"When I know that you love me, even as I love you!"
[CHAPTER XX.]
Carlita's heart was beating so that Pierrepont's words were almost drowned in the sound. It seemed impossible for her to reply. She had grown dizzy and blind suddenly, and it was with a relief that was almost hysterical that she welcomed a young man who interrupted the tete-a-tete.
She knew perfectly well that that was not what Stolliker would have had her do, that she was losing an opportunity that she might never be able to regain; but she could not help that, and when one of the men who had played at the other table bent over her to inquire how she had enjoyed the game, she looked into his face with an interest, an animation, that caused Pierrepont to turn away with a weary sigh.
The supper was of the best; but when she left the table, it would have been impossible for Carlita to have told one thing that had been served. It seemed to her that she had passed the time in a state of hypnotism, living, moving, acting while her senses were governed by some other power than her own.
And yet she jested with a blithe merriment that brought again the old expression of cynicism to Pierrepont's countenance. Jessica had reserved the seat beside herself for him, and he slipped into it when there was nothing else to do.
"Is not our little Puritan charming tonight?" she asked, with an animated smile. "I never imagined that Carlita could be so bewitching. I fancy that half the men in the room are in love with her. Did you ever see her so beautiful?"
"Never so beautiful," he answered, with affected lightness; "but much more charming many times."