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.The Earl walked to the foot of the stairs to stand looking up at her.“I suppose I ought to thank you,” he said.“If you had not interfered and put your life in danger, they might not only have taken the gold and silver ornaments but a great many other things as well.”“If you start thanking me, I shall have to thank you again for rescuing me.”“Then I will just say go to bed and forget it,” the Earl smiled, “and remember, it is not a thing that is likely to happen a second time.”“I hope not,” Pandora replied.Then she remembered the duel which still lay ahead.“You will be very careful – promise me!”She saw in his eyes that he understood to what she was referring, and he replied cynically,“I wonder how many people would be delighted if Sir Gilbert shoots me down.”Pandora gave a little cry.“Do not speak – like that – it is – unlucky.”“I have told you – I am not afraid of him.”“You should never – underestimate the enemy.“No, you are right! And, as you have asked me, I will take care.”“Please – please do – that!”Pandora’s eyes met his and for a moment it seemed as if both of them were very still.Then, because she felt shy, because she was suddenly conscious that she was wearing only her dressing-gown and her hair was falling over her shoulders, she turned and ran up the stairs.In bed, Pandora surprisingly fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.She expected that if she was not kept awake by the horror of what had happened she would be unable to sleep because her body was aching from the bruises she had sustained in the cart.It must have been because she had been so battered that when she turned over she awoke with a start, and knew it was a pain in her arm which had aroused her.“Mrs.Meadowfield will have some embrocation to put on it,” she told herself.She moved her legs and found that they too were painful.The ornaments in the sack had dug sharply into them and she thought perhaps the skin had been broken.Then suddenly her thoughts startled her into an awareness that she had been asleep, that it was morning, and that the Earl was fighting a duel.She sat up in bed and realised that there was light on either side of the curtains.“It is dawn!” she told herself.She got out of bed, feeling as if her body ached all over, and pulled back one of the curtains.The first rays of the sun were showing golden in the East.The sky was still purple overhead but the stars were fading.‘It must be five o’clock,’ she thought, but when she peered at the clock on the mantelshelf she found it was after half-past.She looked out of the window.There was no-one about.She was aware that women never attended duels, but she told herself that this was an exceptional case because she was involved.‘I will not let anyone see me,’ she thought, ‘but I must watch what happens.’She dressed quickly, then thought that it would be more difficult for anyone to notice her in her light summer gown if she wore over it the green cape in which she had arrived at Chart Hall.Now she was ready and she went again to the window to wait.About ten minutes later she saw the Earl, accompanied by Freddie and Richard, come out from a side door which was situated beyond the Library.She knew they had not used the front door so that the footman who was on duty would not be aware that they had left the house.They walked across the court-yard beneath Pandora’s window and she thought how elegant they all looked.The Earl, who was walking between the other two men, seemed in her eyes outstanding, a man, she felt, who would be noticed wherever he might be.‘It is because he is a Chart,’ she thought triumphantly, and she felt he would laugh at her if he knew what she was thinking.Then as they reached the bridge she saw a Phaeton coming down the drive and realised that Sir Gilbert was arriving.She felt a sudden agony of apprehension in her breast which swept away the thoughts of everything else.A duel was to be fought because of her, and now she was afraid with a terror which seemed to strike through her as if it were forked lightning.She ran from her room and down the stairs to let herself out through a different door from the one the Earl had used, one that did not involve her passing through the Hall.She realised that the duellists were making for a glade that stood on the left side of the bridge, which, she had been told, had in ancient days been used as a bowling-green.It had now lapsed into disuse, but the gardeners automatically cut the grass because they always had done so.Surrounded by shrubs, it was concealed and could not be overlooked and was in fact an excellent site for a duel.There was no chance of those from the house who had gone ahead, or of Sir Gilbert, who had followed them, seeing Pandora cross the bridge.Knowing the way, she kept to the shadows of the bushes until she heard voices.Then, moving very, very cautiously, she approached through the shrubs until she had a sight of the seconds standing in the centre of the bowling green and beside them a man she recognised as Sir Edward Trentham and another man.She guessed that Sir Gilbert had brought a friend with him as a referee.There was no doubt that that was his office, for as soon as Pandora was within ear-shot she heard him intoning:“Five-six-seven-”She could see now by moving the leaves a little that the Earl was walking away to her right and Sir Gilbert to the left.“Eight-nine-ten!”The two men turned and fired simultaneously.It was impossible to be certain which pistol fired first.For a moment Pandora felt everything swim dizzily before her eyes and it was difficult to see what had happened.Then she saw the Earl put his hand up to his head and as he did so he fell to the ground.She gave a little cry and burst through the bushes, and as she ran towards him, Freddie was beside her.The Earl was lying on the ground and she could see blood pouring down the side of his face from his temple.For one terrifying second, Pandora thought that he was dead.“He has only been grazed,” Freddie said in tones of satisfaction.Then as the horror of it swept over her she thought she knew that she loved him.It was all an incredible muddle, her love, her feeling of terror, and her relief in one part of her mind as she understood what Freddie had said.Then as she slipped her arm under the Earl’s head and lifted him against her, Richard came running up to say,“He got Gilbert in the arm.We should have thought of having a doctor here.”“We must get Norvin back to the house,” Pandora said.“Yes, of course,” Freddie agreed.“Shall we carry him?”Pandora looked down at the Earl’s closed eyes.“I think it would be better if we put him on a gate
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