"You will take some soup? Oh, you have some. Yes; it was a long journey. Have you seen my wife--Lady Wolfer? Yes? I'm glad she was in. She is very seldom at home." He did not sigh, by any means; but his voice had a chilled and melancholy note in it. "And Sophia--Mrs. Lorton--is, I hope, well? It is very kind of you to put in an appearance so soon. I'm afraid you ought to be in bed and resting." Nell laughed softly, and he looked as if the laugh had startled him, and surveyed her through his eyeglasses with a more lengthened and critical scrutiny than he had hitherto ventured on. The fresh, young loveliness of her face, the light that shone in her dark-gray eyes, seemed to impress him, and he was almost guilty of a common stare; but he remembered himself in time, and bent over his plate. "I am not at all tired, Lord Wolfer," said Nell. "I am not used to traveling--this is the first long journey I have made--but I am accustomed to riding"--she winced inwardly as she thought of the rides with Drake--"and--and--sailing and yachting." The earl nodded. "Put the--the cutlets, or whatever they are, on the table, and you may go," he said to the butler; and when the servants had left the room he said to Nell: "I seldom lunch at home, and I like to do so alone." Nell smiled. Grave as he looked, she did not feel at all afraid of him. "I did not mean that," he said, with an answering smile. "I meant without the servants. And so you have come to our assistance, Miss Lorton?" "I don't know whether that is the way to put it," said Nell, with her usual frankness. "I'm afraid that I shall be of very little use; but I am going to try." His lordship nodded. "And I think you will succeed--let me hand you a cutlet. Our great trouble has been--may I trouble you for the salt? Perhaps you would prefer to have the servants in the room?" "No, oh, no!" replied Nell, quickly, as, reaching to her fullest extent, she pushed the salt. "It is much nicer without them--I mean that I am not used to so many servants." He inclined his head. "As you please," he said courteously. "Our great trouble has been that my wife's public duties have prevented her from taking any share in domestic matters. She is--er--I presume she is not coming in to lunch?" he asked, with a quick glance at Nell, and an instant return to his plate. "N-o; I think not," replied Nell. "Lady Wolfer has gone to a meeting--I'm sorry to say I forget what it is. Some--some Sisters--no, I can't remember. It is very stupid of me," she wound up penitently. "It is of no consequence. Lady Wolfer is greatly in request; there is no movement of the advanced kind with which she is not connected," said his lordship; and though he spoke in a tone of pride, he wound up with a stifled sigh which reminded Nell of the sigh which she had heard Lady Wolfer breathe. "She is--er--an admirable speaker," he continued, "quite admirable. Did she go alone?"