"Ah, I beg of you not to question me," she cried. "You talk of justice too--is it fair on me that you use the accident of finding me alone here in this way? I can't go away, you know that, there is no one here to protect me. But if you by a single other question take advantage of it, I shall leave the house, just as I am, in this deluge, and walk back to the hotel. I must remind you that I am an unprotected girl, and you, I must remind you, are a gentleman."
She rose with flashing eyes; it had taxed all her bravery to get this out, but it had come out triumphant.
But the moment had come; all the force that had been gathering up was unable to contain itself in him any longer. One terrific second of calm preceded the explosion, and, as if Nature was following the lines of this human drama, for that second the downpour of the blinding rain outside was stayed. Inside and out there was a moment's silence.
"I know all that," he said quietly, "but I can't help myself. It is not for the picture--that doesn't matter. It is for me. Because I love you."
Madge threw her arms wide, then brought them together in front of her as if keeping him off, and a sort of cry of triumph that had begun to burst from her lips ended in a long moan. Then the room for a moment was so suddenly illuminated by some hellish glare that the candle burned dim, and simultaneously a crack of thunder so appalling shattered the stillness that both leaped apart.
"Oh, something is struck!" she cried. "It was as if it was in the very room: Is it me? Is it you? Oh, I am frightened!"
"That is why--because I love you," he said again.
For the moment Madge could neither speak nor move. That sudden double shock, the utter surprise of it all, and, deep down in her heart, the tumult of joy, stunned her. Then she raised her eyes and looked at him.
"You must go away at once, or I," she said. "We can't sit in the same room."
"But you don't hate me, you don't hate me for what I have said?" cried he.
"Hate you?" she said. "No, no, I"--and a sob for the moment choked her--"no, you must not think I hate you."
Just then the sound of a footfall outside and a voice in the hall struck in upon them, and Madge's name was called. In another moment the door opened and Lady Ellington entered, followed by Merivale.