Again there came forth the appealing, impassioned cry: "Jack, stand by me! Jack, stand by me!" She sank down on the sofa, and put her hands before her face. "Stay with me, wait till they have all gone, and I will explain everything. I have nothing to do with this."
But Pomfret stood like a man turned to stone. Then suddenly, Norah gave a little gurgling cry, and fainted. Pomfret made a step towards her, and halted. His great love for her had been killed. Perhaps at this moment he hated her more than he had ever loved her.
The parlour-maid, with a white face, was peeping in the room. Davidson beckoned to her.
"My colleague will help you to take her up to her room. Look after her. She's as game as they make them, but to-night's t been too much for her. She has been playing for big stakes, and she has lost."
The maid and Davidson's burly assistant lifted up the recumbent form. And when they had carried her out, Pomfret's self-control seemed to give way. He suddenly clutched at his throat and turned to Hugh.
"Old man, I have had as much as I can stand. For Heaven's sake, take me from this accursed house."
Hugh put his arm under his to steady him.
The boy's nerve had gone, he was trembling like a man stricken with the ague. There was no cab or taxi to be got in this outlying district. They had to walk back to the barracks.
Hugh planted him in an easy-chair in his own quarters, and mixed him a stiff peg. Even Dutch courage was better than nothing. Pom-fret drank it in two big gulps. Then he pulled himself together.
"I have been an infernal fool, old man," he gasped, "an infernal fool."