend; you must excuse me, I have left Lady Desmond alone."
"One moment," cried Lord Effingham, springing to the door, "we meet again as friends? You must not refuse to give me bulletins of your cousin's health in person."
"I have no wish to embroil the even tenor of my life, about what can concern me no more, I wish you a good morning, my Lord."
He held the door open, and bowed low, as she passed out, then returning to the place where she had stood, remained a moment in silent thought, gnawing his under lip.
"By——," he at length muttered, "I would hate her if I could; if she was less lovely; her supreme disdain of my admiration was so real, and her indifference! Yet her cousin is more beautiful, and would have acted the part perfectly, but all the time I should have felt it was only the graceful acting of my slave; this is real, this girl is free as air, and I feel as if afloat in some new and unexplored ocean, where my compasses are at fault, and the stars no longer those I used to steer by."
He looked absently through the window till the animated fiery glance faded into a cold, sneering smile, then slowly descending to the hall door, mounted his horse, and gallopped across the park at full speed.
Kate's heart was beating faster when she returned to Lady Desmond's room than when she left it; there was something of insolence and conscious power in Lord Effingham's manner, that was totally strange and repugnant to her; this short interview with him had recalled all the sore feeling of resentful indignation and wounded pride, that had so galled her on their first meeting, and though she felt, rather than reasoned, that it would be most unwise to disclose the rencontre to Lady Desmond, she was indescribably provoked to think there was any thing like a secret between her and the proud, bold Earl.