Jewel ordered her carriage, dressed hastily, and was driven to the
residence of Mrs. Meredith.
That lady and her daughters were sitting cozily in their warm,
luxurious morning-room, each engaged in a fascinating piece of fancy
work, when Jewel was shown into the room.
The handsome elderly lady and her two placid, brown-eyed daughters
presented quite a contrast to the visitor, who burst impetuously into
the room with crimson cheeks and blazing eyes, and, scarcely waiting
for the customary greeting, exclaimed in an excited voice:
"Mrs. Meredith, where has Laurie gone?"
"My dear Jewel, what is the matter? You look as if something dreadful
had happened," exclaimed the matron.
"Yes, indeed you do," chimed in Edith and Io, as both came up to her in
consternation.
"Something _has_ happened!" Jewel cried, angrily. She flung herself
into a cushioned chair, and continued: "Laurie has proved false to me!
He has followed that girl to Washington!"
She flung his note into Mrs. Meredith's lap, and the stately matron
adjusted her glasses in great trepidation, and ran over it quickly.
"But, my dear Jewel, he does not say anything here about going to
Washington. He says, called away on business," she remonstrated, gently.
"Pshaw! a blind, a weak, transparent excuse!" Jewel answered, in a
sharp, high-pitched voice. "Pray tell me what excuse he made to you!"
The warm color mounted to Mrs. Meredith's cheek at this haughty
arraignment; but making excuses to herself for the girl's excitement,
which evidently arose from jealousy, she answered:
"He told me that he was called South by some very important business,
the nature of which he could not explain until his return."
"Humph, I should think not! He was ashamed to confess to his mother
that he was running after another girl, leaving his betrothed at home
to fret her heart out!" sneered Jewel, so bitterly that Io Meredith
exclaimed, resentfully:
"Jewel, I think you ought to be ashamed to accuse my brother of
such disgraceful conduct. I would have you understand that he is a
gentleman, not a dastard!"
"Let me alone, Io Meredith! I shall say what I like about your brother!
He is behaving shamefully! Do you think I did not know that he was
madly in love with Azalia Brooke? He showed it so plainly that every
one noticed it. You can not deny that!"
No one spoke, for Jewel's shot told. It was quite true that Laurie
Meredith had betrayed so much interest in the lovely English girl as
to excite comment. His mother had remonstrated with him gently but
decidedly.
"I can not help myself. It is fate," he had answered, in such a
despairing voice, and with such a miserable look that she had not the
heart to pursue the subject further, although quite sure that his
interest in Azalia Brooke was so strong as to be a wrong to Jewel
Fielding.
"It will wear off, this sudden fancy, when sweet Azalia is gone," she
thought to herself; and it was with a feeling of relief that she heard
of the betrothal of Azalia and Lord Clive.
She asked herself anxiously now if it could be true, as Jewel
suspected, that her son had followed Azalia Brooke to Washington. Her
heart said no, for although he had been weak enough to lose his head
over her despite his engagement to another, she felt assured that his
passion had been hopeless from first to last, and that he had struggled
against it in vain.
She could not help feeling sorry for her son and for the dark-eyed girl
who loved him with such jealous passion.
With it all there was mixed a little self-reproach, for had she not
pitied Jewel so much that she had persuaded her son to make an effort
to return the girl's affection?
Out of her anxiety had grown that engagement. He had yielded to her
wishes, engaged himself to Jewel, and here were the consequences.
He had been too hasty, and when the girl, whom he could have loved with
his whole heart, crossed his path, it was too late.
"And he might have won her, who knows?" she thought; for her keen eyes
had noted that Azalia Brooke took a secret and curious interest in
Laurie Meredith.
But something must be done to soothe the excited Jewel, and after a
moment's silence, the matron said, gently:
"My dear girl, I am sure that you wrong Laurie by your suspicions.
He is too honorable a man to deceive you and outrage your affections
in such a cruel manner. I am convinced that he has gone South, as he
stated to me, and that you will soon hear from him at a distance from
Washington."
"And I am quite sure that he has gone to Washington, madame, to be
near the girl I hate so bitterly, and I came here to inform you that
I intend to follow him within twenty-four hours!" replied Jewel, with
startling emphasis, springing to her feet and beginning to walk rapidly
up and down the long room with swift, graceful movements that reminded
the Merediths of the sinuous grace of the beautiful, deadly tigress.
These cultured, highly refined ladies gazed in amazement and
consternation at Laurie's betrothed, and Edith cried out, indignantly:
"Really, Jewel, you must be out of your senses! What will people say?"
The beautiful pantheress paused a moment in her wild walk, and gazing
at the speaker with lurid eyes, exclaimed:
"That will depend upon your mother and you, Edith and Io. If she will
consent to go with me to Washington, taking you with her, no one can
say anything. If she will not go, people will say that I was wronged
and jealous and that I went after my recreant lover."
"Jewel, you must not go!" Mrs. Meredith exclaimed, with mixed entreaty
and command, but the girl laughed wildly.
"I will go, if I die for it," she said, fiercely. "He has driven me
mad by his love for another, and I am not answerable for what I do.
Yes, I shall follow him, and if I find him there by her side I shall
be tempted to kill them both!" and she sunk upon the floor in wild
hysterics.