"I wished to do everything for the best, my child," said Lord Henry Moorpark. "I did not like the idea, but Elbraham pressed me to come, and for your sake, as Mrs Elbraham is your sister, I gave way. I wish you had spoken sooner. We have not dined with them since we have been married." It was too late then, for they were in the carriage on the way to Palace Gardens. But the dinner-party was not to pass off without trouble, for after the ladies had left, and while Lord Henry was fighting hard with a bad cigar, sipping his coffee and listening to his brother-in-law's boastings about the way in which the money market was rigged, the butler entered softly, and whispered something to Lord Henry, who rose on the instant. "Anything wrong, Moorpark?" said Elbraham, in his coarse, rough way. "Only a call for me," cried Lord Henry hastily. "Pray sit still, and do not let my absence interfere with your enjoyment." "All right; come back as soon as you can," cried Elbraham; but by that time Lord Henry was in the hall, for the butler had whispered to him that her ladyship had been suddenly taken ill. To Lord Henry's astonishment, he found Marie in the hall, hastily drawing a long scarf round her neck and over her head. "Take me home," she whispered hoarsely, as he hurried to her side. "My darling! are you ill?" he cried. "Yes. Very ill, take me home." "Had I not better send for medical help at once?" "No, no. Home! home!" she whispered, as she clung to his arm. "But the carriage, my darling? It will not be here till after ten." "Let me walk. Take a cab. Anything; only get me away from this house," she whispered imploringly; and there was that in her face which made Lord Henry send at once for a cab; and it was not until they were in it, and on their way to their house in Saint James's, that Marie seemed as if she could breathe. She had thrown herself into his arms as soon as they were in the cab, excitedly bidding him tell her that he trusted her, that she was his own wife, and ended by such a hysterical burst that he grew alarmed, and was about to bid the driver stop at the first doctors, when she seemed to divine that which he intended to do, and gradually grew calmer. Hereupon he was about to question her, but at his first words the symptoms from which she suffered seemed ready to recur, so he contented himself with holding her hands in his, while she lay back with her head upon his shoulder, every now and then uttering a piteous moan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ladies had ascended to the drawing-room that evening, and as soon as they were seated alone there, Marie felt that she had made a mistake in coming. The memory of the evening of the "at home" came back very vividly, try how she would to drive it away, and whenever she glanced furtively at Clotilde, she seemed to be gazing not at her sister, but at the woman who had done her a deadly injury.