"Do you know her?" she whispered.
"Yes!" he said. "But it would be a breach of confidence to betray her, Lady Chetwold."
At the close of the dance he surrendered the little lady her next partner, and went in search of the Cleopatra. He soon espied her, seated in one of the recesses, and strode across to her. She started to her feet as Adrien approached, then sinking back into her chair, she looked up at him defiantly.
At that moment the band struck up the music for the cotillion, and the ma.s.s of colours shifted in dazzling movement, as, amid the rustle of silks and the ripple of laughter, the dance commenced.
Adrien was engaged to Lady Constance for it; but in the height of his anger he had forgotten the fact.
"Ada!" he exclaimed in a low voice full of suppressed indignation. "What is the meaning of this intrusion? You"ve no business here."
"No business here! Oh, haven"t I?" she answered harshly, her bosom heaving, and her bejewelled hands clenching.
"No," he continued, standing in front of her so that she should not be seen by the dancers. "You know that as well as I do. How did you come?"
"On my legs," retorted the lady defiantly. "They"re good for something else besides dancing in your theatre, Adrien. You"re an unfeeling brute to speak to me like that after the way you"ve treated me. Do you think I"m going to be thrown aside like a worn-out glove, just because you want to marry that grand swell of a cousin."
"Silence!" said Adrien in a tense whisper, and grasping her arm almost savagely. "Keep your mask on, and come with me. If you are discovered, I will not answer for the consequences."
She rose sullenly, but abashed by his unusual vehemence, for never yet had she seen him moved from his polite calm; and opening the door at the end of the room, he led her away from the brilliant ball-room.
"Now," he said as he closed the door and removed the mask from his face, "what does this mean? There is something more in your presence than I can understand. Whether I marry or not, it can be nothing to you, Ada; you have the money, which is all you care for."
"No, I haven"t," she retorted loudly, "and you know it!"
He held up his hand with a gesture of contemptuous command.
"Speak quietly, if you can," he said, "or I leave you at once. Do you mean to tell me you have not received the deeds?"
"I do," she replied sulkily. "It ain"t no use your carrying it off in this high-handed way, because I ain"t going to be deceived by it! You promised me that you"d make me an allowance of a thousand a year, and give me the theatre when you left me. Well, you"ve left me right enough, but where"s the money? That"s what I want to know."
"I gave the deed to Jasper," said Adrien, looking down upon her with distaste, and vaguely wondering how he could ever have endured such a woman near him.
"You gave it to Jasper, did you?" said Ada, pulling or rather tugging off her mask viciously, as she spoke. "Hang me if I didn"t think so all the time!" she exclaimed with a sudden change of tactics. "That Jasper"s a thief. I heard you say something about those deeds, and Jasper told me a long rigmarole that you wouldn"t sign them. Whether that"s true or not, Heaven only knows. Jasper"s a bad one, an" he"s sold me. He"s got the coin, and I"ll split on him, as I threatened. No, it"s no use your trying to make me hush up, I will speak out. I"ll show you what a fool he"s made of you, you who have been so good to him; I"ll tell you a thing or two as will open your eyes a bit wider than they are now.
I"ll--"
"Be quiet!" said Adrien. "Not another word--there is some mistake.
Jasper has forgotten, he has some reason for not giving it to you. He shall explain directly I can reach town. You shall have the money and the theatre, that I promise you; you know I have never broken my word yet. Now you must go. Every moment you stay increases your danger. My father is old-fashioned perhaps, but he would regard this as the greatest insult, and would punish it severely. You are no fool, Ada. How could you have done such a mad thing? Hush! slip on that domino." He pointed to a black masque cloak, and rang the bell. "Get away as quickly as possible," he went on as, now thoroughly subdued, she put on the cloak. "You shall have the money, I swear it."
On the servant entering, he hastily gave directions for her to be driven to the station; then without another word to her, he returned to the ball-room, just as his father"s voice was heard inquiring for him.
"Ah! there, you are, my boy. I wondered if anything had gone wrong. Are you ill?" He gazed keenly at Adrien"s pale, unmasked face.
"No, sir, it is rather hot though in this dress," he returned hurriedly, hating even the very semblance of a lie. "I believe Constance is waiting for me," he continued. "Ah, yes, there she is. The ball is going off well, don"t you think so?"
His father nodded.
"Yes," he said, "your friends are p.r.o.nouncing it to be a success. Mr.
Paxhorn declares it is a vision of the period. But Constance is waiting."
Replacing his mask, Adrien made his way to his cousin, who, as usual, was surrounded by a small group of courtiers. She glanced up as he approached and, with a smile to the rest, took his proffered arm. As he looked at her sweet face, a thrill ran through him at the purity of her beauty--so great a contrast to that of the woman he had just dismissed that he loathed the very thought of ever having touched her hand. In that moment, the love he bore Constance welled up pa.s.sionately in his heart, refusing to be suppressed, and again he tore off the velvet mask.
When the girl raised her calm eyes to his face, the ardent look in his startled her, and she determined to at least listen to any explanation he wished to give her. "Where have you been, Adrien?" she said gently.
"I thought you had forgotten me."
"No!" he answered sharply, "that would be impossible; but I was called away. Do you care for this dance? Or, would you give me just a few moments with you alone on the terrace?"
Her eyes softened.
"Yes, if you like, Adrien," she said gently. "I am really tired now, and longing for the air."
"Come, then," he said; and catching up a silken wrap that lay on one of the seats, he threw it tenderly over her.
Together they pa.s.sed out on to the terrace, and seemed to have slipped into another world, so great a contrast was the peaceful moonlit valley beneath them to the brilliant, heated ball-room they had just left.
As the curtained door swung behind them, Jasper Vermont, alias Mephistopheles--his scarlet costume now changed to ordinary evening dress, and covered with a long black domino, similar to that which Ada had donned--shot a sharp glance after them; then, with a sinister smile, he left the room by another exit, and made his way into the grounds.
Keeping well within the shadow of the trees and shrubs, he crouched down, directly under the terrace where Adrien had led Constance; here, motionless and scarcely breathing, he listened with eager ears.
"It is hot," said Constance, removing her mask, and letting the wrap fall back from her shoulders.
"All the more reason you should be careful," said Adrien, replacing it gently.
She smiled, as she gazed up at him.
"You look very tired," she said softly. "This ball has been a strain on you, has it not?"
"Not more than usual," he returned. "At any rate, it will be my last for some time to come."
"Your last!" she echoed, looking up at him with wide, startled eyes.
"What do you mean, Adrien?"
"I am going away after to-night," he said hoa.r.s.ely; for the sight of her beauty was goading him almost to despair.
"Going away!" she hardly breathed the words; her face had paled in the moonlight, till it looked almost unearthly. "Why?"
"You ask me why?" he murmured, his forehead damp with the force of his emotion. "You, who know how I love you--worship your very shadow!"
She trembled under the pa.s.sion of his gaze.
"Adrien!" she exclaimed, in low, reproachful tones. "Why do you speak to me like that, when I know how little your words really mean?"
"Little!" he cried with suppressed pa.s.sion. "Ah, Constance, why are you so cruel to me? Why do you so misjudge me, when I would gladly die to serve you?"
The earnestness in his tones was unmistakable; but she kept her face turned from him, and he knew only from the quick-drawn breath that she had heard him.
"Constance," he pleaded, "look at me, dear. Give me this one chance. I shall never trouble you again."
"You have no right----" she began tremulously.