"
"Then what in Heaven's name does this change in you mean?"
"It means," she said, as coldly as ever, "that I have lost my
self-respect; it means that my father has renounced me, and that you
will do well to follow his example. Have I not led you to believe that
I could never be the wife of Lord Harry? Well, I have deceived you---I
am going to marry him."
"I can't believe it, Iris! I won't believe it!"
She handed him the letter, in which the Irishman had declared his
resolution to destroy himself. Hugh read it with contempt. "Did my
lord's heart fail him?" he asked scornfully.
"He would have died by his own hand, Mr. Mountjoy----"
"Oh, Iris--_'Mr.!'"_
"I will say 'Hugh,' if you prefer it--but the days of our familiar
friendship are none the less at an end. I found Lord Harry bleeding to
death from a wound in his throat. It was in a lonely place on Hampstead
Heath; I was the one person who happened to pass by it. For the third
time, you see, it has been my destiny to save him. How can I forget
that? My mind will dwell on it. I try to find happiness--oh, only
happiness enough for me--in cheering my poor Irishman, on his way back
to the life that I have preserved.
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