At that instant, however, some one stepped from behind a large screen just inside the door.

It was Richard Armour.

He was pale, and on his face was a sternness the like of which this and perhaps only one other woman had ever seen on him.

He interrupted her.
"Lady Haldwell has a fine talent for irony," he said, "but she does not always use it wisely.

In a man it would bear another name, and from a man it would be differently received." He came close to her.