"Ah, well," she said, sweetly, "it is no secret since you have found it out. It is true, I do love you, and my eyes have not told you falsely."
Perhaps she wondered that he listened so calmly, that he did not draw her with pa.s.sionate words and caresses to his heart, that he did not speak with the raptures lovers used. He looked pale and troubled, yet he clasped her hand more closely.
"You are very good to me," he said. "I do not deserve it, I do not merit it. You--you--shame me, Marion."
She looked at him with a warm glow of happiness on her face.
"It would not be possible to be too good to you; but I must not tell you of all I think of you, or you will grow vain. I think," she continued, with a smile that made her look like an angel, "I think now that I know how much you love me I shall be the happiest woman on the face of the earth."
He did not remember to have said how much he loved her, or to have spoken of his love at all, but evidently she thought he had, and it came to the same thing.
"How pleased Lady Lanswell will be!" said the young heiress, after a time. "You will think me very vain to say so, but I believe she loves me."
"I am sure of it; who could help it?" he said, absently.
He knew that he had done wrong, he repented it, and made one desperate effort to save himself.
"Lady Marion," he said, hurriedly, "let me ask you one question. You have heard, of course, the story of my early love?"
He felt the trembling of her whole figure as she answered, in a low voice:
"Yes; I know it, and that makes me understand jealousy. I am very weak, I know, but if you had gone to England, I should have died of pain."
He kissed her again, wondering whether for his perfidy a bolt from Heaven would strike him dead.
"You know it," he said; "then tell me--I leave it with you. Do you consider that a barrier between us, between you and me? You shall decide?"
She knew so little about it that she hastily answered:
"No; how can it be? That was folly. Lady Lanswell says you have forgotten it. Shall a mere folly be a barrier between us? No; love levels all barriers, you know."
He kissed her hands, saying to himself that he was the greatest coward and the greatest villain that ever stood on earth. Words he had none.
Then they heard Lady Cambrey calling for her niece.
"Let me tell her," whispered the beautiful girl; "she will be so pleased, she likes you so much." Then, as they pa.s.sed out of the court, she looked at the grand old walls. "I shall always love this place," she said, "because it is here that you have first said that you loved me."
And the pity is that every girl and every woman disposed to give her whole chance of happiness in a man"s hand was not there to see how women believe men, and how men keep the promises they make.
He told his mother that same night.
"I have done it," he said; "circ.u.mstances have forced me into it, but I have forsworn myself. I have lost my self-respect, and I shall never be happy again while I live."
But she embraced him with eager delight.
"You have done well," she said; "you have risen above the shackles of a miserable promise, and have proved yourself a n.o.ble man by daring to undo the mad act of folly which might have blighted your life. I approve of what you have done, and so will any other sensible person."
And that was his consolation, his reward for the greatest act of perfidy that man ever committed, or a woman sanctioned.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII.
"I HAVE PERJURED MYSELF."
Lady Lanswell was triumphant; she lost no time; before noon of the day following she had sent to the Duke of Lester saying that they were staying at Granada, and that important family business awaited him there. She knew that he would lose no time in going there. In the days that intervened she managed her son most cleverly; she said little or nothing to him of Lady Marion. If he broached the subject, she changed it at once, saying: "Let the matter rest for awhile;" she was so sorely afraid he would draw back. She was kind to him in her way; if she saw his handsome face looking distressed, pained, or anxious, she would cheer him up with bright words, with laughter, or anything that would take the weight of thought or care from him.
The Duke of Lester was soon there. Anything in which his niece was interested was of vital consequence to him; he had no particular liking for Lady Cambrey, and always regretted that the young heiress had been given into her charge rather than in that of his amiable wife. He went to Granada, delighted with the news; he had heard so much of the talents of Lord Chandos that he was charmed with the idea of his belonging to the family. It had been a sore and heavy trial to the duke that he had no son, that so many honors and such great offices should die with him.
It was from that motive that he had always felt an especial interest in the marriage of his beautiful young niece.
"If she marries well," he had said to himself more than once, "her husband must stand to me in the place of a son."
If he had to choose from the wide world, he would prefer Lord Chandos from his singular talent, activity, and capability for political life.
He knew, as every one else did, that there had been some little drawback in the young lord"s life, some mysterious love-affair, and he had not interested himself in it; he never did take any interest in matters of that kind. Evidently if, at any time, there had been a little _faux pas_, it was remedied, or so worldly-wise a woman as Lady Lanswell would never have introduced him to his niece.
So the Duke of Lester, all amiability and interest, gave the finishing touch to Lord Chandos" fate. When he had once spoken of the matter, there was no receding from it without a scandal that would have horrified all England. The duke"s first words settled the whole matter; he held out his hand in frankest, kindliest greeting to Lord Chandos.
"I hear very pleasant intelligence," he said; "and while I congratulate you, I congratulate myself that I am to have the good fortune of an alliance with you."
Lady Lanswell stood by, and there was a moment"s pause; perhaps she never suffered such intensity of suspense as she did during that moment, for her son"s face grew colorless, and he looked as if he were going to draw back. The next minute he had recovered himself, and returned the duke"s greeting: then, and only then, did the countess give a great sigh of relief; there could be no mistake, no drawing back from anything which the duke sanctioned.
That same day there was a family meeting; the earl and countess, Lord Chandos, the Duke of Lester, Lady Marion Erskine, and Lady Cambrey; they all dined together, and the duke discussed with the countess the time of the marriage.
There was little said, but that little was binding; there could be no retreat. In the autumn, about September, the countess thought; and she suggested that they should not return to England for the marriage; it could take place at the Emba.s.sy at Paris. There would be plenty of time for discussing these details; the thing now was to settle the engagement. It gave great delight; the earl, it is true, had some little scruple, which he ventured to express to his wife.
"I ought to add my congratulation," he said; "but I am in doubt over it.
This seems a very suitable marriage, and Lady Marion is a most charming girl. But what about that other girl, my lady?"
"That has nothing to do with us," she replied, haughtily. "I am prepared to be very liberal; I shall not mind a thousand a year; she shall have nothing to complain of."
Lord Lanswell did not feel quite so sure, but as he never had had any management of his own affairs, it was too late to begin now. My lady would probably bring a hornet"s nest about her ears--that was her own business; if he were any judge, either of looks or character, that young girl, Leone, would not be so lightly set aside.
However, he said nothing. Lord Lanswell had learned one lesson in his life; he had learned that "Silence was golden."
The matter was settled now; the duke had given his sanction, expressed his delight; several of the highly connected and important families belonging to the Lanswells and the Lesters had sent in their congratulations; everything was in trim.
There was no need for the duke to remain; he would join them in Paris for the wedding. No word was spoken on the subject between Lady Lanswell and himself, but there was a certain tacit understanding that the wedding must not take place in England, lest it should be disturbed.
The duke returned to England, taking back with him a sincere liking and a warm admiration for Lord Chandos; he was impatient for the time to come when he should be able to claim him as a relation of his own. The remainder of the party stayed at Granada; there was plenty to interest them in and about that charming city.
Some few days after his departure, Lord Chandos sought his mother. She had felt anxious over him of late. He looked like anything but a happy lover; he was thin, worn, and the face that had been so bright had grown shadowed and careworn. My lady did not like it. Any man who had won such a prize as Lady Erskine ought to feel delighted and show his pleasure.
So argued my lady, but her son did not seem to share her sentiments. She sat on this morning, looking very stately and beautiful, in a dress of moire antique, with a morning-cap of point lace--a woman to whom every one involuntarily did homage.
Lord Chandos looked at her with wonder and admiration; then he sighed deeply as he remembered why he had sought her. He sat down near her, the very picture of dejection and misery.
"Mother," he said, abruptly, "I have behaved like a villain and a coward. In what words am I to excuse myself?"