"You do."
"I don't."
"What! already! Now I am off;" and he sprang up and started for the window.
"Good-bye, and good riddance," Lydia called out, as his form vanished in the darkness without, and the window closed behind him with a slam; then sank back in her chair, laughing hysterically. This roused Mrs. Rutherford from the semi-stupor into which she had sunk.
"Laugh," she said bitterly, rousing herself; "laugh while my heart is breaking. No, do not speak. I want no sympathy, no pity. I know his perfidy now, and shall know how to act."
"Why! what's happened to Mrs. Plowden?" exclaimed Lydia.
"She has been in a faint since her villain escaped," replied Miss Fithian, who was supporting the unconscious form, "and I've been trying to revive her."
"Open the window," suggested Edna.
"No, don't," cried the contradictory Lydia. "If you do, I'll catch my death of cold."
"She's coming to," said Mrs. Honey. "Oh, here's the punch coming in. Give her a drink of that and she will be all right."