She motioned to her maid to leave the room. "Stay!" she cried, tossing aside her bridal veil, as Kitty was about to follow the girl. "If there is a spark of honour alive in you, answer me now."
Kitty quietly released her dress from the detaining hand that grasped it, and turned back into the room. "I am at your service," she said, her clear, earnest eyes fixed calmly upon her sister's agitated face. "Only I must beg you not to speak so loud, lest Henriette should be disturbed."
Flora made no reply; she seized Kitty's hand and drew her towards a window. "Come here! Let me look at you! I must see how wooing suits you."
The young girl recoiled from the bold, flashing eyes, which, together with the insulting words, sent the blood to her face. "As the elder sister, you should be ashamed to adopt such a tone——"
"Oh, divine innocence! I tell you that, as the youngest sister, you should be ashamed to raise your eyes to your elder sister's betrothed."
Kitty stood paralyzed. Who had searched the depths of her heart, and plucked thence the secret which she had guarded with all the force of her nature? She was conscious that she lost colour; she felt that she was standing like a culprit detected in some crime; and yet no word came from her pale lips.
"See what a guilty conscience! It could not be more perfectly personified," Flora said, with a laugh, touching the girl's breast with her finger-tips. "Yes, yes, you will admit, my dear, that for all your fine plots there is no duping your elder sister. She sees through such 'purity of soul'; her keen eye detects each tender approach, from the first spring flowers left in the man's room, in the innocent hope that they may attract his notice."
Life now returned to the motionless figure. Involuntarily she clasped her hands. It seemed to her that ever since she had set foot upon the soil of her native place her unconscious, secret soul had been tracked like some wild animal by the huntsman. Was it possible that such hateful designs could be attributed to her because of the trifling negligence which had already caused her tears of vexation? Righteous indignation stirred within her.
"I have already regretted my negligence on the occasion to which you seem to allude," she said, proudly. "But whoever spoke of it to you——"
"Whoever? He himself, child!"