"It's almost too good to be true," replied Minot, with a very mirthless smile.
"It must be a great relief to you, old boy. You have worked hard. Must feel perfectly jolly over all this?"
"Me?" said Minot. "Oh, I can hardly contain myself for joy. I feel like twining orange blossoms in my hair——"
He walked on, kicking the gravel savagely at each step. Not a thing in the way now. Not a single, solitary, hopeful, little thing.
CHAPTER XIX
MR. MINOT GOES THROUGH FIRE
The Duchess of Lismore elected to give her dinner and dance in Miss Meyrick's honor as near to the bright Florida stars as she could. On the top floor of the De la Pax was a private dining-room, only partially enclosed, with a picturesque view of the palm-dotted courtyard below. Adjacent to this was a sun-room with a removable glass roof, and this the duchess had ordered transformed into a ballroom. There in the open the newest society dances should rise to offend the soft southern sky.
Being a good general, the hostess was early on the scene, marshaling her forces. TO her there came Cynthia Meyrick, radiant and lovely and wide-eyed on the eve of her wedding.
"How sweet you look, Cynthia," said the duchess graciously. "But then, you long ago solved the problem of what becomes you."
"I have to look as sweet as I can," replied the girl wearily. "All the rest of my life I shall have to try and live up to the nobility."