“I suppose you find Will a pattern husband,” Juno said after a moment’s pause, and Katy replied, “There never could be a better, I am sure, and I have been very happy.”
“Has he never said one cross word to you in all these six months?” was Juno’s next question, to which Katy answered truthfully, “Never.”
“And lets you do as you please?”
“Yes, just as I please,” Katy replied, while Juno continued, “He must have changed greatly then from what he used to be; but marriage has probably improved him. He tells you all his secrets, too, I presume?”
Anxious that Wilford should appear well in every light, Katy replied at random, “Yes, if he has any.”
“Well, then,” and in Juno’s black eyes there was a wicked look, “perhaps you will tell me who was or is the original of that picture he guards so carefully.”
“What picture?” and Katy looked up inquiringly, while Juno, with a little sarcastic laugh, continued: “Oh, he has not told you then. I thought he would not, he was so angry when he saw me with it three or four years ago. I found it in his room where he had accidentally left it, and was looking at it when he came in. It was the picture of a young girl who must have been very beautiful, and I did not blame Will for loving her if he ever did, but he need not have been so indignant at me for wishing to know who it was. I never saw him so angry or so much disturbed. I hope you will ferret the secret out and tell me, for I have a great deal of curiosity, fancying that picture had something to do with his remaining so long a bachelor. I do not mean that he does not love you,” she added, as she saw how white Katy grew. “It is not to be expected that a man can live to be thirty without loving more than one. There was Sybil Grey, a famous belle, whom I thought at one time he would marry; but when Judge Grandon offered she accepted, and Will was left in the lurch. I do not really believe he cared though, for Sybil was too much of a flirt to suit his jealous lordship, and I will do him the justice to say that however many fancies he may have had, he likes you the best of all;” and this Juno felt constrained to say because of the look in Katy’s face, which warned her that in her thoughtlessness she had gone too far and pierced the young wife’s heart with a pang as cruel as it was unnecessary.
Bell had tried to stop her, but she had rattled on until now it was too late, and she could not recall her words, however much she might wish to do so. “Don’t tell Will,” she was about to say, when Will himself appeared, to take Katy out to dinner. Very beautiful and sad were the blue eyes which looked up at him so wistfully, and nothing but the remembrance of Juno’s words, “He likes you best of all,” kept Katy from crying outright, when he took her hand, and asked if she was tired.
“Let us try what dinner will do for you,” he said, and in silence Katy went with him to the dining-room, where the glare and the ceremony bewildered her, bringing a homesick feeling as she thought of Silverton, and the plain tea-table, graced with the mulberry set instead of the costly china before her.
Never had Katy felt so embarrassed as she did when seated for the first time at dinner in her husband’s home, with all those criticising eyes upon her. She had been very hungry, but her appetite was gone and she almost loathed the rich food offered her, feeling so glad when the dinner was ended, and Wilford took her to the parlor, where she found Mark Ray waiting for her. He had been obliged to decline Mrs. Cameron’s invitation to dinner, but had come as early as possible after it, and Katy was delighted to see him, for she remembered how he had helped her during that week of gayety in Boston, when society was so new to her. As he had been then, so he was now, and his friendly manner put Katy as much at her ease as it was possible for her to be in the presence of Wilford’s mother and sisters.