The Earl raised his eyebrows. "Perhaps--till then at least I am free." Miss Chressham leant back in her chair. Though it was early spring a fire burnt between the brass and irons, and cast a red glow over the shining folds of her grey dress. The Earl, in gold and scarlet riding dress, sat easily on the brocade settee and looked, rather curiously, at his cousin. "I have to speak of painful things," said Miss Chressham; "but I can be silent no longer. I have been waiting----" "For me?" asked my lord. "For you!" Susannah picked up a drawn-silk hand-screen and held it between her face and the fire; incidentally it concealed her from the Earl's observation. "Rose," she said very gravely, "you have been free nine months, and everything goes on exactly the same." His handsome face was expressionless. "Why not, my dear?" he asked. "Do you not understand me?" she returned. "But no, it is I who do not understand and you who must explain." "You are wondering," said my lord, swinging his glass, "about the money." "There shows no difference in the style of your living, of my Lady Agatha's living, since the--the ruin of Mr. Hilton." "He is in Bedlam," said the Earl irrelevantly. "Did you know?" Miss Chressham shuddered. "Yes, I heard--it is very terrible; was he utterly ruined?" "Faith, 'tis only I who keep him from the paupers." "I am glad you do so much." "I could do no less, she was my wife." "We will not speak of it," said Susannah in a low voice, "but of the future." She dropped the hand-screen and faced her cousin. "Rose, what are we all living on?" "Debts, maybe," smiled my lord. Susannah frowned in a troubled way. "You have never been sincere with me, and I think I have deserved some frankness; you were entangled before you flung up your post under Pelham." My lord interrupted with an air of sudden weariness. "There are always the Jews, and in one way and another one may float. I have been lucky of late at play." "As you will," answered Miss Chressham quietly. "My lady is content, but I cannot help--Ah! well, I have no right to play the monitor." "You are the guardian angel of our house," smiled my lord, and gave her a soft, half-amused look. "Have you heard lately from Marius?" Her face clouded. "I do not care to hear you speak of him." "Why not?" "You well know why. You believe that of him I never can nor will believe." The Earl shrugged his shoulders. "A woman's generous blindness, my dear." "A woman's clearer vision," she retorted hotly. "_You_ are blind, Rose, to have known Marius all his life and still imagine he could miserably intrigue for your death; he appeared at the meeting, after your insult, out of pure honour." "He appeared as my second, against my will, and my pistol had been drawn," returned the Earl dryly. "Also he had refused to fight me." "Because I asked it of him, and for that I can never forgive myself," said Miss Chressham bitterly. My lord laughed. "I think he was fond of you."