“There is some of the Chateau la Rose, Jack. Would you like to have it warmed a little?” she asked, anxiously.
“Let them put a bottle in the kitchen somewhere,” said Jack. “It will get right there by dinner time. Eight o’clock you dine, I know. I’ll just run home and dress, and be back punctually to the minute.”
“It will be the first time in your life then,” said Mrs. Davenant.
For the first time in his life then Jack was punctual. At five minutes to eight a hansom dashed up to the door, and Jack, in evening dress, with his light overcoat, strode up the steps and into the drawing-room.
It was empty, but a minute afterward he heard the rustle of a woman’s dress, and turned as Una entered the room. She wore the dress she had worn at Lady Bell’s, and Jack, who had not yet seen her in her “war paint”—as he would have described it—was startled; and Una, as she saw the look of surprise and rapt admiration, felt, like a true woman, a glow of satisfaction and pleasure. It was not that she was beautiful, but that he should think her so.
“My darling,” he murmured, holding her at arm’s length; “what magic charm do you possess that enables you to grow more beautiful every time I see you? Or is it all a mistake, and are you another Una than the Una of Warden Forest?”
Una put her hands on his shoulders trustfully, and turned her face up to him.
“Tell me,” she murmured, “which Una do you like best?”
Jack thought a moment.
“I love them both so well,” he said, “that I can’t decide.” And he kissed her twice. “One is for the Una of the Forest, and one for the Una of the world,” he said.