"Let us dismiss this subject for the present, and recur to it when you are calmer." "It cannot be postponed, Frances.

Time presses, and even now Lady Lake may have got the start of us.

I shall be calm enough when this is over.
Will you consent to see Luke Hatton ?" "Why need I see him ?" inquired the Countess with increasing uneasiness.
"Why will you force his hateful presence upon me?
If the deed must be done, why can you not alone undertake it ?" "I will tell why I cannot," he replied in a sombre tone, and regarding her fixedly.

"I must have a partner in the crime.

It will bind us to each other in links not to be severed.