“And you will go and put yourself in danger, Leo,” Nina said, indignantly, “that a deceitful woman has the pride to hear the public talk!  Have you the right to do it?  You say there are sometimes accidents—­both with swords as pistols—­yes, every one knows it.  And you put your life in danger—­for what?  You care nothing for your friends, then?—­you think they will not heed much if—­if an accident happens?  You think it is a light matter—­nothing—­a trifle done to please a boy and a wicked-minded woman?  Leo, I say you have no right to do it!  You should have the spirit, the courage, to say ‘no!’ You should go to that woman and say, ‘You think I will make sport for you?—­no, I will not!’ And as for the foolish boy, if he comes near to you, then you take your riding-whip, Leo, and thrash him!—­thrash him—­thrash him!” Nina exclaimed, with her teeth set hard; indeed, her bosom was heaving so with indignation that Mrs. Grey put her hand gently on the girl’s shoulder, and reminded her that Lionel was in sufficient perplexity, and wanted wise counsel rather than whirling words.

As for Lionel himself, he had to leave those good friends very shortly; for he was going out to dinner, and he had to get home to dress.  And as he was walking along Piccadilly, ruminating over this matter, the more he thought of it the less he liked the look of it:  not that he had been much influenced by Nina’s apprehensions of personal harm, but that he most distinctly feared the absurdity of the whole affair.  Indeed, the longer he pondered over it, the more morose and resentful he became that he should ever have been placed in such an awkward position; and when he was going up-stairs to his room, he was saying to himself, with gloomy significance: 

“Well, if that young fool persists, I’d advise him to look out; I’m not going over the water for nothing.”

CHAPTER VI.

A DEPARTURE.

There was but little sleep for Nina that night.  She was sick at heart to think that in return for the unceasing kindness Lionel had shown her since her arrival in England, she should be the means of drawing him into this foolish embroilment.  She saw the situation of affairs clearly enough.  Miss Burgoyne was an exacting, irritable, jealous woman, who had resented Nina’s presence in the theatre almost from the beginning, and who had been driven into a sudden fury by the sight of Lionel (he taking no notice of her either) driving past with this interloping foreigner.  Moreover, Miss Burgoyne was inordinately vain:  to have the popular young baritone fight a duel on her account—­to have their names coupled together in common talk—­what greater triumph could she desire than that?  But while Miss Burgoyne might be the ostensible cause of the quarrel, Nina knew who was the real cause of it; and again and again she asked herself why she had ever come to England, thus to bring trouble upon her old ally and companion Leo.