“Robert Ellerton!” she answered.
“Yes, lady, yes, you shall be allowed to go wherever you choose; and if you will allow me I will accompany you, for he is the dearest friend I have.”
She smiled an assent, and offering her his arm, they proceeded from the room.
She led him through several passages and rooms, he gazing with wonder as he went at everything he saw, until at length they stopped before the glass door through which Robert had gazed down upon the six lovely girls.
She took a tiny key from her pocket and unlocked the door; leading him within, she asked him to be seated while she went to summon his friend.
He took the seat indicated, but said, as she was turning away:
“Stay, lady, one moment, and tell me, first, if I am, indeed, too late to prevent that sacrilegious ceremony, as that old villain said?”
“You are, indeed!” she said, sadly. “The fatal words were but just spoken as you entered; the shriek you heard was one of despair, that she was too truly the wife of a man whom she detested and loathed.”
“I am grieved,” he replied, “for I would have saved Miss Dupont the suffering of being compelled to go through with such a trial. But it will never be recognized as a legal marriage; she is as free as ever, and can choose for herself whom she will marry; and I have not much doubt what that choice will be,” he added, with a smile.
Vivien’s fair face glowed with joy, as she replied: