Part 69 (2/2)
He started at the name--”Mrs. Enslee?”
”Yes, Persis. You haven't forgotten her so soon?”
”Oh no, of course not. But she isn't here?”
”Oh yes, she is, with her brand-new husband.”
”Really,” he said, trying to sound casual, though the warning of her nearness frightened him and put his heart to its paces.
”I'll never forgive you for not marrying her after you flirted with her so dreadfully.”
”Did I?” he laughed, wretchedly. ”And you say she's in Paris?”
”She's right behind you.”
Forbes felt as a man feels when some one says, ”There's a rattlesnake just back of you.” He became an automaton of wax and turned slowly as on a creaking pivot. Yes, there she was. Persis had just come in with her husband. The news, and the presence of the man at her side, sent a shudder through Forbes. The Enslees had happened upon Amba.s.sador Tait, and Forbes could see that the old man was struggling hard to be decently polite to them.
Persis caught sight of Forbes, and her beautiful brows went up as she smiled. He had an intuition that her look was an appeal for mercy. Then she moved on with Willie, to lay off her cloak.
Tait, glancing about, saw Forbes and came to him at once. Mrs. Neff, seeing him, forgot the study she was making of Forbes' emotions. She demanded of Tait: ”Have you seen Alice? I hoped she was with you.”
”No, I haven't seen her to-night,” he answered guilelessly, forgetting his role in his excitement.
”Then I must look for her. Come along, Winifred. I can't run about alone.”
Winifred did not want to come along, but Mrs. Neff did not intend to leave the Senator in her clutches. She ran her arm through Winifred's and dragged her away.
Then Tait took Forbes by the arm and spoke with a curious sick thickness: ”Let's get out into the air a minute.”
Forbes was alarmed by his tone and by the prominence of the veins about his forehead and throat. They walked into the garden filled with soft lantern lights like luminous flowers, the moon over all and the strangely zestful air of Paris like an intoxicant. The orchestra in the garden was just finis.h.i.+ng a tune, and the orchestra in the house was just beginning an American tango played with a marked French accent.
They found a marble seat in a green niche where it was yet too early for flirts to be found.
”Well, Harvey, she's here--that d.a.m.ned woman--and her toy husband.”
Forbes smarted under the hatred the man he loved bore for the woman he loved, and when the Amba.s.sador, trying to be cheerful, spoke hopefully, ”But, then, that flame has smoldered out, hasn't it?” Forbes only sighed:
”Oh, I think so--I hope so!”
”What's this? What's this?” Tait gasped. ”Are you still at her mercy--_her_ mercy?”
Forbes made a gesture of distress: ”I don't know! The thought of her has never left me. The sight of her again hurts like the bullet I got in that first brush with the Spanish. And she doesn't look happy. There was a shadow over her.”
”There ought to be,” Tait grumbled. ”She's a cold-blooded, mercenary, calculating--”
”Don't!” Forbes pleaded, but the old man raged on.
”She sold herself to a man she didn't love. She's to blame for--”
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