“Ah! how shall I bear my jealous agony? One kiss, Rosalind!”
Berenice turned hot and cold, hearing repeated kisses and ardent caresses that made the leaves rustle as they leaned against them, then they sprang apart.
“We must go back, Adrian; I really cannot stay another minute. Do not grieve so. You will not be banished, you know. I shall soon introduce you as a friend of the family. Ha! ha!”
They passed out of sight, still talking, leaving Berenice crouched beneath the tree, with hot cheeks and a wildly beating heart.
Suddenly she got upon her knees on the dewy grass and lifted her wide, horrified dark eyes to the heavens, where myriad stars began to sparkle through the blue.
With clasped hands she prayed piteously:
“Oh, what shall I do? Can I let this fiend impose on this good, honorable old man and shame the name he will give her by a liaison with this unworthy lover, who will help her to murder him at last for his money? Oh, it is too horrible that I should keep her terrible secrets and let the sacrifice go on! I must save him, I must expose her in all her hideous depravity to those who love and trust her now. Oh, show me the way, show me the way to-morrow, to unmask this fiend!”
CHAPTER XL.
THE WEDDING DAY.
Berenice was walking past the open door of the sitting room, when Marie called to her kindly:
“Come in, you dear, pale little ghost, and help us to plan for the wedding this evening.”