But Pomfret stood like a man turned to stone. Then suddenly, Norah gave a little gurgling cry, and fainted. Pomfret made a step towards her, and halted. His great love for her had been killed. Perhaps at this moment he hated her more than he had ever loved her.
The parlour-maid, with a white face, was peeping in the room. Davidson beckoned to her.
"My colleague will help you to take her up to her room. Look after her. She's as game as they make them, but to-night's t been too much for her. She has been playing for big stakes, and she has lost."
The maid and Davidson's burly assistant lifted up the recumbent form. And when they had carried her out, Pomfret's self-control seemed to give way. He suddenly clutched at his throat and turned to Hugh.
"Old man, I have had as much as I can stand. For Heaven's sake, take me from this accursed house."
Hugh put his arm under his to steady him.
The boy's nerve had gone, he was trembling like a man stricken with the ague. There was no cab or taxi to be got in this outlying district. They had to walk back to the barracks.
Hugh planted him in an easy-chair in his own quarters, and mixed him a stiff peg. Even Dutch courage was better than nothing. Pom-fret drank it in two big gulps. Then he pulled himself together.
"I have been an infernal fool, old man," he gasped, "an infernal fool."
Hugh spoke soothingly. "Of course you have. But the folly is over. You now know Norah Burton and her rascally brother for what they are, a pair of criminals and adventurers."
"But you don't know all," groaned the unfortunate Jack. "Norah Burton is my wife. I married her secretly the other day, by special licence, while I was up in London."
Hugh leapt to his feet in astonishment. He had his own ideas of that visit to London, coupled with Norah's absence. But that Pom-fret, weak and impressionable as he was, should have made such a fool of himself, was beyond the limits of his comprehension.
In a moment he pulled himself together. The poor lad was in a big mess enough, it was no time to rub it in. "Tell me all about it, old chap," he said quietly.
And Pomfret told him. He made it clear, perfect gentleman as he was, that Norah had been the least to blame in the matter, that the suggestion had come from himself, that Norah had insisted upon consulting her brother before yielding to his wishes.