“By heavens! you wrong me, Clara,” he cried hoarsely, “the girl I saw to-night reminded me of my bitterest enemy—of a woman I have cause to hate—and whose name I curse every hour of my life. If I thought one drop of that woman’s blood flowed in the veins of this working girl I would hunt her out of every place she found employment. I would never rest until I had visited the sin of her—but what wild talk is this? The woman whose name I curse is living in luxury wherever she may be, and the poor little seamstress is not to blame for her remarkable resemblance to one who must be a stranger to her. Never send me there again, Clara; the sight of that girl’s face aroused all the demon within me, and awakened passions that have lain dormant for years.”
He was a handsome man, despite his five-and-forty years. His thick, wavy black hair showed no thread of silver, and his eyes were keen and bright.
He was a general favorite among the fair sex, although but little was known of his antecedents or former history.
If there was an air of mystery surrounding him, this fact only tended to make him more interesting in the eyes of the ladies, and there were many who envied Clara Neville her conquest when it became known that this fascinating little widow had won handsome Charley Broughton’s love.
Clara herself was very proud of her stately, distinguished-looking lover, and insanely jealous of him, as her recent exhibition of temper may have led the reader to suppose.
She was half frightened now at the storm of passion her own words had evoked, but she had no longer any fear that he admired the girl he had met at Jenny Mason’s.
“Pray calm yourself, my dear Charles,” she said; “you shall never go to my dressmaker’s again; you will surely be ill if you excite yourself so; I shall be quite anxious about you when you leave me; please look a little more cheerful for my sake.”
“For your sake, my pretty pleader, I would accomplish a much harder task,” replied Broughton, with assumed gayety, as he encircled the widow’s form with his arm, and pressed a kiss on her white forehead.
During the remainder of that evening he was as loving and attentive as even the most exacting lady love could have desired, and left Mrs. Neville in the happy belief that her idolatrous fondness for him was fully reciprocated.
But once outside her home the man’s whole demeanor changed, and as he wended his way to the hotel at which he had taken up his residence, he was saying to himself: