his eyes.

"Take care!" he said huskily. "You--you use words lightly, perhaps
unthinkingly----"

Nell laughed, with a kind of weary irritation.

"I am telling you the truth; I am trying to open your eyes," she said.
"She loves you."

"Why--why do you think so? Have you ever heard her address a word to me
that had a note of tenderness in it?"

"Have you ever addressed such a word to her?" retorted Nell.

He started, and gazed at her confusedly.

"You have always treated her as if she were a mere acquaintance, some
one who was of no consequence to you. Oh, yes, you have been polite,
kind, in a way, but not in a way a woman wants. I am only a girl,
but--but"--she thought again of Drake, of her own love story, and her
lips trembled--"but I have seen enough of the world to know that there
is nothing which will hurt and harden a woman more than the 'kindness'
with which you have treated her. I think--I don't know, but I think if I
cared for a man, I would rather that he should beat me than treat me as
if I were just a mere acquaintance whom he was bound to treat politely.
And did you think that it was she who was to show her heart? No; a woman
would rather die than do that. It is the man who must speak, who must
tell her, ask her for her love. And you haven't, have you, Lord Wolfer?"

He put his hand to his brow and bit his lips.

"God forgive me!" he murmured. Then he looked at her steadily. "Yes, you
have opened my eyes! Heaven grant that I may see this thing as you see
it! Heaven grant it! My dear"--his voice shook with his
gratitude--"where--where did you learn this wisdom, this knowledge of
the human heart?"

Nell drew a long breath painfully, and her gray eyes grew dark.

"It isn't wisdom," she said wearily. "Any schoolgirl knows as much,
would see what I have seen--though a man might not. You have been too
busy, too taken up with politics--politics!--and she--she has tried to
forget her troubles in lecturing, and meetings and committees. And all
the while her heart was aching with longing, with longing for just one
word from you."

The earl turned his head aside.

"Ah! if you doubt it still, go to her!" said Nell. "Go and ask her!"

"I will," he said, raising his head, his eyes glowing. "I will go."

He moved to the door, then stopped and came back to her; he had
forgotten her, forgotten the tragic scene in which he had just taken
part.

"I beg your pardon! Forgive me! It was ungrateful of me to f