Part 11 (2/2)
”Oh, no! this is infinitely better, it is so much more appropriate--
”Thanks for the compliment; but why, if I may ask, should you consider b.u.t.ter to be particularly suitable to me?”
”Not to you personally, but to humanity. Is it not stupid to carve bronze fac-similes of that which is as perishable as the gra.s.s?”
”But had it not been for this stupidity, how should we know the features of Caesar?”
”And would it greatly matter?”
”I think so; but a young lady who so cruelly a.s.sures me that b.u.t.ter is the only material in which my humble features deserve to be reproduced--”
Millicent interrupted the speaker by her pleasant laugh, with its sound of falling waters, and thanking Pedro for what he had shown her, led the way from the dairy. She refused to speak further on the subject during the day-time, but as they sat together on the piazza in the twilight, Galbraith referred to it again; and, after much persuasion, Millicent seated herself at a table, round which the company grouped themselves, placing their hands lightly on its surface. Barbara, who was seated next to Millicent, their hands touching one another, seemed strangely affected, after they had been sitting for some time in silence. She manifested unmistakable signs of sleepiness, and finally, with a long sigh, her eyes closed and her head fell upon Millicent's shoulder. With a little frightened cry, Millicent quickly lifted her, and making several pa.s.ses over her head called Hal to come and support his sister.
In a moment Barbara recovered herself, and showed no more symptoms of sleep. She laughed heartily, and said that a peculiar sensation in her elbows had preceded her momentary unconsciousness. Galbraith applauded the little episode, which he a.s.sured Millicent was very well acted by both partic.i.p.ants. The girl turned her eyes, deep and burning, full upon him, half in anger, and said,--
”Very well, Mr. Galbraith, we will see if you can act a part as well as Barbara. Lay your hand in mine--so.”
The young man smiled, and did as he was bid, with a courteous bow, as if deprecating the power in which he did not believe; and for a s.p.a.ce of time they stood looking each other full in the face. Then Millicent's slight form seemed to vibrate, and from her eyes a light flashed into the man's dark orbs, her cheek flushed, and from every nerve in her body an electric flash seemed to emanate, concentrating into a broad current at the shoulder, and slipping through the round white arm to the very finger-tips. Galbraith's face paled as hers flushed; a stinging sensation half painful, half agreeable, made him wince; and when in a few moments Millicent withdrew her hand, he remained standing motionless, white to the lips, with dim, dreaming eyes, and slow-beating heart.
”Speak,” said the magnetizer, ”tell me what is in your mind?”
”There is nothing,” answered the man, in a low, monotonous voice.
”Now speak, and tell me what you see.”
”I see a man on horseback; the horse is running away. Now he gallops, and the rider loses control of him; they disappear in a cloud of dust, and I see nothing. Now they return; the horse is going quietly, and the rider looks towards a carriage in which sits a lady; it is Millicent.
He enters the carriage; she is weeping, and he touches--” he paused.
Millicent's cheek had grown crimson. She said in a low tone,--
”Why do you not continue?”
”Because you will not let me.”
At this moment a light step sounded on the piazza. Millicent turned her head and saw Graham approaching her. She stepped quickly towards him, forgetting Galbraith, the company, everything and everybody, save that her lover had come to her. As she turned from him, Galbraith reeled suddenly, and would have fallen had not Hal steadied him to a seat.
”I fear I am interrupting you,” said the artist, in a cool voice, betraying some annoyance.
”Indeed, no,” cried the girl, ”we were only trying the stupid old game of willing people; I have succeeded in magnetizing Mr. Galbraith here.”
By this time the young lawyer had recovered himself, though he looked strangely pale and agitated. He was somewhat overcome by what had gone before, and was not a little troubled by the power which the tall, straight girl had exercised over him. He rebelled against it, and yet the sensation of giving up his volition, and living for the time only by her will and her thought had not been unmixed with a keen pleasure. If no one had witnessed the affair, above all, if Graham had not seen it, he would not have greatly cared; but though he had no recollection of what he had seen and described in Millicent's mind, that evening's experience deepened the vague antipathy he had always felt towards the artist, into a positive dislike.
Later, as they walked together alone, Graham asked Millicent if she would magnetize him, to which she replied in the negative.
”Do you think that you could succeed?”
”I cannot tell; but if I could, I should not be willing to do so.”
<script>