She held the half-drained glass to his lips, saying wildly:
“Drink! it will give you courage. We must go and face them with the truth!”
“No; I must keep a clear head,” he answered, in a shaking voice, pushing her hand aside, and adding: “This is a terrible complication that one shrinks from meeting.”
“Courage!” she answered gayly, slipping her hand through his arm, and leading him, half unwillingly, down the hall toward the door that opened on the balcony.
“I—I—hadn’t you better break it to her first alone? I dread a scene,” he muttered tremblingly.
“Pshaw! don’t be a coward, Royall. You know your rôle. Just stick to it like a man, and all will be well. Her fate is sealed, and their anger cannot change it, however they rage. Come;” and, drawing him with her, the crafty schemer confronted the happy lovers on the moonlit balcony.
Her low, grating laugh startled them from a happy dream, and they sprang apart in confusion as she cried:
“Daisie, we have been searching for you everywhere! And here you are hiding from us like this, forgetting that your flirting days are over now! Why—Mr. Bain!” this in tones of profound surprise.
Dallas, quickly recovering himself, bowed profoundly, and responded:
“Yes, Mrs. Fleming, I am back again—just now returned—and meant to go in presently to greet you. Good evening, Mr. Sherwood. We are well met, all of us, for I wish to ask your congratulations on my engagement to Miss Bell.”