"Is it dull here?" asked Mollie.
Dolly shrugged her expressive shoulders.
"Berlin-wool work is n"t exciting," she said. "How did you leave Griffith?"
"Low-spirited," replied Mollie. "I heard him tell Aimee this afternoon that he could n"t stand it much longer."
Dolly began to brush her hair, and brushed it very much over her face, perhaps because she wished to take advantage of its shadow; for most a.s.suredly Mollie caught sight of something sparkling amongst the abundant waves almost like a drop of dew.
"Dolly," she said at last, breaking the awkward little sympathetic silence which naturally followed, "do you remember our reading the "Vicar of Wakefield"?"
"Yes," said Dolly, in a mournful half-whisper; she could not trust herself to say more.
"And about the family being "up," and then being "down"? I always think we are like they were. First it is "the family up," and then "the family down." It is down just now."
"Yes," said Dolly.
"It will be "up" again, in time," proceeded Mollie, sagaciously. "It always is."
Dolly tried to laugh, but her laugh was a nervous little effort which broke off in another sound altogether. Berlin-wool work and Brabazon Lodge had tried her somewhat and--she wanted Griffith. It seemed to her just then such a far distant unreal Paradise,--that dream of the modest parlor with the door shut against the world, and the green sofa drawn near the fire. Were they ever to attain it, or were they to grow old and tired out waiting, and hoping against hope?
She managed to rally, however, in a few minutes. Feeling discouraged and rebellious was not of much use,--that was one of Vagabondia"s earliest learned lessons. And what good was there in making Mollie miserable? So she plucked up spirit and began to talk, and, to her credit be it said, succeeded in being fairly amusing, and made Mollie laugh outright half a dozen times during the remainder of her short stay. It was only a short stay, however. She remembered Aimee"s warning at last, and rose rather in a hurry.
"I shall have to walk quickly if I want to get home in time for tea,"
she said, "so good-night, Dolly. You had better finish dressing."
"So I had," answered Dolly. "I am behind time already, but I shall not be many minutes, and Miss MacDowlas is not like Lady Augusta. Listen; I believe I hear wheels at the door now. It must be later than I fancied."
It was later than she fancied. As Mollie pa.s.sed through the hall two gentlemen who were ascending the steps crossed her path, and, seeing the face of one who had not appeared to notice her presence, she started so nervously that she dropped her glove. His companion--a handsome, foreign-looking man--bent down and, picking it up, returned it to her, with a glance of admiring scrutiny which made her more excited than ever. She scarcely had the presence of mind to thank him, but rushed past him and out into the night in a pa.s.sionate flutter of pain and sudden childish anger, inconsistent enough.
"He never saw me!" she said to herself, catching her breath piteously.
"He is going to see Dolly. It is n"t the party he cares for, and it is n"t Miss MacDowlas,--it is n.o.body but Dolly. He has tried to get an invitation just because--because he cares for Dolly."
She reached home in time for tea, arriving with so little breath and so much burning color that they all stared at her, and Aimee asked her if she had been frightened.
"No," she answered, "but I ran half the way because I wanted to be in time."
She did not talk at tea, and scarcely ate anything, and when Griffith came in, at about nine o"clock, he found her lying on the sofa, flushed and silent. She said she had a headache.
"I took Dolly her dress," she said. "They are having a grand party and--Does Miss MacDowlas know Mr. Gowan, Griffith?"
Griffith started and changed countenance at once.
"No," he answered. "Why?"
"He was there," she said, listlessly. "I met him in the hall as I came out, but he did not see me. He must have tried to get an invitation because--well, you know how he likes Dolly."
And thus, the train having been already laid, was the spark applied.
CHAPTER VIII. ~ THE BEGINNING OF THE ENDING.
IT was some time before Griffith recovered from the effects of this simple announcement of Mollie"s.
Though he scarcely confessed as much to himself, he thought of it very much oftener than was conducive to his own peace of mind, and in thinking of it he found it a.s.suming a greater importance and significance than he had at first recognized in it, and was influenced accordingly. He went home to his lodgings, depressed and heavy of spirit; in fact, he left Bloomsbury Place earlier than usual, because he longed to be alone. He could think of nothing but Dolly,--Dolly in the white merino, s.h.i.+ning like a stray star among her employer"s guests, and gladdening the eyes of Ralph Gowan. He knew so well how she would look, and how this fellow would follow her in his easy fas.h.i.+on, without rendering himself noticeable, and manage to be near her through the evening and hold his place as if he had a right to it, and he knew, too, how natural it would be for Dolly"s eyes to light up in her pleasure at being saved from boredom, and how her innocent gladness would show itself in a score of pretty ways. And it was as Mollie said,--it was for Dolly"s sake that Ralph Gowan was there to-night.
"She must know that it is so herself," he groaned, dropping his head upon the table; "but she cannot help it. She would if she could. Yes, I "ll believe that. She could never be false to me. I must hold fast to that in spite of everything. I should go mad if I did n"t. I could never lose you, Dolly,--I could never lose you!"
But he groaned again the next moment from the bottom of his desperate heart. He had become tangled in yet another web of misery.
"It is only another proof of what I have said a thousand times," he cried out. "My claim upon her is so weak, that this fellow does not think it worth regarding. He thinks it may be set aside,--they all think it may be set aside. I should not wonder," clenching his hand and speaking through his teeth,--"I should not wonder if he has laughed many a time at his fancy of how it will end, and how easy it will be to thrust the old love to the wall!"
At this moment-, in the first rankling sting of humiliation and despair, he could almost have struck a murderous blow at the man whom fortune had set on such a pinnacle of pride and insolence, as it seemed to his galled fancy. He was not in the mood to be either just or generous, and he saw in Ralph Gowan nothing but a man who had both the power and will to rival him, and rob him of peace and hope forever. If Dolly had been with him, in all probability his wretchedness would have evaporated in a harmless outburst, which would have touched the girl"s heart so tenderly that she would have withheld nothing of love and consolation which could rea.s.sure him, and so in the end the tempest would have left no wound behind. But as it was left to himself and his imaginings, every thought held its bitter sting. He was, as it were, upon the brink of an abyss.
And while this danger was threatening her, Dolly was setting herself steadfastly to her task of entertaining her employer"s guests, though it must be confessed that she found it necessary to summon all her energies. She was thinking of Griffith, but not as Griffith was thinking of her. She was picturing him looking desolate among the group round the fire at Bloomsbury Place, or else working desperately and with unnecessary energy amidst the dust and gloom of the dimly lighted office; and the result was that her spirit almost failed. It was quite a relief to encounter Ralph Gowan, as she did, on entering the room: he had seen them all latterly, and could enter into particulars; and so, in her pleasure, it must be owned that her face brightened, just as Griffith had fancied it would, when she shook hands with him.
"I did not hear that you were coming," she said. "How glad I am!"
which was the most dangerous speech she could have made under the circ.u.mstances, since it was purely on her account that he had diplomatized to obtain the invitation.
He did not find it easy to release her hand all at once, and certainly he lighted up also.
"Will you let me tell you that it was not Miss MacDowlas who brought me here?" he said, in a low voice; "though I appreciate her kindness, as a grateful man ought. Vagabondia is desolate without you."
She tried to laugh, but could not; her attempt broke off in the unconscious sigh, which always touched him, he scarcely knew why.
"Is it?" she said, looking up at him without a bit of the old brightness. "Don"t tell them, Mr. Gowan, but the fact is I am desolate without it. I want to go home."
He felt his heart leap suddenly, and before he could check himself he spoke.
"I wish--I _wish_," he said, "that you would let me take you home." And the simply sounding words embodied a great deal more of tender fancy than a careless observer would have imagined; and Dolly, recognizing the thrill in his voice, was half startled.
But she shook her head, and managed to smile.
"That is not wisdom," she said. "It savors of the lilies of the field.
We cannot quarrel with our bread and b.u.t.ter for sentiment"s sake in Vagabondia. Did you know that Mollie had paid me a visit this evening?--or perhaps you saw her; I think she went out as you came in."
"Mollie!" he said, surprisedly; and then looking half annoyed, or at least a trifle disturbed, he added, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him, "then it was Mollie, Chandos spoke of."
"Chandos!" echoed Dolly. "Who is Chandos--and what did Chandos say about Mollie?"
He glanced across the room to where a tall, handsome man was bending over a fussy little woman in pink.
"That is Chandos," he said; "and since you spoke of Mollie"s visit, I recollect that, as we came into the house, Chandos was behind me and lingered a moment or so, and when he came to me afterward he asked if I had seen the face that pa.s.sed us as we entered. It had roused his enthusiasm as far as it can be roused by anything."
"It must have been Mollie," commented Dolly, and she looked at the man on the opposite side of the room, uneasily. "Is he a friend of yours?"
she asked, after scrutinizing him for a few seconds.