On the evening in question Lucy was unusually quiet and absorbed. She
had scarcely seemed to understand the loving words whispered in her
ear by her lover who sat beside her; she was obliged to force herself,
even, to return monosyllabic answers to his questions. Her thoughts
were elsewhere. She had only been back from Palm Beach a little
while, and had heard nothing from the family in which she was so much
interested. But her busy imagination depicted the well-known room which
contained the portfolio which had played such a part in her life; and
Eugene's fair, curly head, and glowing, longing glances. Then once
more, she saw his father with the broom--the almsgiving scene. Her
thoughts were incessantly occupied with the son of a street-cleaner!
A burning flush of shame overspread her pale face, which George Elmore
accepted as the answer to his tenderly whispered entreaties that she
should become his wife at once, and kissed her hand repeatedly.
The son of a street-cleaner to thrust himself between her and George!
Being what she was--a proud woman and an heiress, she was startled.
"How could I so far forget myself!" she reflected. "Heavens! if George
were to suspect!"
She tried her best to drive away the embarrassing--nay, the dishonoring
thought. The idea struck her as ludicrous--horribly ludicrous, and that
disturbed her even more.
Obviously there was but one way out of this labyrinth of tormenting
thoughts--to marry as soon as possible. She had a mind to say the
decisive word this very evening and appoint, finally the day for the
wedding. As George's wife she would find rest and healing for her
stubborn heart in the fulfilment of her duty, and be able to realize
how foolish it was to allow it unlimited play outside the bounds of
reason. In the meantime the poor family must be helped. In spite of the
foundations of reason which she had just laid, she felt an interest in
them.
"Nonsense! It is nothing but sympathy for those unfortunates," she
tried to persuade herself. Tomorrow she would have a talk with her
father with a view to having Martin restored to his old place in the
factory. She would pretend to have gained her knowledge of their
circumstances from a friend who had employed their son for a short time.
She could not, however, entirely suppress the pricks of conscience
which told her that her silence to her father had delayed this
restoration, and had thus been responsible for the complete destitution
of these worthy people.
Three days later Martin received orders through a workman in the
factory who knew his address to report there with a view to resuming
his former position. Accordingly great joy prevailed in the Martin
family. Eugene was the only one now, weak and ill as he still was, to
remain gloomy and self-absorbed.
A gleam of happier feeling overspread his pale face when he brought out
Lucy's picture, now almost completed, and heightened the attractiveness
of the cheeks, or made the thoughtful eyes yet more speaking. And
then he thought how, when it was all done, he would seek her out and
himself deliver it to her, and once more he resolved to allow the full
fascination of her dear presence to work its will upon him.
"And after that, I must avoid her--flee from her! We must be as two
stars which cannot tear themselves from their own destined spheres,
but are forced to wander each in its own appointed orbit," he murmured
to himself with bitter pain, gazing at the picture with unspeakable
dejection.