She liked them both; indeed, she had grown very fond of Lady Wolfer, and her heart ached for the woman who had striven to hide her unhappiness behind the mask of a forced gayety and recklessness. For a moment, a single moment, as she caught sight of the flower, a vague suspicion of the danger which threatened the countess arose in Nell's mind; but she put the suspicion from her with a shudder, for it was too dreadful to be entertained. Sometimes she went to Lady Wolfer's room after she had retired, and, remembering the earl's message, she went now upstairs and knocked at the countess' door. A low voice bade her come in, and Nell entered and found Lady Wolfer sitting on a low chair before the fire. She was alone, and the figure crouching before the blaze, as if she were cold, aroused Nell's pity. She crossed the room and bent over her. "Are you ill, dear, or only tired?" she asked gently. Lady Wolfer started and looked up at her, and Nell saw that her face was white and drawn. "Is it you?" she said. "I thought it was Wardell"--Wardell was her maid. "Yes, I am tired." "Lord Wolfer has asked me to beg you not to go out to-night. He saw that you looked tired," she said. Lady Wolfer gazed in the fire, and her lips curled sarcastically. "He is very considerate," she said. "Extraordinarily so! One would think he cared whether I was tired or not, wouldn't one, eh, dear?" "Why do you say that, and so bitterly?" Nell said, in a low voice. "Of course he cares. He is always kind and thoughtful." Lady Wolfer rose abruptly and, with a short, hard laugh, began to pace up and down the room. "He does not care in the least!" she said, in a harsh, strained voice. "Why did you come in to-night? I wish you hadn't! I--I wanted to be alone. No, do not go! Stay, now you are here," for Nell had moved to the door. She went back and laid her hand on the unhappy woman's arm. "Won't you tell me what is the matter?" she said. Lady Wolfer stopped and sank into the chair again. "I'm almost tempted to!" she said, with a reckless laugh. "It might be useful to you--as a 'frightful example,' as the temperance people say. Oh, don't you know? You are young and innocent, Nell, but--but you cannot fail to have seen how wretched I am! Nell, you are not only young and innocent, but beautiful. You have all your life before you--you, too, will have to choose your fate--for we do choose it! Don't wreck your life as I have wrecked mine; don't, don't marry a man who does not love you--as I did!" "Hush!" said Nell, startled and shocked. "You are wrong, quite wrong!" Lady Wolfer laughed bitterly.