“In competition with the human voice?”
“Not the voice alone, but the words we long for the voice to speak. Alexia,” he took her hand, and to his joy she let it rest in his, “has the time come?”
“The golden day, when the cloud should have passed over and I be a free woman? Yes; thanks to you, it has come.”
“And for me?”
Her silence was of consent, not doubt; at its end she softly raised her eyes till they met his, and in that glance, a beam that seemed to hold an eternity of happiness, he saw that he was loved. The enchaining melody of the great Russian master rose and thrilled under the passionate touch of the girl at the piano; it mingled with the perfume of Alexia’s hair, as Herriard bent over her and pressed his lips to her cheek. It was but a snatched kiss, for they were half in sight of the other two, but it was not to be resisted.
Alexia put up her hand in half-earnest warning. “Mr. Herriard! Geoffrey! You will be seen. Will you never learn to be opportune?”
“Never with you, darling,” he answered.
“I think you will,” she rejoined, with a look and a smile which tempted him to throw prudence to the winds. “I must teach you.”
So he sat by her more circumspectly, engrossed in lovers’ talk. Sometimes the thought of his shame, of his false position, would seem to force itself between him and his love, there, where no shame should exist, but the delight of the present hour stifled each pang of self-reproach as soon as it was born within him. In the intoxication of his love what mind could he have for sober scruples? In that hour of joy it was the delight of the present and future that held him; his past life with its frown could but be disregarded. Looking at the rare woman by his side, enthralled by the spell of her beauty, above all, by the charm of her irresistibly fascinating personality, he was not likely to allow the chilling spectre of his deceit to stand between them. All he could do was to look at his love and marvel at his good fortune.
“I cannot understand,” he said, with more candour than tact, following out the thought that was uppermost in his mind, “how this good fortune has been reserved for me.”