"I was venting my indignation against him in a room full of company, where
I had just made my story good, when a gentleman, to whom I was a stranger,
came in breathless, with the news that Colonel Lawless was killed in a
duel by Lord Delacour; that they were carrying him home to his mother's,
and that the body was just going by the door. The company all crowded to
the windows immediately, and I was left standing alone till I could stand
no longer. What was said or done after this I do not remember; I only know
that when I came to myself, the most dreadful sensation I ever experienced
was the certainty that I had the blood of a fellow-creature to answer for.
--I wonder," said Lady Delacour, breaking off at this part of her history,
and rising suddenly, "I wonder what is become of Marriott!--surely it is
time for me to have my drops. Miss Portman, have the goodness to ring, for
I _must_ have something immediately." Belinda was terrified at the
wildness of her manner. Lady Delacour became more composed, or put more
constraint upon herself, at the sight of Marriott. Marriott brought from
the closet in her lady's room the drops, which Lady Delacour swallowed
with precipitation. Then she ordered coffee, and afterward chasse-cafe,
and at last, turning to Belinda, with a forced smile, she said--

"Now shall the Princess Scheherazade go on with her story?"




CHAPTER IV.

LADY DELACOUR'S HISTORY CONTINUED.


"I Left off with the true skill of a good story-teller, at the most