Mrs. Rowland

“ The count leaned back and his lips writhed in a terrible smile. I felt myself growing cold.
“I believe her, Sep,” said the count. “I have had sad reason to know something of her type—the lovely body incasing a diabolic soul.”
He rose briskly from his chair and stepped to the head of the bed, where he reached for the heavy, braided cord with its huge tassel, and glanced back at the girl, who was watching him in a sort of spellbound terror.
“I think,” said the count softly, “that I shall send for Mustapha.” ”

“ She laughed outright and turned to glance at the house. "And you know that Giles's rooms are on this side, because you know how fond he is of pets, and the pigeons are all fluttering around that corner window."
Sir Henry stared. "My word! My dear child——"
"Thank you, Miss Moultrie," said Leyden, "you more than bear me out." His keen eyes rested on her. "If you will permit me to say so, your quickness of perception is extraordinary for a house dweller; you apply these things, the things you see; you apply them to the convenience of your daily life."
"Does not every one?" asked Virginia. ”

“ Rowland had asked.
"Say? Sometimes nothing—sometimes everything. She is never the same. Sometimes she walks in and takes her place without a word, without a smile, gravely, stiffly, as if it were an awful bore. She hardly looks at me, and she walks away without even glancing at my work. On other days she laughs and chatters and asks endless questions, and pours out the most irresistible nonsense. She is a creature of moods; you can't count upon her; she keeps observation on the stretch. ”

“ The current caught the light punt and whirled it down between flower-covered banks.
"How jolly!" cried Virginia; "it is like running the rapids!"
"You should see it in the spring," said Giles; "it's ripping then. We'll have to shoot into the bank below this bend; there's a nasty spot down stream a bit, an old weir that is just awash when the water's up like this."
"How exciting!" cried Virginia. She leaned back and watched him from beneath her curved lashes, darker than her hair, as he skillfully wielded the long pole, noting in delight the ease with which he handled it. ”

“ WAIT. A woman’s hand? No madam, that’s no woman’s hand: I see that already. That’s somebody whose throat must be cut.
LADY. Nay, Sir Rowland, since you give me a proof of your passion by your jealousy, I promise you I’ll make a return by a frank communication. You shall see it—we’ll open it together. Look you here. [Reads.] Madam, though unknown to you (look you there, ’tis from nobody that I know.) I have that honour for your character, that I think myself obliged to let you know you are abused. He who pretends to be Sir Rowland is a cheat and a rascal. ”

“ But Avis, strangely excited, laughed also and in the same language; and then, suddenly the eyes of the sculptor met those of the girl and the color flamed into the faces of both. The conventional present arose to rebuke the naked past. Avis dropped her eyes, ashamed of the lawless emotion of the past moment as if it had been some flagrant act. Her beautiful face regained its classic purity—or coldness. But Randal had seen and heard and his heart was clashing joyful chords. ”

“ If he had been drinking, its gravity sobered him on the spot; in a single moment he collected his wits. The next moment, with a ringing, jovial cry, he was folding the young girl in his arms, and the next he was beside his mother's carriage, half smothered in her sobs and caresses. Rowland had recommended a hotel close at hand, and had then discreetly withdrawn. ”

“ The Mate dug his foot in the sand, and gnawed the end of his new, bristling moustache.
"Is there any other reason, Celeste?" he asked in a voice like the echo of the surf.
She raised her head, and the sunlight shone on her face. The little hands were tightly clasped.
"Ah, yes; there is more. I have known many men in many country, many who have the wit, the resource, the courage, the heart of gold. But never have I known a man who have them all, as this gran' man; and he has, beside"—she turned and covered her face with her hands—"mon cœur!" She sobbed softly.
"Oh, hell!" growled the Banker ”

“ She was excessively shy, and evidently very humble-minded; it was singular to see a woman to whom the experience of life had conveyed so little reassurance as to her own resources or the chances of things turning out well. Rowland began immediately to like her, and to feel impatient to persuade her that there was no harm in him, and that, twenty to one, her son would make her a well-pleased woman yet. ”

“ George Rowland belonged to the oldest and proudest family in the West Riding, and no man looked a better gentleman or more fit to uphold ancient dignities than he. He was proud to boast that from the earliest days no stain of dishonour had touched his house, that the women of the family were as good as the men, their blood pure, their morals irreproachable, their ideas lofty. ”

“ Many another man, in Rowland's place, would have greeted this information with an irate and sarcastic laugh, and told his visitors that he thanked them infinitely for their confidence, but that, really, as things stood now, they must settle these matters between themselves; many another man might have so demeaned himself, even if, like Rowland, he had been in love with Mary Garland and pressingly conscious that her destiny was also part of the question. But Rowland swallowed all hilarity and all sarcasm, and let himself seriously consider Mrs. Hudson's petition. ”

“ Soon Madame paused in her promenade, and, walking to the rail, gazed at the glowing light in the sky, and as she stood, the drum, partially drowned before by her light step and the swish of her skirts, welled out resonantly. I glanced at her curiously. It was still too dark to distinguish her features, but a naturalist, or, more properly, perhaps, a collector, can see things to which better eyes than his are blind, and it seemed to me that I caught a swift quiver as it flashed across her mobile face. ”

“ The blood rushed to sir Rowland's face, but fled again as fast.
'I deserve no such honour, sire,' he murmured.
But the marquis struck his hands together with pleasure, and cried,
'There, my boy! There is a king to serve! Sir Rowland Scudamore!
There is for thee! And thy wife will be MY LADY! Think on that!'
Rowland did think on it, but bitterly. ”

“ Rowland, for so handsome a woman, proved a tranquil neighbor and an excellent housewife. Her extremely fresh complexion, however, was always suffused with an air of apathetic homesickness, and she played her part in American society chiefly by having the little squares of brick pavement in front of her dwelling scoured and polished as nearly as possible into the likeness of Dutch tiles. Rowland Mallet remembered having seen her, as a child—an immensely stout, white-faced lady, wearing a high cap of very stiff tulle, speaking English with a formidable accent, and suffering from dropsy. ”

“ As soon as I was seated John turned to me, raising himself on one elbow. His face was ghastly and his lips trembled before he spoke.
“Frank,” says he, “it was I who stole Edith's pearls.”
“I know it,” I answered.
His eyes got wild. “What?” he cried. “How—how—does anybody else know it? How did you find out?”
“Lie down,” said I, “and keep quiet. I'll give you the whole yarn.”
John sank back against his pillows with a groan. I started in with the story, telling him everything except the names of Léontine and Ivan. Before I had finished, John's face changed for the better. ”

“ And so, with the flaming seas crumbling beneath the bows and the spill of wind from the close-hauled mainsail smiting soft, quick blows upon my bowed shoulders and the pale fire-flecked darkness all about, I felt her come, and looked up to see her rosy face smiling at me against the leeward murk. It was not as I had seen it last, a-writhe with the pain which pays the tithe of a new soul, but radiant and with red lips curving in a smile, and clear eyes looking joyously into mine. ”

“ Cold-blooded indifference in such an apparently charming girl jarred upon him disagreeably. He leaped to the ground and tied his horse to a sapling; then he turned to the girl, who was watching him with a peculiar expression.
"He is not hurt," she said, with a touch of impatience in her voice and an imperceptible movement of her body, as if to oppose the examination. "You are very kind, but we do not need any assistance. I have sent a farmer-boy for a trap." ”

“ Just before the curtain fell Léontine and Kharkoff left the box. Edith turned to me.
“Did you ever see so wonderful a creature?” she asked.
“Did you?” said Miss Dalghren.
“She's rather too exotic for my taste,” I answered.
“Do you know who she is?” asked the girl.
“They call her 'the Devil's wife'!” said John. “Let's go out and see if she's in the promenade.” ”

“ He glanced sharply at his daughter.
“I never had much confidence in young Crandall,” said he, “but it's for you to decide.”
“I've done so, Papa,” said Alison. “Jerry and I agree that our marriage was a great mistake. We've never been compatible temperamentally, and I must admit I don't think a girl brought up as I have been, ought ever to marry a poor man, especially”—she looked with meaning at her father, who flushed beneath her knowing gaze—“when her male parent is still young and handsome and a widower.”
“Come, come, daughter,” Mr. Arnold interrupted gruffly. ”

“ Virginia's eyes had assumed peculiar rapt expression, pupils dilated and focused beyond the point upon which the vision rested, voice of a peculiar flat tone; semi-autohypnosis. At the naturalist's brusque note she started, looked puzzled, vexed, then laughed nervously.
"What was I saying? You are an odd man, Dr. Leyden; one unclothes one's mind in your presence with a shocking lack of modesty. Speaking of Dessalines, there he is ahead of us." ”

“ He immediately embarked on an elaborate apology for not having yet manifested as he felt it his sense of the honour Rowland had done him.
"I 'm always on service with these ladies, you see, and that 's a duty to which one would n't willingly be faithless an instant."
"Evidently," said Rowland, "you 're a very devoted friend. Mrs. Light, in her situation, is very happy to be able so to depend on you."
"We are old friends," the Cavaliere gravely said. "Very good friends. I knew the signora many years ago, when she was the prettiest woman in Rome—or rather in Ancona, which is even better. ”

“ Are we not capable of equal attainments? Am I not the peer of any man physically, mentally, spiritually?" The massive chest swelled; the eyes seemed to protrude, while their rims of white widened; the flat nostrils dilated. "Tell me, Miss Moultrie," he leaned slightly toward her, "is there any reason why I should not take a white woman—an English woman, a woman of good birth—to be my wife if I should ever succeed in becoming the king of Hayti?"
Virginia was unable to speak, to think, to take her fascinated eyes from the eager face. ”

“ Have you ever, Doctor, closely watched a woman who is married to a man she hates, loathes, despises, as her husband enters the room? Perhaps he is a plausible brute who only shows the cloven hoof after he has shot the bolt of her bedroom door; no one else may guess it unless one watches the wife. The dilatation of the pupil, the faintest quiver of the nostrils, the little shiver—Dixie had all of these, but, as Claud had said, he was too self-contained, too much of a gentleman, to further reveal his emotions.
"I could see Claud shrivel at Deshay's familiarity. ”

“ Rowland and Charles stood facing each other in the gathering dusk. From the direction of the kitchen came the singing voices of Kenneth and Martin, who were unconscious of the tragedy being enacted so close at hand. There was a light rising into the old face of the planter which Charles had never seen there before. Rowland laid his hand on his shoulder and let it lie there gently, almost tenderly.
"You have won the heart of my daughter," he began. "She is the image of her mother, and the man who has such a love has all the world can give that is worth having. I congratulate you, sir. ”

“ The question left Rowland's lips before he could stay it, which he would have done on a moment's reflection.
Christina looked at him intently. "No!" she said at last. "That would have been dishonorable, would n't it? But I know it from my knowledge of him. He does n't like perfection; he is not bent upon being safe, in his likings; he 's willing to risk something! Poor fellow, he risks too much!"
Rowland was silent; he did not care for the thrust; but he was profoundly mystified. Christina beckoned to her poodle, and the dog marched stiffly across to her. ”

“ The door swung open and Lady Darran, followed by the Lady Avis, entered the studio.
"Good morning, Jack," said Lady Darran. "We have come an hour earlier because we want to go to a tea at the Casino later. You don't mind, do you?" She threw a friendly nod to Bob.
"Certainly not," replied Randal, a bit stiffly. He looked curiously at Lady Avis, then at the nearly finished bust.
"How do you like it?" he asked.
"Very much," answered the English girl unemotionally. She let her blue eyes rest meditatively upon the beautiful reproduction of her head, then turned to the sculptor. ”

“ Rowland! I have come to you in my misery, not to accuse you of being its cause; but to tell you that you alone could have prevented it. No mortal could live with more happiness than I, did I but know that you had the slightest love for me. Even should we never meet again, there would be joy in the thought that your love was, or had been mine.”
“Jessie! Can you speak thus when—”
“Peace, Rowland! hear me out. I am nearly mad. I will tell you all—all that I have suffered for you. For that reason have I come here. They want me to marry a man I do not love. Give me your counsel, Rowland! ”