"I accomplished it all by myself, although I ran a terrible risk in doing so. Ugh! what if Mrs. Wellings, or any of the servants, had come upon me when I was dragging her through the halls and down the stairs!" she shuddered to herself, with a passing wonder at her own hardihood.
[CHAPTER XXXIV.]
No one who saw Jewel Fielding at Mrs. Devere's splendid reception that night would have guessed the dark secret she had in her breast.
The purple plush and brocade, with the diamond ornaments and creamy-hued corsage flowers, made her beauty seem queenly. Her dark eyes radiated light enough to atone for the slight pallor of her cheeks, whereon the rose was wont to bloom, and her lips were wreathed in deceptive smiles that hid the horror lurking in her heart.
Laurie Meredith thought that he had never seen her more beautiful than to-night, and he did not wonder that she had so many admirers. The only thing that surprised him was that she could prefer himself above all those others who worshiped her, while he had been one of the most indifferent suitors that ever bowed at woman's shrine.
But her beauty and her devotion had touched his heart at last. He must have been a marble man if it had not, for her devotion was so plain, and yet so pathetic, seeming to ask for nothing in return save the privilege of loving.
"Only to love him—nothing more,
Never a thought of his loving me!
Proud of him, glad of him, though he bore
My heart to shipwreck on this smooth sea.
Love's faith sees only grief, not wrong,
And life is daring when 'tis young."
If anything could have excused her folly and sin it would have been the madness of her passion for him. She worshiped him and made no secret of it. She could not keep her dark eyes from turning to his face, even in the greatest crowds; she could not keep from speaking to him if he came near her. By degrees the little world of society realized this. People would smile when they saw them together. They would take care not to intrude on their tête-à-têtes, not knowing that the love was all on one side.