“Well, then, you are my guest, Fairfax, and my mother has often pressed you to give her a few weeks of your company. Join me at Hardbargain as soon as possible—the sooner the better. To-morrow even—”
“To-morrow!” archly smiled the wily lady. “To-morrow, I fancy, his attendance and your own will be required here. Do you forget?—Well, that is the worst instance of absence of mind I ever saw or heard of! A young bridegroom to forget, for an instant, his wedding-day! Too bad, even for you, the notoriously-absent-minded Archer Clifton!”
Not wishing to enter into explanations, Captain Clifton merely replied with another bow—a most convenient, safe and polite manner of answer, since, without lack of courtesy, it committed nothing.
Then, taking leave of both lady and gentleman, and repeating his invitation to Frank, he turned and went to take his horse from the servant that held it, threw himself up into the saddle, and, with a parting wave of his hat, rode away at full speed.
“Clifton looks darkly—what can be the matter?” asked Frank.
“Oh, nothing! probably Mrs. Clifton, of Hardbargain, has been troubled with some refractory servant, and has sent for her son to come up and reduce him to order—or possibly there may be some dispute or difficulty in settling the demands of the hired harvest hands. They are often even dishonest in their extortions.”
“Deferring to your better judgment, madam, still, I fear not! I think such trifles would scarcely have raised so dark a thunder-cloud upon Clifton’s brow,” said Frank.
“Oh, well! At worst it is but some lover’s quarrel with his most exacting queen, Carolyn!” playfully replied the lady.
Frank was not satisfied—he was pained. This most dangerous dark beauty fascinated and frightened him by turns. He had never seen the fiend in her face since that first night, and her witching power had almost erased the remembrance of it from his mind. Indeed, if he had ever recollected it, it was with wonder and remorse that he should have ever read such fearful meaning in a lady’s frown, and he ascribed it to the phantasmagoria of his own fatigued nerves and over-excited brain. But now he felt vaguely anxious, suspicious, foreboding—he scarce knew wherefore. He had no reason to reply to the lady again, for at the instant she finished speaking, the carriages drove into the yard, bringing the company from Hardbargain, and they walked forward to welcome them home.