Society was so surprised that it talked of nothing else for three whole days.
On the same day she received one of Florian’s fond letters, begging her to write oftener and more kindly.
She replied at once, saying that she had been too busy to write, and knew that he would excuse her when he received her next letter, in which she would have something important to tell him.
In her dread lest Florian’s resentment of her treachery should lead him to betray her to Desha, she had finally resolved not to write to her jilted lover until the day after the wedding.
“Philip will be my own then—no one can take him from me,” she thought, feverishly; for now and then a faint foreboding of evil made her heart quake with fear lest she should lose him yet by some untoward stroke of fate.
It lacked but ten days to the wedding now, and lively preparations were going forward for a grand church ceremony, and afterward for a magnificent home reception before the happy pair started on their Southern tour.
A splendid trousseau was being prepared in New York, and arrived each day in detachments, taking up so much time in trying on that Viola scarcely had time to spare for her lover.
At breakfast that morning Judge Van Lew said to his daughter and sister:
“I have employed a young man to prepare some statistics for me from some valuable books in my library. He will come at about ten o’clock, and you will please see that he has uninterrupted use of the library, as it will take several days to do the task, and I am in a hurry for these statistics.”
“Very well,” replied Mrs. Herman; adding carelessly: “What is his name?”