So long as she was not with Niono, I cared little; I bounded up, and found her alone. As I entered, she raised her flushed, tear-stained face from the shabby sofa on which she had thrown herself. "Go away!" she cried, "why do you come near me now? You have no right--do you hear?--no right!" "I know," I said humbly enough, "I deserve this, no doubt; and yet, if you knew all, you would find excuses for me, Lurana!" "None, Theodore," she said; "if you had really loved me, you would never have deserted me!" "I could not help myself," I retorted; "and really, Lurana, if it comes to desertion----!" "Ah, what is the use of wrangling about whose fault it was," she moaned, "now, when we have both wrecked our lives! At least, I know I've wrecked _mine_! Why was I so insane as to set my heart on our being married in a den of disgusting lions? If you had only been firmer, Theodore, instead of giving way as you did!" "At least it was not cowardice," I said. "When I show you the state of my chin----" "Theodore!" she cried, with a little scream, "you are hurt! Tell me; was it the tiger?" "It was not the tiger," I said. "Never mind that now. I was betrayed by that infernal Onion, Lurana. I never knew till it was too late--you _do_ believe me, don't you?" "I do; we were both deceived, Theodore. I should never have acted as I did if that horrid Frenchwoman hadn't told me--Oh, _what_ would I not give if all this had never been?" "If you are truly sincere," I began, "in wishing this unlucky marriage cancelled----" "If I am! Are _you_, Theodore? Oh, if only there is a way!" "There may be, Lurana. It all depends on whether my name was used at the ceremony or not. Try to recollect and tell me." "But I can't, Theodore. You were there--you must know!" "Mr Skipworth wouldn't speak up; and I was much farther away than you were." "Than _I_ was, Theodore! But--but I wasn't there at all!" "Not present at your own wedding?" I cried, "but I saw you!" "It was not me!" she said, "it was Mlle. Léonie. Is it possible you didn't know?" My heart leaped. "For heaven's sake, explain, Lurana; let us have no more concealments." "When I arrived," she said, "Mademoiselle explained about the tiger, and how sorry she was it was too late to remove it, since she understood I had an antipathy to tigers; and I said, not at all, I adored tigers, so she took me to see the cage, and I--I only tried to tickle the tiger, but he was so dreadfully cross about it--I nearly fainted. And she said it was simply madness for me to go in, and that you were every bit as frightened as I was." [Illustration: "If only you had been firmer, Theodore."] "She had no right to say that," I said; "it's absolutely untrue!"