NEVER MORE HER LOVER.
It was dramatic, touching, this seemingly impetuous, unstudied outburst
from a sore heart, in this moment of sorrow and distress. It conveyed
sympathy, repentance, and love all in a breath, and for a moment it
swayed Laurie to pity and tenderness.
She was his cousin, after all, and both were sharing a common sorrow;
they must needs sympathize with each other.
He did not repulse her, he simply stood passive with his arms swinging
loosely at his side, while Lelia enclosed him in her embrace, with her
fair head nestled close to his chin; but he was conscious that not a
pulse throbbed faster at her nearness and her tender words.
And, looking over the top of her head at her mother, he said rebukingly:
“You should not have let Lelia watch all night by a sick-bed. It is bad
for her nerves.”
“That is just like you, Laurie, always thinking of Lelia before every
one else,” smiled Mrs. Ritchie. “Indeed, there was no actual need for
the dear girl to stay up, but she insisted on it.”
“How could I sleep, and dear Aunt Cy so ill? Besides, I was waiting
up for you, Laurie, to get your forgiveness as she wished me,” sobbed
Lelia, with dramatic fervor.
“Very well, then, my cousin, I forgive you. Sit down and calm
yourself,” Laurie answered gently, with a movement to escape from her
clinging arms, having all a man’s horror of a scene.
But they only tightened in their clasp, and Lelia turned her tempting
lips upward, inviting the pressure of his while she murmured
rapturously:
“You forgive my childish folly, so bitterly repented, and love me
again, dear Laurie, thank Heaven.”
But no kiss sealed his forgiveness on the full, red lips; Laurie only
frowned and averted his face, answering coldly:
“I forgive you, Lelia, freely, for your dismissal did not hurt me so
much as you feared, or hoped, perhaps, in your anger. But as for
loving you again, do not ask it; that is forever impossible!”
And he pushed her gently, but resolutely from him into the nearest
chair, with a glance of but thinly veiled scorn.
But Lelia could be a very clever actress when she wished, combining
genuine feeling with dramatic art.
She sprang from the chair in which he had placed her and faced him in
blended grief and anger.
“Oh, cruel, cruel! You repulse me, Laurie, when I humble myself to
sue to you for pity and pardon!” she passionately cried. “Oh, this
is unkind and unmanly! Can you turn your back coldly on a repentant,
humbled heart? Is all your pretended love dead so soon?”
“Compose yourself, Lelia, this is not a time for the reproaches you
are uttering. There are listeners,” the young man reminded her, with a
warning glance about the room.
She crested her golden head defiantly:
“It does not matter. There are only mama, uncle, and the nurse, and
all three are in sympathy with us, and anxious to see us make up our
quarrel. Oh, Laurie, I never expected to stoop from my stubborn pride
to sue for a reconciliation, though my heart is breaking within me! But
don’t you understand why I must stoop to it here by the dying bed of
the dear one who commanded it and wished it; and who, perhaps, might
rest easier if you would only love me again?”
She paused and gazed at him with imploring eyes.
But he did not move or speak; he only gazed back in cold displeasure at
her persistency.
Mrs. Ritchie cried out, reproachfully:
“Oh, Laurie, you have loved her all her life! For the love of Heaven do
not turn against my unhappy child now!”
General Willoughby added, persuasively:
“I am astonished to learn that there has been a lovers’ quarrel between
you two, and I hope you will become reconciled at once. Laurie, Lelia
has humbled herself sufficiently, and your stubbornness is disgraceful
in a man. Come, come, give over pride, and take her to your heart
again!”
“Never! Never!” came sternly through the young man’s set teeth.
“Never!” shrieked Lelia.
“Never!” echoed her mother wildly.
“Never!” repeated the old general incredulously.
And the young man thus harassed, turned at bay, squared his broad
shoulders defiantly, and threw back his proud, handsome head, answering
sternly:
“It is useless to appeal to me; useless to reproach me. I will never
marry my cousin, Lelia! She has broken our troth herself and told me
she loved another. Whether true or false does not matter to me, for my
heart has turned from her forever. I forgive her as she asked me. I
will remain her friend and cousin still, but never more her lover!” and
to end the painful scene he stalked resolutely from the room.