And as for Mr. Berners, had he dreamed of the real depth of anguish this trifling with the blonde beauty caused his true-hearted wife, he would have been the first to propose the immediate departure of their guest.
Had Sybil been frank with either or both the offenders, much misery might have been saved. But the young wife, wounded to the quick in her pride and in her love, hid her sufferings and kept her secret.
And thus the three drifted towards the awful brink of ruin.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FIRST FATAL HALLOW EVE.
|
Ambrose—Where be these maskers, fool? Collin—Everywhere, sage! But chiefly there Where least they seem to mask! |
| Jonson—The Carnival. |
It was All-Hallow Eve, a night long anticipated with delight by the whole neighborhood, and much longer still remembered with horror by the whole country.
It was the occasion of Sybil Berners’ mask ball; and Black Hall, the Black Valley, and the town of Blackville were all in a state of unprecedented excitement; for this was the first entertainment of the kind that had ever been given in the locality, and the gentry of three contiguous counties had been invited to assist at it.