“Are you cold?”
She started violently. She had not heard Sir Rupert enter the room. She had not expected him to leave the dining room for a long time.
Slowly she rose to her feet. Her lips opened to make some light and trivial reply to his question, then his eyes met hers and the words died on her lips. They stared at each other and she was conscious of some tremendous force within him, held in check and under control but only by an extreme effort of will.
The clock on the mantelpiece ticked the seconds away and still they stared at each other and then at length in a voice harsh and raw with suffering Sir Rupert asked,
“Well?”
Nerina knew it was a question. With an effort she turned her eyes away from his to stand with one hand on the mantelpiece looking down into the flames.
“I am s
