and said no more.

In that moment of silence, the door of the room was opened. I
started, and looked up. Lady Claudia was standing on the
threshold.

I saw in her face that she had been listening--she must have
followed him when he was on his way to my room. That conviction
steadied me. I took his hand in mine, and stood side by side with
him, waiting for her to speak first. She looked at Michael, not
at me. She advanced a step or two, and addressed him in these
words:

"It is just possible that _you_ have some sense of decency left.
Leave the room."

That deliberate insult was all that I wanted to make me
completely mistress of myself. I told Michael to wait a moment,
and opened my writing desk. I wrote on an envelope the address in
London of a faithful old servant, who had attended my mother in
her last moments. I gave it to Michael. "Call there to-morrow
morning," I said. "You will find me waiting for you."

He looked at Lady Claudia, evidently unwilling to leave me alone
with her. "Fear nothing," I said; "I am old enough to take care
of myself. I have only a word to say to this lady before I leave
the house. "With that, I took his arm, and walked with him to the
door, and said good-by almost as composedly as if we had been
husband and wife already.