Anna Lyon, his beautiful cousin, had always been intended for himself, he said, and Dick Hammond knew it. And even now, for all Dick Hammond knew to the contrary, he, Alick Lyon, had the exclusive right to Anna’s regards.
How then did he, Dick Hammond, dare to set himself up as a lover of Anna, and a rival of her betrothed?
Yes! and how dared Anna, in the face of her parent’s will and her own engagements, receive and favor him as such?
Alick ground his teeth with rage and jealousy.
“They must never know, they shall never know, but that my claims to Anna’s hand are as good as they ever were!—At least they shall not know it until all possibility of Hammond’s union with Anna is destroyed,” said Alick to himself.
And that day he devoted himself with lover-like assiduity to his Cousin Anna. And that night he remained in town all night.
Alas, for Drusilla! She had fallen upon still darker days; for now she never even knew when waiting up for her husband, whether he would return or not.
Still—still she strove against despondency and hoping against hope, assumed some cheerfulness.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SILENT SORROW.
And the little lady grew silent and thin,