"Very well, then, I will not take you away at once, as I was on the point of doing in my terror of a rival," she rejoined, laughingly, yet hoping that he would offer to go.
But he did not do so. A secret longing to see Azalia Brooke took possession of him—a longing that he was wise enough not to confess to jealous Jewel.
"Let us go into the conservatory," she said, longing to rest awhile in its leafy, odorous coolness, that she might settle her disordered nerves, and he gave her his arm and led her toward that favorite resort of lovers.
"Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night—and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell."
In that enchanted spot Jewel thought she should have him all to herself, for she had left Azalia Brooke in the ball-room surrounded by eager admirers, but what was her surprise to see, just ahead of her, with a handsome young man, the beautiful English girl talking so earnestly that she did not hear nor see the new-comers at all.
If Azalia Brooke could have been permitted to decide under what circumstances she should be seen first by Laurie Meredith, she could not have chosen a more striking moment than the present.
She had paused with her attendant cavalier beside a perfect thicket of her namesake flowers—red and white azalias. A fountain and some lofty palm-trees were in the background, and made a lovely setting for her face and dress.
The former we have described before in all its wondrous beauty; the latter was an exquisite robe of silvery white moiré antique, draped in billows of white tulle, looped crystallized sea-grasses and water-lilies. The perfect throat and arms were clasped with large pearls, and the golden waves of hair were banded back with a Grecian fillet of the same pure jewels. It was a trying costume; but the blue of her eyes was so deep, the sheen of her hair so goldenly bright, and the rose-hue so warm on her delicate cheek, that the unbroken white and green were perfectly relieved, and set off her charms to the greatest advantage.
Her companion was talking to her earnestly, and she was listening to him with an absent smile, when Laurie Meredith first caught sight of her face.
He stopped short. Jewel felt him start and tremble. She glanced into his face and saw it pale, startled, eager. A low whisper came from his lips, and her keen ear caught the burden. It was the one word: