Part 41 (2/2)
”It's all you deserve, after such attempted selfishness on your part,”
replied his brother.
They rowed across the lake in the soft light, the glory of the setting sun still reflected from the surrounding peaks, the music of their boat songs accompanied by the dip and plash of the oars.
At last they reached the cascades, and rounding a little promontory, the glory of that wondrous scene suddenly burst upon them. For a moment Mr. Rutherford sat speechless, and Lyle, facing him, silently enjoyed his surprise and his ecstasy as keenly as he enjoyed the wonderful beauty about him. In his face, she read the same capacity for joy or for suffering which Nature had bestowed upon herself, and when his eyes suddenly met hers again, he saw the tears glistening in their s.h.i.+ning depths, and with quick, intuitive sympathy, readily understood the cause.
For a while they rowed back and forth in almost silent admiration; then the boats were brought side by side at the foot of the cascades, and the air resounded with song; sometimes their voices all blending together in exquisite harmony, then in twos and threes, while occasionally, some beautiful old song would be given as a solo.
It had been an evening of rare enjoyment for each one, and they were just about to turn their boats homeward, when Ned Rutherford exclaimed:
”I say, don't let us leave this spot until Miss Maverick sings that song she gave us the first time we came out here, the first we ever heard her sing. I never can forget that song, and it is always a.s.sociated with this place.”
The others joined in the request. Lyle hesitated. Could she trust herself to sing that song to-night? It was easy to sing when love had come to another's heart, but could she sing it now that he had come to her own?
She consented, and the oars rested once more. With her eyes fixed on the distant mountains, Lyle began her song:
”Love is come with a song and a smile.”
At the first words, Morton Rutherford started, and as he fixed his eyes on the beautiful singer, her fair form and s.h.i.+ning hair outlined against the silvery cascades, it seemed to him the loveliest sight of his whole life.
Her voice, exquisitely sweet as she began, gained in expression and power, until she sang as she had never sung before; and as the last notes died away, Houston, bending his head low, whispered to Miss Gladden:
”Leslie, my dear, do you think now that Lyle's heart is not susceptible? She never could sing that song in that way if she knew nothing of love.”
And Miss Gladden made no reply, for her own heart was too full for words.
The song was ended, and Lyle's eyes suddenly met the dark ones fixed upon her face, and though no words were spoken, she read in their depths that hers was not the only heart to which love had come.
CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.
That night the diminutive lamp that did duty in the room a.s.signed to the two brothers burned till long past the hour of midnight. By its dim light, Ned Rutherford indited a letter to his fiancee, while his brother quietly paced back and forth, the entire length of the small apartment, his hands clasped behind him and his head thrown back,--his usual att.i.tude when in deep thought.
”Getting up another article on the application of electric force?”
inquired Ned, as he paused to watch his brother.
”No,” was the reply, ”I am thinking at present of a force far more subtle and more powerful than that of electricity.”
”Why, how's that?” asked Ned in surprise, ”I thought electricity was one of your pet hobbies.”
”Never mind about my pet hobbies,” said his brother, with a smile, ”just continue your writing for the present.”
Half an hour later, as Ned folded and sealed the voluminous letter, and placed upon it the long, foreign address, his brother, watching him with a curious half smile, said:
”I shall have to give you credit for a great deal of constancy, Ned, more than I really supposed you possessed.”
”How's that?” asked Ned, with a slight blush, ”to what do you refer.”
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