The letter which Regina wrote that night was earnest, almost
passionate, in its appeal that she might be permitted to join her
mother; yet no hint of the _bête noire_ of the square darkened its
contents, for the writer felt that only face to face, eye to eye,
could she ask her mother that fearful question, upon which all her
future peace depended.
Having sealed and addressed the envelope, she extinguished the light,
and tried to find in sleep that blessed oblivion which nature
mercifully provides for aching hearts and heavily laden brains; but
about three o'clock she heard the carriage at the front door, the
voices of the trio ascending the stairs, and once a ringing
triumphant laugh which was peculiarly Olga's, then all grew still in
the house, and quiet in the street.
Unable to compose herself, tossing restlessly on her bed, with hot
throbbing temples and a sore heart Regina wearily listened for the
low silvery strokes of the clock, and when it announced half-past
three she began to long for daylight.
Suddenly, although warned by not even the faintest sound, she became
aware that she was not alone; that a human being was breathing the
same atmosphere. Starting into a sitting posture she exclaimed:
"Who is there?"
"Hush! I am no burglar. Don't make a noise."
Simultaneously she heard the stroke of a match, and a small wax taper
was lighted and held high over Olga's head, showing her tall form
enveloped in a cherry-coloured dressing-gown and shawl. Stepping
cautiously across the floor, she lighted one of the gas burners,
placed the taper on the bureau, and came to the bedside.
"Make room for me. I am cold, my feet are like ice."
"What is the matter? Has anything happened?"
"Nothing particularly new or strange. Something happens every hour,
you know; people are born, bartered--die and are buried; lives get
blackened and hearts bleed and are trampled by human hoofs, until
they are crushed beyond recognition. My dear, civilization is a huge
cheat, and the Red Law of Savages in primeval night is worth all the
tomes of jurisprudence, from the Pandects of Justinian to the
Commentaries of Blackstone, and the wisdom of Coke and Story. Oh
halcyon days of prehistoric humanity! When instead of bowing and
smiling, and chatting gracefully with one's deadliest foe, drinking
his Amontillado and eating his truffles, people had the sublime
satisfaction of roasting his flesh and calcining his bones, for an
antediluvian _dejeuner à la fourchette_,--(only, to escape
anachronism) _sans fourchette!_ What a pity I have not the privilege
of _la belle sauvage_, far away in some cannibalistic nook of pagan
Polynesia."
She was sitting with the bedclothes drawn closely over her, and
Regina could scarcely recognize in the pale, almost haggard face
beside her the radiant, laughing woman who had seemed so dazzling a
few hours before, as she burned away in her festive robes.
"Olga, you talk like a heathen."
"Of course. To be sincere, unselfish, honest, and womanly is nowaday
inevitably heathenish. I wish I had a nose as flat as a buckwheat
cake, and lips three inches thick, with huge brass rings dangling
from them both! And for raiment, instead of Worth's miracles, a
mantle of featherwork, or a deerskin cut into fringe, and studded
with blue glass beads! Civilization is a gibing impostor, and
religion is laughing in its sacerdotal sleeves at its own
unblushing----"
"Hush, Olga! You are blasphemous. No wonder you shiver while you
talk. New York is full of noble Christians, of generous charming
people, and there must be some wickedness everywhere. Don't you know
that God will ultimately overrule all, and evangelize the world?"
"_Peut-être!_ But I have not even the traditional grain of mustard
seed to sow; and I might answer you as Laplace once did: '_Je n'avais
pas besoin de cette hypothèse_.'"
"Had you a pleasant evening at Mrs. Tarrant's?" asked Regina, anxious
to change the topic.
"Wonderfully brilliant, and quite a topaz success. I sparkled,
blazed, and people complimented profusely (criticizing _sotto voce_),
and envied openly; and when I bowed myself out at last, I felt like
Sir Peter Teazle on quitting Lady Sneerwell's: 'I leave my character
behind me.' Mamma was charmed with me, and Mr. Silas Midas looked
proud possession, as if he had in his vest pocket a bill of sale to
every pound of my white flesh,--and Mr. Erle Palma smiled as benignly
as some cast-iron statue of Pluto, freshly painted white, and
glistening in the sunshine. _A propos!_ I asked him to-night if he
would loosen his martinet rein upon you, and permit you to make your
_début_ in society as my bridesmaid? How those maddening white teeth
of his glittered, as he smiled approvingly at the proposition?
Whenever they gleam out, they remind me of a tiger preparing to
crunch the bones of a tender gazelle, or a bleating lamb. Now you
comprehend what brings me here at this unseasonable hour? Armed with
your noble guardian's sanction, I crave the honour of your services
as bridesmaid at my approaching nuptials. Your dress, dear, must be
gentian-coloured silk to match your eyes, and clouded over with
_tulle_ of the same hue, relieved by sprays of gentians with silver
leaves glittering with icicles, and you shall look on that occasion
as lovely as an orthodox Hebrew angel; or, what is far more stylish,
beautiful as ox-eyed Herè poised above Olympos, watching old Zeus
flirt surreptitiously with Aphrodite! Will you be first bridesmaid?"
"No, I will not be your bridesmaid. I could never co-operate in the
unhallowed scheme of wedding a man whom you despise. Oh, Olga! do not
degrade yourself by such a mercenary traffic."
"My dear, uncontaminated innocent, don't you see that society, and
mamma, and Erle Palma have all conspired to make an Isaac of me?
Bound hand and foot, I lie on the Moriah of fashionable life; but the
grim fact stares me in the face, that no ram will be forthcoming when
the slaughter begins! No relenting hand will stay the uplifted knife.
Diana will not snatch me into Tauris, and mamma cannot sail
prosperously from the Aulis of Erle Palma's charity until I am
sacrificed. Ah! the pitying tenderness of maternal love!"
She spoke with intolerable bitterness, and Regina put one arm around
her.
"Olga, she loves you too well to doom you to lifelong misery. You
always talk so mockingly, and say so many queer things you do not
mean, that she does not realize your true sentiments. Show her your
heart, your real feelings, and she will never consent to see you
marry that man."
"Do you believe that I successfully mask my heart? Not from mamma,
not from Erle Palma. They know all its tortures, all its wild
desperate struggles, and they are confident that after awhile I shall
wear out my own opposition, and sullenly succumb to their wishes.
They have taken an inventory of Silas Congreve's worldly goods, and
in exchange would gladly brand his name as title-deed upon my brow.
To-night I have danced, laughed, chattered like a yellow parrot, ate,
drank champagne, flattered, flirted, and fibbed, until I am wellnigh
mad. It seems to me that a whole legion of demons lie in wait outside
of your door to seize my shivering desolate soul."
She shuddered, and pressed her fingers over her glittering eyes.
"Regina, you are a silly young thing, as ignorant of the ways of the
world as an unfledged Java sparrow; but your heart is pure and true,
and your affection is no adroitly set steel-trap, to spring unawares,
and catch and cut me. From the day when you first came among us with
your sweet childish face and holy eyes, as much out of place in this
house as Abel's saintly countenance would be in Caïna, I have watched
and believed in you; and my wretched worldly heart began to put out
fibres toward you, as those hyacinths there in your bulb-glasses grow
roots. Will it be safe for me to confide in you? Can I trust you?"
"I think so."
"Will you promise to keep secret whatever I may tell you?"
"Does it concern only yourself?"
"Only myself, and one other person whom you do not even know. If I
venture to tell you anything, you must give me your solemn promise to
betray me to no human being. I want your sympathy at least, for I
feel desperate."
Looking pityingly at her pale sorrowful face and quivering mouth,
Regina drew closer to her.
"You may trust me. I will never betray you."
"Not to mamma, not to your guardian? You promise?"
Her cold hand seized her companion's, and wistfully her hollow eyes
searched the girl's face.
"I promise."
"Would you help me to escape from the misery of this fine marriage?
Are you brave enough to meet your guardian's black frown and freezing
censure?
"I hope I am brave enough to do right; and you certainly would not
expect or desire me to do anything wrong."
Olga threw her arms around Regina, and leaned her head on her
shoulder. She seemed for a time shaken by some storm of sorrow that
threatened to bear away all her habitual restraint, and Regina
silently stroked her glossy red hair, waiting to hear some painful
revelation.
"I think I never should have ventured to divulge my misery to you if
you had not seen me yesterday, and abstained from all allusion to the
matter when you saw that I boldly ignored it. Do you suspect the
nature of my errand to East ---- Street?"
"I thought it possible that you were engaged in some charitable
mission; at least I hoped so."
"Charitable! Then you considered the feigned sickness a 'pious
fraud,' and did not condemn me? If charity carried me there, it was
solely charity to my suffering starving heart, which cried out for
its idol. You have heard of Dirce and Damiens dragged by wild
beasts? Theirs was a mere afternoon airing in comparison with the
race I am driven by the lash of your guardian, the spur of mamma, and
the frantic wails of my famished heart. I wish I could speak without
bitterness, and mockery, and exaggeration, but it has grown to be a
part of my nature, as features habituated to a mask insensibly assume
to some extent its outlines. I will try to put aside my flippant
hollow attempts at persiflage, which constitute my worldly mannerism,
and tell you in a few simple words. When I was about your age, I
think my nature must have resembled yours, for many of your ideas and
views of duty in this life remind me in a mournfully vague, tender
way of my own early youth; and from that far distant time taunting
reminiscences float down to me, whispers from my old self long, long
dead. When I was seventeen, I went one June to spend some weeks with
my Grandmother Neville, who was an invalid, and resided on the
Hudson, near a very picturesque spot, which artists were in the habit
of frequenting with their sketch-books. Allowed a degree of liberty
which mamma never accorded me at home, I availed myself of the lax
regimen of my grandmother, and roamed at will about the beautiful
country adjacent. In one of these ill-fated excursions I encountered
a young artist, who was spending a few days in the neighbourhood. I
was a simple-hearted schoolgirl, untutored in worldly wisdom, and had
always spent my vacations with grandmother, who was afflicted with no
aristocratic whims and vagaries; who thought it not wholly
unpardonable to be poor, and was so old-fashioned as to judge people
from their merits, not by the amount of their income tax.
"Belmont Eggleston was then about twenty-five, very handsome, very
talented, full of chivalric enthusiasm, and as refined and tender in
sensibility as a woman. We met accidentally at a farmhouse, where a
sudden shower drove us for shelter, and from that hour neither could
forget the other. It was the old, old immemorial story--two fresh
young souls united, two hearts exchanged, two lives for ever
entangled. We walked and rode together, he taught me drawing, came
now and then and spent the long summer afternoons, and grandmother
liked and welcomed him; offered no obstacle to the strong current of
love that ran like a golden stream for those few hallowed weeks, and
afterward found only rapids and whirlpools. How deliriously happy I
was! What a glory seems even now to linger about every tree and rock
that we visited together! He told me he was very poor, and was
encumbered with the care of an infirm mother and sister, and of a
young brother who displayed great plastic skill, and gave promise of
becoming renowned in sculpture, while Belmont was devoted to
painting. He frankly explained his poverty, detailed his plans,
expatiated with beautiful poetic fervour upon the hopes that gilded
his future, and asked my sympathy and affection. While he was obscure
he was unwilling to claim me, his love was too unselfish to
transplant me from a sphere of luxury and affluence to one of
pecuniary want; and he only desired that I would patiently wait until
his genius won recognition. One star-lit night, standing on the bank
of the river, with the perfume of jasmines stealing over us, I put my
hand in his, and pledged my heart, my life for his. Nearly eight
years have passed since then, but no shadow of regret has ever
crossed my mind for the solemn promise I gave; and, despite all I
have suffered, were it in my power to cancel the past I would not!
Bitter waves have broken over me, but the memory of my lover, of his
devotion, is sweeter, oh! sweeter than my hopes of heaven! God
forgive me if it be sinful idolatry. It is the one golden link that
held me back, that saves me now, from selling myself to Satan. In the
midst of that rose-crowned June and July, in the height of my
innocent happiness, mamma fell upon us, as a hawk swoops upon a
dovecote, dividing a cooing pair. Disguising nothing, I freely told
her all, and Belmont nobly pleaded for permission to prove his
worthiness. Grandmother was a powerful ally, and perhaps the result
might have been different, and mamma would have ultimately been won
over, had not Erle Palma's counsel been sought. That cold-blooded
tyrant has been the one curse of my life. But for him, I should be
to-day a happy, loving wife. Do you wonder that I hate him? How I
have longed for the seven Apocalyptic vials of wrath! He and mamma
conferred. An investigation concerning the Egglestons elicited the
fatal fact that some branch of the family had once been accused of
embezzlement, had been prosecuted by Erle Palma, and in defiance of
his efforts to convict him had been acquitted. Mamma and your
guardian possessed then, as now, only one criterion:
'He is .poor, and that's suspicious; he is unknown,
And that's defenceless!'
Then and there they sternly prohibited even my acquaintance with one
to whom I had promised all that woman can give of affection, faith,
and deathless constancy. No more pity or regard was shown to my agony
of heart and mind than the cattle drover manifests in driving
innocent dumb horned creatures from quiet clover meadows where they
browsed in peace, to the reeking public shambles. Even a parting
interview was denied me; but clandestinely I found an opportunity to
renew my vows, to assure Belmont that no power on earth should compel
me to renounce him, and that if necessary I would wait twenty years
for him to claim me. Older and wiser than I, he realized what
stretched before me, and while repeatedly assuring me his love was
inextinguishable, he generously attempted to dissuade me from defying
those who had legal control of me. So we parted, pledged irrevocably
one to the other; and whenever we have met since that summer, it has
been by strategy. My mother, from the day when the doom of my love
was decreed, has been as deaf to my pleadings, and my heart-breaking
cries, as the golden calf was to the indignant denunciations of
Moses. I was hurried prematurely into society, thrown into a
maelstrom of gaiety that whirled me as though I were a dancing
dervish, and left me apparently no leisure for retrospection or
regret, or for the indulgence of the rosy dream that lay like a
lovely morning cloud above and behind me. My clothing was costly and
tasteful; I was exhibited at Saratoga, Long Branch, and Newport,
those popular human expositions, where wealth and fashion flock to
display and compare their textile fabrics and jewellery, as less
'developed' cattle still on four feet are hurried to State fairs, to
ascertain the value of their pearly short horns, thin tails, and
satin-coated skins. No expense or pains were spared, and my mother's
stepson certainly lavished his money as well as advice upon me. At
long intervals I had stolen interviews with Belmont, then he went far
south to study for a tropical landscape, and was absent two years.
When he returned, beaming with hope, the cloud over our lives seemed
silvering at the edges, and he was sanguine that his picture would
compel recognition, and bring him fame, which in art means food.
But Earl Palma had resolved otherwise. It was our misfortune, that in
my haste to see the picture, I neglected my usual precautionary
measures to elude suspicion, and your guardian tracked me to the
attic, where the finishing touches were being put on. Unluckily
Belmont was never a favourite among the artists, and he explained to
me that it was because he was proud, reticent, and held himself aloof
from their club life and social haunts. Taking advantage of his
personal unpopularity, your magnanimous guardian organized a cabal
against him. No sooner was the painting exhibited, than a tirade of
ridicule and abuse was poured upon it, and the journal most
influential in forming and directing artistic taste, contained an
overwhelmingly adverse criticism, which was written by a particular
friend and chum of Erle Palma, who, I am convinced, caused its
preparation. Oh, Regina! it was a cruel, cruel stab, that entered my
darling's noble tender heart, and almost maddened him. In literature,
savage criticism defeats its own unamiable purpose, by promoting the
sale of books it is designed to crush; but unfortunately this law
does not often operate in the department of painting. In a fit of
gloomy despondency, Belmont offered his lovely work for a mere
trifle, but the picture dealers declined to touch it at any price,
and rashly cutting it from the frame, he threw the labour of years
into the flames. Meantime grand-mamma had died, and Belmont's mother
became hopelessly bedridden, while his young brother had made his way
to Europe, where he occupied a menial position in a sculptor's
_atelier_ at Florence. A more rigid surveillance was exerted over me,
and the dancing dervishes crowned me queen of their revels. By day
and by night I was surrounded with influence intended to beguile me
from the past, to narcotize memory, to make me in reality the
heartless, soulless, scoffing creature that I certainly seem. But
Erle Palma has found me stiff tough clay, and despite his efforts, I
have been true to the one love of my life. What I have suffered, none
but the listening watching God above us knows; and sometimes I
despise and loathe myself for the miserable subterfuges I am forced
to practise in order to elude my keepers. Poor mamma loves me, after
a selfish worldly fashion, and there are moments when I really think
she pities me; but from Palma influence and association wealth has
long been her most precious fetich. Poverty, obscurity terrify her,
and for the fleshpots of fashion she would literally sell me, as she
once sold herself to Godwin Palma. Repeatedly I have been urged to
accept offers of marriage that revolted every instinct of my nature,
that seemed insulting to a woman who long ago gave away all that was
best, in her heart's idolatrous love. To-day my Belmont is ten-fold
dearer, than when in the dawning flush of womanhood, I plighted my
lifelong faith to him; and reigns more royally than ever over all
that is good and true in my perverted and cynical nature. I cling to
him, to my faith in his noble, manly, unselfish, undying love for me,
unworthy as I have grown, even as a drowning wretch to some
overhanging bough, which alone saves her from the black destruction
beneath. Unable to conquer the opposition he encountered here,
Belmont went West, and finally strayed into the solitudes of Oregon
and British America. At one time, for a year, I did not know whether
he were living or dead, and what torture I silently endured! Six
months ago he returned, buoyed by the hope of retrieving his past;
and one of his pictures was bought by a wealthy man in Philadelphia,
who had commissioned him to paint two more landscapes. At last we
began to dream of an humble little home somewhere, where at least we
should have the blessing of our mutual love and presence. The thought
was magnetic,--it showed me there was some good left in my poor
scoffing soul; that I possessed capacity for happiness, for
self-sacrificing devotion to my noble Belmont,--that made our future
seem a canticle. Oh! how delicious was the release I imagined!"
She groaned aloud, and rocked herself to and fro, with a hopelessness
that awed and grieved her pale mute listener.
"The Fates are fond of Erle Palma. They will pet him to the end, for
he is a man after their own flinty hearts; pitiless as those grim
three, whom Michael Angelo must have seen during nightmare. When I
think how he will gloat over the overthrow of my darling hope, I feel
that it is scarcely safe for me to remain under his roof; I am so
powerfully tempted to strangle him. Exposure to the rigour of two
winters in the far North-West has seriously undermined Belmont's
health. His physician apprehends consumption, and orders him to
hasten to Southern Europe, or South America."
For some moments Olga was silent, and her mournful eyes were fixed on
the wall, with a half vacant stare, as her thoughts wandered to her
unfortunate lover.
Regina could scarcely realize that this pallid face so full of
anguish was the radiant mocking countenance she had hitherto seen
only in mask, and taking her hand she pressed it gently to recall her
attention.
"Feeling as you do, dear Olga, how can you think of marrying Mr.
Congreve?"
"Marrying him! I do not; I am not yet quite so degraded as that
implies. I would sooner buy a pistol, or an ounce of arsenic, and end
all this misery. While Belmont lives, I belong to him; I love him as
I never have loved any one else; but when he is taken from me, only
Heaven sees what will be my wretched fate. Destiny has made a
football of the most precious hope that ever gladdened a woman's
heart, and when the end comes, I rather think Erle Palma will not
curl his granite lips, and taunt me. My assent to the Congreve
purchase is but a _ruse_; in other words, honest words, a disgraceful
subterfuge, fraud, to gain time. I can bear the life I lead no
longer, and ere many days I shall burst my fetters, and snatch
freedom, no matter what cost I pay hereafter."
"Olga, you cannot mean that you intend----"
"No matter what I intend, I shall not falter when the time comes.
Yesterday I went to see his mother--poor patient sufferer--and to
learn the latest tidings from my darling. You saw me when I entered,
and no doubt puzzled your brains to reconcile the inconsistency of my
conduct. Your delicate reticence entitles you to this explanation.
Now you know all my sorrow, and no matter what happens you must not
betray my movements. From this house, my letters to Belmont have been
intercepted, and our correspondence has long been conducted under
cover to his mother."
"Where is he now?"
"In Philadelphia."
"How is he?"
"No better. His physician says January must find him _en route_ to a
warmer climate."
"When did you see him last?"
"In September. Even then his cough rendered me anxious, but he
laughed at my apprehensions. O God! be merciful to him and to me! I
know I am unworthy; I know I have a bitter wicked tongue, and a world
of hate in my heart; but if God would be pitiful, if He only spares
my darling's life, I will try to be a better woman."
She leaned her head once more on Regina's shoulder, and burst into a
flood of tears, the first her companion had ever seen her shed. After
some minutes the sympathizing listener said:
"Perhaps if you appealed frankly to Mr. Palma, and showed him the
dreadful suffering of your heart, he would relent."
"You do not know him. Does a lion relent with his paw upon his prey?"
"His opposition must arise from an erroneous view of what would best
promote your happiness. He cannot be actuated by merely vindictive
motives, and I am sure he would sympathize with you if he realized
the intensity of your feelings."
"I would as soon expect ancient Cheops to dissolve in tears at the
recital of my woes; or that statue of Washington in Union Place to
dismount and wipe my eyes! An Eggleston once defied and triumphed
over him in the court-room; and defeat Erle Palma never forgets,
never forgives. He proposes to give me ten thousand dollars as a
bridal present, when owning millions, I need it not; and to-day
one-half that amount would make me the happiest woman in all America,
would enable Belmont to travel south and re-establish his health,
would render two wretched souls everlastingly happy and grateful! Ah
how happy!"
"Tell him so! Try him just once more, and I have an abiding faith
that he will generously respond to your appeal."
Olga looked compassionately at her companion for an instant, and the
old bitter laugh jarred upon the girl's ears.
"Poor little dove trying your wings in the upper air, flashing the
silver in the sun; fancying you are free to circle in the heavens so
blue above you! Your wary hawk watches patiently, only waiting for
you to soar a little higher, venture a little farther from the
shelter of the dovecote; then he will strike you down, fasten his
talons in your heart. 'Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves.' The first yon have yet to leap, and with Erle Palma as your
preceptor, your prospective tuition fees are heavy. You are a sweet
good earnest-hearted child, but in this house you need to be
something quite different--a Seraph. Do you understand? Now you are
only a cherub, which in the original means dove; but some day, if you
live here, you will learn the wisdom of the Seraph, which means
serpent! I know little 'Latin, less of Greek,' no Hebrew; but a
learned seer of New England taught me this."
She tossed aside the bedclothes, and sprang out upon the floor,
wrapping herself in her cherry-coloured shawl.
"Five o'clock, I daresay. Out of doors it is grey daylight, and I
must go back to my own room unobserved. What a world of sorrowful
sympathy shines in your wonderful eyes! What a pity you can't die
now, just as you are, for then your pure sinless soul would float
straight to that Fifth Heaven of the Midrash, 'Gan-Eden,' which is
set apart exclusively for the souls of noble women, and Pharaoh's
daughter, who is presumed to be Queen there, would certainly make you
maid of honour! One word more, before I run away. Do you know why
Cleopatra is coming here?''
"Olga, I do not in the least understand half you are saying."
Olga's large white hand smoothed back the hair that clouded the
girl's forehead, and she asked almost incredulously:
"Don't you really know that the Sorceress of the Nile drifts hither
in her gilded barge? You have heard of Brunella Carew, the richest
woman in the Antilles? She is the most dangerous of smooth-skinned
witches, as fascinating as Phryne, but more wisely discreet. When you
see her you will be at once reminded of Owen Meredith's 'Fatality':
'Live hair afloat with snakes of gold,
And a throat as white as snow,
And a stately figure and foot
And that faint pink smile, so sweet, so cold.'
Just now this Cuban widow is the fashionable lioness; she is also a
pet _clientèle_ of Erle Palma, and comes here to-day on a brief
visit. Heaven grant she prove his Lamia! As she affects Oriental
style, I call her Cleopatra, which pleases her vastly. Having been
endowed at birth with beauty and fortune, her remaining ambition is
to appear fastidious in literature, and _dilettante_ in art, and if
you wish to stretch her on St. Lawrence's gridiron, you have only to
offer a quotation or illustration which she cannot understand. Beware
of the poison of asps. There is an object to be accomplished by
inviting her here, and you may safely indulge the belief that her own
campaign is well matured. Keep your solemn sinless eyes wide open,
and don't under any circumstances quarrel with poor Elliott Roscoe.
One drop of his blood floats more generosity and magnanimity than all
the blue ice in his cousin's body. He was in a savage mood last
night, at Mrs. Tarrant's, and had some angry words with your
guardian, who of course treated him as he would a spoiled boy. Roscoe
at least has or had a heart. There is the day staring at us! I must
be gone. Remember--I have trusted you."
She left the room, closing the door noiselessly, and Regina was lost
in perplexing conjectures concerning the significance of her parting
warning.
It was not yet eight o'clock when she descended to the
breakfast-room, but Mr. Palma was already there, and stood at the
window, with an open newspaper which he appeared to scan very
intently.
In answer to her subdued "Good-morning," he merely bowed, without
turning his head, and she rang the bell and took her place at the
table.
While she scalded and wiped the cups (one of his requirements), he
walked to the hearth, glanced at his watch, and said:
"Let me have my coffee at once. I have an early engagement. As it
threatens snow, you must keep indoors today."
"I am obliged to attend the Cantata rehearsal at Mrs. Brompton's."
"Then I will order the carriage to be placed at your disposal. What
hour?"
"One o'clock."
Upon her plate lay a sealed envelope, and as she put it in her
pocket, his keen eyes searched her countenance.
"Did you sleep well? I should judge you had not closed your eyes."
"I wrote a long letter to mother, and afterward I could not sleep."
"You look as if you had grown five years older, since you gave me my
coffee yesterday. When the rehearsal ends, I wish you to come
directly home and go to sleep; for there will be company here to-day,
and it might be rather unflattering to me as guardian, to present my
ward to strangers, and imagine their comments on your weary hollow
eyes and face as blanched, as 'pale as Seneca's Paulina.'"