"IF SHE REFUSES, LET HER BEWARE!"
Standing in the solitary splendor of her room, Doris looked round her
with despairing eyes. Was it possible that this sin, of which she had
thought so little, would be the means of dragging her down from the
brilliant height on which she stood? What were those words haunting her?
"Be sure your sin will find you out." Was it possible that her brilliant
life, her triumphant career, her happiness, should all be ended by this
secret coming to life? Would it be of any use throwing herself on his
mercy, and asking him to keep the horrible story to himself? Bah! she
hated him so that she would ask no favor from him--not to save twenty
lives! The only thing for her to do was to go on baffling him--to treat
him, not with unkindness, but with such calm indifference that he would
find it impossible to break down the barrier--to avoid conversation with
him, and to marry Earle as soon as possible. Once married, she could
easily persuade her husband to take her abroad. She would keep out of
England a year or two, and then Lord Vivianne would have forgotten his
fancy.
"There is one thing I must do the next time I see him," said the unhappy
girl to herself. "I must tell him, in some way or other, that my name is
Doris. He is sure to find it out. I had better tell him."
She went to rest in her luxurious chamber, perhaps one of the most
luxurious in London, and in the whole of that vast city there was not a
heart more restless or more sad than hers.
* * * * *
Lady Doris met Lord Vivianne next at a flower-show at Chiswick. It
pleased the fair ladies of fashion to congregate there. The Duchess of
Downsbury, the Countess of Linleigh, and Lady Doris, had driven
together. It was a brilliant _fete_; the sky overhead was blue and
cloudless, the golden sun was shining, the air was filled with the songs
of countless birds, and each laden with the fragrant odor of a thousand
flowers. The charm of sweetest music was not wanting; from under the
shade of the trees came the clear, bright sounds. It was like fairyland.
The earl had ridden down: Earle was prevented from going.
It was there that, for the second time, she met the man who was fast
becoming her mortal foe. There was a long, shady avenue of trees, with
beautiful chestnuts in full bloom; the air seemed alive and warm with
their fragrance. The duchess and her daughter had gone to look at some
exquisite specimens of white heath; Lady Studleigh walked slowly down
the chestnut grove. She heard footsteps behind her, and thinking it was
the duchess, she did not turn. Then the voice that she hated most in the
world sounded in her ears.
"Good-morning, Lady Studleigh; I esteem myself very fortunate in meeting
you here."
Again he looked narrowly into her face, to see if there was the faintest
trace of confusion or fear. It was calm and bright as the morning
itself; her eyes shone like two stars, her lips were all smiles.
"Good-morning," she replied, laughingly; "I shall have my ideal of
fairyland after this, Lord Vivianne."
"What will it be?" he asked.
"A flower-show. It is really very beautiful; I cannot tell you how much
I enjoy it."
"Perhaps novelty adds to the charm," he said. "The most beautiful
flowers I have ever seen are at Downsbury Castle. You have been to
Downsbury Castle, Lady Studleigh?"
"Yes," she replied, with the frankest unconcern, "I was there last year.
I thought the flowers very beautiful."
"I once saw a flower," he said, "that I would defy all creation to
equal."
"Did you? For my part, I think them all beautiful alike. Have you seen
the japonicas here?"
"No, I have only just arrived."
To himself he added, despairingly:
"I must be wrong. She could not be so frankly unconcerned. Besides, how
could the girl I took to Florence with me be Lord Studleigh's daughter?"
"Did you like Downsbury Castle?" he asked, again.
"Yes, but I cannot say that I was ecstatically happy there."
"Why not?" he asked. "You ought to be happy everywhere."
She laughed a low, musical laugh.
"I do not think," she said, "that I was a great favorite with her
grace."
"With the duchess--why not?"
"For many reasons. She did not like the color of my hair, because it is
brighter than Lady Linleigh's. She did not like my name; she said it had
the flavor of common poetry about it."
"Your name? If I am not presumptuous, what is it?"
"Doris," she replied, and she raised her eyes to his with a look of most
angelic innocence. He was bewildered.
"Doris," he repeated. "I knew a Doris once--the one so like you."
"Doris--how strange." Again the low, sweet laugh that maddened him. "I
assure you," she continued, "that I am like the duchess--I dislike the
name exceedingly."
He was looking at her in a maze of perplexity. She was so like; it must
be his Dora. The name, too; it could not be a coincidence. Yet, if she
were the girl he had betrayed, it was not natural that she could refrain
from showing some little emotion, some fear, some surprise. She did not
appear to notice that there was anything strange in his silence or his
fixed regard.
"I have a theory of my own about names," she continued, "and I think it
the most cruel thing in the world to give a child either an ungainly or
an unusual one. If I had had a sensible name, I should not have been
full of caprice, as I am now."
He laughed, still wondering. Could it be his Dora, the girl he had
learned to love with such a fierce, mad love--the girl to recover whom
he would have cheerfully laid down his wealth? He would not have
believed it possible, if any other man had told him such a story; he
would have said it could not be, that it must be clear at once whether
she were the girl or not; yet he was puzzled. If a kingdom had been
offered to him at that moment to say whether this was the girl he had
loved or not, he could not have told. Still, he would try her, and try
her until some incautious word, some half-uttered exclamation, some
sudden look of fear would betray her. If none of these things happened,
he would take further steps--go down to Brackenside, where he had first
met her, and see what he could find out there.
Then, as he listened to her, his faith was shaken again. Surely, if she
dreaded recognition, she would be less natural, she would seek in some
measure to disguise her voice, her laugh; but no one could be more frank
or natural. Then a new idea came to him. If she were really Dora, as
sooner or later he must discover, then he would compel her to marry him
by threats; if she were not, he would win her love and marry her.
Looking at the exquisite face, the proud eyes, all the mad, fierce love
that he had felt for his lost Dora came over him. Then he was startled
to find the laughing eyes looking at him with some curiosity.
"I have heard of day dreams, Lord Vivianne," she said, "now I have seen
a day dreamer. We have been through this chestnut grove twice, and you
have not spoken; you have been building castles in the air."
"I have been building castles of which I have dared to make you the
queen," he replied.
"I should like to be the queen of something more substantial than an air
castle," she replied laughingly.
"You do not know," he said, "that being with you, Lady Studleigh, is at
once the highest happiness and the greatest misery."
"I ought to be flattered at producing such a variety of emotion," she
replied, with a laugh.
"You would be serious--you would pity me if you knew all," he said.
"Shall I pity you without knowing anything?" she replied.
"No; but, Lady Studleigh, you are so pretty, so exactly like some one
I--I loved and lost; you are the very counterpart of her--her true
likeness. I have never seen anything so marvelous!"
"How did you lose her?" she asked. "Did she die?"
"No. To me it was almost worse than that. She, this lovely girl whom I
so dearly loved, was beneath me in station, yet I worshiped her. She
affected to love me--whether she did or not, Heaven only knows. But just
as I had made up my mind to marry her, because I loved her so dearly I
could not live without her, she disappeared--went away out of my life,
and I have not seen her since."
"What a strange story," she replied, indifferently, "and how strange
that you should tell it to me, Lord Vivianne."
"Because," he cried, with sudden passion, "you are so much like her--do
you not see? You are so much like her that I could look in your face and
cry out--'Dora, Dora, have you forgotten me?'"
She laughed again.
"Could you? How strange! I should feel very much surprised if you did."
"You are so like her. When I look at you my heart seems to leave me."
Her violet eyes, with their proud light, looked into his calmly.
"I did not think the men of the present day knew much about love," she
said; "but you seem to have loved her."
"Loved her!--but I forget myself, Lady Studleigh; you might as well try
to imagine what the heat and thunder of battle are like, from seeing
them painted on canvas, as guess how I loved her from hearing me use the
word love."
"You should find her and tell her all this," she said.
And from the half-tired expression that for one moment crossed the
beautiful face, he knew she was growing politely wearied of the theme.
"I am searching for her," he said, his lips growing white and hot as he
spoke. "I am looking for her. There are times when I believe that I have
found her."
"That is well," she replied.
"No, it is hardly well. When I am sure that I have discovered her, I
shall ask her to marry me; and if she refuses, let her beware! let her
beware!"
The words came from him with a hiss. Her sunny laughter smote him like
the edge of a sharp sword.
"How dramatic, Lord Vivianne! I shall begin to think you are rehearsing
for a tragedy."
He looked confused.
"If she be not Dora," he thought, "what will she think of me?"
Then he continued:
"I ought to apologize, Lady Studleigh. I cannot help it, you are so much
like her. I loved her so dearly that, do you see, I would lose my life
rather than my hope of winning her for my wife."
"But how can you make her your wife, Lord Vivianne?" she asked,
wonderingly. "If she had loved you, and had been willing to marry you,
she would not have run away, would she?"
"I have never understood it; there was a mystery in her disappearance
that I never fathomed. But I _will_ fathom it, I _will_ find her, and
make her my wife."
"Did she run away from all her friends, too?" she asked.
He turned to look at her, and they glanced for one half minute steadily
at each other.
"If I have asked an intrusive question," she said, with a smile, "it
was your fault for telling me. Remember, I did not ask your
confidence--you gave it to me."
"As I would give you the whole world, if I had it," he replied,
passionately.
"Because I am so much like some one else?" she replied smilingly. "I
ought to be grateful to you."
"If ever harm or evil comes to me," said Lord Vivianne, "it will be
through her. I am not master of myself; when I think of her it maddens
me. I believe if I met her--found her, and she refused to be my wife, I
should----"
"Should what?" she asked, as he hesitated.
"I should kill her!" he said, fiercely.
"How dreadful! You are quite a tragedy hero, Lord Vivianne." She laughed
as she spoke, and shrugged her shoulders. "Suppose this lady of whom you
speak should be like you, and say the same thing--that she would rather
kill you than marry you. What then?"
"Why, then we should fight it out to the bitter end."
"Here is the duchess," said Lady Studleigh, calmly. "Mind, Lord
Vivianne, I do not think you have done the wisest thing in trusting a
stranger, like myself, with your secrets; however, your confidence in me
shall not be misplaced, I will keep them."
Then the duchess and Lady Linleigh joined them. He remained with them,
affecting to talk to them, but secretly engaged in watching Lady Doris.
But it was all in vain. There was no trace of thought or care on her
face. She talked and laughed gayly, as though he had not spoken a word;
the only thing was, that in her manner to him he detected a gentle pity
that she had not shown before.
"I must be mistaken," he said to himself. "Eyesight, hearing, memory,
all must be wrong--all must have failed me; but--she could not possibly
be playing a part--she cannot be my lost Dora. No woman could be so
utterly indifferent. I must be mistaken, but I will find it out!"