It was, I think, at this moment that I first understood all that the Countess Lukstein meant to me. I leaned forward over the edge of the box, and set my eyes upon her face. I noted little of its young beauty, little of its wonderful purity of outline; but I seemed to see more clearly than ever before the woman that lurked behind it, and I felt a new strength, a new courage, a new life, flow out from her to me, and lift my heart. My very sinews braced and tightened about my limbs. If Marston and I were to fight for Ilga, it should be hand to hand, and foot to foot, in the deadliest determination. Meanwhile she still spoke earnestly with her companion. Of a sudden, however, she raised her eyes from him, and glanced across towards us. I was still leaning forward, a conspicuous mark, and I saw her face change. She gave an abrupt start of surprise; there appeared to me something of uneasiness in the movement She looked apprehensively at Marston, and back again at me; then she turned away from him, and sat with downcast head plucking with nervous fingers at the fan which lay on the ledge before her, and shooting furtive glances in our direction. Elmscott, for some reason, began to chuckle. "Let us make our compliments to the Countess!" he said. We walked round the circle of the theatre. At the door of the box I stopped him. "Marston heard nothing from you of my journey to Sir Julian Harnwood?" I asked. "Not a word! He knows you were travelling to Bristol; so much you said yourself. But for my part, I have never breathed a word of the matter to a living soul." And we went in. The Countess held out her hand to me with a conscious timidity. "You are not angered?" she said, in a low voice. The mere thought that she should take such heed of what I might feel, made my pulses leap with joy. She seemed to recognise, as I should never have dared to do myself, that I had a right to be jealous, and her words almost granted me a claim upon her conduct. For answer I bent over her hand and kissed it, and behind me again I heard Elmscott chuckling. Hugh Marston had risen from his chair as we entered, and stood looking at me curiously. "You have not met Mr. Marston," she said. "I must make my two best friends acquainted." I would that she had omitted that word "best," the more especially since she laid some emphasis upon it. It undid some portion of her previous work, and set us both upon a level in her estimation. "We have met before," said Marston, and he bowed coldly. "Indeed? I had not heard of that." Marston recounted to her the story of the gambling-match, but she listened with no apparent attention, fixing her eyes upon the stage. "I fancied, Mr. Buckler, you had no taste for cards or dice," she said carelessly, when he had done.