SECRET PLANS.
Dorian turned quickly back to Nita, without observing that Azalea
Courtney had slipped through the door in pursuit of Mr. Kayne. The
little beauty's heart was seething with rage and pain over Dorian's
announcement that Nita was his promised wife, and in Donald Kayne's
anger she saw a chance of revenge by joining forces with him in
persecuting the young girl. Following him down the steps to the shadowy
grounds, she detained him.
"Oh, Mr. Kayne, wait, please! I--I want to speak to you," she purred.
He turned impatiently, and frowned. He knew Azalea well, and despised
her as thoroughly as did Dorian Mountcastle. Yet when she came across
his path to tempt him like a serpent, he listened.
"Oh, Mr. Kayne, I know I can help you to find out about that ring if you
will accept my services," she continued.
Donald Kayne looked keenly into the lifted face, whose luminous blue
eyes glittered wickedly in the moonlight, and that look decided him. He
drew her arm through his, and they walked on among the tall shrubberies,
in earnest conversation.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Courtney, as soon as the others were gone, walked over
to Dorian and Nita, and said stiffly:
"Permit me to offer you both my best wishes for your happiness, although
the affair is very hasty, is it not? And do you think your guardian will
approve, Miss Farnham?"
Instantly, Nita, who had been drooping wearily in her chair, lifted her
head with a terrified cry.
"He must not know. Oh, Mrs. Courtney, you will not betray me!"
"Betray you, child? What strange words! Of course your guardian must
know this."
"I shall write him at once, madam," began Dorian haughtily, but, to his
surprise, Nita faltered, imploringly:
"No, no, Dorian; he need not know it for a little while. He will think,
like Mrs. Courtney, that we were too hasty. He will not approve!"
"I am sure he will not," echoed the chaperon decidedly.
And the young man looked irresolutely from one speaker to the other.
Nita knew, with a woman's keen instinct, that she could manage her
lover, but she was not so sure of Mrs. Courtney. So it was to the lady
she addressed herself first.
"Oh, Mrs. Courtney, be kind to me," she pleaded. "My guardian is a hard,
stern, old man. He will be so angry, if he learns the truth, that he
will separate me at once from Dorian. I pray you be kind to us. Let us
be happy together just a little while first, and I will never cease to
be grateful."
Mrs. Courtney revolved the matter in her mind a moment, but it was no
sympathy with the lovers, only keen self-interest that decided her to
grant Nita's earnest prayer. With apparent suavity, she said:
"I know I am doing wrong, but I am too tender-hearted to refuse the plea
of such devoted hearts, so I will promise to keep the secret for a
while; but in order that Mr. Farnham shall not hear of it, it will be
best not to let the engagement be known yet to any one else beside the
few who are in the secret. Let it be kept especially from the servants,
who may be paid spies in their master's employ."
Mrs. Courtney had tried to make all the servants believe that Dorian was
engaged to Azalea, and she felt she could not bear their silent
amusement when the truth came out.
"Do you not agree with me?" she asked anxiously.
"Yes, and a thousand thanks for your goodness!" cried Nita gratefully.
But Dorian looked profoundly disappointed.
"I should have liked to communicate with Mr. Farnham and have my
happiness assured at once," he said. "But I waive my preference for a
time in deference to my liege-lady."
And he bowed to Nita with the grace of a prince.
"And, now," added Mrs. Courtney, with an amiability she was far from
feeling, "you two may perhaps like to be alone a little while, so I will
ask to be excused."
And laughing lightly, she glided away, eager to seek her daughter whom
she expected to find in hysterics up-stairs.
Dorian knelt almost reverently before Nita, and lifted her cold little
hand to his lips.
"God bless you, my own true love! May you never repent that you gave
yourself to me!" he cried fervently.
For answer, Nita suddenly lifted her drooping form, and threw herself
with passionate abandon into his eager arms, clasping his neck and
hiding her face on his shoulder, sobbing and shuddering in an alarming,
hysterical fashion.
Dorian embraced her tenderly, and at length kissed away her tears,
leading her to a seat by the window, where the cool sea-breeze fanned
her heated brow and cheeks. He did not dream that golden-haired Azalea
was crouching stealthily in the thick shrubberies outside, and listening
eagerly to their words.
"My darling, you must not be frightened at Donald Kayne's threats. He
shall pay dearly for his insolence to you," he said, with flashing eyes.
"Oh, do not harm him, for I forgive him," cried Nita eagerly. "I am
sorry for him, too; I would give worlds to tell him the secret he wishes
to know, only I cannot--dare not," and she shuddered wildly.
"It seemed strange that you would not grant his wish," Dorian exclaimed
uneasily; and she sighed.
"There are many strange things about me, Dorian, and I fear you will
some day repent that you ever loved me."
"Never!" he replied, with a passionate kiss that made the listening
Azalea tremble with jealous wrath.
"But," he continued tenderly, "I wish you would allow me to get your
guardian's consent at once to our engagement. Only think, my darling,
how pleasant it would be to be married very soon, and go abroad in this
lovely summer weather on our wedding-tour."
"Married! Married!" cried Nita, quailing as from a blow. "Oh, we mustn't
think of that yet, Dorian--we mustn't, indeed. My guardian would never
permit it. I will tell you the truth. He has other views for me. I
believe he would kill me before he would permit me to marry you."
"Then we will elope, and forestall his refusal."
"Oh, no, no, no, my dearest! We cannot do that. Oh, Dorian, do not be in
such a frightful hurry to marry me. I will not listen to such a thing
for a whole year! We must just love each other and be very, very patient
for a year, and--then--we will talk about marriage," Nita cried
tremblingly, and with pallid lips.
The listening Azalea smiled, incredulously at Nita's protests, and
murmured:
"She is pretending to be coy, the coquette. But it is not true that she
is in no hurry to marry him. She will doubtless elope with him in a
week. But why does she put such stress on a year--a whole year?" and the
words sunk deep in Azalea's memory to be recalled in fateful after days.
It was crowded with the elements of tragedy and despair, the love-story
of Nita! And while struggling desperately for just a little happiness,
she was forging the fetters of a cruel fate. Weak and loving, she said
to herself:
"What can it matter if I love him just a little while? A few loving
words and kisses, that will be all my sin, and it seems to me that even
the angels might pity me for so small a wrong. I am cheating Miser
Farnham of nothing, for I shall never be his wife in reality. When the
day comes for him to claim me, I shall be lying dead. His offer only put
off my death one year longer."
And kneeling by her bed that night, Nita innocently thanked God for
Dorian's love, and prayed that she might have just a few months of
happiness.