He went to the window, and, putting aside the curtains, looked out at
the night, seeing nothing; then he came back.
"Put the dinner back for a quarter of an hour, and send word to her and
ask her to go into your boudoir. I will wait her there."
"Is there no other way, Drake?" she asked, pitying him from the bottom
of her heart.
"There is none," he said frankly. "It is my fault. I ought to have found
out her address; but it is no use reproaching oneself. Send to her,
countess!"
She left the room, and Drake went back to the duke, talked for a moment
or two, then went up to the countess' room and waited. He had to face an
ordeal more severe than any other that had hitherto fallen to his not
uneventful life; but faced it had to be; and he would have gone through
fire and water to save Nell a moment's pain. Besides, Luce was to be
considered, though, it must be confessed, he felt little pity for her.
Presently the door opened; but it was Burden who entered. She was
looking pale and emaciated, as if she were either very ill, or
recovering from illness, and Drake, even at that moment of strain and
stress, noticed her pitiable appearance.
"How do you do, Burden?" he said. "I am afraid you have not been well."
Burden curtsied, and looked up at him with hollow eyes.
"Thank you, my lord," she faltered. "My lady sent me to tell your
lordship that she will be here in a minute or two."
She left the room, and Drake leaned against the mantelshelf with his
hands in his pockets, his head sunk on his breast; and in a minute or
two the door opened again, and Luce glided toward him with outstretched
hands.
"Drake! How sweet of you to send for me--to wait!" she murmured.
He took one of her hands and held it, and the coldness of his touch, the
expression of his face, startled her.
"Drake! What is the matter?" she asked. "Are--are you not glad to see
me? Why do you look at me so strangely? I came the moment I could get
away. There has been so much to do; and father"--she paused a moment and
shrugged her shoulders--"has been very bad. The excitement and
fuss----You know the condition he would be in, under the circumstances.
I told Burden to wire this morning to say I was coming, but she forgot
to do so. She seems half demented, and I am going to get rid of her.
What is the matter, Drake?"