That evening Mr. Rayner kept me in the drawing-room accompanying his violin, and talking, until after Mrs. Rayner had gone up to the room she now used on the upper floor. He described to me the beauties of the Mediterranean shore, and said that I should be happier there than I had ever been in my life—which I could easily believe when I thought how near I should be to Laurence. He asked me if I was not anxious to see the pretty dresses my mother had been commissioned to get for me, and told me I should look like a little princess if I were good and did just what I was told.
“There is no fear of my not doing that, Mr. Rayner,” said I, smiling. “But you must not give me too handsome dresses, or I shall not feel at home in them.”
“You will soon get used to them,” said he, with a curiously sharp smile. “There is nothing that women get used to sooner than fine clothes and beautiful jewels, and pretty idleness and—kisses.”
Certainly I liked Laurence’s kisses; but the tone in which Mr. Rayner said this grated upon me, and brought the hot blood to my cheeks uncomfortably. He saw the effect his words had upon me, and he jumped up and came towards where I was standing ready to light my candle.
“You look hurt, my child, but you have no reason for it. Don’t you know that all those things are the lawful right of pretty women?”
“Then it is a right a good many of them are kept out of all their lives, Mr. Rayner,” said I, smiling.
“Only the silly ones,” he returned, in a tone I did not understand. “Well, I will explain all that to you on our journey to Monaco.”
He looked very much excited, as he often did after an evening spent with his violin; and his blue eyes, in which one seemed to see the very soul of music, flashed and sparkled as he held my hand.
“Don’t be surprised at what I have said to you this evening. You have brought me luck, and you shall share it. This journey shall take you to the arms of a lover who will give you all the things I spoke of and more—a thousand times more!”
That was true indeed, I thought to myself (but did he mean what I meant?) as I tore myself, laughing and blushing, away and ran upstairs. There was more delight in the mere fact that Laurence preferred me to any other woman in the world than in all the beautiful gowns and jewels that ever princess wore. And I went to sleep that night with my hands under my pillow clasping his letter.