The night wanes. Already the "keen stars that falter never" are dropping, one by one, to slumber, perfect and serene. Diana, tired of her ceaseless watch, is paling, fading, dying imperceptibly, as though feeling herself soon to be conquered by the st.u.r.dy morn.
Dorian, who has held himself carefully aloof from Miss Broughton ever since that last scene, when she had shown herself so unmindful of him and his just claim to the dance then on the cards, now, going up to her, says, coldly,--
"I think the next is our dance, Miss Broughton."
Georgie, who is laughing gayly with Mr. Kennedy, turns her face to his, some surprise mixed with the sweetness of her regard. Never before has he addressed her in such a tone.
"Is it?" she says, gently. "I had forgotten; but of course my card will tell."
"One often forgets, and one"s card doesn"t always tell," replies he, with a smile tinctured with bitterness.
She opens her eyes, and stares at him blankly. There is some balm in Gilead, he tells himself, as he sees she is totally unaware of his meaning. Perhaps, after all, she _did_ forget about that tenth dance, and did not purposely fling him over for the man now beside her, who is grinning at her in a supremely idiotic fashion. How he hates a fellow who simpers straight through everything, and looks always as if the world and he were eternally at peace!
She flushes softly,--a gentle, delicate flush, born of distress, coldness from even an ordinary friend striking like ice upon her heart. She looks at her card confusedly.
"Yes, the next is ours," she says, without raising her eyes; and then the band begins again, and Dorian feels her hand upon his arm, and Kennedy bows disconsolately and disappears amid the crowd.
"Do you particularly want to dance this?" asks Dorian, with an effort.
"No; not much."
"Will you come out into the gardens instead? I want--I must speak to you."
"You may speak to me here, or in the garden, or any where," says Georgie, rather frightened by the vehemence of his tone.
She lets him lead her down the stone steps that lead to the shrubberies outside, and from thence to the gardens. The night is still. The waning moonlight clear as day. All things seem calm and full of rest,--that deepest rest that comes before the awakening.
"Who is your new friend?" asks he, abruptly, when silence any longer has become impossible.
"Mr. Kennedy. He is not exactly a friend. I met him one night before in all my life, and he was very kind to me----"
"One night!" repeats Dorian, ignoring the fact that she yet has something more to say. "One night! What an impression"--unkindly--"he must have made on that memorable occasion, to account for the very warm reception accorded to him this evening!"
She turns her head away from him, but makes no reply.
"Why did you promise me that dance if you didn"t mean giving it?" he goes on, with something in his voice that resembles pa.s.sion, mixed with pain. "I certainly believed you in earnest when you promised it to me."
"You believed right: I did mean it. Am I not giving it?" says Georgie, bewildered, her eyes gleaming, large and troubled, in the white light that illumines the sleeping world. "It is your fault that we are not dancing now. I, for my part, would much rather be inside, with the music, than out here with you, when you talk so unkindly."
"I have no doubt you would rather be anywhere than with me," says Dorian, hastily; "and of course this new friend is intensely interesting."
"At least he is not rude," says Miss Broughton, calmly, plucking a pale green branch from a laurestinus near her.
"I am perfectly convinced he is one of the few faultless people upon earth," says Brans...o...b.., now in a white heat of fury. "I shouldn"t dream of aspiring to his level. But yet I think you needn"t have given him the dance you promised me."
"I didn"t," says Miss Broughton, indignantly, in all good faith.
"You mean to tell me you hadn"t given me the tenth dance half an hour before?"
"The tenth! You might as well speak about the hundred and tenth! If it wasn"t on my card how could I remember it?"
"But it was on your card: I wrote it down myself."
"I am sure you are making a mistake," says Miss Broughton, mildly; though in her present frame of mind, I think she would have dearly liked to tell him he is lying.
"Then show me your card. If I have blundered in this matter I shall go on my knees to beg your pardon."
"I don"t want you on your knees,"--pettishly. "I detest a man on his knees, he always looks so silly. As for my card,"--grandly,--"here it is."
Dorian, taking it, opens it, and, running his eyes down the small columns, stops short at number ten. There, sure enough, is "D. B." in very large capitals indeed.
"You see," he says, feeling himself, as he says it, slightly ungenerous.
"I am very sorry," says Miss Broughton, standing far away from him, and with a little quiver in her tone. "I have behaved badly, I now see. But I did not mean it." She has grown very pale; her eyes are dilating; her rounded arms, soft and fair and lovable as a little child"s, are gleaming snow-white against the background of shining laurel leaves that are glittering behind her in the moonlight. Her voice is quiet, but her eyes are full of angry tears, and her small gloved hands clasp and unclasp each other nervously.
"You have proved me in the wrong," she goes on, with a very poor attempt at coolness, "and, of course, justice is on your side. And you are quite right to say anything that is unkind to me; and--and I _hate_ people who are always in the right."
With this she turns, and, regardless of him, walks hurriedly, and plainly full of childish rage, back to the house.
Dorian, stricken with remorse, follows her.
"Georgie, forgive me! I didn"t mean it; I swear I didn"t!" he says, calling her by her Christian name for the first time, and quite unconsciously. "Don"t leave me like this; or, at least let me call to-morrow and explain."
"I don"t want to see you to-morrow or any other day," declares Miss Broughton, with cruel emphasis, not even turning her head to him as she speaks.
"But you shall see me to-morrow," exclaims he, seizing her hand, as she reaches the conservatory door, to detain her. "You will be here; I shall come to see you. I entreat, I implore you not to deny yourself to me." Raising her hand, he presses it with pa.s.sionate fervor to his lips.
Georgie, detaching her hand from his grasp, moves away from him.
""Must is for the queen, and shall is for the king,"" quotes she, with a small pout, "and to-morrow--catch me if you can!"
She frowns slightly, and, with a sudden movement, getting behind a large flowering shrub, disappears from his gaze for the night.
CHAPTER XXIV.
"But sweeter still than this, than these, than all, Is first and pa.s.sionate love: it stands alone."--BYRON.
Next day is born, lives, grows, deepens; and, as the first cold breath of even declares itself, Dorian rides down the avenue that leads to Gowran.
Miss Peyton is not at home (he has asked first for her, as in duty bound), and Miss Broughton is in the grounds somewhere. This is vague.
The man offers warmly to discover her and bring her back to the house to receive Mr. Brans...o...b..; but this Mr. Brans...o...b.. will not permit.
Having learned the direction in which she is gone, he follows it, and glides into a region wherein only fairies should have right to dwell.
A tangled ma.s.s of gra.s.s, and blackberry, and fern; a dying sunlight, deep and tender; soft beds of tawny moss. Myriad bluebells are alive, and, spreading themselves, far and wide, in one rich carpeting (whose color puts to shame the pale blue of the heavenly vault above), make one harmonious blending with their green straight leaves.