"You shall not," the girl said.
They both heard an engine vibrating far down below. The woman flew to the window. And then the Duchess's strident voice struck into the night from her own window underneath.
"So glad the motor is working. Don't trouble about your wife, Sir Richard. She's safely tucked up in bed."
Then a furious backing and grinding, as the car started and rushed away into the darkness, baulked of a passenger.
Susan retired sedately into bed, since it was no longer necessary to guard the door. The woman began to strip off her jewels, that she had put on again, anyhow,—flinging them in a heap on the table.
"Absurd, isn't it?" she said, in a high, unnatural key, "wearing all these.... but I wasn't going to leave them behind."
The girl said nothing; she was embarrassed.
"The Duchess took him for Dicky," the prisoner rambled on. Perhaps she was afraid of silence. "You guessed the truth. I saw you at the ball to-night. They were all talking about you, and I liked your diamonds. Did your husband marry you for your money?"
Susan drew a sharp breath. Ah, this woman was more to be pitied than she, who had brought sorrow upon herself.
"Oh, you poor thing!" she said softly, sitting up in bed and clasping her hands round her knees.