She hated him for the request, and yet nothing under heaven could have caused her to decline. There was almost defiance in her eyes as she arose and yielded her place upon the stool to him.
It was a magnificent thing, sung with wonderful depth of feeling and power of expression, and was a vast surprise to those present. Carlita wondered afterward how she had ever been able to complete it, but she heard his words of praise above all the rest, though they were fewer and spoken scarcely above his breath.
"What an artiste you will make—what an artiste you are! God! it is enough to make a Christian of a man to listen to you. And how you have improved since we sang that together the last time. I wish you would let me sing with you often. It is like being permitted a glimpse into paradise."
He had risen, and was standing with his back to the piano, looking down at her. The others were all around them; but suddenly they seemed to separate, no one knew how or why. They had heard no announcement of a new arrival, but as they stepped apart they realized that Jessica was standing there, her fingers touching the arm of a dark-visaged man whose aspect certainly was not pleasant.
There was a tremulous smile upon her lips, half expectant, half triumphant. She seemed to have forgotten them for the moment, but went forward straight up to Leith, who was not looking toward her, but down at Carlita.
"Mr. Pierrepont," she exclaimed, speaking rather louder than usual, "I want to introduce you to a gentleman from Mexico. Senor Meriaz, Mr. Pierrepont!"
Leith glanced up. There had been a flush upon his cheeks, brought there by the pleasure of singing with Carlita, but as his eyes rested upon the man before him, his color vanished, and from brow to throat a ghastly pallor overspread his face, that the least observant could not fail to marvel at.
He caught at the edge of the piano, then recovered himself almost as suddenly as he had lost his self-control.
But it was Meriaz who replied to the introduction, Meriaz whose voice alone was heard.