Part 22 (2/2)
”Because you have been absent.”
”I should scarcely have thought it,” observed mademoiselle mischievously. ”You had Jack Egerton's model. Surely she did not object to a mild flirtation?”
”Dolly Vivian! I flirt with her!” he echoed in surprise. ”No, indeed, I've never done so. She is my friend, it is true; but nothing more.”
”Ah, don't tell me that, Hugh. You men are all alike. A pretty woman's face, a smile, a pair of merry eyes, and you are captivated.”
”But I have not been, except by yourself,” he declared, grasping her hand, and raising it reverently to his lips. ”You do not know how blank and colourless my life has been without you--what an utterly miserable existence mine is when we are apart.”
He spoke low and earnestly, for all the fervour of the old love had returned, and, heedless of the warnings of his friends, he was repeating a.s.surances of affection to the woman who held him in her toils for life or death. She did not reply, but, gazing trustingly into his eyes, her breast heaved convulsively.
”Tell me, shall we be the same to one another as before? Forgive me, and we shall live as if nothing had happened to mar our happiness,” he urged.
”Then, you really love me still, Hugh?” she asked, in a low, tremulous voice.
”Still love you? Yes; my heart and soul are yours. I care for no other woman save yourself.”
”Was it to be near me that you came here? Are you certain it was for no other reason?”
”No,” he replied, puzzled at her question. ”Why do you ask?”
”Out of curiosity,” she stammered evasively. ”I--I thought other business might, perhaps, have brought you here.”
Glancing round the apartment, and recognising the elegance with which it was furnished, he complimented her upon her taste.
”Yes,” she answered languidly. ”This place suits me admirably. It is my home, and although I'm of a wandering disposition, and travel a good deal, I return here now and then to enjoy rest and obtain those comforts that are appreciable after hotel life. I am, perhaps, too cosmopolitan.
Well, it is my failing. Since I was a girl, I have been accustomed to travel for pleasure, and I do so now in order to get life and variety, without which I don't really believe I could exist.”
”Not if you were married?”
”Ah! possibly that would be different,” she said, with a rippling laugh.
”I could then take some pleasure in my home, and my husband would be my companion, whereas at present I have only Nanette, my maid. You have little idea, Hugh, of the wearying monotony of the life of women who are alone in the world. We are utterly defenceless, and must either be prudes, and lead the existence of nuns, of, if we dare go about and enjoy ourselves, we are stigmatised as fast, and looked upon as undesirable and contaminating companions. I am unconventional; I care not a jot for the opinion of the world, good or bad; and, as a natural sequence, women--many of them notorious, though married--revile me unjustly.”
She uttered the words in all seriousness, and he felt compa.s.sion for her, as he knew well what she said was the truth.
”I can quite understand that your position is somewhat unenviable, Valerie; nevertheless, I have come here to-day to repeat the promise I made some time ago.”
”Your promise! Why--”
”I love you dearly and will marry you, providing you will consent,” he added, interrupting her.
Her head sank upon his shoulder, and she burst into tears of joy, while he kissed her fair face, and smoothed her hair tenderly.
”I promise you,” he murmured, ”if you become my wife you shall never regret. It is true, some say harsh things of you. I have heard gossip, but I've shut my ears to the lies of those who envy your good looks. In future, however, those who defame you shall answer to me.”
She lifted her face, wet with tears, to his, and their lips met in an ardent caress.
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