Second Period Chapter 21 The Parting Scene

The evening had advanced, and the candles had just been lit in
Mountjoy's sitting-room at the hotel.

His anxiety to hear from Iris had been doubled and trebled, since he
had made the discovery of her father's visit to the doctor's house, at
a time when it was impossible to doubt that Lord Harry was with her.
Hugh's jealous sense of wrong was now mastered by the nobler emotions
which filled him with pity and alarm, when he thought of Iris placed
between the contending claims of two such men as the heartless Mr.
Henley and the reckless Irish lord. He had remained at the hotel,
through the long afternoon, on the chance that she might write to him
speedily by the hand of a messenger--and no letter had arrived. He was
still in expectation of news which might reach him by the evening post,
when the waiter knocked at the door.

"A letter?" Mountjoy asked.

"No, sir," the man answered; "a lady."

Before she could raise her veil, Hugh had recognised Iris. Her manner
was subdued; her face was haggard; her hand lay cold and passive in his
hand, when he advanced to bid her welcome. He placed a chair for her by
the fire. She thanked him and declined to take it. With the air of a
woman conscious of committing an intrusion, she seated herself apart in
a corner of the room.