Harry at the door of the hotel, before the ringing of the
bell could summon the porter from his lodge. On calm consideration, the
chances seemed to be in favour of her escaping detection by Lord Harry.
The jealous husband of the stage, who sooner (or later) discovers the
innocent (or guilty) couple, as the case may be, is not always the
husband of the world outside the theatre. With this fragment of
experience present in his mind, Hugh saw the door of his sitting-room
cautiously opened, at an earlier hour than he had anticipated. His
trustworthy representative introduced a lady, closely veiled--and that
lady was Iris.

CHAPTER XXXII

GOOD-BYE TO IRIS

LADY HARRY lifted her veil, and looked at Mountjoy with sad entreaty in
her eyes. "Are you angry with me?" she asked.

"I ought to be angry with you," he said. "This is a very imprudent,
Iris."

"It's worse than that," she confessed. "It's reckless and desperate.
Don't say I ought to have controlled myself. I can't control the shame
I feel when I think of what has happened. Can I let you go--oh, what a
return for your kindness!--without taking your hand at parting? Come
and sit by me on the sofa. After my poor husband's conduct, you and I
are not likely to meet again. I don't expect you to lament it as I do.
Even your sweetness and your patience--so often tried--must be weary of
me now."

"If you thought that possible, my dear, you would not have come here
to-night," Hugh reminded her. "While we live, we have the hope of
meeting again. Nothing in this world lasts, Iris--not even jealousy.
Lord Harry himself told me that he was a variable man. Sooner or later
he will come to his senses."

Those words seemed to startle Iris. "I hope you don't think that my
husband is brutal to me!" she exclaimed, still resenting even the
appearance of a reflection on her marriage, and still forgetting what
she herself had said which justified a doubt of her happiness. "Have
you formed a wrong impression?" she went on. "Has Fanny Mere
innocently--?"

Mountjoy noticed, for the first time, the absence of the maid. It was a
circumstance which justified him in interrupting Iris--for it might
seriously affect her if her visit to the hotel happened to be
discovered.

"I understood," he said, "that Fanny was to come here with you."

"Yes! yes! She is waiting in the carriage. We are careful not to excite
attention at the door of the hotel; the coachman will drive up and down
the s