,
indignantly, "that a deceitful woman has the pride to hear the public
talk! Have you the right to do it? You say there are sometimes
accidents--both with swords as pistols--yes, every one knows it. And you
put your life in danger--for what? You care nothing for your friends,
then?--you think they will not heed much if--if an accident happens? You
think it is a light matter--nothing--a trifle done to please a boy and a
wicked-minded woman? Leo, I say you have no right to do it! You should
have the spirit, the courage, to say 'no!' You should go to that woman
and say, 'You think I will make sport for you?--no, I will not!' And as
for the foolish boy, if he comes near to you, then you take your
riding-whip, Leo, and thrash him!--thrash him--thrash him!" Nina
exclaimed, with her teeth set hard; indeed, her bosom was heaving so
with indignation that Mrs. Grey put her hand gently on the girl's
shoulder, and reminded her that Lionel was in sufficient perplexity, and
wanted wise counsel rather than whirling words.

As for Lionel himself, he had to leave those good friends very shortly;
for he was going out to dinner, and he had to get home to dress. And as
he was walking along Piccadilly, ruminating over this matter, the more
he thought of it the less he liked the look of it: not that he had been
much influenced by Nina's apprehensions of personal harm, but that he
most distinctly feared the absurdity of the whole affair. Indeed, the
longer he pondered over it, the more morose and resentful he became that
he should ever have been placed in such an awkward position; and when he
was going up-stairs to his room, he was saying to himself, with gloomy
significance:

"Well, if that young fool persists, I'd advise him to look out; I'm not
going over the water for nothing."

CHAPTER VI.

A DEPARTURE.

There was but little sleep for Nina that night. She was sick at heart to
think that in return for the unceasing kindness Lionel had shown her
since her arrival in England, she should be the means of drawing him
into this foolish embroilment. She saw the situation of affairs clearly
enough. Miss Burgoyne was an exacting, irritable, jealous woman, who had
resented Nina's presence in the theatre almost from the beginning, and
who had been driven into a sudden fury by the sight of Lionel (he taking
no notice of her either) driving past with this interloping foreigner.
Moreover, Miss Burgoyne was inordinately vain: to have the