But, unsuspicious of the storm which was about to explode against her, Perdita entered that room;—and the influence of a night of love and voluptuousness and of elysian dreams lingered upon her countenance in the smile that it wore.
She had slept for nearly an hour after Charles Hatfield had risen so noiselessly from her side in the nuptial couch;—and when she at length awoke, she imagined that her young husband had been unwilling to disturb her when he himself arose. Nevertheless, she determined to seek him ere she passed through the routine of the toilette;—and hastily fastening up her hair, and assuming a slight apparel, she had proceeded to the sitting-room where she supposed him to be.
And there indeed he was: but not alone!
Still, when Perdita, on first entering the apartment, beheld another person with him whom she sought, she had no suspicion of the real truth, but imagined it must be some friend who had found out her husband’s residence in Paris and had perhaps called to congratulate him on his bridal.
Thus was it that her countenance wore that delicious expression of pleasure and satisfaction, as she advanced towards Charles and that other;—and it was not until she was within a few paces of them, that she observed the foreboding looks which they cast upon her—even the aversion and the hate with which they both regarded her!
Then she stopped suddenly short, her countenance undergoing an immediate change—the smile disappearing, and giving place to an expression of proud defiance and haughty contempt; though she was still unconscious of the nature of the storm that she saw lowering so ominously.
“Charles, who is this person?” she demanded, indicating Mr. Hatfield with a movement of the head, accompanied by a slight inflection of the whole form—a gesture which would have become a queen.
“My father,” answered the young man quietly;—and he turned away towards the mantel-piece.
For an instant Perdita seemed shocked by this announcement;—but in the next moment, as the thought swept across her brain that it was impossible for Mr. Hatfield to know aught seriously detrimental to her character, she crossed the room in a majestic manner, and, laying her long tapered fingers gently upon her husband’s arm, said, “Is it possible that the remonstrances of your father should have induced you to repent of this alliance,—you, who have sworn to love and cherish me in spite of parents and all the world beside?”