I might put them at your feet. But what can
I offer you now?'

'You must love me always, Alec, for now I have only you.'

'Are you sure that you will never believe that I am guilty of this
crime?'

'Why can you say nothing in self-defence?'

'That I can't tell you either.'

There was a silence between them. At last Alec spoke again.

'But perhaps it will be easier for you to believe in me than for others,
because you know that I loved you, and I can't have done the odious
thing of which that man accuses me.'

'I will never believe it. I do not know what your reasons are for
keeping all this to yourself, but I trust you, and I know that they are
good. If you cannot speak, it is because greater interests hold you
back. I love you, Alec, with all my heart, and if you wish me to be your
wife I shall be proud and honoured.'

He took her in his arms, and as he kissed her, she wept tears of
happiness. She did not want to think. She wanted merely to surrender
herself to his strength.

XVI

Lady Kelsey's devout hope that her party would finish without
unpleasantness was singularly frustrated. Robert Boulger was irritated
beyond endurance by the things Lucy had said to him; and Lucy besides,
as if to drive him to distraction, had committed a peculiar
indiscretion. In her determination to show the world in general,
represented then by the two hundred people who were enjoying Lady
Kelsey's hospitality, that she, the person most interested, did not for
an instant believe what was said about Alec, Lucy had insisted on
dancing with him. Alec thought it unwise thus to outrage conventional
opinion, but he could not withstand her fiery spirit. Dick and Mrs.
Crowley were partners at the time, and the disapproval which Lucy saw in
their eyes, made her more vehement in her defiance. She had caught
Bobbie's glance, too, and she flung back her head a little as she saw
his livid anger.

Little by little Lady Kelsey's guests bade her farewell, and at three
o'clock few were left. Lucy had asked Alec to remain till the end, and
he and Dick had taken refuge in the smoking-room. Presently Boulger came
in with two men, named Mallins and Carbery, whom Alec knew slightly. He
glanced at Alec, and went up to the table on which were cigarettes and
various things to drink. His companions had no idea that he was bent
upon an explanation and had asked them of set purpose to come into that
room.

'May we smoke here, Bobbie?' asked on