"Nay," said I, reassuring her. "It may be that he has seen you before, at Bristol, for he was Count Lukstein's servant. But it is hardly probable that the Count shared his secret with him. And the matter was a secret kept most studiously." "But his manner? How account for that?" "Simply enough," said I. "The person who slandered us to the Countess, gave her, as a warrant and proof, a miniature of you." "A miniature!" she exclaimed, clinging to me in terror. "Oh, no! no!" "Gott im Himmel!" The guttural cry rang hoarsely from the top of the stairs. I looked up; Otto was leaning against the wall, his mouth open, his face working with excitement, and his eyes protruding from their sockets. I had just sufficient time to notice that, strangely enough, his gaze was directed at me, and not at the woman by my side, when I felt the hand slacken on my arm, and with a little weak sigh, Lady Tracy slipped to the floor in a swoon. I stooped down, and lifting her with some difficulty, carried, or rather dragged her to a couch. "Quick, booby!" I shouted to Otto. "Fetch one of the women and some water!" My outcry brought Ilga onto the landing. "What has befallen?" she asked, leaning over the rail. "'Tis but a swoon," I replied; "nothing more. There is no cause for alarm." "Poor creature!" she said tenderly, and came running down the stairs. "Let me look, Mr. Buckler. Ailments, you know, are a woman's province." I was kneeling by the couch, supporting Lady Tracy's head upon my arm, and I drew aside, but without removing my arm. Ilga caught sight of her face, and stopped. "Oh!" she cried, with a gasping intake of the breath; then she turned on me, her countenance flashing with a savage fury, and her voice so bitter and harsh that, had I closed my eyes, I could not have believed that it was she who spoke. "So you lied! You lied to me! You tell me one hour that you have never had speech with her, the next I find her in your arms." "Madame," I replied, withdrawing my arm hastily, "I told you the truth." The head fell heavily forward upon my breast, and I sought to arrange the body full-length upon the couch. "Nay," said the Countess. "Let the head rest there. It knows its proper place." "I told you the truth; believe it or not as you please!" I repeated, exasperated by her cruel indifference to Lady Tracy. "I never so much as set eyes upon this lady before to-day. I know that now. For the first time in my life, I saw her when I left you but a few minutes ago. She was waiting on horseback at your steps, and I persuaded her to dismount and bear me out with you." "A very likely plausible story," sneered Ilga. "And whom did your friend await at my steps?" "Her brother," I replied shortly. "Hugh Marston." "Her brother!" she exclaimed. "We'll even test the truth of that." She ran quickly to the foot of the stairs, as though she would ascend them. But seeing Otto still posted agape half-way up, she stopped and called to him.