CHAPTER XXII.
THE CITY OF REFUGE The moment Lucas Errol's hand closed upon hers it was to Anne as if an immense and suffocating weight had been lifted from her, and with it all her remaining strength crumbled away as if her burden alone had sustained her.
She looked at him, meeting the kind, searching eyes without effort, trying piteously to speak, but her white lips only moved soundlessly, her throat seemed paralysed.
"Her ladyship has had a shock, sir," explained Dimsdale.
"Won't you sit down ?" said Lucas gently.

In a moment she found herself sitting on a sofa with this stanch friend of hers beside her, holding her hand.

A few words passed between him and Dimsdale, which she scarcely heard and was too weak to comprehend, and then they were alone together, she and Lucas in a silence she felt powerless to break.
"You mustn't mind me, Lady Carfax," he said.

"I know what you have come through.

I understand." Dimly she heard the words, but she could not respond to them.