me.

"How do you do, Lord Angleford?" she said, as if this were their first
meeting for some time. "I am so glad that I was able to get here
to-night, though I wish that I could have arrived earlier. But I am
interrupting the music! Please don't let me!"

She moved away from him with perfect grace, and, greeting one and
another, went and seated herself in a chair beside the duchess--and
opposite Nell at the piano. There was a little buzz of conversation
round her, then she herself raised her fan as a sign for silence, and
Falconer began to play again.

It was well for Nell that she knew every note of the nocturne by heart,
for the page of music swam before her eyes, and she could not see a
note. She felt Lady Luce's gaze, rather than saw it, and her heart
throbbed painfully for a while; but presently the influence of the music
stole over her and helped her--if only Falconer could have known
it!--and she said to herself: "What can it matter to me if she is here?
I know that Drake loves me, and me alone; that she is nothing to him and
I am everything. It is she who should feel confused and embarrassed, not
I. And yet how calm, how serene she is! Can she have forgotten that
night on the terrace? Can she have forgotten all that has happened? Yes,
it is she whose heart should be beating as mine is now."

When the nocturne came to an end, and the applause which greeted it
broke out, Lady Luce, still clapping her hands, rose and went toward
Drake.

"Will you please introduce me to Miss Lorton?" she said. "I am all
anxiety to know her."

She smiled at him so placidly that even Drake, who knew her better than
did any other man, was completely deceived.

"She means to forget the past," he said to himself. "She is behaving
better than I had any reason to expect."

He drew a breath of relief, and his stern face relaxed somewhat as he
nodded slightly and went toward Nell, who had risen from the piano and
stood near Falconer. She looked at Drake and Lady Luce as calmly as she
could, and Drake made the introduction in as ordinary a tone as he could
manage. Lady Luce held out her hand with a sweet smile.

"I am so glad to meet you, Miss Lorton," she said. "I have heard so much
about you; and I dare say you have heard something about me, for Lord
Angleford and I are very old friends. How charmingly you played that
difficult accompaniment! Shall we go and sit down somewhere together and
have a chat?"

What could Nell say or