He gave her no time to think, no time to analyze her feelings; he rushed her into a torrent of ardor and of excitement in which she never could pause in order to draw breath.
To-night she had promised to marry him secretly--to surrender herself body and soul to this man whom she hardly knew, whom she had never really seen; she felt neither joy nor remorse, only a strange sense of agitation, an unnatural and morbid impatience to see the end of the next few days of suspense.
For the first time since she had come to Acol, and encountered the kindly sympathy of Richard Lambert, she felt bitterly angered against him when, having parted from the prince at the door of the pavilion, she turned, to walk back towards the house and came face to face with the young man.
A narrow path led through the trees, from the ha-ha to the gate, and Richard Lambert was apparently walking along aimlessly, in the direction of the pavilion.
"I came hoping to meet your ladyship and to escort you home.

The night seems very dark," he explained simply in answer to a sudden, haughty stiffening of her young figure, which he could not help but notice.
"I was taking a stroll in the park," she rejoined coldly, "the evening is sweet and balmy but ...

I have no need of escort, Master Lambert ...
I thank you....

It is late and I would wish to go indoors alone." "It is indeed late, gracious lady," he said gently, "and the park is lonely at night ...

will you not allow me to walk beside you as far as the house ?" But somehow his insistence, his very gentleness struck a jarring note, for which she herself could not have accounted.