:

"Yes, by Heaven! I will! The sacrifice shall not be all on your side.
Tell her--no, tell her nothin', or you will have to tell her all. Tell
her nothin'. Miss Lorton----" His voice broke, and he hesitated. Nell
waited, and he found his voice again. "When I hear that there are no
good women, no noble ones, I--I shall think of what you have done this
mornin'. Good-by. I--I can't ask you to shake hands. My God! I'm not fit
for you to touch! I see that now. Good-by!"

He went out of the room with drooping head, but he raised it as he
passed the earl, and the two men nodded--for the benefit of the footman
who opened the door.

Nell hid her face in her hands and waited, and presently the earl
reentered the library.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Lord Wolfer stood, with his hand resting upon the table, in silence for
a moment or two, regarding Nell, no longer sternly, but with an
expression of pity which was novel in him. Nell sat with her head
resting in her hands, her eyes downcast. She was still pale, but her
lips were set firmly, as if she were prepared for rebuke and reproach.

"Do not be afraid," he said, at last. "I have not returned to--to blame
you. You are too young to understand the peril--perhaps, too, the
sin--of the step which you meditated taking. I am a man of the world,
and I can appreciate the temptation to which you have been subjected.
Sir Archie--well, all the world knows that such men are difficult to
resist, and--and your inexperience betrayed you. I know the arts by
which he gained your affections and hoped to mislead you."

It was almost more than she could bear; but Nell set her teeth hard and
held her breath; for she felt it well-nigh impossible to resist the
aching longing to utter the cry of the unjustly accused. "I am
innocent--innocent!" But she remembered the unhappy woman whom she had
saved, and suffered in silence.

"That you bitterly regret your--your weakness I am convinced," said Lord
Wolfer; "and I am quite satisfied with your promise that you will not
see him--I wish I could add, not think of him--again. He is a dangerous
man, Miss Lorton"--he paused and paced to the window, and his lips
twitched--"such men are a peril to every woman upon whom they--they
chance to set their fickle fancy. At one time--yes, I owe it to you to
be candid--at one time I feared"--he stopped again, and drummed upon the
windowsill with his forefinger--"I feared he was paying Lady Wolfer too
much attention.