"I believe he loves me," murmured Paulina, "after his own fashion."
"Yes, madame, after his own fashion, which is, at the best, a strange one. May I ask how you spent your Christmas?"
"I was very lonely; this house seemed horribly cold and desolate. No one came near me. There were no congratulations; no Christmas gifts. Ah! Mr. Carrington, it is a sad thing to be quite alone in the world."
"And Reginald Eversleigh—the man whom you love—he who should have been at your side, was at Hallgrove Rectory, among a circle of visitors, flirting with the most notorious of coquettes—Miss Graham, an old friend of his boyish days."
Victor looked at Paulina's face, and saw the random shot had gone home. She grew even paler than she had been before, and there was a nervous working of the lips that betrayed her agitation.
"Were there ladies amongst the guests at Hallgrove?" he asked.
"Yes, Madame Durski, there were ladies. Did you not know that it was to be so?"
"No," replied Paulina. "Sir Reginald told me it was to be a bachelors' party."
Victor saw that this petty deception on the part of her lover stung
Paulina keenly.
She had been deeply wounded by Reginald's cold and selfish policy; but until this moment she had never felt the pangs of jealousy.