Hard indeed would have been the mortal who could have resisted the wistful light of her dark eyes when added to the pleading tone of her voice.
Moved by a sudden and natural impulse, Wilfrid took her hands within his own and carried them to his lips; and by that act Pauline knew that she was forgiven.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE FIGURE IN THE GREY DOMINO
“I have tasted nothing all the day,” said Pauline, “I could not eat while you were fasting; but now, if you will give me your arm, Lord Courtenay, you shall conduct me to a chamber below, where there is a dinner set forth for us.”
Wilfrid, who received this news with a good deal of pleasure, for he happened to be terribly hungry, escorted Pauline to the room in question.
The two maids who were preparing to station themselves at the table, were dismissed by their impulsive mistress.
“Let me be your serving maid,” she whispered to Wilfrid.
There was about her an odd yet pretty air of penitence, an air that gave place at times to soft laughter when some jest fell from Wilfrid; then, as if conscious that gaiety did not become her so soon after her ill-treatment of him, she would become grave again; and so, what with her obvious desire to please him, and what with her winning glances, the last trace of resentment faded from Wilfrid’s mind.
He could not help thinking it strange that Pauline, who had evidently learned from her father all about the proposed duel, should betray no curiosity as to the lady that had caused it, but so it was; and, since she was silent on the matter, he himself maintained a similar reserve.