‘That was eavesdropping,’ exclaimed the countess with crimson cheeks, ‘and you had no right to do it. If you made use of what you overheard you would ruin me with my husband.’ ‘Do you think me capable of such a thing? I should not have listened to a single word, unless I had thought I could do you a service by doing so. As soon as I understood the dilemma you were in, and why you had sought that man, I resolved, if possible, to get the letters he was so meanly withholding from you.’ ‘_You_ resolved?’ cried Nora in surprise. ‘Yes, and as soon as you and he had left to return to the Hall, I went down to his room and ransacked it in order to find them. I had not done so when Mr Portland came back and found me there,--after which there was an explanation between us, and I forced him to give them up to me--with a written affirmation that he has no more in his possession.’ ‘And he assured me that he had telegraphed to London for them, and only received them this morning.’ ‘If he said so, you might have been sure it was untrue.’ ‘Miss Llewellyn, you don’t like Jack Portland any more than I do,’ said Nora, looking straight in the other’s face. ‘I have no reason to do so, Lady Ilfracombe.’ ‘And you actually did this for _me_--how good and sweet of you it was. I have not been used to receive such favours from my own sex. But why did you do it? What am I to you?’ ‘You are _his_ wife,’ answered Nell, in a low voice, ‘and he loves you. Lady Ilfracombe. I believe you know who I am.’ ‘Yes, I think I do,’ said Nora with a little confusion; ‘I guessed it; I recognised you, when we first met, from your description. You--you--are Nell Llewellyn, are you not--who--who--’ ‘Don’t be afraid of wounding me by saying it,’ replied Nell, gently; ‘and don’t shrink from me, for I shall never intrude on your presence again.’ At these words, so sweetly and humbly spoken, all the generosity of Lady Ilfracombe’s nature was roused at once. ‘Shrink from you, my dear girl, and when you have just rendered me the greatest service possible?’ she exclaimed. ‘What a brute you must think me. Why should I? Neither you nor I is to blame, and you have been so sorely injured. We are both Ilfracombe’s wives, I suppose, in God’s sight, though I happen to bear his name. It is funny, isn’t it, that a Christian country should make such a wide difference between a few words pronounced by the law, and God’s great law of Nature? But Nell, I am sorry for you, indeed I am, and always have been.’ ‘I believe you,’ replied Nell. ‘For I heard you say so that night. But I did not come here to speak with you of my own affairs, only to give those letters into your keeping, and to beg of you, as you value your reputation and your husband’s happiness, never to have any secret dealings with Mr Portland again.’