Dorothy was beginning to feel Harry's neglect, but no thought of the true cause of it ever dawned upon her.
Ah! could she have seen how they paced the grounds together arm in arm, and how near they sat together on the step of the front porch, and in what a lover-like manner he bent his dark head over her little, white hands, the sight would have killed Dorothy.
"I wonder if they think we are fools!" whispered the servants, indignantly, one to the other; and their blood boiled with rage at this open love-making.
But even the attention of handsome Harry Kendal seemed to pall upon the beauty. Gray Gables was dull; she wanted more life, more gayety.
"Why not give a grand ball," she suggested, "and invite the whole country-side?"
She longed for more hearts to conquer. Iris was one of those vain, shallow girls who must and will have a sentimental flirtation with some young man always on hand. She, like those of her mischievous class, really meant no harm while doing a great deal of wrong. Such a girl, from mere vanity and pastime, will try to outshine a companion and even win the heart of a betrothed lover from his sweetheart, caring little for the broken vows and the ruined lives strewn along her path.
Harry Kendal seized eagerly upon the idea, because it would please Iris. Mrs. Kemp knew no other than her beautiful, willful niece's pleasure. No one consulted Dorothy. She seemed to have been left entirely out of the calculation.
For the first time since Iris Vincent had come to Gray Gables, Dorothy regretted her presence there.
What would be the ball to her? Surely they ought to know that she could take no part in it, for she was blind.
When she found herself alone with Iris she spoke of this, but the girl turned it off with a little laugh.