There was an intense silence. No one moved; every eye was fixed on her in breathless excitement. They asked themselves if it were possible they had heard aright. Drake's hand pressed more heavily on Nell's shoulder; she could hear his breath coming heavily, could feel him shake. A faint cry escaped Lady Angleford's parted lips. "Nell!" she cried. Nell rose and looked at her with the same agony of appeal in her eyes, but with her face firmly set, as if she were buoyed up by an inflexible resolution. "What Lady Luce has said is true," she said. "I will go----" Drake was by her side in an instant. He took her cold hand and drew it within his arm. "No!" he said. "You will not go----" He looked at Lady Luce, and there was no need to finish the sentence. She smiled, and fanned herself slowly. "Of course, Miss Lorton can explain it all," she said. "I am very sorry to have been the cause, the innocent cause, of such an unpleasant scene. But really you forced me to speak; and we all know that though Miss Lorton has admitted her--what shall I call it?--little escapade, there must be some satisfactory explanation. No one will believe for a moment that she really intended to elope with Sir Archie." While she had been speaking, some of the guests had edged toward the door. At such moments the kindest thing one can do is to remove oneself as quickly as possible. When a sudden death happens in a ballroom, the dancing ceases, the music stops, the revelers vanish. Something worse than death had happened in this drawing-room. The happiness of more than one life had been blasted as by a stroke of lightning. There was a general movement toward the door. A group of old friends--county neighbors, real friends of Drake and the countess--gathered round the little group. Falconer and Dick pushed their way through them none too ceremoniously. "I'll take my sister home, Lord Angleford," said Dick hotly; while Falconer took her hand, his face white, his eyes flashing. Nell would have drawn away from Drake and turned to them; but he put his arm round her waist and held her by sheer force. "I beg that no one will go," he said; and his voice, though not loud, rang like a bell. Everybody stopped. "I think every one has heard Lady Lucille's accusation against my future wife," he said. "For reasons which concern herself and me only, my future wife"--he laid an emphasis on the words--"has seen fit not to deny this accusation. I am quite content that it should be so. If we have any friends here let----" Before he could finish his appeal, the door opened, and Lord and Lady Wolfer entered the room. They were in traveling dress, and Lady Wolfer looked pale and in trouble, while Wolfer's face was grave and stern. "If any friend, whether it be man or woman, deems an explanation due to them, I will ask Miss Lorton if she can give it to them," continued Drake. "If she should not think fit to do so----"