“Oh, yes, I think so. You may withdraw into another room, and I will call you as soon as he opens his eyes.”
They obeyed him, going softly to another room, where Mrs. Fleming left Daisie alone a few moments, saying:
“I must go and see to your aunt’s comfort; then I will return, for I have something very serious to say to you.”
Daisie was left alone in the luxurious boudoir, where the electric lights, filtered through rosy globes, shed a warm, pink glow on her pallid face. But she did not think of envying the rich widow her wealth and splendor. Her heart sped on the wings of love to Dallas, from whom she had been so cruelly parted, and, with a sudden feeling that she was powerless in the grasp of the untoward fate that beset her, she fell on her knees, praying humbly:
“Oh, God, deliver me from the snare of my enemies!”
That was all, for she was too wretched to add another word; but in her despair she remained upon her knees, her golden head bent low in the attitude of prayer, and thus Mrs. Fleming found her when she presently returned.
The sight might have moved a tender-hearted woman to pity, but Lutie Fleming was as hard as the nether millstone.
She would rather have seen her successful rival crushed with grief and woe than happy in the love of Dallas Bain, as she had seen her such a little while ago.
“Their triumph was short-lived,” she smiled to herself, as Daisie dragged herself up to a sitting posture, showing her wild, white, woeful face, from which all the light of joy had been stricken out by sorrow.
“Well, your aunt has retired, as there was really nothing to be gained by her sitting up, so you and I will keep our vigil together,” the widow said, and Daisie bowed coldly, without answering. What, indeed, could she say? She felt herself caught in the toils of a terrible fate from which she could see no escape. “As I was saying to you a little while ago, Daisie, the outcome of this matter depends on you,” continued Mrs. Fleming. “My position is a very delicate one. My cousin, whom I dearly love, has been murdered in cold-blooded malice by the man you love—by your lover!”