“A SHOCKING LITTLE FLIRT.”
Daisie saw them coming, and braced herself for the _rencontre_. She was
determined he should not see her flinch.
Stately as a young princess, and cold as ice, she received him, and
he could not but admire her perfect self-poise and grace, though he
wondered at such a reception.
“She knows me--her heart is not deceived. Then why not give me a kinder
welcome?” he thought, not knowing of the false stories she had been
told to turn her heart against him.
As for Daisie, she was thinking under her cold, proud smile:
“Where is Letty? Did he really marry her? And why is he masquerading
under a false title?”
Fortunately for the embarrassment of the occasion, Annette’s partner
brought her back at that moment to her chaperons, and Mrs. Fleming,
with an air of proprietorship, presented Lord Werter.
Annette flashed her great black eyes at him with so friendly a smile
that he took refuge with her at once from the hauteur of Daisie’s
manner.
“Will you dance with me?” he asked; and the gay little brunette, seeing
a chance to tease the jealous little widow, replied carelessly:
“Oh, dear, no; I’ve almost danced my slippers off already. But I’ll sit
out the next waltz with you in the conservatory.”
He gave her his arm, bowed to the other two, and led her away.
“Shocking little flirt!” Mrs. Fleming exclaimed sharply to Daisie.
“Oh, no; she is only tired, I suppose,” generously.
“You are looking tired yourself, my dear, and as pale as if you had
seen a ghost. It is wonderful, is it not, that man’s likeness to Dallas
Bain?”
“Yes.”
“But we had better not mention it to Royall, poor fellow; for I think
he is still jealous of the very memory of Dallas Bain.”
“He need not be!” Daisie cried, with a flash of spirit. “My husband
need never be jealous of the man who could stoop to elope with your
maid!”
But she knew that her whole soul was shaken to its depths by this
_rencontre_. Oh, those dark, dark eyes, how their glance could wound
and dazzle still! How that smile could thrill her very soul!
Mrs. Fleming looked at her curiously, and smiled.
“I’m glad you have learned to despise him! Of course, he wasn’t worth a
thought of yours; and it was fortunate you married Royall and escaped
him, wasn’t it? I wonder what became of him, though, and if he really
married Letty.”
“The subject is not worth discussing,” Daisie returned, with her
loftiest air.
Meanwhile, Annette, sitting out the waltz in the cool, odorous
conservatory with her elegant partner, exclaimed artlessly:
“Do you know it gave us all quite a start when we saw you to-night
at the opera? You are so like a gentleman we met at Gull Beach last
summer.”
“Mrs. Fleming has been telling me the same thing, and I am very curious
over my double. Tell me about him, do,” said Lord Werter, fixing his
large, magnetic, dark eyes on her brilliant face, and smiling his most
persuasive smile.
Annette played with her fan in sudden embarrassment.
“I am very curious to hear about my double,” repeated Lord Werter; and
then she blurted out:
“It will not flatter you to hear the truth about Dallas Bain. He--he
turned out badly.”
“Indeed? What did he do?”
“Why, he--he eloped with Mrs. Fleming’s maid, a pert little wretch,
and--and Daisie and I had to help her do up her hair for a week before
she got another girl to suit.”
“Miss Janowitz!”
Lord Werter’s voice was so stern it made her tremble.
“Do you realize what you are saying about Dallas Bain?”
“Oh, yes; it’s the honest truth, Lord Werter. He was Mrs. Fleming’s
guest, and flirted with the maid. And on the night Daisie married Mr.
Sherwood he eloped with Letty Green. Oh, yes; it’s true. They were seen
to board the New York train just before daylight. Besides, the girl
left a note to her old beau, a servant at Sea View, confessing the
truth, and saying Mr. Bain was going to marry her in New York. So, you
see, your double was no credit to you, and----Why, Lord Werter, are
you angry at my nonsense, or are you ill? Your face is as pale as a
dead man’s, and your eyes are like fire. What is the matter with you?”