She could not deceive him always, and after the irrevocable step had been taken he found that instead of a true, loving, and domestic wife, he had been entrapped into marrying a vain, frivolous girl, who cared more for fashion and society than she did for her family. His death had not seemed to break her heart, for after the year of mourning expired, she returned to society with as much zest as ever.
But when her eldest son was taken from her she felt the blow more keenly, and it seemed to change her.
Charles, the younger son, had always been the favorite, and she feared lest she should lose him, too, and from that time she devoted herself to him, and during her later years became apparently the self-sacrificing and loving mother.
All her hopes now centered in him, and she bent all her energies toward carving out a brilliant future for him. And yet there were times when she seemed so troubled and melancholy that for days, and even weeks, she would be unlike herself, and as if brooding over some hidden grief or sin.
She had long since banished the memories of those deeds of her early life.
They were not pleasant to recall.
But to-night those homely old proverbs, “Chickens always come home to roost,” “You’ll get your pay,” as uttered by Lady Ruxley, seemed to possess a strange significance, and sounded like uncanny prophecies in her ears.
CHAPTER XXII
A LEAP FOR LIFE
Adrian Dredmond was indeed the grandson and heir of Lord Dunforth, the former lover of Miss Mehetabel Douglas.
He had married, as she told Brownie, five years after the terrible disappointment which had well-nigh ruined both their lives.