XX.

The morrow found the colonel calling again on Miss Heath. Before doing

so he took his friend the major's advice, and visited a tonsorial artist

in order to present a less savage and more prepossessing appearance.

This time he found the young lady at home. As he awaited the return of

the domestic who took his card and was about to usher him in, the

suspense, the mingled joy and apprehension of meeting, was almost

unbearable. He was shown into sumptuous parlors, so filled with

paintings and statues that they looked like exhibition rooms, where he

found Edna in company with some friends. In a perfectly self-possessed

way she came forward to receive him, and she did it so coolly, and

introduced him with such an air of indifference to the other visitors

present, that poor Mark's heart was chilled. Her appearance, also,

surprised and displeased him. She looked, with her fair hair twisted

into Medusaean wildness and decorated with broad gold band and dangling

sequins; with her delicate ears weighted by Byzantine pendants, and

throat circled by a snake-like coil of dead gold,--like an Assyrian

princess, beautifully barbaric. But her jaded eyes, and pale cheeks

bereft of bloom, told of late hours and departing freshness.

Miss Mumbie was there, and attired much in the same way. There were also

two gentlemen present.

"I believe you are already acquainted with Captain Gildersleeve, Ada,"

said Edna to Miss Mumbie, who bowed rather distantly in reply. "Mr.

Jobson--Captain Gildersleeve," she continued, introducing Mark to one of

the gentlemen.

"Captain!" exclaimed Mr. Jobson; "why, Miss Heath, this is Colonel

Gildersleeve. Didn't I meet him last November when I went down to the

front to see my brother? Colonel, of course, delighted to meet you.

Don't you recollect Captain Jobson's brother, and the row with your

orderly about the shaving brush?"

"Oh, I beg pardon," said Edna, coloring slightly. "I've been away so

long that I really forgot Mr. Gildersleeve's present rank."

"Forgot!" returned Jobson, who was a dashing stockbroker, and had all

the _brusquerie_ of his class; "why, I thought everybody knew how

the colonel got his promotion. Why, Miss Heath, he's one of the

best known and most serviceable officers in the army. I heard the

commander-in-chief himself speak in the highest and most complimentary

terms of him; said he, 'That lame devil of a cavalry colonel on H----'s

staff is worth all--'"

"My dear sir," interrupted Mark, blushing, and anxious to turn the

conversation, though with a secret throb of pleased vanity in his inmost

heart, "I remember you now very well. You came up to City Point the day

after our skirmish with Hoke's brigade, when poor Archer was shot and

your brother wounded."

"To be sure I did," said Jobson; "and some of you fellows at

headquarters--I don't say it was you--gave me some of the vilest

whiskey, that nearly cut me in two. Why, Miss Heath--"

But Miss Heath was at that moment engaged with the other gentleman, to

whom Mark had not been presented. This gentleman, evidently a foreigner,

was seated between the two young ladies, whom he was entertaining with

some apparently amusing conversation in a subdued voice. Edna, who was

reclining regally in an arm-chair, turned her head languidly to listen

when appealed to by Jobson.

"Excuse me; I believe I omitted to introduce you, colonel, to Count

Borgia--Colonel Gildersleeve;" and the two men bowed stiffly. She then

condescendingly addressed a few words to Mark: "Have you been to Belton

lately? Dull, stupid place, isn't it? So little society, and what there

is is so very inferior. Have you heard about those ridiculous people,

those _nouveaux riches_, with that horrid name, who have built near Mr.

Mumbie's? Isn't it shameful that such persons are permitted to intrude

among respectable people? And they do say Mr. Abbott visits them, and is

quite attentive to one of the young ladies. Did you ever hear the like?

Dear me, I don't see how any one can live there now. I do so pity

Constance Hull. Poor thing, she makes such a martyr of herself, staying

there all alone with the Judge, and he is getting so old, and peevish,

and cross. Her brother very seldom goes to Belton, I believe, but

Constance will stay in the poky old place."

"Perhaps she is one of those persons unfortunate enough to have

attachments, and who cling to old associations," said Mark,

sarcastically.

Edna seemingly did not heed the thrust, but replied carelessly:

"I don't know really, but it must be very stupid for her."

She spoke with an affected drawl, and drooped her hands from her wrists

as a standing dog does its paws. Then turning to the Count, she inquired

whether he had been to a certain reception that afternoon, and who were

there.

Mark directed his attention to this foreigner, whom he already

instinctively disliked. He was a handsome Italian of thirty-five or so,

with white teeth gleaming between pulpy red lips partly hidden by a jet

mustache with waxed points. He appeared well-bred, spoke English

fluently and with very little foreign accent, but minced his words as he

displayed his teeth, and smiled so insinuatingly, that Mark's disfavor

was intensified at the sight.

The young ladies and the Count began discussing the important subject of

a "German" they had attended the previous evening, subsequently to the

party at the Van Spuytenduyvels.

"I'm sure, Miss Mumbie, I am right," insisted the Count. "It is exactly

as I have said. I did not dance the bouquet figure with Miss Heath; I

recollect, with very great distinctness, indeed, that I was leading with

the young widow lady, Mrs. Lovett, who has such very charming eyes, and

Miss Heath was with--"

"To be sure, Ada, don't you recollect I was dancing with that odious

little Herbert Hopper?" said Edna. "Whenever I go to the Pinkertons, I'm

sure to meet him invariably, and he never leaves me, so that I have to

endure the pleasure of his company the whole of the evening."

"I wish I were in the place of that odious little Hopper," remarked

Jobson, gallantly.

"There are others no better," said Edna; "as for Herbert Hopper, I must

say that he is a perfect little pest, and I do wish he wouldn't annoy

me."

"Say the word, Miss Heath," said Jobson, "and I'll slay him."

"O Miss," deprecated the Count, with a winning air, "do not--do not, I

pray you, be so severe with the fire of your indignation on the poor

boy. It is not his fault. You do not know what he has to contend with.

How can he help it? When we see a parterre of beautiful flowers, do we

not all stop and linger around the most beautiful and loveliest of

them?" and he added some words in French that caused Edna to smile with

evident pleasure, and pout her lips coquettishly.

Mark's feelings underwent a complete revulsion. His bitter

disappointment had given place to anger incited by jealousy and the

cavalier treatment he had received. Now disenchantment succeeded, and

left him very sad. Was it for this he had striven? Where were all those

fond illusions and longings, those bright visions of future happiness?

Gone in one brief interview with the enchantress that had conjured them.

Was this vain, artificial flirt--this heartless girl who treated him

with disdain and indifference, the sweet idol he had worshipped so

fervently from boyhood? He could stay no longer in her presence, and

with a haughty bow to the company rose to leave. Edna bent her head with

a dismissive nod, and continued her frivolous conversation with the

Count. Jobson sprang up also to leave. "Which way, Colonel? Stopping at

the Albemarle, ain't you? Down the avenue, I suppose? I'll go with you.

Stop a minute till I look at my watch. By Jove! later than I thought.

Ladies, much as I regret it, I must tear myself away. Don't grieve, and

I'll promise to return again and heal your lacerated hearts. 'Too late I

stayed, forgive the crime, Unheeded flew the hours, How softly falls the

foot of time, That only treads on flowers!' With which elegant extract

this Child of Affliction begs to subscribe himself on the tablets of

your hearts, ladies, as your most obedient and obliged good servant.

Ajew--ajew! Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say--ajew, till it

be morrow. Ha, ha, ha!"

The jocose Jobson then bowed himself out, chaffed the servant in the

hall who assisted him on with his overcoat, lit a segar, offered one to

the impatient colonel (who was figuratively shaking the dust from his

shoes on the stoop), and then hooking his arm in that of the disgusted

warrior, walked along with him, chatting with a familiar confidence that

rather surprised his companion. Mark examined this new-found friend

with some curiosity. Jobson was a tall, spare man, with a good-natured

sharp face, keen eyes, a predatory nose, and wispy whiskers. Beneath his

drab surtout he wore a brown velvet coat and waistcoat, and his slender

legs were encased in cords. A coral splinter-bar pin ornamented his blue

bird's-eye scarf, and his watch-chain was composed of miniature

snaffle-bits ending in a horse-shoe locket. Altogether he looked the

amateur turfman to perfection.

"Deuced fine girl, Miss Heath, ain't she?" he began; "Got the stamps,

too--richest heiress in the market. Old man took his death through

immoderate use of cold water--fell in the drink over in Jersey, where he

owned a whole town; and to think now that this sallow-faced bandit seems

to have the inside track. It's a burning shame, I say, that such a

smoky-head lazzaroni should be tolerated, when good-looking chaps like

you and I, colonel, are around and unprovided for, ain't it?"

The stockbroker's flippant way of treating a subject so near to the

colonel's heart grated harshly on his feelings, but curiosity overcame

his repugnance, and he inquired, "Who is this Italian--this Count?"

"I'll tell you all I know about him in a few words," continued Jobson.

"Throw away that segar first, and take a fresh one--they're Partagas.

You see I'm a broker--by the bye, here's my card, and happy to see you

down town at my office any time you're that way, or at the club in the

evening, whichever is most convenient. Well, as I was saying, I'm a

broker, and last year after I closed out the Rock Island pool, out of

which I cleared two hundred and forty-five thousand dollars, in less

than ninety days, I went to Europe and fell in with the Mumbies. I'm a

second cousin of old man Mumbie, you must know, although he never

discovered it until I was worth half a million. Anyway Bob Mumbie and I

went about together some, and had a good time. Miss Heath, who, I

suppose you know, is a ward of Mumbie's, was with the family, and this

feller, this Italian, was their courier. After a while it came out that

he was a count, and then they all kow-towed to him as if he were the

Grand Mogul. When they got to Italy he showed them his ancestral halls,

and all that sort o' thing, and sold Mumbie pictures and marbles enough

at five prices to stock a museum, so that the commissions and profits he

made on them enabled him to set up for a gentleman, and give up the

courier business. But he still froze to the Mumbies, and accompanied

them over here. First he made love to Ada, but when he found out that

Miss Heath was an heiress, and ever so much richer, he dropped Ada and

turned his batteries on the other. Bob Mumbie was also sweet on Miss

Heath, but when the Count appeared, poor Bob's pipe was out at once.

Mrs. Mumbie is as much magnetized as any of them. She thinks a wonderful

sight of high birth, blood, families, and all that sort o' thing, and

wants to secure the Count for Ada, though I don't think there's much

show for her now. So you see the feller's in clover and, begad, I think

he can take his pick of the girls any day he wants to. Can't imagine

what possesses our girls to take up with foreign beggars, with handles

to their names, when there's lots of their good-looking sensible

countrymen to be had, with the rocks to back 'em." Here Jobson threw

back the lappels of his coat and displayed his chest. "So it goes," he

continued with a sigh. "Some time ago French marquises and barons were

all the rage, and now they're running on Italian counts and princes.

That Count Borgia hasn't got a red cent. He's passing chips half the

time 'round to Morrissey's. Hang me, if I don't think he's a capper, and

that's the way he manages to live."

Jobson evidently spoke from warmth of feeling, and the gist of his

sentiments found an emphatic indorsement in Mark's breast, who, however,

was not disposed to exchange views on the topic, and remained silent. By

this time they had reached the Union Club.

"Come in and dine with me?" said Jobson.

The colonel excused himself.

"Well, say to-morrow. I'll call for you in my dog-cart, and we'll take a

spin down the Lane before dinner. What do you say?"

The colonel thanked Jobson for his invitation, but said he should leave

for the front that evening.

"Sorry, colonel, if you must go. Good-by. Take care of yourself."

Mark promised to do so, and returned to his hotel.

"Henceforth let every incident of my past life, every thought and

remembrance connected with her, be dismissed from my mind. Let it be as

blank. I blot out every memory of Edna Heath from this moment. No such

being exists for me." Such were the colonel's resolves, as he prepared

himself to leave. "I can very well understand how men become Trappists.

It would take but little to induce me to join the order, provided they

permitted smoking. How vain, hollow, and illusory are all our hopes and

plans! Vanity of vanities," etc., etc., and he continued in the usual

strain of jilted lovers, indulging in gloomy rhapsodies as he packed his

portmanteau.

An hour later he was on his way to City Point. Contemporaneously, the

object of his animadversions was in her room preparing for the evening's

campaign. The hair-dresser had just left, and she remained leaning

pensively on her toilet-table. Evidently she was dissatisfied with

something, probably with herself. On reviewing the events of the day,

and her conduct and attitude towards Mark, a vexing doubt would obtrude

that she had perhaps treated him rather shabbily, at least ungenerously,

if not unworthily. "After all," she reflected, "it is his fault. He has

no one to blame but himself. Why did he not answer my letters? why this

unaccountable silence on his part? Perhaps he might have explained it,

but then, why is he so intensely haughty, and why does he attempt to

overawe me? Am I a child to be chidden and rendered submissive by

imposing airs? Still he seemed so joyful when he entered the room--his

eyes fairly sparkled. But what could I do? I couldn't fly in his arms or

appear demonstrative in the presence of the Count and the others. Still,

I might have shown some cordiality. I don't see what possessed me. I did

feel like greeting him, but something checked me. O dear! I am so weak

and foolish, I presume nothing will do now but I must write a note

apologizing like a little goose, and telling him how very sorry I am,

and promising never to do so again. No! I won't do that, but I'll smooth

it over with a few non-committal sentences, and he will be just as well

pleased." Sitting down to her writing-desk, she began penning a formal

missive, containing a half dozen white fibs, which, before it was

completed, she impatiently tore into bits, and began another which met

a similar fate, until at length her feelings found relief and

satisfactory expression in the following: