"Very well, then. If you know why I am here, you must know that I cannot take such a message, that I cannot go--without her. For Heaven's sake, Miss Lorton, go and fetch her! There is no time to lose. Her--my happiness is at stake. I beg your pardon; I'm afraid I'm brusque; but----For Heaven's sake, bring her! If I could see her, speak to her for a moment----" Nell shook her head. "I cannot," she said. "It would be of no use. Lady Wolfer would not go with you." He came nearer to her and lowered his voice, almost speaking through his teeth. "See here, Miss Lorton, you--you have no right to be in this business--to interfere with it. You--you are too young to understand----" Nell crimsoned. "No," she said, almost inaudibly. "I understand. I--I have seen your letter." Her calm, almost her courage, broke down, and, clasping her hands, she pleaded to him. "Oh, yes, I do understand! Sir Archie, go; do, do go! It is cruel of you to stay. If--if you really love her, you will go and never come back." His face went white and his eyes flashed. "No, you don't understand, although you think you do. You say that I am cruel. I should be cruel if I did what she asks me, what you wish me to do, to leave her in this house, to the old life of misery. I love her; I want to take her away with me from the man who doesn't care an atom for her, whom she does not love." "It isn't true!" said Nell, with a sudden burst of indignation, and with a sudden insight as inexplicable as it was sudden. "He loves her, and she, though she does not know it, cares for him. They would have discovered the truth if you had not come between them and made them hard and cold to each other. Yes, you are cruel, cruel and wicked! But--but perhaps it has not been all your fault--and--I'm sorry if--if I have spoken too harshly." He scarcely seemed to have heard her concluding words, but repeated to himself: "She cares for him. She cares for Wolfer--her husband!" "Yes, yes!" said Nell eagerly, anxiously. "I know it; I have seen her when she was most unhappy. I have heard the truth in her voice--I remember little things--the way she has behaved to him, spoken to him, when she was off her guard. Yes, it is true she cares for him as much as he cares for her; but they have hidden it from each other--and you--you have made it harder for them to show their love! But you know the truth now, and--and you will go, will you not?" In her anxiety she laid her hand on his arm imploringly, and looked up at him with eyes moist with tears. He looked at her, his brows knit, his lips set closely.