“Patty has no big brother. He is dead. He—he was killed by a—a dreadful accident!”
“Ah! How was that, Eva?”
“I—I cannot talk about it now, Reggie; it makes me very nervous! I saw it, you see, and I was ill a long time afterward, so that I can scarcely bear to speak of it now. She has brought it all back coming up to New York, where no one wanted her, I am sure. But if you will not listen to her lies, Reggie, if you will not go near her, or even speak to the hateful thing, I will tell you myself the whole story of our quarrel sometime,” pleaded Eva, clinging to him with caressing hands, a desperate pathos in the sombre dark eyes searching his face.
Reggie was so charmed with her shy tenderness, she who was always so cold and reserved, that he was ready to promise anything. He laughed and answered:
“When you clasp my arms like that, Eva, and bring your tempting lips so close to mine, I would promise you anything on earth for one kiss given of your own accord. Tell me to snub your cousin if you choose, to ignore her entirely, and one kiss will pay for it all.”
How handsome and eager he looked, how his dark eyes sparkled with expectancy. Her heart reproached her that she could not love him more, even while she consoled herself with her aunt’s advice:
“Love will come in time.”
She would not hesitate a moment at paying the price he asked for Patty’s discomfiture—no, no!—and quickly drawing his face down to a level with her own, Eva pressed her full red lips warmly, tenderly upon his, thrilling him to keenest bliss—the first and last kiss his shy little sweetheart ever gave him, the memory of which went with him through life and down to death.
She had triumphed over Patty; the victory was hers. Reggie never appeared to see Miss Groves afterward, and presently she realized that the snub was intentional.
“He has cut you dead; there can be no doubt of it. What can be the reason?” Mrs. Putnam wondered.