"Well!" he exclaimed, "nothing, after all, I trust?"
"Nothing!" said Clair, "nothing! when I found her in the Park, lying in his arms in a fainting fit—scoundrel."
"And you have brought her home?"
"Yes; she came very willingly when I asked her. What had passed I cannot divine, but if she does not know the truth already, the sooner she does, no doubt, the better. Have you seen Miss Lesly?"
"Yes; she promised to keep watch for her, and they are together by this time."
"So far so good, then," said Clair, endeavouring to compose himself into his naturally careless air, "now for Beauclerc—I declare," he added, brushing his hand angrily over his eyes, "it almost unmans me to see a woman in distress."
"And yet, my dear Arthur," said Hargrave, laying his hand kindly on his shoulder, "I fear you are not guiltless."
"Well, if I have given her pain, nobody else shall. Come Hargrave, will you go to him, I can trust no one so implicitly as I can you."
"If you are determined on meeting him, I will go, certainly, but only consider, first, how little right you have to take up her quarrel, and the unnecessary publicity you give to the affair."
"With regard to that, how, I cannot tell, but, depend upon it, before to-morrow night, the affair will be discussed in every coterie in the town."