Bertha M. Clay

“ Sir Lawrence Dacre was just stepping out of Mr. Large’s house, his head erect, his eyes shining, his whole face transformed, looking as a man might who has just received some very joyful tidings, when he suddenly felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and, turning, found himself face to face with Lord Teignmouth.
Sir Lawrence’s face changed again, and he drew a little away from his former friend. He could not forget Reginald’s cruel desertion of his young sister, and was not inclined to encourage his advances under the circumstances. ”

“ CHAPTER XVI. GWEN AND PAULINE.
“I see you are not changed, Pauline,” said Lady Gwendolyn; “it was always self with you, and always will be. My sufferings are nothing so long as you run no risk!”
“Oh! but you are not suffering, I am sure,” answered Lady Teignmouth. “You are looking exceedingly well, and handsome, and the whole affair has blown over so comfortably, there’s no reason why you should not resume your proper position in society. I am afraid Reggie won’t let me chaperon you—at least, just yet; but there is Mrs. O’Hara. She is not particular.” ”

“ Lady Gwendolyn was silent. Lady Teignmouth was the last person in the world of whom she would have made a confidante.
Pauline peered into her face for a minute as if she would read her thoughts. But finding no enlightenment in the impassible face before her, she added:
“Anyhow, you will never persuade me that you might not have married Colonel Dacre had you chosen. Upon one point I claim to be infallible—I always know when a man is in love.” ”

“ Lady Teignmouth was reclining on a couch, her face as white as her embroidered peignoir, and she looked startled and surprised at this sudden apparition.
“Why, I thought you had gone back to the Grange!” she said.
“I did go back,” returned the other coldly; “but I simply changed my dress, and returned on foot, as I wished to speak to you.”
Lady Teignmouth knitted her brows, and did not seem overpleased.
“I can’t imagine what you can have to say to me of so much consequence as that, Gwen. But you do take very ridiculous notions into your head at times. ”

“ Lady Teignmouth shook her head.
“Lady Gwendolyn denied it, of course; she was almost justified in trying to save her reputation by a falsehood, it seems to me.”
“There should have been no need for the falsehood,” responded Lord Teignmouth sternly.
“Yes, but if we all did exactly what was right, dear, what a delightful world this would be,” said the countess, with the sweetest indulgence. “I always feel myself that having so many failings of my own I ought to make allowances for others. Gwen is but young yet, and was led away. I have heard of Mr. Belmont as a man of extraordinary fascination.” ”

“ His face brightened at once. He was sure he had also heard of brandy as a remedy, and what a merciful thing he had some by him. He supposed it was to be applied externally, like the eau de Cologne. Going down on his knees beside the insensible figure, he moistened his handkerchief with the spirit, and then bathed Lady Gwendolyn’s forehead and nostrils; and whether it was that brandy so applied really was a good thing, or that the fainting-fits was ending naturally, the girl’s white eyelids began to twinkle, and suddenly she looked up at him with a languidly mysterious smile. ”

“ Something very like a smile moved Lady Teignmouth’s pale lips. Even at this supreme moment she could enjoy the triumph of having hoodwinked and deceived a man of the world like Colonel Dacre.
If she had injured her sister-in-law at the same time, and destroyed all her hopes in life, what did it matter so long as she herself escaped? It was a principle with Pauline never to trouble herself about other people’s affairs, and to shift her own burden off her own shoulders to somebody else’s whenever she could. ”

“ O’Hara turned and faced him.
“Will you answer me one question, Lawrence?” she said.
“I don’t know,” he replied, flushing slightly.
“Are you in love with Lady Gwendolyn St. Maur? You know you may trust me, for I am one of those people who seem very frank, and yet never let out a secret. As I am not supposed to have any I am never even questioned, so that I am really as safe a confidante as it is possible for any one to have.”
“But I don’t need a confidante, Norah.”
“Nonsense,” she said decidedly. “There’s no comfort like talking over one’s troubles to a friend. ”

“ When people saw me pass on your arm, the women would say: ‘Poor fellow! he married Lady Gwendolyn St. Maur out of pity, because nobody would have anything to say to her after that wretched affair at Turoy. I wonder if she really did poison Mr. Belmont? She looks like that sort of person, does she not?’ A few men would make excuses for me, perhaps—men do judge more mercifully than my sex; but their voices would soon be drowned by their wives’ shrill chorus of dispraise. You see, Colonel Dacre, it is better I should live and die alone. ”

“ He had caught sight of a white figure standing in the porch, and fancied he knew that this was Lady Gwendolyn.
She stepped daintily out from under a trellis-work of roses and clematis, and looked from side to side, as if she were in search of some one.
“Does she regret her cruelty just now?” he asked himself, his breath coming short and fast from an intense eagerness of expectancy, while the wild longing within him almost frightened him, as a sign of the terrible empire this passion was gaining. ”

“ He could not bear that she should throw away her happiness, and, therefore, when Sir Lawrence said:
“If I write a letter to my wife, explaining matters fully, will you forward it to her as soon as you know her address, Mr. Large?”
He answered readily:
“With great pleasure, Sir Lawrence. She did not forbid me to do that.”
“Then I won’t detain you any longer just now,” said Sir Lawrence. “I am exceedingly obliged to you for befriending me, Mr. Large,” he added, with a sad smile; “and I do assure you, on my honor as a gentleman, that I am perfectly guiltless of any offense toward my wife. ”

“ No man was ever less of a coxcomb, but he was not a fool, either, and this hint had opened his eyes. He began to recall things Mrs. O’Hara had said and done, her evident animus against Lady Gwendolyn, and a sudden, painful instinct of the truth began to dawn upon him.
A scarlet flush mounted to his brows, and he lowered his head under Lady Gwendolyn’s searching glance. He was so chivalrous naturally that it pained him to think Mrs. O’Hara had betrayed her secret, since this must needs be such a deep humiliation to a proud spirit like hers. ”

“ But you have no idea how pleasant it is up here; the air is so pure, and the leaves smell so sweet. I’ll get Teignmouth to arrange me a little place in one of his big trees, à la Robinson, so that I may retire there for contemplation and self-examination occasionally.”
“Or, rather, say to read your billets doux, and keep a close calculation as to the number of hearts you have broken,” said Colonel Dacre, with a sternness in his voice that showed this trifling, butterfly nature—as he believed it to be—angered as well as charmed him. “I fancy that would be nearer the truth.” ”

“ You will scarcely understand such mad infatuation, but I am not the only man who has preferred to put an end to his existence rather than live without the woman he loved. I am to meet Pauline to-night, and with a few words from her lips my fate will be decided. When this reaches you I may be beyond the reach of everything but your prayers, but I know that even if the whole world condemn me, you will always—always have a kind word, and a kind thought, for the boy you reared, although he died a guilty, despairing man. ”

“ To be born to an inheritance of shame; to come into a world which had no welcome for it; to see tears always instead of smiles in the eyes which would have been so fond and proud, but for all this shame. No wonder Lady Gwendolyn threw herself down despairingly on the very floor, feeling in her abasement as if this were the only fitting place for such as she. ”

“ But you have plenty of good years before you yet, Colonel Dacre.”
“I hope you are a true prophet, Lady Gwendolyn. I can assure you that, so far, I have only seen the dark side of life.”
“And yet to outsiders you always seem such a very fortunate person.”
“Do I? Why?”
“You have plenty of money, a fine old property, health to enjoy your advantages; and, therefore, as the world argues, you are an exceedingly fortunate person.”
“Of course, I forgot,” he said bitterly; “money is everything in this world; and yet how little it can buy—of what one values most, I mean.” ”

“ His accent and expression showed such deep sincerity, such a passion of yearning love, that, although Lady Gwendolyn was rather chary of her caresses as a rule, thinking she had already made too many concessions, she bent down now, and laid her fresh, cool cheek against his hand.
“Don’t, darling,” he said diffidently. “You pain me.”
“Why not let me be a little humble, Lawrence? Balzac says that you can never be sure you have really won a woman’s love until she is on her knees before you.” ”

“ Lady Gwendolyn would have been less than a woman if she had not allowed her sneer to be perceptible—for she owed all her misery and humiliation to Pauline; and to know that she had managed to exalt herself in Lord Teignmouth’s eyes at the expense of his sister, did not give her a very Christianlike feeling toward the clever countess, assuredly. But, having relieved herself by this little piece of spite, Gwendolyn melted into tears again, and was so agitated she did not notice the arm that was stealing round her waist so gently. ”

“ I have quite made up my mind not to return to Teignmouth.”
“I suppose one may expect to hear of your marriage shortly?” he observed, conscious of another pang at this moment—a pang so strong that it whitened his very lips, and made his heart tremble within him.
“My marriage? No, thank you. You are much more likely to hear of my taking the veil.”
“You are the last person I know to do such a thing as that, Lady Gwendolyn. You are too fond of the world to desert it.” ”

“ His heart was beginning to soften strangely when he came within sight and sound of Bridgton Hall, but it hardened again as he paused to listen to a waltz he knew only too well. Surely that must be Lady Gwendolyn’s touch—her spirited playing. For the band had been dismissed, evidently, and they were keeping up the ball to the music of the piano, which came surging through the open windows and out into the dewy shrubberies as if it would have the young man listen and remember. ”

“ Maur.
Her beauty and aristocratic air made her an object of great curiosity in Wintertown, and, of course, the women were all against her, and felt sure that her seclusion was the cover for some disgraceful secret; but what did all this matter to her?
She believed that she was doing right at the sacrifice of all her earthly happiness, and when her heart yearned with a great yearning toward her husband, she knelt down and prayed wildly not to be delivered into temptation, but to have strength to endure even to the end. ”

“ The countess yawned demonstratively.
“Is it now, do you think?”
“Yes,” he answered, with decision. “I find it so.”
“You really surprise me;” and she leaned back on her couch with an air of extreme languor. “Do you know, Colonel Dacre, I often wonder what some people are made of—nothing seems to trouble them.”
“Possibly those are just the people who feel things the most. Real suffering is generally quiet.” ”

“ He asked discreet questions at the railway station, but the one solitary porter declared that no lady had come there that day.
“In fact, sir,” he said, pocketing Colonel Dacre’s half-crown, as if such munificence staggered him, “we have no ladies, as a rule. Our station was made principally for market fellows and farmers. When we haven’t no passengers we signal, and the train doesn’t stop.” ”

“ And Lady Teignmouth looked at her anxiously. “How could I possibly have had anything to do with it?”
“He was in your way,” said Lady Gwendolyn, so much impressed by the other’s manner, that she actually began to believe in her innocence.
“Not at all. I never allow any one to be in my way. If he and I had both lived to be a hundred years old, I should not have spoken to him again.” ”

“ I am afraid I must be dreadfully heavy, after all. Do let me try to walk.”
“Not for the world; you might injure yourself for life,” he replied. “I could have hurried a little more, only that I was afraid of shaking you.”
Of course he could. Lady Gwendolyn knew that as well as he did, and smiled to herself. Surely he deserved that she should play with him a little, when for two long years he had kept her in suspense as to the state of his feelings, and had only betrayed them by accident now. ”