Blind Love

"We shall meet again," he whispered.

She answered sadly: "Don't forget me."

Mountjoy turned back. As he approached the hotel he noticed a tall man

crossing from the opposite side of the street. Not two minutes after

Iris was on her way home, her jealous husband and her old friend met at

the hotel door.

Lord Harry spoke first. "I have been dining out," he said, "and I came

here to have a word with you, Mr. Mountjoy, on my road home."

Hugh answered with formal politeness: "Let me show your lordship the

way to my rooms."

"Oh, it's needless to trouble you," Lord Harry declared. "I have so

little to say--do you mind walking on with me for a few minutes?"

Mountjoy silently complied. He was thinking of what might have happened

if Iris had delayed her departure--or if the movement of the carriage

had been towards, instead of away from the hotel. In either case it had

been a narrow escape for the wife, from a dramatic discovery by the

husband.

"We Irishmen," Lord Harry resumed, "are not famous for always obeying

the laws; but it is in our natures to respect the law of hospitality.

When you were at the cottage yesterday I was inhospitable to my guest.

My rude behaviour has weighed on my mind since--and for that reason I

have come here to speak to you. It was ill-bred on my part to reproach

you with your visit, and to forbid you (oh, quite needlessly, I don't

doubt!) to call on me again. If I own that I have no desire to propose

a renewal of friendly intercourse between us, you will understand me, I

am sure; with my way of thinking, the less we see of each other for the

future, the better it may be. But, for what I said when my temper ran

away with me, I ask you to accept my excuses, and the sincere

expression of my regret."

"Your excuses are accepted, my lord, as sincerely as you have offered

them," Mountjoy answered. "So far as I am concerned, the incident is

forgotten from this moment."

Lord Harry expressed his courteous acknowledgments. "Spoken as becomes

a gentleman," he said. "I thank you."

There it ended. They saluted each other; they wished each other

good-night. "A mere formality!" Hugh thought, when they had parted.

He had wronged the Irish lord in arriving at that conclusion. But time

was to pass before events helped him to discover his error.