"I could not. I dared not. You might not have liked to put Reginald out of his rights."
"Oh, Percival; how can you so misjudge me?" she asked, in tones of pain. "I would have guarded the secret as jealously as you. I must still do it for Maude."
"Poor Maude!" he sighed. "Her mother forgave me before she died—"
"She knew it, then?"
"Yes. She learned—"
Sounds of drumming on the door, and the countess-dowager's voice, stopped Lord Hartledon.
"I had better face her," he said, as he unlocked it. "She will arouse the household."
Wild, intemperate, she met him with a volley of abuse that startled Lady Hartledon. He got her to a sofa, and gently held her down there.
"It's what I've been obliged to do all along," said Thomas Carr; "I don't believe she has heard ten words of my explanation."
"Pray be calm, Lady Kirton," said Hartledon, soothingly; "be calm, as you value your daughter's memory. We shall have the servants at the doors."