“There are three thousand dollars. It is the price of never seeing your face again,” he thundered. “Now go and leave us to the happiness of a reunited family!”
She snatched up the money and the lace gown and rushed from the room. Three days later she and Adrian Vance appeared before Mrs. Brander, in Paris.
“We are married and settled in Paris,” she announced calmly. “Old Moneybags was so homely, with his smallpox scars, that I threw him over and married my poor, handsome Adrian. I have written to mamma, but I fear she will never forgive us.”
Mrs. Brander thought it all very strange, but later on the truth leaked out, and she knew the false beauty for what she really was—a reckless, disappointed schemer.
But Charley Bonair did not learn all that happened until many days after, when his convalescence was an assured thing and he could hear, without danger to his health, the happy news that Rosalind had been banished in disgrace, and that the senator had reinstated him in his good graces, and given the Washington palace to Berenice as a wedding gift.
CHAPTER XLI.
TROUBLE BEGINS AGAIN.
When Charley had fully recovered, he and his lovely young wife decided to go to England where the first part of their married life had flowed along on mingled currents of joy and sorrow. They hoped to revisit the happier scenes; and, moreover, Charley had still another motive in returning. News had reached Senator Bonair that an old English estate was for sale; and, in the full tide of rejoicing over his deliverance from Rosalind, and his pride in his “united family,” he offered to buy the estate for his son.
“No, it’s too much for you to do for me, dad!” exclaimed Charley, when the astounding proposition was made. “I don’t deserve such generosity!”
“Perhaps not,” was his father’s laconic answer. “But if I’m of the opinion that you do—well, that should be sufficient. What do you say, Berry?”
“Oh, you know I think nothing is too good for Charley!” answered Berry, with a smile. “But, of course, we both appreciate how dear and generous you are.”