“Miss Wells, I am delighted to meet you.” His smile was radiant. Eliza could not even smile. She stood quite still and looked at him.
“Beth was right about how fine you would look.” He spoke so low that no one else might hear, and then moved along the line.
The greater number of guests had arrived. There was time for a word between the hostesses. Mrs. Laurens turned to Eliza. “I’m sure you will like Hillis—I presume I should say Dr. Hillis. He is authority on plant life and has delved deep into all kindred sciences. He shut himself up somewhere in the wilds the last year in order to devote his time to writing. He dropped in upon us last night and demanded that I give him a card to the reception. He told me something else. He’s going to make a tour of the eastern countries. I think he starts early in the fall. He’s not going alone. He told me that the prospective Mrs. Hillis would be here tonight, and defied me to discover her.”
“Yes—how—interesting—romantic.” Eliza did not recognize her own voice. It was hollow, stilted, false.
The last guest had been bidden welcome. The hostesses moved from the reception line, and mingled with those they were entertaining.
In a room adjoining, the young girls were serving fruit punch from a side-table. Helen and Sallie were ladling it from a bowl hidden among flowers and ferns. Beth and Carrie Laire were hidden amid masses of cut roses. As the guests came to them, they pinned a rose upon them.
Mrs. Laurens came up with a group of four.
“Roses presenting roses,” said one of the gentlemen as Carrie pinned the flower on his coat. Beth’s face had been turned away. She was selecting a fine half-blown rose for Mrs. Laurens. She turned to present it. Her hands with their peculiar old-fashioned rings were brought into evidence.
“Will you have a rose?” Mrs. Laurens did not answer. She stood as though transfixed, her eyes upon Beth’s hands.
Suddenly she seized them tight into her own. “Your rings! Your rings! Where did you get them? They are mine. I’d give worlds to know of them. They’re mine! They’re mine!”