To the surprise of both Mrs. Chalmers and Jessica, Carlita came into
the room before the arrival of their expected guests that same evening.
She was gowned in black, but it was black chiffon; the silk lining of
the waist cut low, her beautiful throat gleaming like marble under its
soft covering. Her hair was parted, and fell in great waves down to her
ear, from which it was drawn back to the nape of the neck, a few small
curls drooping upon the olive brow. The daintiest of bloom stained her
cheeks and lips, and there was an added light in the dusky eyes that
made her almost thrilling in her strange beauty.
For the first time Jessica looked upon her with a little start and
slight contraction of the brows. She had said quite truly that she
had never been jealous of the beauty of any woman, and yet she was
conscious of a distinctly unpleasant sensation as her mother's ward
stood before her. She had said that Carlita lacked style, and yet in
that moment she realized that there was something better than mere
style in the young girl's make-up; there was an individuality, a charm,
a wonderful grace, as if some exquisite conceit of one of the old
masters had suddenly stepped from its frame and stood there in flesh
and blood reality.
Jessica bit her lip. For the first time in her recollection she found
herself disconcerted. She could find nothing to say. She wanted to
invent some excuse to banish Carlita from the drawing-room, but could
make none. And before she could recover her accustomed aplomb, the
little maid Marie announced Mr. Pierrepont and Mr. Winthrop.
Carlita stepped aside and looked from one to the other of the two men.
She observed the magnificent proportions of the one whom she had met
in the afternoon, enhanced by a dress-suit which fitted him singularly
well, noted the slow grace of his perfect manner, and then turned to
the other one.
He was tall also, and slight almost to emaciation. His eyes were of
Saxon blue--honest eyes that were like those of a frank, generous boy
who loves life, loves the world, loves happiness, loves danger even,
but has never learned to dissemble.
He showed traces, even the presence, of a terrible illness; but there
was something that caught and held her interest and her sympathy in the
smile that he bent upon Carlita when Mrs. Chalmers had performed the
introduction.
"It is so delightful to meet you, Miss de Barryos," he said, genially.
"Leith told me that he had forestalled me this afternoon, and also
that you were something of a Mexican. I should have known it even if
he hadn't said so, and the inclination to call you senorita was almost
uncontrollable. I have been in Mexico frequently, and--oh, love it!"
"I don't know it at all," Carlita answered. "My mother was an invalid
for years, and we never traveled."
"Ah, you have so much in store," enthusiastically returned the musical
voice of the young man. "And there is no place under all God's sun
where the grass is so green, where the sunlight is so brilliant, where
the flowers are so gorgeous, and where the birds sing as they do in
Mexico. The brilliant, thrilling coloring is so magnificent that it
seems to fill one's veins to bursting with the very delight of living.
How you will love Mexico! You speak Spanish, of course?"
"My father taught me when I was a little child."
"And you have not forgotten?" he questioned, speaking the words to her
in Spanish as he smiled at her delightedly.
"I have not forgotten," she answered in the same tongue, the words
flowing in liquid beauty as English words never could flow.
"It is such a pleasure to be able to speak the language sometimes,"
he continued, still in Spanish. "And--will you pardon me if I say you
speak it exquisitely? Leith knows almost every other language under the
sun except Spanish, and it is really the only one I care a copper for.
Will you let me come sometimes and talk to you--some afternoon when
there will be no one else? You know I am an invalid now, and am doing
nothing but recuperate. I came near going off the other day with jungle
fever. It's a nasty thing, and leaves a fellow so infernally weak. It
would be a positive charity if you will let me come sometimes."
"I should be glad to have you," she answered, earnestly.
And then some one else was announced whose name she did not quite
catch--another man--and then she saw that Leith Pierrepont had taken
his friend's place.
She was conscious of a distinct shock that was almost anger. Her cheeks
grew hot. She was angry with herself, and lifted her eyes to his face
half in defiance, though of what she could not have told.
He was smiling down upon her with that rare smile that somehow she knew
already, though she had only seen him a moment that afternoon.
"Even if you do speak Spanish with Winthrop, you won't let him quite
monopolize you, will you?" he said to her in that dangerously low,
caressing tone he knew so well how to use. "I am afraid I didn't make
a good impression upon you this afternoon. I was unfortunate enough to
introduce some subject that did not meet with your approval altogether,
and--you don't like me. Is that true?"
She flushed again angrily, seeing the smile lurking behind his
magnificent eyes.
"I never presume to form opinions of strangers," she answered,
haughtily; and then could have bitten her tongue for making so childish
a reply.
She saw, however, at once that it had not ruffled him in the least, for
he replied, lightly:
"I am so glad you are not impulsive. Young ladies usually are. If you
had been, I should despair of ever winning your good-will; but as you
assure me it is not so, why, I shall hope to be one of your first
friends in your new home. Have you known Mrs. and Miss Chalmers long?
Are they related to you?"
"Oh, no! Mrs. Chalmers and my mother were school friends. They have not
met since then; but the old warm attachment was always maintained," she
replied, thankful to him for showing her a way to change the subject.
He looked over her head curiously, an expression of relief, she almost
thought, coming into his eyes.
"Oh," he returned, "I see."
"See what?" she asked.
He looked down quickly and straight into her eyes.
"Nothing," he said, slowly. "I only see as blind men do. Do you play
poker?"
"No. I have never seen it played; but I dare say I shall learn quickly
enough."
He leaned toward her, resting his elbow upon a convenient mantel-shelf.
His eyes were bent upon her, dark with meaning.
"Don't!" he said earnestly. "If you were an impulsive young lady who
had formed a swift friendship with me, I should entreat of you, by that
friendship, not to do it. It is a game which it would break my heart to
see--my sister play."
The words had barely been spoken, when Jessica touched him upon the arm
with her fan. There was an expression upon her face which no one had
ever seen there before. Her voice was light, and did not match it in
the least, as she exclaimed:
"Come! the table is waiting. Carlita, a novice at poker always wins.
Shall we lose all our money to you tonight? Will you take a hand?"
The words were meaningless to Carlita, but she hesitated. She wanted to
do that which would be in defiance of Pierrepont's wishes. She glanced
from Jessica to him; then, moved by an influence which she could not
combat, she answered:
"I will not play, thank you, Jessica."
Miss Chalmers bit her lip. With her fingers upon Pierrepont's arm, she
led him away, while Winthrop again took his place.
Mrs. Chalmers had seen the entire by-play, and a look of anxiety
crossed her brow.
"Great heavens!" she muttered, "Leith Pierrepont has fallen in love
with that girl, as sure as fate! Well, God help her when Jessica finds
it out beyond a doubt!"